In the pre-internet-domination days, Forbes star ratings or AAA’s diamond ratings provided an immediate litmus test of luxury, with a five star or diamond as an immediate indicator. Regrettably, the sun has set on these traditional bulwarks of quality control. TripAdvisor and other online review agencies have now assumed the mantle of being the traveling public’s quality thermometer.

As a hotelier, it may seem counterintuitive that limited-service or economy properties can achieve a prestigious TripAdvisor rating of 4.5+ out of 5. And yet somehow, the public now equates free WiFi and waffles to be more important than evening turndown service or 24/7 concierge availability. The standards for third-party approval are now based upon emotional whims rather than logical systems and checklists.

However much I gripe, the situation is what it is, and instead of fighting the current, we must accept this paradigm shift and adapt accordingly. I recently set out to visit six purported luxury properties throughout Southern Florida. Each of these properties has exceptionally high TripAdvisor scores in addition to four or five star and diamond ratings.

What was surprising to me was the wide variability in accommodation quality and service offerings. All of these half dozen properties appeared to be trying to save money, cut corners and scrape by with near-minimum standards. Whether this is a product of decreased overall margins (or already knowing what their target demographic of ‘luxury customers’ already wanted and excising everything else in the name of efficiency) is still up for grabs.

I might add that I did not ask for comp rooms. After all, this was peak season in Florida! Moreover, I wanted an unbiased treatment. My findings are as follows:

1. A lack of value. Every room night was over $500. Add to that the compulsory resort fee ranging from $27 to $45 per night, $38 to $54 for parking and mandatory taxes, and each night was close to $650. Now at that price range, I would expect that there would be some special treatment, or at least some added value. But alas, there was the large water bottle with an $8 price tag and an outrageously priced mini-bar. The complimentary magazines, usually plentiful, were down to just one or two. Welcome amenities and welcome notes from the GM were non-existent. WiFi was variable, too. All featured some form of free WiFi, often available if you were a member of a loyalty program. However, the ‘free’ version was typically so slow that you felt second-class. Morning newspaper delivery? Can’t even find one in the breakfast room. How about a simple flower vase in the room? You must be kidding.

1. Imperfect housekeeping. I’ve long stressed the importance of housekeeping and standards that must be upheld. Every one of the hotels I visited failed in one way or more to achieve my minimum housekeeping criteria. Some of the flaws were so flagrant that Conrad Hilton would be rolling in his grave! I don’t like a knock on the door at 8:30am with the words loudly spoken, “Housekeeping!” After all, checkout is at noon and check-in for the next guest is 4:00pm; certainly there could be some sense of timeliness. What’s most surprising here is how important housekeeping is to the average online commentator. Being flawless in this regard is a vital part of the new age TripAdvisor paradigm of hotel reviews, and yet we are still failing to give guests what they want.

On a related note, one of the latest housekeeping ideas is to reuse towels, supposedly for eco-friendly reasons (but really to save laundry costs). At one property, even those I left on the floor were picked up, folded and placed back on the racks. Amenity bottles – half-used shampoos, for example – were not replenished. Bed sheets were often not changed daily at all six hotels. The list of errors by traditional standards could fill a page. I do not fault the housekeepers, though! Rather, I fault operational management who are probably pushing too many rooms per shift on these hourly employees.

1. Rip-off breakfasts. I know that room service has a cost, and most hotels (maybe all) do not make any profit from this department. But the prices have now moved to the point of umbrage. A guestroom-delivered, continental breakfast for two, including all compulsory service charges and taxes, came through in the range of $70 to $90. Sorry, but that is simply unfair. It would be borderline acceptable if the breakfast included the best pastries, juice and coffee on earth, or if it was cooked right before my eyes by Anthony Bourdain. But sadly, in this instance the grapefruit juice was reconstituted and the bread rolls tasted store bought. The next morning I walked to the nearest Starbucks, and, with even more melancholy, I was hardly the only guest making the trek!

Breakfasts in the restaurants were better but far from exemplary. Any way you put it, when you are coercing your guests to travel offsite, either through exorbitant pricing or reheated, stale food, you are doing something wrong, especially at the luxury level where cuisine is expected to be stellar. Think about it this way: it’s often stated that a great day begins with a great breakfast. In this sense, how can a truly luxurious hotel experience be attained with a mediocre morning meal?

1. Cutting corners on maintenance. Now, most guests are not going to go to the extremes of examining hard goods or looking at sheets for wear and tear. But I did, and I want to report some more not-so-great news. Not one property of the six has been keeping up on room maintenance – at least for what should be expected at the luxury level. Chipped paint on doorframes and thin towels appear to be highly overlooked. Sad in a way, but I imagine everything was trimmed back to a minimum in the Great Recession, and no one thought to reopen the funding for these necessities. While I doubt this error factors in as a priority for most consumers, it is nonetheless a subtle contributor to the overall experience, and something that may stymie an individual from falling head over heels for a specific hotel.

When with this persnickety diatribe, all is not lost, however. Not all properties visited failed in each and every one of these four criteria. For example, exemplary reception and valet services prevailed. Dinner and lunch in the various restaurants ranged from excellent to outright ‘wow’. General comfort (beds, air conditioning and so on) was also without fault.

As a closing remark, if these properties are representative of what guests can expect from the contemporary ‘luxury’ segment, we’re not putting up much of a fight against the inevitable intrusion of alternate lodging providers like Airbnb. Properties at this price range should exude a feeling that makes all guests feel special, wanted and appreciated.

For the most part, this was not the case. I do not blame line staff – exemplary in service delivery to a tee, housekeeping errors aside. I do, however, point my finger at the owners, senior management, the executive team or whoever else is responsible for the rampant cost reductions. In their quest for never-ending profit increases, they have cut corners to the point of embarrassment.

Every little snip pushes the traveling public closer to property ambivalence, brand apathy and the habit of looking solely to alternate lodging providers for a bona fide luxury experience. It’s a shame, though, as I thought our luxury leaders would set a higher standard to ensure healthy long-term success in the face of so many industry changes.

Source: http://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/global/154000320/4075322.html