AAA * * * *
These establishments are upscale in all areas. Accommodations are progressively more refined and stylish. The physical attributes reflect an obvious enhanced level of quality throughout. The fundamental hallmarks at this level include an extensive array of amenities combined with a high degree of hospitality, service, and attention to detail.
Recently I stayed at a local hotel which carries a 4 diamond rating. The name of the hotel isn’t important (let’s just say that the large white hotel faces San Francisco Bay and its name rhymes with that of another expensive hotel chain known as the Fairmont).
Let’s review a few things:
Room, double-occupancy with Bay View: $269
Resort fee: $24
Parking fee: $21
Applicable tax: $27
Room rate total = $341
That’s for one night.
Let’s add in a few other things:
In-room movie: $9.95
or
In-room “CD” jukebox: $9.95
Cocktails or other refreshments at bar: $35
Brunch for 2 = $56 per person, or $112
+ room = $498
Now, to remind everybody—this is for one night. $500 for one night. The hotel room was OK. Not thrilling. Just nice. Only nice in the way you might say, “yeah, that’s nice and all but . . .” Leaving such amenities as room service, spa treatments, and other incidentals aside, and only looking at the ‘base model’ accommodations, our bill was almost $350. Now there are $350 rooms and those which are worth more or less. In my estimation, $350 should include a well-appointed room, clean without stains on the walls, furniture or bedding, furniture dusted and polished, and the desk and bedside table empty of trash and pills leftover from the previous guest, and a bathroom well-stocked with the usual accoutrements (toiletries, hair dryer, a good supply of towels), and ideally, the window-frames painted and the windows washed. Ideally, if you request a wake-up call, one should be placed to the room.
I’ve stayed in a number of hotels from motor lodges to motels to luxury hotels domestically and internationally. I’ve seen hotels that provide a spread of amenities included in the base price and those which charge for just about everything. For example, I had the occasion to stay a number of nights over the course of a year at the Holiday Inn Express and a night here or there at the Marriott. Comparing these two brands provides enough to illustrate my point:
Holiday Inn Express
Room $89-$100 per night includes: free parking, free wi-fi, free cable TV, free local calls, business center, pool, fitness center, breakfast included, coffee available 24 hours, ice and vending.
Marriott
Room $100-150 per night includes: room.
Wi-fi or high-speed internet access= $11 for 24 hour access in room; .50 per minute if accessed from lobby; business center carries per minute access fee; parking $10-20; pay-per-view TV; local calls charged; breakfast $15 (average); coffee available from on-site snack-bar $2.50 for Starbucks Grande drip coffee ($1.85 is the average cost for a Venti at Starbucks).
The nickel-and-dime approach to hotel stays (much like the airline industry) infuriates me. You spend over $100 for the bed and everything else is tacked on charges. This is not to mention the usual visitors-and-convention fees, resort fees, occupancy taxes, frequent flier surcharge, non-frequent flier surcharge, surcharge for administrative processing of other charges. I’m surprised there is not a Gideons Bible storage fee also charged onto one’s bill.
However, the counter-argument has to be taken into account. Save for the parking fee, everything else is an incidental. While most will make use of the bed, the bath or shower, and most will remove that paper band tucked around the lid of the toilet seat reassuring us that it has been sanitized for our safety or comfort or what-have-you, things like wi-fi, pay-per-view movies (including those films charged to your room that simply show up on your bill as –In Room Movie . . . $15 when other movies only cost $9.95—), coffee, breakfast, shrimp cocktails, dry cleaning, secretary services, and child care are generally amenities or luxuries (or absolute requirements for those with un-audited expense accounts). Nevertheless, spending nearly $500 for a room should afford such a guest certain built-in conveniences like free local phone calls and free wi-fi, and a clean room, and a bedside table empty of half-eaten red vines (unlikely that these red vines were purchased from the mini-bar, unless, half-way through eating the candy, the previous guest realized the price of the licorice was exactly one-half the cost of a steak dinner, that the guest choked on the licorice and died, hence the reason why the room wasn’t entirely clean upon our arrival).
Before concluding, it is important to note that all things related to hotel costs and nickel-and-diming guests are best illustrated through the presence and cost of items contained in the room’s mini-bar. Apparently a mini-bar should be the model for interest-bearing accounts and other situations where rapid growth or valuation is sought. For example, in the world where I live, the average 12 oz soft drink, for example a relatively rare brand like, um, Coca-Cola, may be purchased from a vending machine for $.85 whereas in the magical world of the mini-bar the same can now runs $3.50. That is a 311% increase. If only my mutual funds and other accounts were similarly productive.
Recently I stayed at a local hotel which carries a 4 diamond rating. The name of the hotel isn’t important (let’s just say that the large white hotel faces San Francisco Bay and its name rhymes with that of another expensive hotel chain known as the Fairmont).
Let’s review a few things:
Room, double-occupancy with Bay View: $269
Resort fee: $24
Parking fee: $21
Applicable tax: $27
Room rate total = $341
That’s for one night.
Let’s add in a few other things:
In-room movie: $9.95
or
In-room “CD” jukebox: $9.95
Cocktails or other refreshments at bar: $35
Brunch for 2 = $56 per person, or $112
+ room = $498
Now, to remind everybody—this is for one night. $500 for one night. The hotel room was OK. Not thrilling. Just nice. Only nice in the way you might say, “yeah, that’s nice and all but . . .” Leaving such amenities as room service, spa treatments, and other incidentals aside, and only looking at the ‘base model’ accommodations, our bill was almost $350. Now there are $350 rooms and those which are worth more or less. In my estimation, $350 should include a well-appointed room, clean without stains on the walls, furniture or bedding, furniture dusted and polished, and the desk and bedside table empty of trash and pills leftover from the previous guest, and a bathroom well-stocked with the usual accoutrements (toiletries, hair dryer, a good supply of towels), and ideally, the window-frames painted and the windows washed. Ideally, if you request a wake-up call, one should be placed to the room.
I’ve stayed in a number of hotels from motor lodges to motels to luxury hotels domestically and internationally. I’ve seen hotels that provide a spread of amenities included in the base price and those which charge for just about everything. For example, I had the occasion to stay a number of nights over the course of a year at the Holiday Inn Express and a night here or there at the Marriott. Comparing these two brands provides enough to illustrate my point:
Holiday Inn Express
Room $89-$100 per night includes: free parking, free wi-fi, free cable TV, free local calls, business center, pool, fitness center, breakfast included, coffee available 24 hours, ice and vending.
Marriott
Room $100-150 per night includes: room.
Wi-fi or high-speed internet access= $11 for 24 hour access in room; .50 per minute if accessed from lobby; business center carries per minute access fee; parking $10-20; pay-per-view TV; local calls charged; breakfast $15 (average); coffee available from on-site snack-bar $2.50 for Starbucks Grande drip coffee ($1.85 is the average cost for a Venti at Starbucks).
The nickel-and-dime approach to hotel stays (much like the airline industry) infuriates me. You spend over $100 for the bed and everything else is tacked on charges. This is not to mention the usual visitors-and-convention fees, resort fees, occupancy taxes, frequent flier surcharge, non-frequent flier surcharge, surcharge for administrative processing of other charges. I’m surprised there is not a Gideons Bible storage fee also charged onto one’s bill.
However, the counter-argument has to be taken into account. Save for the parking fee, everything else is an incidental. While most will make use of the bed, the bath or shower, and most will remove that paper band tucked around the lid of the toilet seat reassuring us that it has been sanitized for our safety or comfort or what-have-you, things like wi-fi, pay-per-view movies (including those films charged to your room that simply show up on your bill as –In Room Movie . . . $15 when other movies only cost $9.95—), coffee, breakfast, shrimp cocktails, dry cleaning, secretary services, and child care are generally amenities or luxuries (or absolute requirements for those with un-audited expense accounts). Nevertheless, spending nearly $500 for a room should afford such a guest certain built-in conveniences like free local phone calls and free wi-fi, and a clean room, and a bedside table empty of half-eaten red vines (unlikely that these red vines were purchased from the mini-bar, unless, half-way through eating the candy, the previous guest realized the price of the licorice was exactly one-half the cost of a steak dinner, that the guest choked on the licorice and died, hence the reason why the room wasn’t entirely clean upon our arrival).
Before concluding, it is important to note that all things related to hotel costs and nickel-and-diming guests are best illustrated through the presence and cost of items contained in the room’s mini-bar. Apparently a mini-bar should be the model for interest-bearing accounts and other situations where rapid growth or valuation is sought. For example, in the world where I live, the average 12 oz soft drink, for example a relatively rare brand like, um, Coca-Cola, may be purchased from a vending machine for $.85 whereas in the magical world of the mini-bar the same can now runs $3.50. That is a 311% increase. If only my mutual funds and other accounts were similarly productive.
I dunno, I've been frequently making the rounds at hotels. It does amaze me about the price that some places has gone up, but at the same time I think you can fetch much more for the price. We stayed at a lovely inn in San Luis Obispo for 78 dollars, and it was quite nice.
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