For two years hotels complained about lack of staffing and supply chain, offering up excuses for high rates and low service. But that lack of service has in some sense been baked into the equation, as hotel properties try to grow profit margins – focusing on short-term gains while taking on long-term risk to their business. And since guest experience isn’t the key focus, it suffers more than the cost cuts alone would require.
In late June I stayed at Hyatt’s The Shay in Culver City, about 20 minutes from LAX. I really liked the vibe of the hotel. I used a confirmed suite upgrade, and asked about buying up the ~ $75 difference between their standard suite and a premium suite. My Hyatt Concierge got back to me, “The hotel has upgrade you to the Premium Suite with Balcony complementary.”
The Shay Lobby
The Shay Bar
The hotel honors breakfast at their rooftop restaurant, and it’s coded for an entree, juice and coffee for up to four people – so two or three people are going to be able to ‘over order’ without difficulty.
There were just two quibbles with the stay.
- No hot water in the shower.
- Non-responsive service requests.
The Shay, Bedroom and Bath
The Shay, Balcony
The hotel suggests making requests via text. I tried that twice. Neither ever received a response. It wasn’t just that they were slow. There was no response the next day, or at all.
As for the shower, the water didn’t even get lukewarm, but did get less cold. I mentioned this, and the text issue, in the follow up email survey that I received. I received a reply, hoping that I will return to the property,
I apologize for any communication lapses that occurred. Our team strives to provide prompt and efficient service to all our guests, and it is disappointing to hear that we fell short of your expectations in this regard. We are currently reviewing our communication procedures to ensure that all inquiries and messages are attended to in a timely manner.
Regarding the issue of hot water, we deeply regret the inconvenience caused to you. Hot water availability is a basic necessity, and we understand how frustrating it must have been to face this problem. Our maintenance team has been notified, and they are working diligently to identify and rectify the underlying issue to prevent such incidents from occurring in the future.
They recognize hot water as a ‘basic necessity’ so I inquired that, since they failed to provide it, why they didn’t offer to compensate me in any way for the stay? They didn’t provide what I was paying for! No response.
Later in the month I was at the Hyatt Centric Atlanta Midtown. They were generous, upgrading me to a junior suite in advance (without suite upgrade certificate). Breakfast is a little less generous, though compliant – you get their buffet and the front desk notes that they cover “a 15% tip” and anything else on top of that is charged. 15% seems reasonable for a buffet!
Hyatt Centric Atlanta Lobby
At check-in I was asked whether I wanted housekeeping, and I said yes. I specifically requested housekeeping on my second day. They never came. So the next day I asked for it again, and at the desk was told “I’ll see if their schedule allows it.” This isn’t supposed to be optional for the hotel to provide. The desk agent was good, and did actually follow up to make sure it was done.
Hyatt Centric Atlanta, Bedroom
Most recently I’ve left the Westin Arlington and there’s probably no property which better represents gradual cheapening of product.
- They had a club lounge when they first opened
- After closing the club lounge, they offered Platinums breakfast of choice from the restaurant menu, and an evening cocktail and appetizer in the bar
- They restricted breakfast to the buffet
- And then eliminated the evening service
- And then restricted breakfast to a continental choice in the restaurant, no longer even offering the buffet.
The lobby still has the overpowering (though nice) white tea scent. It saw a minor renovation perhaps six years ago. The rooms, not so much. Even the TV in my room wasn’t working. Clocks were changed in March. Three months later the one in my room was still an hour behind. Several of the outlets in the room weren’t working. Bulk toiletries in the shower aren’t even tamper-proof.
These were my last 3 hotel stays, over a period of two weeks, since returning to the States. And each disappointed in their own way. I loved everything about The Shay except for lack of hot water, and that’s too important to risk again. I won’t return to the Hyatt Centric in Atlanta if I can avoid it. And the Westin Arlington? It’s too close to my office in D.C. to write it off completely, and more convenient than the Hyatt Place. It’s just sad to think about how chintzy they’ve become.
None of these are Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, or The Peninsula. But none of these are budget accommodations, either. And in each case the hotels are failing at something basic, or finding ways to give the guest less than they used to, and in no case is there more than lip service behind apologies over it.
There’s no grand point to that other than reflecting on it makes me sad. I love people who do their jobs to the extreme, care about quality, and overdeliver on expectations. And I see hotel after hotel that no longer does that, giving up their raison d’etre vis-à-vis homesharing competitors, somehow in the interest of squeezing higher margins – while chains strive to move the needle in the direction of greater sensitivity towards owner needs for quick profit at the expense of guest satisfaction.
I am a Hyatt Lifetime Globalist – i can’t remember when i last had a club lounge. I happened to have breakfast with the country manager in South Africa a month or so ago, staying at the Cape Town Hyatt (which is a great hotel; service is excellent, as is breakfast, and friendly as well. The staff couldn’t do enough for me). Anyway i asked about the clubs and he said “young people aren’t interested in them” and quoted Hyatt research. (Yeah, but i am not young and I do). At least give me an evening cocktail.
I am also a Diamond at Hilton and the $15.00 amenity is ridiculous.
AMEN, Gary. The hotel chains in the USA are at-risk of their full service hotels now offering comparatively poor service to the mid-tier offerings from the same chains. Who knows–perhaps that is their goal.
My own experiences mirror yours. Hyatt Regency SFO: club lounge *still* closed, valet parking *still* not available, staffing issues at breakfast, room service not available, managers that email you in advance and then don’t reply to your service request. Common-use conditioner in room empty. Why am I going to pay more to stay at the Hyatt SFO in the future when the service is the same as a Hampton Inn down the street?
Hilton Orange County: same stuff, different chain. Executive lounge closed, room in poor condition, etc.; at least there *was* housekeeping. And a bar of soap!
My favorite are the full service properties that have eliminated single-use toiletries (“for the environment”) yet have eliminated room service, asking instead that you order and pick it up yourself–and it’s packed in way more single use plastic than I would have ever consumed when previously ordering a room service dinner on real plates and using a little bottle of shampoo.
I know–a real rant. But from a brand differentiation standpoint, right now, full service hotels are trying to get away with charging full-service prices while not offering service that’s differentiated from–and, sometimes, accommodations that are in worse shape than–mid-tier properties.
All supply and demand. As long as people fill hotels there is no incentive to improve service or at free additional amenities. Also if full why not increase price and make more profit. That is standard business and only way anything will change is a recession that cuts down travel. Basic economics and all the posting about what “should be” doesn’t matter
Gary, did you complain to the Shay front desk about the hot water?
It is sad that it’s come to this, particularly for those of us that stay in a fair amount of hotels.
I’ve honestly lowered my expectations for everything and when I do have a good experience like the Westin Riverwalk San Antonio or the Encore at The Wynn, I shout em out.
The difference between a Courtyard and a Westin is ever narrowing though.
The general problem here is that American culture is incompatible with service. I am not declaring this to be good or bad; I am declaring this to be.
America being a land of “opportunity” — ambitious people chase lucrative careers with high social cachet. Those careers are largely in finance, asset management, private equity and venture capital; in white-shoe civil law firms approaching $10MM profits per partner; in tenure-line academia at R1 universities; in executive management at F500 companies.
They’re not in hotel services.
Other countries don’t have such lucrative capitalist opportunities available to their best and brightest, which, in the upper echelons of all of the above, require the same fundamental skills and talents — charisma and people skills — whether in service or in leadership. Leadership opportunities just aren’t there, in those countries, so, service it is.
To the commenters before me talking about amenities, room service, supply and demand:
The demand is not there anymore from the younger generations. Perhaps this is a natural response to the supply being weakened (as discussed in my previous comment). But it’s also the case that young people are less interested in conspicuous consumption and therefore a Hyatt Place or Hyatt House is more reasonable than a Hyatt Regency.
New construction hotels in the US are overwhelmingly of the “select service” Hyatt Place type for that same reason.
Room service doesn’t have the appeal it used to, especially in the era of food delivery. Why get a $40 burger from downstairs when you can get one for $30 from Shake Shack? (It’s $10 in-store but I’m adding delivery fees and tip.)
Have loved my stays at the Shay for what it’s worth and have found service to be about as good as anywhere with really nicely appointed rooms but this post resonates in general. Hate having to ask for really basic stuff like basic housekeeping or let maintenance know a litany of items that need attention each time I check into a room.
Stayed at the Langham NYC this weekend, same phenomenal service that we had in the Langham Chicago last year. Room serviced twice a day, and everyone, without exception, made you feel welcome to be there. Amazing attention to detail. Left my specs by the bed, a cleaning cloth appeared later in the day. Mentioned we liked chocolate to the front desk just in passing conversation, and a selection of (good) chocolate appeared a few hours later. We have Club (lounge) access at the NYC location, and the happy hour snacks and running champagne were fun. The service culture isn’t dead in the US, it’s just more sparce than it used to be.
Not sure where the Langham’s stack up in terms of the brand, probably above all the ones listed above, but below FS, Shangri-La et, but they’re no my go-to for any cities in which they exist, even though I’m Bonvoy platinum.
With many hotels failing to deliver basic guest satisfaction in the most obvious ways, just imagine the failings that take place daily in the less obvious aspects such as room cleanliness.
I don’t even have a desire to stay in a hotel room these days due to the likelihood that the room hasn’t actually been cleaned.
Fully agree that hotels are failing too much on the basics of delivering. Remember back when there used to be 100% satisfaction guarantees even at hotels on the mid market and lower end side? Now even the higher end properties don’t really seem to care all that much that a customers leaves so unsatisfied that they won’t return or will otherwise be reluctant to return. And even if returning, if the customer gets unlucky and communicates about yet another service failing, the hotels may even flag the customer as a trouble customer who complaints about everything and nothing.
Alison speaks of the demand not being there. Pay attention to what has gone on with hotel room prices. Prices are a product of the crazy demand.
This sounds about right with the increase in price for every hotel. I haven’t stayed in anything as nice as this recently, but even hotels that were average have gotten far worse and a lot more expensive. It’s now less expensive to just take a vacation abroad.
Many hotels seem to no longer be concerned with cultivating/nurturing long term relationships with customers. They want the money they feel they lost with the pandemic of 3 years, instead of working to develop a bond with their clients.
Also, many are still operating under pandemic policies, even while the pandemic has been officially over for a few months. Not really a good practice, as people want more normalcy to return.
We I agree however I have stayed 4 times over this year at the. Conrad in. N. Y. City. Midtown and. London and Vegas. I must admit food is sub par but the service is excellent from the front desk to room service.
It seems that hotels overseas have been able to reopen lounges but US hotels have not. Every Hyatt I have stayed in recently still has the club lounge closed.
The hotels need to give more hospitality training. I was in the hotel business and rarely saw adequate training beyond orientation.
And Hyatt’s still got the audacity to try to pretend as if those “Club Access” awards for Explorists in the US are appropriate awards for staying on the hotel loyalty program hamster-wheel.
Gary, I don’t know if you have seen, but now Airbnb customers have been crying and moaning about cleaning fees, expensive rates, no service, and now people claim revenues are down as a result. So the point about advantage over “homesharing” may not be that relevant. I maintain hotels and homeshares are largely for different kinds of travel / stay occasions.
To your general point – “Upscale” hotels in the brands mentioned (Hyatt Centric, Westin, etc) are a mass product in 2023. They are accessible to a lot of people, and it is very hard to keep them staffed. Mass market products simply cannot offer the white glove service you seem to expect on a consistent basis.
— Responding to a request for service (note: not even providing the service merely responding to what amounts to an online chat)
— Having hot water
— Providing housekeeping
These are bottom of the barrel expectations. People are being called entitled/Karen for having basic expectations in America which is why this country will become the next Ancient Greece or Roman Empire.
Hyatt Explorist gets me a king bed room when I booked a queen bed room.
There are otherwise zero benefits over Discoverist which already has 2pm late checkout and a bottle of water.
It would cost very little to give Explorists even twice the allowance of water!
Mediocrity breeds mediocrity. So many people running these properties are clueless as to what good service is. How can you expect to them to deliver a service that they never experienced/received themselves?
Public schools are failing our kids and society as a result. It shouldn’t take specialized hospitality training for customer facing staff to know that they need to smile, make eye contact, verbalize the appropriate greetings in the appropriate tones of voice, and all in all treat customers like paying customers instead of nuisances.
False. Most owners know damn well what good service is. They also know damn well that good service comes at a cost. They know damn well that they can forgo the cost and still earn almost as good ROI.
Professional free-market promoter surprised by providers offering what the market will bear. More at eleven. Yawn.
It seems like the hotel industry has lost sight of what business they are in during the current glut of travelers. The upscale hotels are at risk if Airbnb decides to market a separate upscale product. They don’t have to lose many suite or room charges to accelerate their downward spiral.
I completely resonate with this post as my recent stays with Marriot and Renaissance (by Marriott) have been quite underwhelming. I’m titanium and my “upgrades” to “suites” are just bigger rooms, the service has been completely absent, the showers in both properties had ceilings that were falling apart and the Marriott by the St. Louis Airport had their lounge closed when it was listed as open with no compensation offered, I complained….was told they will do better. Uh huh. So for me, I’d rather stay at a brand new fairfield where the showers are large and open and the rooms feel modern with a free breakfast and free parking then stay at a “premium” property where things are way below what they are charging.
Full service?? Hard to tell the difference between a “full service” Marriott and a Courtyard. Shameful and I believe intentional.
The exception would be Montage properties. They maintained their service levels throughout the pandemic. They have also proven that on property restaurants can be successful while other chains have cost saved themselves our of respectable dining options.
Instead of over emphasizing profit they forgot about their consumers and need to reinvest in people and hospitality training. To generalize service in USA hotels is abysmal in alot of ways. You do find your gems here are there but more often than not it’s meh or below average. So they raised prices and cut back on overall service it’s a recipe for disaster. If I was a hotel chain I’d take this and run now and totally focus on the customer experience 100per short term investment that will pay much bigger dividends that’s will pay off with massive gross profit later. Unfortunately these chains only focusing on short term quarters.
I feel that things started to go downhill not long after Marriott took over Starwood. SPG was a good program and once that was out of the way there wasn’t as much of a need to go above and beyond to build loyalty.
Never had Respiratory Flu in my life. Actually caught it directly with instant symptoms from my room at the Hyatt Place across from Universal ( across from ? ) Orlando where a sophomoric staff also placed unauthorized charges for $250.00 twice ( $500.00 ) after the hotel deposit claiming I was smoking. I never smoked in my room, not once. And the room got me terribly sick with flu so contagious others outside were coughing in respiratory repercussion from exposure to me. Hope they close down that Hotel. I’m sure it definitely was from the room as it was so direct and abrupt when I smelled a virus thus respiratory symptoms erupted, just like that.
What’s the story with Unauthorized Charges? Someone claimed I was smoking in the room. certainly not when that Room got me Coughing Sick with Respiratory Flu shortly ). I never once smoked in my Room and honestly curse the Hyatt Place across from Universal Orlado, They charged me $250.00 two days before I left for that. I complained to Peter the Clerk, who said he’d take it out. Next Day, he charged me Another $250.00 again amounting to $500.00. So called Hyatt CSR and my Bank who after three Reps from Hyatt called them. My Bank also called them. They said they’d handle it. They never did. The second $250.00 charged after my first complaint compelled me to call the Sherriff as it looked like Money Laundering. My Bank eventually resolved it after I was forced to close the Account.
On top of it all, I caught Respiratory Flu from the room very directly. I was perfectly healthy, never had respiratory flu until shortly after my first day in that room. It was contagious to where people exposed to me outside caught the Exact Same Respiratory Cough. Ironically, like your TEXT story about another Hyatt, I made three requests through reservations for a no traffic view room. Upon Arrival, they cornered me into two totally undesirable rooms where I caught Respiratory Flu. Other than that, I spoke to Ivy on the Phone a few days before who bubbly and smiling said she’d get me a good room. Upon arrival, I was uneasy with the staff and viewed them as obviously sophomoric. Ivey who I spoke to on the phone prior was there with Peter. She cornered me into two rooms I abhorred then got another room from the Manager on the second day. How would your Hyatt Principals feel if those incidents happened to them ? Curse them for that.
Ironically, in a week I moved to the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress where I stayed last year and was enticing. On my first day at the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress, a clerk named Connor Hunter called me as I was waiting to check in outside the building. He told me I couldn’t have the Room that they promised. I requested the same room I had in 2022 but due to a change in policy they’d give me room on the second floor. Prior to that, I recieved a text and called whereby they assuredly promisedI’d get the requested room. When we spoke (w/someone else ) on the phone and I got a Text thereafter promising me my preferred room, it was assuring like the Hyatt Place.
While waiting for my room, I got a Disconcerting call described above insisting I take a second floor room. Hyatt Regency cost significantly more and is a luxury line, normally not preferential for a second floor room. The room is the reason why I made reservations there this year, Getting that call from Connor Hunter was unnerving but I insisted and got it. His retort was in an unsavory reprimanding tone stating ” it was unfair to others and that I’d better not be noisy or that they don’t get any noise complaints “. Noise complaints even before I checked in? Very accussing and unwelcome. I am never noisy nor do I have the TV on loud. On a footnote, I recognized Connor Hunter from the early turn of the century when he and his friends always tried bullying me in California. They would call me me ” Bitch ” and threatened me in 2003 with a friend of his called Hershel who might have worked there also. I distinctly remember them both. In spite of it all, I got my preferred room. Going to Disney World that week I was engaged in an hour and a half long conversation with Debra, a Hyatt CSR who was following up on my unauthorized charges of $500.00 at Hyatt Place across from Universal ( across from?). Went to Disney World on their Shuttle and there were only three people on the shuttle bus. I was talking to Debra the Hyatt CSR as mentioned when I was leaving the bus and asked the Bus Driver who was very friendly with the two other people on the bus where and when to find the shuttle on the way back.
With Debbie the Hyatt CSR still on the phone , the Bus Driver blurted out ” I don’t have the time for this “. Debbie the Hyatt CSR heard him and filed an additional complaint. Same day, I got another unnerving voice mail from Connor Hunter claiming there was some noise and he was unclear but I was never noisy at all. It sounded like retaliation against Debra the Hyatt CSRs’ complaint who was very upset at hearing him blurting out with ” I don’t have the time for this “. As mentioned, in 2003 Connor Hunter and his friend Hershel would call me Bitch at the Mall where I lived close to in those days. Curse them all intensley for that. Only Debra the Hyatt CSR was doing her job as expected.
Anyone would want their money back for such an adverse staycation. If there are any preferrable resorts outside of Hyatt, void of such ugly thuggery and disease, money laundering and hopelessly dysfunctional employees, good resorts with good people, great amenities and welcoming accomodations, please let me know. If Hyatt goes out of business all together, I’d never care. I wouldn’t rejoice if Hyatt went insolvent but if every Resort Conglomerate beats them in honesty, performance, good fortune and function, That is worthwhile and gives their good name overpowering merit over Hyatt.
Exactly. Increased market concentration in the travel services sector is a loyalty program benefits killer, even as there are some temporary/fleeting reprieves at times.
I too was in your room @ the shay and I too had no hot water so I never showered I just left
At the time breakfast was only grab and go and I thought it was awful.I hear thats very improved but I’m uncertain if I would go back.The sound insulation is poor with noise and in the big suites if you leave the sliding closet door open to the bathroom you block the heating and the AC ducts
In addition the hotel had a false alarm at 1 or 2 AM in the morning with no instructions from the staff what was going on and when we should go back to the rooms no one answered the phone for some considerable time .I kind of like the hotel but wouldn’t be my first choice at the price point
Eventually I might try it out again
You really must blame hotel patrons for poor service. Most customers quietly accept poor service and high prices.
When customers demand better service and refuse to patronize hotels offering subpar service we will see improvement.
I have seen such problems with deferred maintenance in Wyndham, IHG, Marriott, etc. Hair in the sinks and tube. Carpet held down with duct tape. Bug bites being told they come in during the rain…. Paint peeling off the ceiling. The first chain that gets it fixed will lead the pack.
As someone who left a career in hotel management after Covid, there is a serious staffing issue when it comes to finding good staff and finding hotels willing to pay what is needed to get that good staff. Rates aren’t going down because hotels are passing astronomically more than before but the staff isn’t necessarily providing equal service. Then you have guests with unreasonable expectations. Don’t get me wrong, having your room cleaned when specifically requested and hot water at a bare minimum are not unreasonable. But we’re fighting against unreasonable all day every day and we’re exhausted. Another note, if you do that survey after you’ve left and you’ve given low scores, the hotel manager likely isn’t going to compensate you because, right or wrong, compensating you is to prevent a bad survey and you’ve already done that so it’s a waste of money, which is also likely why they didn’t bother to respond when you asked. I’m not saying at all that any of this is okay, I’m just saying that guests got harder, staffing got harder, and all the training in the world won’t get that staff to care like they used to and it’s 100% different now. Managing hotels feels more like trying to tread water to keep from drowning and it’s had a real effect on service. All of these reasons why I deserted a career I thought I would have for a lifetime
Agree. I had similar experiences recently:
1. Grand Hyatt Indian Wells, CA.
No room service, however Texting Reps insisted there is room service and argumentative. Left hand does not talk to right hand dillemma. It is a huge property and it took about 5-10 min walk from my room to order food at the on-site restaurants.
2. Hyatt House Irvine, CA.
My wife and I both work remote and requested for a second office chair. The front desk person I spoke to just won’t budge on getting us a second chair. I ended up cutting my stay short and took my business elsewhere.
Unfortunately these semi high end hotels are charging high price, yet cannot provide service of such price point.
Love all these people babbling about free market and supply and demand. Sorry folks there’s 4 companies that control most of the hotel rooms so no competition or any of the other garbage you guys are babbling. No different than the 3 or 4 food/agro companies that faked inflation or supply chain for mad profit grab.
So there’s no hot water, was your strategy of dealing with it really texting a few times, then fill out survey after stay, and that’s it? No dialing 0? Weird. It’s almost as if you wanted to be pissed off about something.
Consumer bears some responsibility. I think we are less brand loyal these days. With the proliferation if booking and aggregator sites, how many consumers regularly reward hotels with repeat visits?
But yes, service is not at all what it used to be.
Prices in US cities for hotels are higher than ever and the service is much worse than we get in Europe generally. I particualrly hate the lack of proper room service. Why 3 years after Covid am I still getting a glass of wine in a plastic cup and paying the same price? Everything comes with single use plastic cutlery etc. Nothing says luxury like driking wine from a plastic cup!
I have now generally given up on the mid to high end hotels in the US as what is the point if the service is worse than a lower end property? Instead of staying at a Westin or Marriott, I’ve been staying in a Fairfield or Element that is new and gets good reviews. I’m sure it is not just me.
You consider these “upscale” hotels?
I was a Gold Elite member of IHG hotels and got an upgrade when available. In December 2022, I stayed at the Holiday Inn – Kensington Station, London. An upgrade wasn’t available on checkin but one would be available the next day. OK. Next day I moved to an upgrade. I noted the room was cold…really cold. I turned the heat on, and set for 22C. That night, still cold. The duvet kept me warm. Next day, I went to the front desk but it was crowded with people checking in and out. I told a bellman who said he would make the report. That afternoon, I went back to the front desk. “We will get someone on it right away.” NADA. I called the front desk…oh…the phone had buttons pried off! I managed to get through to the hotel operator. “We will…” NADA. I found a space heater in the hallway. It wasn’t plugged in so…I snatched it. At least it took some of the edge off of the cold. NEXT DAY…I went to the front desk… still NADA. The sink won’t drain either! When I went to check out, I asked for the manager. “He’s in a meeting.” Aren’t they all? …covering his manager’s butt. I should have put my food down but my cab was pulling up. “We will make adjustments to your bill and email it to you. RIGHT! I got charged the FULL AMOUNT. I disputed the charge on my IHG Chase MasterCard. I also wrote IHG Corporate in Atlanta, GA and IHG Headquarters in Windsor, UK. I NEVER RECEIVED THE COURTESY OF A REPLY. This is “customer no service” for sure! The one reply I finally received (by email) was from some flunky, “Well, we gave you 60,000 points which was worth 25% of your stay!” I decided to see if I could actually USE the points. Even trying to book a room in “Podunk, Nowhere” on numerous dates, “Rooms not available at this price.” USELESS points. I cut my IHG MasterCard in half, mailed it back to Chase and will not darken that door again. I paid my bill, in full because I want no hits on my credit score. I’ve returned to London since my December visit and stayed at another hotel of which I’m a welcome customer. I used that other hotel’s co-branded AMEX to buy just enough points with IHG to “cash out” all of my IHG points to another program. BUH BYE IHG!
This entire issue is multi-faceted and highly complex, yet at the same time is very, very simple.
The basic equation is that the franchise owner (be it a company with hundreds of properties or a single individual with a single property) expects X dollars annually to be put in their pocket from each property they own. They could care less how it’s done and/or how the rank and file employees or the travelling public are treated as long as X dollars or greater hits their pocket.
Then you have the management company which can also be the owner. Their job is to make X number of dollars happen for the owner so that they get their percentage for making that amount happen or an increased percentage for putting more than X in the owner’s pocket. Certain things they can’t control like taxes, skyrocketing utility costs and franchise fees. But they can control or remove as much as possible from pesky P&L sections like F&B and labor or line items like guest/linen supplies which is why you’ve seen and will continue to see as much of a reduction as possible in those areas unless you’re at resorts or destination properties.
Then you have the local management whom the bulk of the travelling public assumes to be a parent company employee when more than likely they very much are not. Sure the local GM has a parent email address but they usually a XYZ franchisee employee. This person along with the management company’s greatest ongoing job is the game of chicken they play with the parent company. How far can rules and standards be pushed before you get too many negative surveys (99% of guests do not fill out the official company post stay survey or something that is tracked online so this is a pretty safe bet) or before you’ve pushed things so far that appearances cannot be kept up when the next QA audit occurs — again, all so that the owner can get their X dollars annually.
Then you have the rank and file hourly employees who are screwed daily by an ever increasingly ignorant and entitled travelling public while working for beyond stagnant wages (don’t be ignorant and believe the MSM that the pandemic brought some type of great wage/benefit increases because it very much did NOT), little to no benefits and irregular schedules (always great on a Saturday to not know when you’re or if you’re working on Monday). My favorite are places that have in their handbook that they only give raises when you get a performance evaluation then turn around and never do those evaluations. Ten years in and no eval and no raise? Yep, it can happen.
Rank and file are completely expendable and there is zero allegiance, loyalty, etc. from local management regardless of how long you’ve done a job or what job you do. If somehow you’re friendly with the GM then maybe you’ll get preference for scheduling/days off at the expense of others. If they don’t like it, they’ll be shown the door.
Just like if the GM gets a new regional person over them from the franchisee home office, they had better dance or be making a lot of money or else they’re at risk all the same for getting shown the door or for the franchise company to keep them at that property by not allowing them move/bid/transfer to another property under that franchisee umbrella.
Then you have the parent company. They have no clue what the rank and file staff get paid, what the handbook says, etc. They’re basically the three monkeys of See No Evil, Speak No Evil, Hear No Evil. At the bulk of properties they send their rep. in once a year for a QA audit and for the other 364 days of they year all they see are fees/payments hitting their balance sheet. The rest of the aforementioned stuff is irrelevant to them since it’s not their hotel, it’s XYZ franchisee’s hotel to do with as they sit fit with. It’s about as decentralized as you could make it.
Figure out a way to long term change the industry that has existed in this format for past quarter century and maybe you can change the overall picture but good luck with that. The major players (as another poster mentioned, the industry is basically monopolized by 4 companies) in this are all very comfortable with what they are doing and the pandemic just gave them the cover they needed cut faster and harder.
10 Mid market hotels in Europe since Jan 2023
ALL had:
– Functioning rooms with any issues addressed right away or rooms swapped and apologies/credits when that happened
– Daily housekeeping and on request access to individual toiletries (we just bring our own from a DM store for the longer stay at the hotel that didn’t)
– Responsive emails from the hotel on pre-arrival asks
Sadly to say ; the only chains in the US that seem to have a bit of an attempt are the newer Hampton Inns – one in Waltham and one in Bloomfield Hills, MI – both properties built/opened during the pandemic. They have their issues but requests for cleaning are done as needed and the staff are responsive. The rest of my US stays are utterly dismal (19 nights in various properties across the US)
Ever since the Marriott family relinquished control of Marriott International to the marketing and franchises, most of their brands have turned to shit. $200.00 to $600.00 per night is not chicken feed.
Selecting a good hotel has now turned into a crap shoot.
@The Road Goes On Forever
Well thought out and said until you blame and brought the traveling public into it. Why does the public need a MBA in hotel management to figure out who to “blame”. And what, “forgive”? Not complain and sheepishly accept less than paid for? All we see is a Marriott hotel with a front line employee with Marriott name tag.
I’ve always said, “What the corporation promises, the franchises reluctantly provides” . And it too me 10+ years of top tier fighting for upgrades, late checkouts, lounge hours, promised F&B, etc, to figure that out. Now it seems like the very basics are going away.
If anything, blame the public for continuing to stay at said hotels until they get their act together. Some of us have little choice…
What an interesting read. But it’s something that’s been going on “forever” including WiFi charges, resort fees, overcharges minibar items etc etc etc
Perhaps simply stop using them.
As someone who runs a hotel here in asia all of the issues mentioned above are all really “common sense” and should be basic stuff for a hotel.
Perhaps start writing stories about hotels (often small, boutique, independent) where service is still a thing
Show the big boys how a hotel should be done and run
There are soo many amazing hotels around the planet where breakfast is a given, working WiFi is normal, housekeeping is still 2x daily and staff is actually happy. Pls give them some love and attention.
I d love to continue chatting about this if interested
Have a great day and please vote with your $$ and don’t be a slave to “points and status”
Christian
Just returned from 3 weeks Europe, service apartments are the way to go. Many are in top locations, have pool, 2 room for 200 plus eur, local restaurants, daily service, coffee machine, top TV and connectivity. Why bothering with Hotels is beyond me. If u want to get top service, Shangri-La , Peninsular, Mandarin Oriental and Four Seasons or Boutique (real boutique not chain Boutiques) are the common sense to go if u want Hotels but then u got to pay.
American Chain Hotels follow American Airlines lead into travel irrelevance.
I have been a top tier member in IHG, Bonvoy and Hilton for years. This year I have cut ties with all of them. I have come to the conclusion that I will NEVER give them another bloody penny. If that means no traveling than so be it!! I will stay in my city and enjoy the restaurants and activities and will become an isolated American and not travel elsewhere. Overseas I will selectively travel and use Airbnb or local boutique brands or not travel at all. F¥€k @£f to IHG and Hilton especially!!
Airlines – same thing. Sick of glorified waitresses pushing me around where I pay more and get less.