As we enter 2025, hospitality continues to follow the mantra that we live in a world governed by rules, or as we refer to them in the industry, standards. While these act as guidelines for hotel employees and provide them with an element of downside protection, they also end up shaping the experience of hotel guests and encouraging conformity.
We also live in a world increasingly dominated by large international chains imposing their interpretation of luxury on us. For the majority of luxury hotel brands are evaluated by the same firms steering them to adopt identical standards in the effort to simplify and bring about a predictable customer experience. As a result of this strategy, these brands have become increasingly uniform and ultimately risk becoming unattractive-to-guest me-too’s.
To be clear: Applying what may be flawed or inadequate standards will inevitably lead to uniform and predictable experiences that ultimately culminate in widespread mediocrity—maybe it already has, for replicating competitors can hardly result in any differentiating outcome for any of them.
Those who care to question the status quo and embrace change could ultimately be the ones who truly differentiate themselves and so lead.
Today’s plethora of mostly marketing-driven ratings and rankings often flatter hoteliers, giving them the impression they are genuinely delivering quality, based on what amounts to random snapshots of performance. These do not however, necessarily add up to a consistency of performance that is founded on fundamentally ingrained skills and standards.
Performance results in the high 90’s for the best hotels may look impressive, but do they really reflect reality? It’s hard to believe. In all my decades of traversing the planet in search of excellence, I have experienced exactly one flawless breakfast at The Goring and one impeccable and inspiring dinner at Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons. My standards seem to differ greatly from those of the organizations conducting the usual mass evaluations, perhaps because I do not actually rely on fixed standards—I have never understood how evaluating hotels, or any luxury experience for that matter, could be reduced to what amounts to a formulaic bookkeeping exercise.
In addition to drawing from my own experiences and those of other luxury travelers, I was curious to find out whether some of the world’s top hoteliers share my perspectives and observations.
In a recent survey of 14 leading luxury hospitality brands—among them Aman, Bulgari, Capella, Como, Corinthia, Dusit, Four Seasons, JW Marriott, Kempinski, Langham, Mandarin Oriental, Mondrian, Okura, Rosewood, and W—as well as 14 independent luxury properties, 23 general managers and 8 senior corporate officers provided insights on the crucial topic of quality.
Respondents widely acknowledged the use of consistent industry standards to benchmark a hotel’s performance against its competitors, while often highlighting areas for improvement that might have otherwise been overlooked.
On the other side of the coin, the expected disadvantages of a standardized approach were expressed, including the desire for a more individual evaluation that reflects a hotel’s unique location, cultural heritage, property specifics, clientele, and ideally its DNA.
Some hoteliers argued in favor of a more flexible, guest-centric, and technology-driven audit process that aligns better with ever-evolving guest expectations, as well as the hotel’s specific customer base, rather than the current rigid process that is perceived as detached from the dynamic nature of the industry.
Last but not least was the recurring theme of emotional intelligence: The need for a better evaluation and management of the emotional aspect of the guest experience was a concern across the board. It all comes down to the appropriateness of emotions displayed by hotel employees during guest interactions. Sounds quite simple, doesn’t it?
The prevailing approach to evaluating emotions today often revolves around the expectation that “everyone must be happy.” But what about the many other emotional states? Responding with cheerfulness to someone who is irate, despondent, or euphoric, for instance, could lead to unwanted outcomes, not the least of which is a complete emotional disconnect between guest and employee.
In my opinion, the key to enhancing the emotional aspect of interactions between hotel employees and guests lies in completely rethinking what emotional intelligence is and how it is taught and trained. It should be reframed as a deep dive on emotions and approached from the ground up. Only then will hotel employees be equipped with the full arsenal needed to read, understand, and respond effectively and appropriately to any emotional state a guest may be experiencing.
In addition to the quality issues outlined above, I have identified two other areas that are significantly underserved: Hotel websites and vegetarian or vegan food options.
We all understand why hotel websites are important: Direct bookings enable hotels to “own” the customer relationship and are significantly more cost-effective than indirect bookings. A few years ago, most major hotel websites underwent a significant revamp, becoming much more emotion- and experience-driven. Unfortunately, this shift came at the expense of clear and straightforward hotel descriptions, often prompting users to abandon the hotel website in favor of third-party platform content. Despite the opportunity for a quick fix, the money continues to be left on the table.
However, the imminent rise of personal AI planning agents for consumers will finally compel hotels to become AI-ready, which, in this context, means prioritizing facts over sales language. Structured property information, clear and factual descriptions of key aspects of the offering—such as amenities and services provided—along with accurate and detailed property attributes, will be essential. Having explored every luxury hotel website, I can confidently say that not a single one is prepared for the impending wave of consumers using personal AI planning and booking tools.
Guess who will win the business when hotel websites fail to transition to more-fact-based, AI-readable content? While this scenario is still in its infancy, experts predict it could go mainstream within the next two years. Go figure!
Food and beverage—here we go again. Breakfast happens to be not only a notorious source of imperfection and frequent guest complaints, but, like other meals served in hospitality settings, is also a constant point of contention for a sizeable demographic seeking vegetarian/vegan options. Too many hotels remain clueless, sometimes even condescending, with hotel employees across the property displaying little-to-no knowledge and the kitchen generally offering sub-par quality and little variety.
In summary, the glamorous world of perfect hotel-stays filled with miraculous one-of-a-kind experiences is largely wishful thinking. However, despite the significant room for improvement, it remains attainable should savvy hoteliers alert and challenge long-held, comfortable practices.
The way audits and training have been conducted has seemingly failed to achieve the desired outcome of reinforcing owner and operator desire to create distinguishable brands. Continuing down this path means settling for sameness, reduced guest expectations, and shrinking pricing power. If things don’t change fundamentally, my recommendation for price-sensitive consumers would be to choose 4-star hotels over 5-star establishments for significantly better value for money.
We need bold, visionary leaders to take the first step and break free from the “me too” mentality and the “we’ve always done it this way” mindset. You are perfect—now change!
The wonderful world of hospitality is full of opportunities—but someone needs to seize them sooner rather than later!
Jochen Ehrhardt ([email protected]) is a highly discerning individual, driven by a profound passion for evaluating and elevating 5-star plus offerings, with a particular emphasis on the emotional aspect of human interactions.
As founder of TRUE 5 STARS, he provides the only online platform showcasing the world’s top 800 hotels. He has personally visited and inspected over 2,000 of the finest hotels worldwide.
You can learn more about Jochen Ehrhardt and his work at https://true5stars.com/advisory.
Jochen Ehrhardt
International Institute Of Modern Butlers
Recent Comments