5 star really worth it?
 

We have always done vacations that involved touring, walking, being on the go. We have never stayed at a resort or 5 star place. So many people have written in about staying in nice places. I'm wondering if it's worth it to do a vacation where the focus is relaxing at the place? Any experiences? What do you really get for your money?

A true 5 diamond resort is a wonderful luxury and is worth every penny. In these establishments, everything is perfect from the service to the location. Keep in mind, there aren't that many of them around.

When I am paying my own money I reserve the 5* for special occaisions like my honeymoon, special anniverseries. It is definitely worth it. I travel alot on business and get to stay mostly at nice Hyatts, Marriots, Westins. Every now for work I get to go to a Ritz, 4S or specialty types like La Quinta, Orchid, Pierre. So I really get to sample the differences. The service, amenities, quality and attention to detail are noticeable and can make a great vacation into a once in lifetime or once in decade type of experience. You just budget the money- (add at least 25%) and realized that it is spent once you arrive there the first day- then you can relax, enjoy yourself and truly get your moneys worth I prefer some of the more exclusive non chain 5* resorts but really research the whole package and get input from this board before you decide where you will stay.

Since discovering priceline, I am really enjoying my 4* hotels. Could only afford 2* before but w/priceline have been getting 4* for 2* prices. AM quite spolied now and expect nothing but the best. Its great fun and very posh.

jan, a 4* can't hold a candle to a 5*, and 5* don't stoop to Priceline. There are only about 20 5* in the entire country and they are fabulous for a special occasion. Be choosey, aaa, and enjoy it just once some place wonderful.

I realized I probably should not have posted in this thread about my 4* experience. Sorry.But couldn't resist as I thought it was very impressive. Think I best save up and try a 5 */ on second thought better not cause then I wouldn't be happy with my 4*'s anymore.<BR>I wonder why there aren't more 5* around. Are they that Pricey?<BR>Thanks<BR>Jan

All of this sounds very nice. XXX, what 5 star place(s) have you enjoyed? And Jan, what does a 4 star go for on Priceline? Very good tips. Both 4 and 5 star sound great. I didn't think about there being a difference in these. Thanks.

Jan-I guess you already answered my question about 4*price. Should I admit I've never used priceline? But you give me good reason to try. Thanks

It really depends on so many factors. First if the resort IS the destination, or, what price you got it for and which property you're talking about. I've stayed in many 5 Stars (usually on the company), and I can tell you, I would never, ever pay the rack rates at most of them because they just aren't worth the money. Especially if you will be out and about during your stay and won't spend your whole vacation there. There are exceptions (Arizona Biltmore, Regent Chiang Mai in Thailand), but for the most part, you have to ask yourself, is it worth $1,000 a night (Little Palm Island for instance)? To some people it is, and to some it isn't. <BR><BR>What you get, or should get, is impeccable service, beautiful and elegant surroundings, very high quality furnishings and a higher class clientele, the latter isn't necessarily true, as some people either are not paying guests (that would be me on many occasions), or, they may have more money than class, which is becoming more and more common.<BR><BR>It couldn't hurt to try it, since only you will know if it's worth it for you.

We've stayed at Ritz Carlton Naples and the Mansion in Dallas. Of the two the Mansion was the most elegant, but RC Naples was lovely as well.

Good point xxx. I stayed at the Ritz in Naples as well, and I think it's worth the money, as it's very often discounted less than $300/night. The service there is amazing. My husband forgot a dress shirt for dinner, he picked up the phone and they answer it not with a hello but with &quot;How may we help you Mr. Smith&quot;(Your name appears on the phone). He told them he didn't have a shirt and we needed to leave in half an hour. They got his size, what color and style he wanted and in less than half an hour had a shirt delivered (and pressed) to the room! You won't get that kind of service at a 4 Star hotel!

The shirt incident is a perfect example of 5* service, Nina. You'll often find yourself greeted by name, even aside from encounters on the phone, and how they know, I have no idea. You are absolutely pampered. The Mansion has a 2 to 1 staff to guest ratio!

xxx,I'm sure. I remember reading an article in T&amp;L a few years back where the writer went to many top hotels to test the service. She had all kinds of difficult requests to put to the staff, like finding odd specialty foods, or arranging for hard to get tickets, rare wines, etc. I remember the Mansion on Turtle creek came away with flying colors for obtaining every thing on her list with a smile and in a hurry!

Just so everyone is clear, here is a list of the REAL five star winners, according to Mobil travel. <BR><BR>http://www.exxonmobiltravel.com/index.jsp?menu=rating_criteria&amp;module=fivestar <BR><BR>And here are the five diamond listings, from AAA. <BR><BR>http://www.aaa.com/news12/Diamonds/025drelease.htm<BR><BR>Just for the record, there are 58 five DIAMOND properties and only 25 five STAR properties in the US. (Not including restaurants).<BR><BR>I do not believe that anything that show up on Priceline is a TRUE five star property, according to Mobil. <BR><BR>And for the record, The Pierre, the Arizona Biltmore, and the Little Palm Island Resort are all 4-star properties. The Ritz in Naples and the Mansion on Turtle Creek are true 5-star lodgings. <BR><BR>Here are the current star ratings for lodgings:<BR><BR>http://www.exxonmobiltravel.com/index.jsp?menu=lodging<BR><BR>P.S. I have never stayed in any of these five star/diamond properties and never will. I am not a hotel snob and do not care about star ratings, except for trivia purposes. Just giving you the info for interest's sake. <BR><BR>Enjoy :-)

aaa In the summer stayed at the Park Hyatt in San Francisco for $60 a night. There reg rate for that room was $320 a night.It was very posh/ solid marble/views/great staff etc<BR>In Dec will try the Elliot Grand Hyatt in Seattle got it for $40. for 3 night. Their rates seem to start @200 and go way up from there.<BR>It is nice now w/priceline as we can stay longer and in very fine places.

James, Priceline has no 5* properties. Their star categories in no way correlate to Mobil categories. Priceline 4* can be Mobil 4* or just as easily, a Mobil 3*. As long as everyone understands, it's fine. The problem is, everyone does NOT understand, nor do they understand that Mobil rates the hotels they cover, whereas Priceline lets the hotels rate themselves. Pretty good deal for the hotels!

Are you serious, xyz? Priceline lets the hotels determine their own rating? That does explain why so many people mention they got the four star &quot;Le Dump&quot; or whatever from Priceline at such a good deal. At last I think I understand.

James, you're under the mistaken impression that Mobil rates ALL hotels - They do not. They only dole out Star ratings to hotels which belong to their organization, so there are some very fine hotels that aren't even listed by Mobil.<BR><BR>

Same goes for AAA.

James never said they rate all hotels. They rate the majority. A few opt out, but the majority are rated by one or the other and usually both.<BR><BR>I'm one of the suckers that got a 4* Dump on Priceline and that experienced spelled the end of using them. The rated themselves a 4*, when they are a Mobil 3 star. Hyatt Coral Gables to save anyone else who might fall prey to them.

Hello &quot;Try&quot;:<BR><BR>Thank you so much for that information. I truthfully never knew that they rated only hotels that were part of their organization. <BR><BR>I was aware, however, that Priceline hotels &quot;rate themselves&quot;. Basically, what I meant to say was that I don't believe any hotel that gets a 5-star rating from Mobil (or even 4-star for that matter) would ever end up on Priceline, no matter what. <BR><BR>Finally, while I would imagine that there are undoubtedly some very good hotels that aren't even on the Mobil list (does anyone have any good examples?), the only hotels that can truly say they are 5-star properties are the 25 listed in the Mobil guide. It's just the fact of the matter. Otherwise, what basis are they using for their &quot;5-star&quot; rating? <BR><BR>P.S. The thread was about &quot;5 star&quot; hotels, not &quot;really, really, really good&quot; hotels.

I just stayed at the Ritz-Carlton in Half Moon Bay. While it was lovely, there were some issues that I regarded as &quot;ify&quot; such as: the bath tub was not even big enough for me (I'm 5'5&quot;) and I wondered why someone would pay a &quot;bath butler&quot; $40 to draw their bath and add a few herbs to it when you can't even unfold your legs in the tub and there weren't jets. <BR><BR>Another issue I had was the fact that you had to be extremely careful walking to the beach not the get hit by a golf ball.<BR><BR>Also, most people wouldn't notice this, but I do yoga, and some of the furniture looked as if a puppy had gotten to it (and I don't believe dogs are allowed at the property) and the dusting was not as good as it could have been.<BR><BR>While the gas fireplace in the room is a nice touch, the fact that the heater didn't work properly and the room was too hot wasn't great.<BR><BR>Yet, the place is lovely and the food at the restaurant delicious. The spa was nice too,though I personally think $135 for an hour massage is high. I waited 'til I got home for that! <BR><BR>The place I was more impressed with as far as setting and service (best ever) quality of the rooms (all marble and kept spotless) was the Marriott Marbella Resort in Spain. I thought the Champs Elysees Marriott was excellent as well, though we were able to get that through Marriott Rewards. I understand the rate in Sept. was $700 a night--no way I'd pay that for it, but it was an excellent location and had beautiful rooms.<BR><BR>Also, the Marriott in Desert Springs is very nice and becomes much more affordable if you get a Marriott Timeshare. We got ours through a realsale and I'm very pleased with it.

Julie, I don't know if aaa meant true 5*''s when she started this thread, but that's the direction the thread has taken. <BR><BR>Everyone thinks of RC as being a great chain, and it is, but as good as they are, they have only 1 5* hotel, that being the one in Naples. That's how exclusive a club it is. The term 5* is beginning to be used generically to mean very very nice hotel, but in the strict sense, it is only a small handful of hotels that earn the actual rating to which the rest of us can only aspire! :&gt; Half Moon Bay, is not a rated, but from what you describe, it couldn't earn 5* if it was. The Marriott Desert Springs is rated, but it is 4*.<BR><BR>There are Mobil 4*'s in Priceline James, but you have to ferret them out, and not confuse the Mobile rating with Priceline's system. As xyz found, that can result in an unhappy surprise. We had our own unhappy experience with a 3* that was anything but....we were not paying, but it was a huge disappointment none-the-less! <BR><BR>I can vouch for the fact that the hotels rate themselves by the way for Priceline. PL lists standards a hotel should meet at various levels. You decide whether you meet those requirements or not. Think about meaning of updated decor--pretty darned subjective. On the other hand, both Mobil and AAA inspectors are trained in uniform standards and are in the house incognito. You learn they've been there inspecting only when the inspection is finished and they sit down with the GM to lay it out. Lord help you if you have an inspector in a pi**y mood, as happened to us once in Savannah. It was so obviously overstated it was appealed, the hotel reinspected, again incognito, and the star reinstated, not to be lost yet. <BR><BR>I wrote a fairly extensive note a while back about the system and how it's implemented. That note is probably still available through a text search (think it dealt with AAA more than Mobil, but the two systems work identically). It's an interesting process and if you saw the hoops hotels jump through to satisfy the stringent requirements for the various star levels, you would understand how participating hotels are protective of the name, either Mobil or AAA, and what it means to achieve a certain star or diamond level. One more note, dealing with Mobil ratings. 5*'s are an elite little club, 4*'s a larger group, but still an elite status, 3*'s is a huge chunk of the hotel population. For example, as many hotels as there are in Florida, there are only 3 5*'s, and about 20 4*'s (including Little Palm Island, which I believe was mentioned in this thread earlier). Those rankings are defining and difficult to earn and retain.<BR><BR>There was a discussion not too long ago about whether the Mobil definition should be the one used, or just the generic meaning for a really nice hotel. If you are one of the hotels who has knocked themself out achieving and maintaining a certain ranking, the answer is obvious. It *really should* mean something to the customer as well, and if not...*why* strive for it?

Personally, I don't think there is much of the population that REALLY worries itself over whether Hotel X has obtained five stars or four stars from the Mobil rating. I have a hard time believing that many hotels at all would suffer if they dropped from 5 to 4 stars in rating, or even 4 to 3. <BR><BR>Still, I guess some of the hotels think &quot;well, we're a four-star now, why not go for the fifth star&quot;.

Recently, my and my SO spent 4 1/2 days on a luxury weekend to celebrate a significant birthday. Most of our vacations, up to now, have been staying at medium-priced chains in the U.S. (that's mostly with the kids with us) or similar places, and in Europe (without the kids) in small 3-star inns. And our vacations are most often the on-the-go, hiking, walking, cultural sights/sites sort of thing (though we've eaten at a variety of restaurants, including the top of the line). So this luxury thing was new to me. One of the places we stayed at was the Ritz Carlton Half Moon Bay (he wanted to golf there).<BR><BR>The service was fantastic, on the whole, and the focus was on getting you what you wanted. Small example - I wanted just a croissant &amp; cappuccino for breakfast, in the conservatory. Apparently they don't usually have croissants in that eating area, but they brought me one from their other restaurant, instead of just saying, &quot;no, we can't do that.&quot; And upon checkout, my breakfast bill had somehow been misplaced. Instead of asking me what I'd had, &amp; adding it to the bill, they just said they couldn't locate the bill &amp; my breakfast was on them (and they had no way of knowing my breakfast was $12, not $52).<BR><BR>The location was beautiful, though I'm sure staying in the town of Half Moon Bay and walking on the beach from there would have given me the same view. And the food at the Ritz, while very nice, did not at all compare to other meals (quality or service) I've had for the same price. (And the breakfast croissant was not fresh)<BR><BR>However, as wonderful as the weekend was - the great service, lots of relaxing, enjoying the ocean location, etc., I wouldn't choose that kind of vacation very often. I'd rather spend my money, for example, going to an exotic or far-away locale, staying at a more average hotel at that location, and experiencing real life in France, of Italy, or wherever. Also, in terms of the service, I've gotten just as good service in much cheaper small inns in Europe; that's probably a cultural difference. Of course, if you're considering a resort, think about what you like to do - I'm not into golf, or tennis, or much of the activities that I'd imagine you'd find at most resorts.

***People should NOT assume that all Ritz Carltons and Four Seasons are &quot;5 star&quot; caliber (however you want to define that).<BR><BR><BR>Particularly within the Ritz chain there are some very close to 3 star hotels, and truly 5 star ones as well. Most are in the 4-4.5 category.

In reading this post, I checked out the Mobil 5 star hotels and found out that I have stayed in two of them. The Beverly Hills Hotel and the Four Seasons Atlanta. While both were very nice, I've stayed at several equally nice places and a couple that I thought were nicer that don't get 5 stars. I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Deter, you are quite correct!! As for the Ritz Half-Moon Bay, the exterior resembles a PRISON!!