USA Today article re hotels/amenities
 

I read the hard copy just now and thought you all might be interested. Here's a link to the online version: http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/...-amenities.htm

I've wondered how long it would take for this to happen with discounting becoming mainstream, rather than a "geekism", as it started. Sooner or later something had to give, and apparently it has. The old adages that you "can't have your cake and eat it too", combined with "you get what you pay for" ring very true.

They mention luxury hotels not stripping away amenities...Ritz Carltons and 4 Seasons named specifically, but neither of them sell on Priceline or the like either. They went on to say they have to justify their positioning in the marketplace.

I wonder if anyone has noticed cuts. We were just away for a week and were surprised to find an unmanned Regency Club where we were...a first, to my knowledge.

We went through this in another era, early 90's, and I recall specific discussions on what would be cut. Hated to see them go then, just as I do now. Luxurious pampering is wonderful, but costly, and with barebones pricing, it could not survive. They never did quite return to the level we experienced in the late 80's.

So, if you can't have everything, what in your opinion is critical and must be spared the chopping block, and what could you easily do without if you must do without something?

Sorry about the formatting!


There actually were paragraphs when I wrote that. It neither previewed nor posted with them however. They may have to still work out a bug or tWo, but the preview is a nice feature!

OliveOyl, I noticed the missing paragraphs on a previous posting today.

I could easily give up the little shower caps and hand/body lotions, and face soaps, as I prefer to use my own. I do use their shampoos, depending on the brand and length of stay. For longer stays, I use my own brand, for one night, I may use their's.

Olive- as someone with ties to the industry you are well positioned to comment. From my own persepctive, I have seen some changes in the last year or so. A club room was recently totally closed at a Crowne Plaza property where I frequently stay. Staff was quite frank in noting that it was due to economic conditions. At other properties catering to business travelers, the perks have been downgraded a bit - instead of shrimp cocktails for happy hour, it's spaghetti and meatballs. Quite honestly, these aren't essential services for me. I DO highly value having a coffee maker in my room, with an adequate supply of decent regular and decaf. One of my pet peeves is insufficient coffee condiments such as one or two sweetener packets for a whole pot. The property with the closed club upgraded their in room coffee and replaced that awful powedered stuff with those little plastic cups of creamer and a generous supply of sweetener. Though I missed the AM breakfast and PM snacks, I was quite pleased with the in room coffee and will continue to use the property. And while I'm ranting on, I fiercely resent the placement of bottled water for sale (at a ridicuous price!) on the desk, and see it as little more than a way for the property to take advantage of unsophisticated customers.
Yes, it is tough times out there, and some of the extravagances of lusher times will fade away. I still think that the need to demonstrate attention to customer needs/wants is critical to staying competitive, and recall the comment of Continental Airlines CEO Gordon Bethune that it would be foolish to reduce onboard amenities at a time when competition for customers is increasing.

Hi Olive, I agree with Seamus about the coffee thing. One of my biggest complaints, is insuffiient coffee supplies and bad coffee. We recently stayed at the new Radisson in Savannah and loved it! It is belive called a "boutique" hotel. The had gorgeous pillowtop beds, double sheeting, and 4 pillows per queen size bed (2 beds). The funiture was fabulous, not your average hotel furniture. They also has very nice toiletries, very upscale. AND most importantly had Starbucks coffee packs, reg & decaf, instead of Maxwell House that a lot of hotels have. I could easily have that type of hotel again. It was 140$ a night and was worth evry penny, in fact, it was a bargain. Judy

I too agree with coffee supplies being essential, and rarely well-stocked - I'm a double cream kind of gal!). Love the robes. Like the shower cap, but I've never used the shoe buff thingy or the sewing kit. Could care less about the "lotions and potions" I bring my own. Would love to see mini-toothbrushes...can't recall how many times one of us forgot to bring one! And I'm probably weird, but also love the double sheeting around the blankets...just feels more pristine.

I agree this is a tough economy, and it only makes sen$e for the industry to trim where it can.

I emailed the article to my husband and this was his email reply: "We have not altered any of our guestroom amenity programs and don't plan on it, but the point to be taken out of this article for the traveler is that if the rate continue to be driven down by the various impact points of the economy, the little treats will get skinny".

I want to answer more fully (from the traveller's standpoint) but we are headed out in minutes and I've got to run. Nice post, thoughtful, Seamus, I agree. More tomorrow. Agree too on the coffee issue. We use Starbucks, but I don't think there is ever enough for double occupancy rooms! Can do without lotions too, using my own, and own shampoo as well...again, more tomorrow--he's champing at the bit downstairs!

I'm sure I'm an outlier, but I value my vacations highly and I go to great lengths to make sure they're well-planned and without disappointing surprises as much as possible....as such, I'm willing to pay for the amenities which are costly.
I will gladly pay extra for higher thread count linens, a nice exercise facility, good quality room service food, nice bath products, etc.

I sense from my reading and observations that the high end hotels are still doing good business in these difficult economic times, but the mid range places seem to be suffering the most. The economy places seem less affected than the mid range places.

I know I've encountered many instances when my plans have been road blocked by sold out luxury hotels over the past year. Coach Leather's stock just hit a 52 week high and the company has revised earnings projections for the year to much higher levels. Gucci and Tiffany are also holding up very well. And there are still long waiting lists for many of the very expensive limited production cars.
I think that on average the upper percentage income brackets have been less affected by the sour economy than mid and lower levels.
And this is one big reason why Four Seasons and RC can hold the line on prices and amenities.

Well, I've been booking through Priceline and Hotwire for several years now. Unbelievably low prices for 4*'s or more. I, personally, don't care about the toiletries. To me, it's too silly to pay $50-100 (or more) per night for tiny shampoo samples or a little sewing kit. And, I've noticed that more and more places leave a card to just phone the front desk for anything you don't have with you - even Holiday Inns! If there are only two bathtowels, we just phone housekeeping, whereupon more are delivered forthwith. Or, we leave a note for the maid.

We haven't noticed any reduction in concierge services so far. Quite the opposite, in fact.

My biggest gripe these days is with "electronic" mini-bars where you can't store "real" cream for the coffee, or aren't even refrigerated. No problem for us, though, we just bring our portable fridge if we're driving. If we fly, there's nearly always a Starbucks very close by. Or, we just order room service coffee (more often than not, they waive all those per-person and gratuity fees). Or, in the wintertime, bring a thermos and have the bartender in the lounge provide a pitcher of cream for our morning coffee. Given the whoppingly reduced Priceline/Hotwire rates, coffee from room service, if you have to have it, is surely no big deal.

Since I've been booking with Hotwire and Priceline, I cannot IMAGINE booking any other way...or paying "regular rates" for any of the places we've stayed.

One thing I have noticed this year and last, bellhops, doormen, etc., are enormously more appreciative of tips.

Though, in Baltimore a while back, we were on the whatever-its-called floor of the Hyatt and the "lounge" with the breakfast, h'ors d'oevres, cocktails, was never once open during our several day stay when we wandered by (and more often than not, our room key didn't work in the elevator!).

One thing I truly appreciate lately is way more comfortable beds everywhere we've stayed (again, including a Holiday Inn), lots and lots of pillows, and down comforters. Though, it's often really tough to get up and going every day!

You know, most folks, when traveling, want only a comfortable bed, decently sized room (with reasonable lighting and outlets), good shower with reasonably instant hot water and shower pressure, and adequate towels.

I have no idea what you mean by "pampering", but, to me, anyway, it's probably not worth the extra.

OliveOyl, can you please tell me what you do? I am very curious as you might be someone I work with!

Well, djkbooks, it's a good thing there are plenty of travellers with your perspective or entities like Priceline would go under.
On the other hand, it's agood thing there are travellers who are still interested in luxury and pampering or the top hotels like the Four Seasons and such would go out of business as well.
Obviously there is plenty of diversity in the travel marketplace.


To TxTravelPro:
While OliveOyl will likely respond herself, I'll offer up that her husband is a GM in the Hyatt Corporation. She lives at a Hyatt in Florida (Tampa area?) and knows the chain hotel business inside and out, both in FL and beyond.
And she hates grey pop-up ads!!!

TxTravelPro, rwilliams pretty much summed it up. I'm just along for the ride, but because we "live-in", I'm more involved in his job than the average spouse....and the business fascinates me. (Good thing) We *were* in your area for nearly 2 decades--he opened Hyatt Reunion downtown Dallas in '77 as controller, and was Resident Manager at Hyatt DFW later. And we were neighbors...us a town just a bit northwest of you.

Anyhooo...I found the article interesting. Have wondered how/when the rate crunch and proliferation of PCLN-like reservations would eventually impact the industry. Think perhaps I'm too involved in that aspect, when, as my dh says, those reservations are little more than a gnat on an elephant's rump. It's more the economy with business travel still down significantly.

PCLN and the like must have some impact as well, however, as hotel corps themselves have joined forces in creating alternatives to traditional reservations, giving a price break, though not as deep, yet assure hotel selection, which for many people, myself included if we had to do it, is mandatory.

His philosophy, was echoed in this article...staff cuts where possible without impacting guests. Back of the house, engineering, res (esp in these days with central res systems having access to every bit of our availability). Dept heads adjusting staffing as well as amenities to occupancy--perhaps why Seamus found a closed club room, djkbooks a closed Regency Club (those rooms are all keyed entry though..I take it you mean it was dark), and we found one unstaffed. Rarely now do you find attendants in health clubs, but that isn't something we need either. Concierge is a nice feature, but they spend a lot of idle time too.

Then there are trials which do impact guests. What is acceptable if there had to be cuts, and what isn't? Some hotels, I think it started during a CA drought, began asking you to place towels in a different area if you didn't want them replaced with fresh ones each day. That's fine by me. I don't use fresh ones at home daily, but the quality better be there still...no skimpy treadbare hand towel-sized things purporting to be bath towels!! (A hotel pet peeve of mine.)

Sheets are changed every day. Can that go? It can as far as I'm concerned. Who at home puts clean sheets on daily--I was surprised to learn hotels do, thinking beds were just made up daily providing you were only there a couple of days. And lest anyone misunderstand...LOL, I'm talking about the same guest staying more than one night, not a change of guests! From some past posts...thought I'd better clarify that! :> But don't skimp on the quality of bedding in any way shape or form.

Shampoo, body lotion, conditioner, shower caps, shoe shine kits, sewing kits. I still remember one thread with a line by the OP, "when will hotels realize we want (demand?) quality amenities". I couldn't help but think...be glad for what you have, chick-a-dee! I'd hate to see it all go, but always bring my own as I prefer them. I have not seen cuts here, but have heard discussion of not replenishing with fresh bottles daily, which is what is done currently.

Turn down service nightly? Perhaps by request. Chocolates are a nice touch, but face it, they aren't all that good anyway. (And I recall a thread where someone thought they were being put there to...er...get you "in the mood"). Like the hotel cares! LOL *That* would most definitely fall into the category of a service above and beyond the call of duty--which could be cut!

OK...this is too long already. Personally I'd hate to see any of the nice touches go, but some of those I mentioned above (sheets, not replacing partially used amenities etc), I'd probably never even notice and could live happily with.

Smiles, personal attention, a name used in addressing someone, never cost a thing and can more than make up for any number of cutbacks here and there. Others?

I've been using priceline for about a year now, and it has almost totally removed including the cost of the room as a concern when planning a trip. We have a daughter in college in Miami and also like to visit New York and Washington, and can now do so more often. It's just amazing to me that I can get quality hotels (Hyatt, Watergate, Shoreham, etc) at such rock-bottom prices.

What could I do without? Well, I never use the coffee, and usually move it to free up the space. I rarely use the numbers of towels put out, but I do appreciate fresh ones each day. I wish that hotels used contour sheets--I care less about thread count than about keeping things in place! Turndown is not something I miss, and it's a good thing, since I can't remember when it last occurred! I've noticed that they are not replenishing the soaps, shampoos and lotions every day, but I'm glad they are still provided. I don't ever use the concierge, but do appreciate prompt valet retrieval of my car, and help with bags, and those servers do seem very friendly and appreciative.

My number one wish would be to actually have a queen bed! I don't know what that size is supposed to be when there are two beds, but it is NOT as big as my queen bed at home, and I don't like the vastness of a king bed either.

I'm with Marilyn, queen beds are a must, especially since we often travel with kids and they are in one bed and my husband and I are in another. Double beds are just too small for 2 people.

I rarely use the coffee, my husband is a coffee snob and neither of us can stand the powdered milk, we have to have half-n-half so we always go to a Starbucks for coffee in the am. So coffee I can do without.

I do like the shampoo and conditioner since I hate packing my own. Of course I need soap, and I like having it replaced often. I don't have to have the sheets changed every day, unless I am staying in a top hotel and paying big bucks, then I think they should be fresh daily. I'm willing to forgo this when I stay with priceline, which I've been doing more and more often too.

I like new towels. If I hang them up I never know who's is who's, so I'd rather just have them replaced.

I noticed that when we stayed at the Hilton Tapation Cliffs and the Radisson Poco Diablo that there was no turn down service. Both of these were Priceline stays so it didn't bother me, but the kids actually noticed and wondered where the chocolates were (I said we could buy a lot of chocolate with the Priceline savings).

When at El Tovar they did provide turndown service, but of course this is a hotel that doesn't discount. I noticed that this seems to be one of the biggest cost cutting measures for hotels as fewer and fewer of them are still providing it, and when you think about it, it's a costly service due to the manpower involved.