Category Archives: News & Notes

LA Times: What does it take for a hotel to get a five-star Forbes rating?

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The LA Times wrote a good article about what it takes to reach a 5 Star rating with Forbes Travel.  According to the LA Times:

los_angeles_times_logoIt may not come as a surprise that California — a sun-splashed magnet for celebrities and big-spending tourists — leads the nation with the number of hotels winning five-star ratings from Forbes Travel Guide.  But winning the coveted rating is no easy feat. Only 58 hotels in the U.S. — 12 in California — were awarded the recognition this year, including, for the first time, the Resort at Pelican Hill in Newport Beach.  

The Forbes five-star rating is considered more difficult to land than the five-diamond rating from AAA, which awarded its top ranking to 101 hotels in the U.S. this year.

Hotel owners vie for the Forbes distinction because it enables them to charge much higher rates. For example, the four-star Beverly Hilton recently posted average daily rates of $245 to $325, while the five-star rated Beverly Hills Hotel posted rates of $510 to $540.

The main difference between a 4-star hotel and a 5-star hotel is typically guest service and amenities.  From the article:

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Marriott Unveils New Mozy Hotel Brand for Gen X & Y European Travelers

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Marriott plans to add up to 150 new Moxy Hotels in 10 countries across Europe.  The new affordable, three-star brand with a contemporary style is aimed at generation X and generation Y travelers.  The first hotel is expected to open in Milan in early 2014.  From the Marriott press release:

MoxyMarriott plans to add 150 franchised MOXY HOTELS in Europe over the next 10 years, aiming for locations in Germany, Austria, United Kingdom, Ireland, Belgium, Italy, The Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden.  The new brand will fuel Marriott’s company-wide growth in the region, which is expected to reach 80,000 rooms by 2015.

The guest rooms will be simple, yet technologically advanced.  From the press release:

The contemporary and stylish 150- to 300-room MOXY HOTELS, which are being designed with the goal of attaining LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, will cater to today’s budget-minded, savvy travelers who thrive on self-service and embrace new technology.  Guestrooms will be functional and well-designed, with upscale bath amenities, large flat screen televisions and built-in USB ports located within each wall socket. The color palette features calming neutral tones reminiscent of rich brown leather, combined with natural materials to evoke an organic, comfortable and restorative feel. Each room will also feature a floor to ceiling signature “art wall” that is hand selected to reflect the local city or surroundings.

Here is a video highlighting the new brand: Continue reading →

LA Times – Hotel chains boost loyalty point requirements to book a free room

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The LA Times gives us some solid numbers on a trend we have noticed for the past year or so:  hotel companies are dramatically increasing the number of points required to book a free room.  From the LA Times:

los_angeles_times_logoStarwood Preferred Guests, the program for the Westin, Sheraton and W hotels, among others, raised the rate by at least 25% on nearly 250 hotels. The changes took place Tuesday.

Wyndham Rewards, which includes Days Inn and Howard Johnson, is raising the points requirement by as much as 66% on about 1,600 hotels around the world. At an additional 2,900 or so hotels the rates are dropping, and they are staying the same at about 2,700 hotels. The changes take place Thursday.

Hilton HHonors, which covers Hampton Inn, DoubleTree, Embassy Suites and Waldorf Astoria, among others, is hiking the points requirement on many of its hotels 14% to 50%. The changes start March 28.

The Marriott Rewards program, which includes Fairfield, Courtyard, Ritz-Carlton and TownePlace Suites, will raise the points requirement by at least 33% for more than 1,300 of its hotels. The program also created a higher tier for its most expensive hotels. The changes take effect May 16.

Most of the hotel companies adjust their point scale at least once per year.  It is not too surprising to see a big increase.  Many markets have seen incredible occupancy jumps over the last 12 months and most markets have an occupancy greater than the pre-recession years.

Source:  LA Times Article

Forbes Travel Guide Releases 2013 Star Award Winners

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ForbesForbes Travel (formerly Mobil) has just released its list of hotels that achieved their top rating for 2013.  Forbes rates hotels in a similar manner as AAA but uses stars instead of diamonds.  Both use a scale of 1 to 5.  Forbes added quite a few more properties to their list for 2013.  From the press release:

This year, we gave out more awards than ever before, with 27 new Five-Stars, 75 new Four-Stars and 30 new Recommended properties earning the coveted distinctions in travel. Those that surpassed our more than 500 standards clinched Five-Star awards, the industry’s highest service accolade. Four-Star winners offered excellent experiences, and Recommended properties were well-appointed spots.

There are now over 300 either 4 or 5 Star rates hotels from Forbes.  From the press release:

The 2013 Forbes Travel Guide Star lists includes 76 Five-Star hotels, 28 Five-Star restaurants, 35 Five-Star spas; 226 Four-Star hotels, 143 Four-Star restaurants and 136 Four-Star spas. There are 24 hotels and 17 restaurants listed in the “recommended” category.

Here is the full list of the 5 Star Forbes Rated Hotels (with links):

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LA Times: FTC Warns About ‘Drip Pricing’. Are Resort Fees Coming to an End?

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Hotel resort fees may soon be coming to an end.  The LA Times is reporting that the Federal Trade Commission has warned 22 hotel operators that adding fees (such as resort fees) might violate the law.

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From the LA Times:

In May, the FTC hosted a conference on what it calls “drip pricing,” which it described as “a technique in which firms advertise only part of a product’s price and reveal other charges later as the customer goes through the buying process. The additional charges can be mandatory charges, such as hotel resort fees or fees for optional upgrades and add-ons.”

Sound familiar? Kevin Mitchell, chairman of the Business Travel Coalition; Charlie Leocha, executive director of the Consumer Travel Alliance; and Ed Perkins, a longtime consumer advocate, think it does. In an August letter to the FTC, the three wrote: “Mandatory artificial fees … can make a hotel’s posted rate appear to be below the true price by as much as $30 a night — more than enough to drive consumer choices in the travel marketplace.” They noted that the practice makes it difficult to determine how much your final bill will be, which hurts leisure and business travelers who must be attentive to the bottom line.

While non-mandatory fees such as parking charges appear to be acceptable, mandatory fees such as resort fees ‘might’ violate the law.  From the article:

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UK Bed Bugs Hotel Monitoring System Coming to the US

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In our favorite hotel-related story this week (mainly because we want to post a picture of a bed bug sniffing beagle), Bed-Bugs.co.uk has partnered with Dana K9 to provide their service in New York and New Jersey.  Bed-bugs.co.uk created a Bed Bugs’ Hotel Environmental Monitoring System and will now be bringing it to the US.  From their press release:

Pioneering British company Bed-Bugs.co.uk is delighted to announce the signing of an exclusive licensing agreement with New York based bed bug specialists Dana K9 Inc.  

The agreement allows Dana K9 to use, install and distribute Bed Bugs’ Hotel Environmental Monitoring System within New York State and New Jersey.

Widely used throughout the United Kingdom, the Hotel monitoring system is a complete control strategy for the detection and control of bed bug infestations in hotels, hostels and care homes.

The system combines patented passive monitoring detection technology with highly developed, eco-friendly, processes for dealing with bed bug infestations.  

Wherever possible, non-chemical means are used to eradicate bed bug infestations, with a corresponding reduction in potential environmental damage.

A little bit about their partner, Dana K9, from the press release:

With over 25 years experience in the pest control business, Dana K9 specialise in advanced methods of pest detection and control, introducing new technologies to their customers and using their team of highly trained and certified detection dogs for bed bug and termite infestations.

It will be nice to have another tool to keep your hotel out of the dreaded bed bug database.

Source:  Press Release

Source:  Bed-Bugs.co.uk

Source:  Dana K9

Google’s New Hotel Finder Features Are Now Live, Be Sure to Update Your Hotel Information

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Google has been slowly improving its travel tools and now just launched new features for Google Flights and Hotel Finder.  The Hotel Finder is very impressive.  For instance, with a few clicks, I can find 828 hotels in Los Angeles.  I can then sort the results by price, star rating, user rating, or price compared to usual.  I was able to find a great room at the W Hotel in Hollywood for tonight for only $118.  Google says that the price is 56 percent lower than the usual price.

Google Hotels

Google also added an incredible new feature that allows you to check out the neighborhood around the hotel you select.  It is very handy for first-time visitors who are looking for a walkable location, like Hollywood.  You can even draw your own custom map area to find a hotel that meets all of your needs.  You can now even search an area by brand if you are a Hilton Honors or Marriott Rewards collector.

Because of the new search features, be sure to take a few minutes and review the information for your hotel and make sure everything is correct.  Also, make sure all of your features are listed.  Potential guests will now search for things like ‘downtown Los Angeles, 3 stars or more, and free wi-fi’.  If you do not have free wi-fi listed as a feature of your hotel, you will miss out on potential reservations.  Be sure to also take a minute to review your star ratings and your internet reputation.

Source:  Google Flights

Source:  Hotel Finder

AAA Adds 9 New 5 Diamond Hotels for 2013

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For 2013, nine more hotels achieved the prestigious honor of AAA’s top-level, Five Diamond.  A total of 125 hotels and 53 restaurants in North America are now AAA Five Diamond certified.  That is only .3 percent of the total 59,000 rated AAA hotels and restaurants!  From the AAA press release:

aaa-five-diamond-awardThe path to a Five Diamond Rating is rigorous. Properties identified by AAA as potential candidates for the Five Diamond Rating undergo multiple unannounced evaluations by a AAA inspector and final decision by a panel of experts. In addition to the evaluation of physical attributes, potential Five Diamond establishments are subject to thorough onsite assessments of all guest services from the initial reservation through checkout for hotels and from seating to  presentation for restaurants. Each area is evaluated based on level of competence, refinement and hospitality.

Here is a list of the new AAA Approved Five Diamond Hotels and Restaurants:

Continue reading →

AAA Announces Changes to the Approval Requirements for Hotels

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aaa-five-diamond-award

In the second half of 2012, AAA started implementing changes in how they score hotels that are candidates for 5 diamond status.  This was the first time they have made a change to their program since the year 2007.

The new AAA Hotel Rating Guidelines can be found here.  Click on the link halfway through the article to download the PDF.  If you skip to page 30 on the PDF file, you will see the new AAA Hospitality Standards for Five Diamond Hotels. 

Here are a few highlights that we have seen:

  1. It appears to be much harder to pass.  The old program had 391 possible points, the new program has only 345 possible points.  However, it appears the minimum needed to pass is still 268 points.  You used to need only 68.5 percent to pass, now you will need to score 77.7 percent.
  2. Many of the points that were removed were the easiest points.  You no longer get points for having 24-hour reservations, accurate pre-programmed phones, or the ability to post miscellaneous charges to the guest room.  I would estimate that most hotels will lose about 15 to 20 points from their previous score because these standards were removed.
  3. The new scoring is a bit more subjective than the old scoring system.  Instead of ‘attendant addresses guest by name during closing’, the new standard is ‘attendant uses guest’s name as appropriate for the manner of the guest.’  Other standards include ‘attendant provides an appropriate introduction’ and ‘attendant extends an appropriate closing’.
  4. The last question in each section ‘Hospitality, Refinement, and/or Competency’ now can be scored anywhere from 3 points to minus 3 points.  If any employee provides poor service or gives incorrect information, you can now lose 6 points pretty easily.
  5. A few of the very hard-to achieve standards have been eliminated.  For instance, room service no longer has the standard ‘there is additional evidence of personalized services’.

If you need help preparing for your audit, contact us.  The TrueGuest Service Experience Audit is the measurement and feedback tool you need to help you succeed.

Source:  AAA Approval Requirements & Diamond Rating Guidelines for Lodgings

Jacob Tomsky Spills Our Dirty Secrets with ‘Confessions of a Hotel Insider’

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A great post today on tech site Lifehacker from author Jacob Tomsky.  Jacob Tomsky recently wrote the book ‘Heads in Beds: A Reckless Memoir of Hotels, Hustles, and So-Called Hospitality.  In his clever blog post on LifeHacker, he mentions a few tips for guests such as things a guest should never say, never do, and things that every guest must know.  A few highlights:

heads in bedsNever say: “My credit card declined? That’s impossible. Run it again.”
Man, don’t make me run it again. If your CC declines once, it will, without question, decline again. Your card is not a crumpled old dollar, and the banking system is not a stubborn vending machine. That’s not how the banking system works. You need to call your bank. And, no, you can’t use my phone.

Never do: Do not continue your phone conversation during the entire check-in.
Can you imagine how it feels, as a human, to be part of someone else’s effort to multitask? While you say to the phone, “Uh-huh. Yeah. Yeah, well, I told her they wouldn’t go for it. I know these people,” I get the lift of an eyebrow, side glances, brief and uninterested head nods thrown in my direction indicating your main focus remains on your call, perhaps a moment where you hold the phone slightly away from your ear to benevolently allow me 5 percent of your attention. That call will end in five minutes. But because you treated me like an automatic check-in machine, this room I’m giving you will plague your whole stay.

Things every guest must know:  Basically, never pay for the minibar, in room movies, or for cancelling a room past the cut off. 

Overall, pretty clever and right on the mark.  We’ve canceled many rooms using his method and hate hearing guests’ tragic airline stories as well.  Snarky, sure… but funny.

Link:  Article on LifeHacker