The boutique Ritz-Carlton Reserve brand will be opening its first city hotel, located in a skyscraper. While Im sure this property will be nice, it sure makes you wonder what the point of hotel branding is anymore not that this kind of confusion is anything new nowadays.
Sure hope they don't turn away Ryan Walker
I mean, since the Niseko hotel, Ritz-Carlton Reserve hasn’t meant anything anymore.
It presumably means Marriott thinks the location can support a higher ADR than a regular RC and so there’s an opportunity to take a larger fee stream. Otherwise, yes, agree.
Means about as much as TSA Gold+
Speaking of 'status,' I see you're now an OMAAT 'Gold'... surely, that means something, like 'removes advertisement pop-ups and video'... niccce... (someday, I hope to experience that!)
It does make the site usable on my phone again, so that's nice.
The real question is how to get those OMAAT unpublished tiers. I hear OMAAT Opal is outrageous.
If there is an Opal, Willy should have it. He's at like 300,000+ karma (or whatever it's called).
Unfortunately hotels in Shanghai don’t keep up their maintenance. To stay with the Marriott family, I stayed at the Le Meridien when it was brand new and loved it. I visited about 10 years later, lots of wear and tear combined with poor service.
Aman, etc has city hotels so I wonder if it will be comparable or what. Either way, hotels like their Ritz safari lodge should be "reserves" and these bigger hotels shouldn't be but that's not the way brand licensing works.
I kinda feel the same way about Six Senses. Like, those are supposed to be ‘luxury resorts.’ Think, Zil Payson in Seychelles… not Shanghai. Then again, Aman does have Amanyangyun already sorta near Shanghai (not my fav.)
has urban in front of reserve. no issue with this branding.
Looks like nice views of Pudong… that’s what Xi said.
I think I just threw up in my mouth a lot.
"rare
destination-driven
privacy
personalized
connection
reimagined
selective
intentional
rarity
exclusivity
sanctuary
immersive
discovery
thoughtfully
curated
wellbeing
escape
discretion
transformative
intentional (AGAIN)
aspirations"
They're at 20 of the buzzword bingo challenge. All they need is five more and we've got an actual bingo CARD. And while everyone loves intentionality, I'm not sure we love it x 2.
Good dog I hate bullshit like this.
Their loss. They forgot 'bespoke' and 'sustainable'... coulda had buzzword bingo. Shame.
Tony, intentional or not, you using 'fee' (as opposed to 'feed'), in this context, hilarious!
There are already TWO Ritz-Carlton properties in Shanghai. Now there will be a THIRD? I wonder how many guests will book the wrong Ritz-Carlton or show up at the wrong property. This is beyond stupid.
The way I see it, a typical Ritz-Carlton Reserve property is essentially what Ritz-Carlton properties used to be, whereas ordinary Ritz-Carlton properties are more like what JW Marriott properties used to be. In other words, Ritz-Carlton Reserve properties are probably legitimate 5-star hotels, while ordinary Ritz-Carlton properties range from mediocre 4-star hotels to genuine 5-star properties.
That is presumably exactly why it needs to be a Reserve a not a regular Ritz (plus there are already two St. Regis properties).
Yes, hotel branding means nothing anymore. For example, Hyatt hotels describe their Centric brand hotels as being “in the heart of the action”. I stayed at the Hyatt Centric Leon Mexico a few weeks ago and it was far from the city center, located amidst fields and next to a Walmart. I also have a Hyatt Centric Cambridge stay coming up, which also appears to be in the middle of nowhere.
Not really - "middle of nowhere" is where it's hard to find a hyatt. (such as my upcoming trip to Little Rock, AR - not a single Hyatt option.) However there are lots of Marriott and Hilton properties in the middle of nowhere.
Would people start realizing Hyatt locations or lack of is the reason they suck very bad.
Being a Globalist was the best and the most useless hotel status I've had.
I was scammed by all these influencers who loves freebies but don't really go around much beyond your typical destinations.
'110 key'? If they lose one, does that mean its 109 forever? Cos if not, its 110 rooms, not keys 🙂
Since it is China, they will renumber those floors 7A,14B, and 24C. Now you know your A,B, C's.
Ben explains your question in this past article:
https://onemileatatime.com/insights/hotel-rooms-keys/
What @frrp?
100 rooms?
This RC has no 3br suits. Because that already counts as 7 rooms.
And most people who stays at RC would be pissed off if their bathroom is not a separate room from the bedroom. So there goes 2 room.
Brand dilution here we go
All of the major hotel chains - all of them - are overrun with brands, supposedly to give owners more flexibility. And yet, none of the standards mean anything, so I suppose the owners win however you slice it.
I would imagine that once we hit a serious economic downturn, consultants will recommend consolidation of brands.