Hotel Branding Is A Complete Mystery

Four Seasons hotels are wildly inconsistent. Some are gorgeous, some were obviously decorated by my frumpy grandmama, and some are glorified Holiday Inns.

Mandarin Oriental is my chain of choice.

Matt, you've hit the nail on the head! I find that I cannot trust the hotel brand and usually research using both the hotel website and various review sites to ensure I'm actually getting what I want.

i second Imperator. The 4S at Sydney is such a dud.

I would argue that basically only the lowest end and highest end would be truly consistent. Things in middle market will always have a range of what they offer. Even within a hotel chain and the same category number, experiences will still wildly differ.

Wait til you visit the Hyatt Regency Kyoto!

It's by far the best Regency in the chain and feels like a Park Hyatt.

Go figure.

i would second the comment about mandarin oriental's consistency and add intercontinental to that. hyatt is abysmally inconsistent in my experience. granted, i don't really give a damn as long as the bed is comfy and the a/c works -- i don't ever utilize hotel lounges or room service that much -- but i'm always amazed when the hyatt regency room i stay in one week trumps the park hyatt room i stayed in the month before, etc. etc.

also is there a worse city for major hotel brands than san francisco? i feel like no matter the brand, the room quality across the board is generally a poor representation of that brand's offerings. thinking of the hilton on mason street as the biggest offender.

The difference: International Hyatt and US Hyatt hotels. US Hyatt hotels are much cheaper. There is even a difference in costumer service at Goldpassport. The Hyatt Diamond Concierge service is designed for guests of their international hotels.

Per hotel magazines, Grand Hyatt is the luxury brand for Hyatt and Park Hyatt is a sub category of this brand.

Doesn't this inconsistency probably have something to do with the fact that most of these hotels aren't owned by the hotel chain outright, but by some local independent operator - who might operate multiple hotels under several brands? The local business is not going to be terribly concerned about meeting every last standard imposed by the chain, and the chain probably can't do much to enforce those standards: if they push too hard, the operator switches to a different chain (or becomes an independent brand) and the chain loses presence in that locale. And the chains are all about having a presence: the whole point is that you can find a Hilton (or whatever-) branded hotel wherever you want one.

Matt,

IMHO, SPG is a better one to pick on. What's the real difference between the Sheraton and Westin brands? Hard to tell, IMHO. I live next to two suburban SPG hotels -- a Sheraton and a Westin. They share the same parking lot. For the life of me, I have no idea what the difference is.

When hotels change flags, what's the difference between an HGI that gets reflagged as a Sheraton 4P? Again, confusion. IMHO, the only real thing that sets HGI apart from the 4P brand are the loyalty programs. If there's other practical differences (save me the marketing speak, please) the marketing folk are doing a crappy job.

Airplanes are the worst, you suggest checking a site like OMAAT to see what flights are flown on what routes. More often than not, that information is subject to change. That's why CX stand out in my book, they may not be the best at anything/everything, but they are very consistent, and pretty darn good. You can book a long haul flight and "just know" that things will be nice. Compare that to everybody else, and you're never really quite sure... hell, even JAL went to a sub-standard J product on their 787. You'd think because it's new, it'd be the best, but it's not. Yes, they're updating the product, but now you have to go check on what routes the new product is going to get phased in on and when.

You also have to keep in mind where you are on the renovation schedule. If it's renovated every 12 years and you're at 11.5 years it's going to look warn and dated.

Aren't a lot of hotels owned not by the chains themselves, but by separate individuals/companies? I assume that would account for at least some inconsistency. FWIW, I'm not 100% sure how this works, but I know that a lot of hotels are owned by other companies (i.e. the Waldorf in NY--still a Hilton, but not owned by Hilton).

actually I think Hyatt does a BETTER job than other chains. What about Club Carlson? Or Accor?

So my understanding that the difference between a HYATT, a Grand Hyatt and a Hyatt Regency is the amount of meeting and conference space. Regencies have the most, HYATTs have little to none. Grand Hyatts are somewhere in between.

Don't quality & pricing of local competition and/or local hotels of the same chain play some part in deciding on a brand for a particular hotel? For example, in Tokyo Park Hyatt is the top of the Hyatt food chain (at least, category wise*) and since they presumably don't want two hotels of the same top-level brand nearby, category 6 properties are named Grand Hyatt and Andaz (price-wise, both can be as expensive of PH T).

Something I find very interesting is that Hotel du Louvre in Paris is going to be re-branded as Andaz after remodeling even though it's a historical hotel and it's not being modernized like Andaz in Amsterdam. Perhaps Hyatt needs its own version of Starwood's Luxury Collection brand?

* -- We slightly preferred a suite & experience of GH T over PH T.

Whilst The Trafalgar is nominally a Hilton (it is listed under Hilton on the website), it does not use Hilton in its name and I think there is an attempt to separate it from its frumpier siblings. It would make more sense to drop it into Curio to be honest.

My belief is that the differentiation within the brands, is logistical. The U.S. overall standard and expectation is set lower than in many other countries. This makes within country comparison far easier than within branding.

I think Radisson deserves the prize for most inconsistent properties. Domestically, they're near bottom-of-the-barrel of where our employees will stay. The Radisson O'Hare comes to mind. It has decent beds, nice but small bathrooms, good showers, but there's no mistaking it's an older hotel that's changed flags a few times.

Contrast that to the Radisson in Cartagena, Colombia. Absolutely stunning property. If I didn't know any better I would have assumed the building was meant to be condos. Rooms that'd make Lucky drool, good service, great views. It's hard to believe the two properties are even related.