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What makes a good hotel great?

by Roger Collis - The International Herald Tribune

People often ask, "Can you recommend a good hotel?" Whether we are talking about London, Paris, New York, Monte Carlo or Grand Rapids, Michigan, the answer depends on a raft of considerations.

Are they traveling on business or pleasure (or trying to combine the two)? Do they need a prestigious address to entertain, a high-tech command center to work and keep in touch with the office, or just a room for the night? How important is location? Are they looking for adventure, new experiences? What is their budget? And who is picking up the tab?

There is no one ideal "good" hotel, or "best" hotel or "best budget" hotel. We travel in different modes, different frames of mind, priorities, prejudices and motivations that can vary from trip to trip. Everyone expects a quiet, comfortable room with basic amenities. Add to this the things we love to hate, such as wall-to-wall Muzak, $50 club sandwiches from room service, egregious phone charges and mini-bar prices - occasionally redeemed by a gesture beyond the call of duty, a sincere smile of recognition. Small things make a big difference to the hotel "experience" - that elusive amalgam of comfort, service and "generous and cordial welcome" that I call "hospitality."

So I take a skeptical view of the flow of "Best Hotel" or "Hotel of the Year" awards that issue from travel companies or "readers' polls" by glossy magazines, guides and newsletters. But what is the "best"? Not necessarily the most sumptuous or the most expensive. The best in Paris does not compare with the best in Broken Springs, Colorado. You can compare amenities and features in categories such as "rural retreats" and "gourmet experiences." But surely you can only "rate" hotels in terms of categories, by comparing like with like.

These were my thoughts when I came across the "Commitment to Quality Awards," announced two weeks ago in London, by Leading Hotels of the World, a marketing company that represents 420 five-star and "luxury" hotels around the world. The winning properties (that included Leading Small Hotels) were those that achieved the highest inspection scores by the "mystery guests" program conducted by Quality Assurance, a joint-venture company of Leading Hotels that conducts audits for its members and other properties.

Winning hotels were awarded in six regions. Africa-Middle East: Emirates Towers in Dubai and Banyan Tree in the Seychelles; Asia: The Peninsula in Bangkok and The Datai in Langkawi, Malaysia; Europe: Baur au Lac in Zurich and One Aldwych in London; Mexico-Caribbean: One Only Ocean Club in Paradise Island, Bahamas, and the Paraiso de la Bonita Resort Thalasso in Cancún; North America: The Peninsula in New York and The Wheatleigh in Lenox, Massachusetts, and South America: the Hotel Monasterio in Cuzco, Peru. The Datai achieved the highest score overall.

Welf Eberling, executive vice president and chief operating officer in New York of Leading Hotels of the World, says, "The perception of luxury today is not gilded moldings or a plasma flat-screen television, but a harmonious blend of product and service. There are certain givens. For example, we don't measure the size of rooms, but how often does room service push in the trolley and there's only one easy chair so the other person has to perch on the corner of the bed?

"Rooms should have three phones with two lines: one by the bed, one on the desk, one in the bathroom. Turn-down service is always a great point of discussion. There's more to it than folding back the top sheet and putting a chocolate on the pillow - it should be full room service, straightening out the bathroom, bringing in new towels. Then, there is the whole spectrum of food and beverage. We are not giving a Michelin star for food, it's the service that counts. How is the guest received in the restaurant? Is the waiter attentive, does he pre-empt some of your wishes? In a five-star hotel it should be an experience; like a restaurant."

In a survey of 90,000 frequent travelers, Leading Hotels found that 34 percent who spend an average of 32 nights a year on the road (half on business and half on vacation, often mixing the two) "do not sacrifice their expectations when they are on holiday; they want the same standard as business trips."

Trent Walsh, managing director of Leading Quality Assurance in London, says, "Leading Hotels members are inspected twice in a three-year cycle. Our inspectors stay anonymously for 48 hours and score each department against a total of 1,200 quantitative standards and a qualitative scoring - the fuzzy, touchy-feely aspect that is so important in the luxury sector."

He adds: "Luxury five-star hotels must fulfill what you would expect: a good bathroom, separate shower, double sinks and quality linen. But only 35 percent of the assessment is based on product; the other 65 percent depends on service, which is much more important. You can have the most wonderful product in the world, but if you don't couple it with a phenomenal service, you are not going to succeed in the luxury hotel market."

This is why some smaller boutique hotels achieve good scores even if they don't have all the amenities of larger properties. They make up with gains in service. "That's why we don't use a separate inspection report for small hotels," Walsh says. So can you ever expect the same level of personal service in a large hotel that you get in a small, independently managed property?

"Yes, I think you can," Walsh says. "I don't think size matters."

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