Deluxe Hotels Square Off For Highest Honors

<B>Deluxe Hotels Square Off For Highest Honors</B>

By Bruce Serlen

By emphasizing the delivery of of a consistent, dependable luxury hotel product to high-end business travelers, Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co. and Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts took the number one and number two spots, respectively, in the deluxe category of this year's survey.

The two chains held the two top spots in the category in 1999 as well, though in reverse order, with Four Seasons grabbing the number one position last year. And to make this deluxe hotel rivalry even more intense, the difference in overall weighted average scores between the two is barely a wrinkle.

As an example of the power of well-known brands, names increasingly known around the world for certain positive attributes, both Ritz-Carlton and Four Seasons have succeeded to a large degree in associating themselves in the corporate travel buyer's mind with qualities like tastefulness, elegance and sophistication. Other deluxe chains included in this year's survey aspire to this same lofty profile.

"We have very intentionally built the brand around a concept of high-end personal service--and the strategy is working," said Ritz-Carlton vice president of sales and business development Mark Ferland. "It was something we did early on and continued to invest in as we grew."

Among other survey criteria, Ritz-Carlton won for the physical appearance of its hotels, the quality of in-room and business amenities and the quality of its food and beverage program. "Each of these is part of the overall experience of staying at one of our hotels," said Ferland, "so in that sense each is an essential worth us focusing our attention on."

While chains like Ritz-Carlton and Four Seasons were concentrating their efforts this way, the pool of corporate travel buyers prepared to pay premium rates for their senior-level executives to stay in these properties grew as well, abetted by the continuing strong economy.

For its part, Four Seasons is uncomfortable with the luxury designation. "If you think of luxury in the sense of fluff or excess, that isn't the guest experience we're interested in delivering," said David B. Crowl, vice president of sales. "To the contrary, every amenity we offer is a 'must have' for our guests. Among business travelers, that means the top 5 percent to 8 percent, most senior executives."

At the same time, other hotel chains--both in the deluxe category and across the board--have realized the value of providing high-end personal service as well.

"Consequently, this has meant continuing to raise the bar on the level of individual service we provide. It has really become something of an art for us. It's part of our credo, something we are passionate about," said Ferland.

"Companies in the deluxe category like ours don't do anything differently than our competitors, we just strive to do it better," said Crowl. "This entails continually listening to our business travelers, cognizant that their world is getting more pressured."

Four Seasons won top honors in this year's survey for ease in arranging both individual and group travel. "This may reflect a new reservations training program we implemented in 1999, trying to measure our reservations agents' effectiveness," said Crowl. "After all, it's not just order taking, but a form of customer service. Plus it helps ensure we are providing single image inventory."

"There definitely has been a blurring in the traveling public's mind between the deluxe and other luxury tiers as they all stress the delivery of high-end personal service," said consultant J. Grant Caplan, principal in Consulting Strategies in Houston. "In good economic times like we have now, business travelers are willing to spend an extra dollar for comfort and prestige. Deluxe chains just need to keep a step ahead."

Moving up one notch from its survey standing in 1999, Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts placed third this year. Here too the underlying theme was the service component. "We work hard at delivering service excellence and differentiating our product with such Asian values as respectfulness, graciousness and warmth," said Martin Waechter, vice president of sales and marketing.

Shangri-La, which is based in Hong Kong, scored highest for the quality of its business centers and the overall relation between price and value.

Twenty percent of Shangri-La's business guests last year were from the United States. "We saw a significant increase in these percentages in the third and fourth quarters, which we expect to continue in 2000 as a direct result of the upturn in the Asian economies," said Waechter. Consequently, maintaining the balance between the traditional Asian sense of hospitality and the fast-paced, U.S.-driven way of conducting business is becoming crucial.

Yet, flawless service is only part of the strategy for these chains. "It's crucial that we provide a consistency of experience, not only within each of our hotels, but across the entire portfolio, a level of quality the business traveler can count on," said Ritz-Carlton's Ferland.

This may be a greater challenge in the deluxe category because properties tend to be highly individual, often in locations around the world. "Take our hotels in New York, Los Angeles and Cairo. There's no identical look by any means," said Four Seasons' Crowl, "but the core standards are the same and that's where the consistency lies."

Crowl also cites the higher staffing levels at deluxe properties. "At the end of the day, it's really the staff that embodies the culture of the hotel. They live it and breathe it. It's here that you get consistency, especially when staff members have been at the property for many years," he said.

The unique nature of the portfolio also drives these chains' expansion plans. "We're drawn to the conversion of historic properties, for example, precisely because they are one-of-a-kind," said Phil Keb, vice president of development for Ritz-Carlton, citing the new Ritz-Carlton Philadelphia, opening this spring, in a 100-year-old building that was once a bank headquarters. Internationally, Four Seasons is in the midst of similar conversions in Prague and Budapest.

For Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, the appearance on this year's survey--its first, having attained a near 20 percent usage rate--takes on a David and Goliath quality. "We have so few properties and none carry the Rosewood name," said Arthur Berg, vice president of sales. "What we lose in name recognition, we make up in exclusivity. Savvy travelers who choose properties like The Mansion at Turtle Creek appreciate a hotel with a subtle brand."

The situation is similar for other small five-star chains that didn't make the survey list for insufficient usage. "Given our concentration of properties in London, we're popular with the discriminating business traveler and can negotiate with companies that bring volume to that one city," said Lisa Zandee Murray, director of sales and marketing for The Savoy Group.

"A sense of place" for each of its properties also was cited as a defining characteristic by Regent International Hotels. "We believe each of our hotels stands out in its market as unique, both in terms of design and tradition," said president Paul Hanley.

Regent is undergoing a transformation since Regents in Asia and Los Angeles still are managed by Four Seasons, while new ones are managed by Carlson Hospitality Worldwide, which has owned the brand since 1997. The most recent addition to the chain, The Regent Wall Street, opened in the landmark former Merchant's Exchange building last month.

Regarding negotiated rates, these deluxe chains tend to take a lower key approach than many of their counterparts in other sectors. "We negotiate on a hotel-by-hotel basis once we ascertain a company's needs and if there is sufficient volume," said Four Seasons' Crowl. "But given the level of executive we're talking about, price resistance isn't usually an issue if the traveler wants to stay at our hotel."

Similarly, the Four Seasons has no frequent guest rewards program, which isn't to say guest profiles aren't valued and assiduously maintained. "They're a way for us to provide better service," he said.