After staying at Patina Osaka, rated the world's best hotel by Travel + Leisure, I'm reflecting on how big awards boost rates but also raise guest expectations.
The 'average person' cannot afford to stay in those hotels. According to the various internet calculators, I'm easily in the top 1% globally in terms of both income and wealth and I would only be able to justify spending the 70k yen that the Patina charges per night next month if travelling for a special occasion...if one is travelling for a special occasion, they will obviously be inclined to invest a bit of time in researching the hotel they're staying in. If one is happy to spend that sort of money on a regular basis, they should delegate the research to their personal assistant or travel agent instead of getting suckered in by random lists.
lol 70k yen/$450 USD for a really good luxury hotel is a fantastic price (not to mention its on FHR). millions of people pay those kinds of prices every day. comparing yourself to the billions of poor people in india/china/bangladesh/africa to make your point about "global wealth" is amusing
You're missing my point. I wasn't saying that the Patina is too expensive for what it is, it definitely sounds like it's better value than the hotels in Paris etc that charge a couple of thousand Euros for a standard room that's barely 30 sq.m.
The point is that those lists are accessible to the 'average person', including very much those in India etc, as a form of entertainment- like others may be intrigued by an article on the ant dish I had in a restaurant in SP serving cuisine from the Amazon- and that entertainment-related buzz is their main purpose. They don't have to be able and willing to stay in those hotels anymore they are tempted to try that ant dish.
If someone uses a random article in a lifestyle publication to inform a purchasing decision involving a serious amount of money (by their own standards), that's squarely on them.
Apologies for the dodgy grammar, trying to keep an eye on the (ant-free) meal I'm cooking.
@ Throwawayname -- I hear you, but a couple of thoughts. First, by "average" person, I meant average person who would typically pay for a hotel within that price range. Of course I understand if we take the average of the six billion people on earth, a vast majority would never spend this much on a hotel.
Second, I don't think these lists are just totally random and meant for entertainment for people who would never stay at these hotels. Even among luxury travel advisors and very frequent luxury hotel guests, there's a lot of talk about which hotels win these awards. I don't think that can be so easily dismissed. That's not to say that no research should be done, but I do think these rankings carry meaning for a lot of people.
Ben, you had me at “circle jerk”… :-O
In all seriousness, regardless of who’s doing the rating, I remain skeptical on hotels and airlines; feels very ‘pay to play’… the only standout remains Michelin for restaurants; they’re on it.
Ben, aren't you essentially doing the same thing though, when you publish things like best first class or best business class airlines? Obviously you have less pull than travel and leisure, but I do see various brands advertising that they were named this or that by a particular blogger.
I'm not particularly criticizing you or for that matter the magazines. At least you have a website that provide an independent service. In this and other industries I have seen organizations or entities that seem only to exist for the purpose of giving out rankings and things like that. But I don't think that's intrinsically wrong as long as there's some transparency into how those ratings were calculated so people can see what the judge is evaluated and decide for themselves whether that is relevant to them or not. (
It's been many years since Travel & Leisure was considered to be a trusted and authoritative travel publication and like Forbes or Newsweek, I'm surprised anyone with knowledge of the publishing or travel business pays any attention to their various rankings. On the other hand I do think Conde Nast Traveler still has some credibility.