OH NO! HOTELIERS LEARNED NOT TO DO THIS IN KINDERGARTEN

"STARWOOD TO LOWER STAR LEVELS"

"In a bid to save money and to appeal to growing numbers of travelers looking to trade service for lower rates, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide is giving owners of some luxury hotels approval to scale back on amenities and sacrifice star ratings. The shift is ostensibly a temporary one, until the economy can recover and guests' taste for the finer things returns."

In a classic case of `the monkeys running the zoo`, we learn yet again, that a major hotel company drops its trousers publicly and throws decades of hard work building a brand, its credibility, its international ranking, its standards, its reputation, its client base............ all down the drain in a futile attempt to achieve something..............but what?

• Are they trying to satisfy their clientele with reduced standards?
• Are they trying to appeal to a blue collar traveller?
• Are they trying to satisfy owners who are suffering from reduced occupancies?
• Do they really think this is temporary?
• Do they really think that Star ratings are set each week by the Owner?
• Do they really think that their guests` tastes for the finer things has gone away?
• Do they truly believe that Starwood lowers Star levels?

This is kindergarten stuff. This is a lesson that we learn behind the Front Desk. This is not the action of responsible brand managers. This is the business equivalent of releasing the Lockerbie Bomber. I can not believe that a decision like this was taken by a business person. It sounds like it was made by a committee of special interest groups.

Guests` tastes for the finer things in life has not gone away, it is the guests who have gone.They will come back and they will be looking for those amenities and when they do not find them, they will go elsewhere.

In case this decision maker does not know, it is not the owner that determines the Star Level, it is the local authorities. And Star Levels are not only based on ` amenities`, they are based mostly on physical attributes and Stars do not pop-off and then pop-back on again, there is a process that is followed methodically and it takes years to establish or re-establish a ranking. Obviously this Head Office believes that it is the Owner that decides this and that market positioning is something that goes up and down with the stock-price.

Unfortunately, most of the people who should be screaming about this are the junior managers of Starwood. They won`t because this comes from the Ivory Tower. Unfortunately they will be the ones who take the brunt of the fallout from this ridiculous decision. They are the ones who go nose-to-nose with the client and defend the brand, day in and day out, night in and night out.

Their guests will be confused, annoyed, frustrated and will complain. The explanation will make no sense and the rates will likely remain about the same. The volumes will decrease, the guest satisfaction will plummet and the owners satisfaction will deteriorate. This is truly a lose/lose situation.

I do believe that this could go down as one of the largest strategic errors in our industry. It will have dramatic effect on Starwood`s brands` positioning, until today, one of the best in the industry. From now on, all bets are off.

I have been know to exagerate but in this case, I do not believe that I am far off!

For information on Star Ratings and the position of the industry on this subject, contact [email protected]