Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Why The Categorization Used To Rank Hotels Is Dated And How To Function Despite It

By Adriana Noton


Whether you're going on a business trip or a long awaited holiday, trying to choose hotels is a difficult endeavor. Every country has its own reasons for granting stars. It wouldn't be surprising if you felt you'd need to obtain a degree to understand it all.

Stars are granted for factors like whether or not towels are changed daily, provision of meals and whether reception is open all day. The amenities considered are dated. Today business travelers and holiday makers have other concerns.

The chief priority of most hotel visitors is brilliant service. That means something different than it did in bygone times. In the past, people wanted staff who were constantly visible, busy and in attendance. Today's visitor values the kind of help that is willing to fulfill unusual requests in emergencies and perform duties without disturbing guests. Bellhops, room service and maids who are unnoticed until they are needed are highly valued.

One who spends a lifetime in hotel rooms on business trips needs as little interruption as possible. This person values a maid who becomes familiar with their routine and performs duties at times during which the room is vacant. No method of categorization attempts to quantify this factor, yet it is incredibly rare and appreciated.

Stars also don't take into consideration the individual's reasons for wanting a hotel. For example those who spend their lives in hotels and work from them require a silent environment with business amenities such as private telephone lines and free internet. The presence of large room space, a receptionist who wears a three piece suit and the availability of bathrobes are unimportant.

Traveling families will prioritize planned entertainment, games and sports activities. Their preferred hotel is likely to be a noisy one that the working traveler would despise. That is, until it's time for the kids to go to bed. The mere existence of children necessitates noise which would disrupt the silence required for paperwork and meetings.

More often, people are preferring boutique hotels and because these are, by nature, small, they cannot provide the facilities necessary for the acquisition of 5 stars. Stairs may not be required, let alone lifts, and lobbies are small. Many fabulous boutiques are incapable of earning even one star, yet they are increasingly becoming the preferred place to stay.

In an ideal world, there would be unique categorizations for boutique and large establishments and for those which cater best to business, family or romance. The archaic reasons for current classification would be modernized to reflect what today's market values. While there have been a number of attempts to do this, as well as to standardize a universal system, they have all failed to take hold.

There is a way to work with the systems available to travelers these days. One can utilize the star system to a point, while finding trusted journalists who grant their own categorizations along with articles providing how they came up with those ratings. There are pages on the internet with varied opinions of the public's experience of many facilities. Using these resources in combination, you can gather a fairly reliable review of the hotels you're considering visiting.




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