There was a time when luxury hotels were simply distinguished by the fine quarters they offered. Now, hotels are engaged in what some call an “amenities war,” a competition to indulge guests who pay dearly for the most extravagant treatment and accommodations.
This is the world of the 3-1 staff-guest ratio, suites with priceless antiques, custom-designed upholstery fabrics, his-and-hers Italian marble baths, phones by the half-dozen, mountains of monogrammed linen and limousine rides from the airport.
Many hotels survey guests to determine their priorities and desires. According to some, at the top of the guest wish list is the courtesy of being recognized and greeted by name.
The personalized greeting must seem natural, not forced. Friendly, not supercilious. Caring, not cloying. Don’t you love it when the doorman, elevator operator, front-desk clerk and concierge say a simple “Good morning, Mrs. Witherington” to you as you prance by?
Although a few star-studded hotels (such as Vier Jahreszeiten in Hamburg) refuse to treat some clients differently from others (you never know whom you might offend), in most, important guests are likely to be greeted personally by the manager and other staff while being whisked to their rooms with no check-in rigamarole.
When you pick up your room phone in the veddy best establishments, your name appears alongside your room number on the hotel’s computerized system screen, so the answering staff member can say, “Good morning, Mr. Smatherly.”
In the ghastly event that your luggage is lost, the Regent Hong Kong provides a gratis overnight kit, including a fresh shirt, underwear, deodorant and toilet kit.
Gratis airport transportation via limo is a welcome treat at Claridge’s, London. If you’re a guest in the presidential suites at Hong Kong’s venerable Peninsula or London’s Lanesborough, you’ll have carte blanche to zip around town in a chauffeured Rolls Royce or Bentley, respectively.
Welcome gifts come in many shapes and sizes. More than one Oriental-style hotel delivers a pot of elaborately presented tea. Others give a luxurious fruit assortment, a three-tiered glass dish with fat strawberries cum creme fraiche and brown sugar, a plate of handmade truffles or box of decadent chocolates. Each woman checking into the Grand Hyatt Melbourne receives a single red rose.
Hotels are going all out to please business travelers. VIPs receive gold-engraved personalized stationery at some hotels. Mere mortals’ stationery is personalized in simple black. Personal business cards (listing the hotel as your address) are beginning to show up in the amenities packages of hotels catering to executives. The Four Seasons Hotel Toronto provides complimentary limousine service to the downtown business district each morning.
If reaching out to touch someone is important, you might want to know that the St. Regis in New York has computerized telephones programmable in six languages. A few hotels have speaker phones. (Once, my speaker phone woke me to warn of a possible bomb threat in the floor above, and again a few minutes later to inform me that the threat was a false alarm.) It’s not uncommon to have two-line phones (for incoming and outgoing calls) and an in-room fax with your own lifetime private number. The newly-renovated grand dame Amstel Inter-Continental in Amsterdam offers voice-mail messaging in all rooms.
While many hotels deliver a newspaper to your door in the morning, up to eight papers in as many languages are yours for the asking at a top Geneva establishment.
The concierge, long part of the staff in fine hotels, is often supplemented by the maitre d’etage or floor steward on each level. The maitre d’etage is rather like a personal helper who will sew on a button, press your clothes, unpack or pack luggage, get theatre tickets and explain local customs-all gratis. Unfortunately, American travelers are still a little shy about utilizing the services of this oh-so-accommodating and versatile attendant. The steward makes note of a guest’s preferences (pillows, toiletries, whether windows should be open or shut) and logs them into the hotel’s computer. Return guests can expect to find those preferences quietly carried out. In some chains, such information is logged into a central computer, so that the guest staying in a member hotel will receive the same service. At the Peninsula, return guests are usually given the same room, with familiar floor attendants for an at-home feeling.
More and more hotels have exercise rooms, and fitness instructors and trainers are beginning to show up on staff.
Little jogger’s map cards (sometimes conveniently on a rope necklace) are sometimes provided. At one five-star hotel in Sydney, jog through the city starting at 7 a.m., seeing the sights with the hotel’s fitness director. The Imperial Hotel in Tokyo provides jogging togs for your 3-mile jaunt around the Imperial Castle. Exercise buffs not wishing to leave their rooms can stay at New York’s Lowell’s gym suite, including a mirrored room filled with computerized workout machines. Or a personal trainer will bring exercise equipment to your quarters. Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles, as well as The Lanesborough, provide gratis use of cycling and stair-climbing gizmos in your room.
Many resorts have outdoor tennis facilities. The Grand Hyatt Melbourne’s courts are on the ninth level. For the golfer holding a recognized handicap (20 for men, 30 for women) there’s complimentary golfing and tennis at the tony Wentworth Club. Tennis players use the Vanderbilt Club in Shepherd’s Bush, free.
The best post-fitness room I’ve seen is at the Four Seasons in Boston. Every conceivable toiletry (some too personal to mention) is made available for showering and after. There’s even an electric bathing suit dryer that whirls the moisture from your Speedo in just seconds.
Apres-exercise relaxation is important, too.
The Regent in Hong Kong possesses an extraordinary outdoor spa pool. It’s huge, it overlooks scenic Hong Kong harbor and has three whirlpool baths: hot, warm and ice cold. If a relaxing swim’s the thing, paddle to underwater classical music at the Oriental, Singapore.
If you like to relax by sweating it out in the sauna, Finland’s the hot spot. At one Helsinki hotel you can bake until done and plunge momentarily into an ice cold, one-person dipping pool before taking a cool swim. Then, for a small fee, get an all-over sudsy loofa body scrub by an attendant, and repeat the process as many times as you like.
A good bath relaxes body and mind. At the Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten, a cork bath thermometer floats in the tub and is marked with the temperature for a cool bath or a warm one. For elegance, the Golden Gate-view Mandarin suites at the Mandarin Oriental in San Francisco can’t be beat. A window wall extends from the top of the tub to the ceiling, providing a spectacular view of the bay and bridge. Before dawn, draw a bubble bath with fine English soaps, pour a glass of champagne (or mineral water), turn on soft music and watch the sun rise.
Some hotels put big bucks into toiletries. In suites at Hong Kong’s Regent are a 6.5-ounce bottle of Hermes shampoo and a fat cake of Hermes soap (combined retail value $55). In a junior suite at the Ritz in London, guests receive seven bars of specially designed soap in pristine custom boxes, replenished daily, of course.
Travelers often are confused as whether to bring along electric current converters, hair dryers or traveling irons, because the availability of these items is spotty. Take heart: the housekeeping departments of top-flight hotels have a supply of both items on loan for the asking.
The better European hotels often have warmed marble floors, heated towel racks and trouser pressers. Tokyo’s Hotel Seiyo has individual steam baths, and heated mirrors that don’t steam up. A few closets provide padded silk hangers.
Shower heads might seem like ordinary stuff. Not so at the Savoy in London. Theirs are legendary-a full foot in diameter, and directly overhead, giving an effect rather like a warm summer rain: gentle, naturally sensual.
Bedding and turndown services are taken very seriously. Top-drawer Claridge’s, like other top London hotels, tend to use elegant Irish linen sheets. Thousands of dollars are often spent to custom-build each mattress in the Savoy Group hotels, and duplicates are available for guests to buy.
About pillows … New York’s Mayfair Hotel Baglioni maintains a “pillow bank,” where guests can select from full-length body pillows, all manner, size and shape of regular and down pillows, and “snore stoppers” as well. Other superb hotels usually provide a variety of pillow choices.
Some turndown services include a weather forecast card on the pillow with temperatures in Fahrenheit and Centigrade.
Lest you should have to ring up for service by the waiter, maid or valet, sometimes you’ll find bedside buttons to press, saving seconds. A privacy button replaces the “Do not disturb” doorknob hanger.
The Grand Hyatt hotels often have secure, special-service floors, with Regency Club rooms serving complimentary breakfasts, tea and pre-dinner cocktails and hors d’oeuvres. A team of butlers on these floors provide lavish service.
Some luxury hotels distinguish themselves by the treatment they give to children or pets. The Pierre in New York welcomes your pooch with a personalized bone-shaped cookie and maintains a full menu of dog foods so you needn’t bring your own. The Four Seasons hotels provide your furry friend with a water dish a la menthe (with mint leaf), doggie beds, pet blankets and special (if hopelessly corny) menu items. The concierge will walk “Fuzzy-face” and arrange for a groomer.
The Ritz-Carlton in Boston welcomes children. Its “Junior” Presidential Suite consists of a pair of rooms-one for parents and one for up to three little ones. There are bunks, a trundle bed that converts to a playpen, kiddie wallpaper, pint-size furniture, a tiny refrigerator filled with healthy snacks and beverages, and endless toys and videos. There are two-way radios in both rooms, and the kids’ quarters are child-proofed for safety. Each tyke receives a complimentary stuffed toy. Boston’s Four Seasons gives each child guest a point-and-shoot camera. Beau Rivage in Lausanne, Switzerland, has a playground for the moppets and a giant outdoor chessboard for kids of all ages. The Four Seasons Hotel Toronto provides SEGA video game units, bicycles, and, like other hotels, a welcome milk-and-cookies nosh.
At the Regent, Sydney, suites come with working telescopes. Peek where you like, while sipping fine coffee you’ve made from the elegant plunger pot provided.
Many fine hotels publish their own evah-so-glitzy magazines to amuse guests. Some of these mags are mere showpieces for shops and products available on the property, while others provide juicy bits of prudent gossip about famous guests from decades past (London’s Ritz magazine is a gem).
Where do these world-class hotels go next in the amenities game? Non-smoking floors and allergy-free rooms are already available. Now if they’d only help the weary traveler conquer jet lag. (Oops, I just heard they’re working on special light rooms purported to do exactly that.)
