Top Ways a Luxury Hotel Trumps a Mid-Tier Hotel

True luxury hotels command a price premium, but for several good reasons: they deliver greater service, and ultimately value, to guests who value quality, comfort, and convenience over their mid-tier counterparts.

1. More Likely to Honor Their Mistake

We recently had clients looking for a luxury hotel during a special event, where pricing was much higher: think EUR 3500 per night for a regular room and EUR 4500 per night for a Junior Suite at one of the hotels they were considering. We reached out to another luxury hotel competitor, which quoted an average nightly rate (after taking into account a complimentary 3rd night) of EUR 1725 per night for a room that was newer and larger than the EUR 3500 per night. When we confirmed we'd like to reserve it, it turned out that a Reservations intern had given us incorrect (lower) pricing; however, the team did the honorable thing and agreed to confirm the booking at the lower rate.

In contrast, we recently dealt with a mid-tier hotel that a client had picked against our recommendation. We had the Concierge team make four dinner reservations nearly 3 months in advance, which were confirmed in writing. When we asked them to reconfirm all the dinner reservations, they informed us that two of the hotels had no record of the reservations, and refused to take any responsibility, claiming it was the restaurants' fault, and urged the client to make a dinner reservation in the hotel's restaurant instead. Needless to say, the client was not impressed.

We've also heard of other mid-tier hotels that, upon discovering there will be a special event that they can make more money off of, unilaterally cancel some of their guest bookings in order to resell the rooms at a much higher rate. True luxury hotels don't do this, at least this hasn't been our experience for any of our many client bookings over the years.

2. Luxury Hotels: No Walk Policy for Our Clients

Virtually all of our preferred partner luxury hotel agreements include a “no walk” clause, where the hotel agrees that even in the event of overbooking, our clients will never be “walked” to a different hotel. If the hotel has overbooked and need to refuse a room or suite to guests, it will typically be guests who reserved through an online agency, such as Expedia, Hotels.com, Booking.com, etc.

Mid-tier and cheaper hotels, however, have less reputational risk at stake; you'll want to ensure you're an elite member of the hotel's loyalty program. That won't prevent you from potentially being walked, but in the case of Marriott, all elite members who are walked from Marriott's mid-tier hotel brands EDITION, The Luxury Collection, W Hotels, JW Marriott, Marriott, Sheraton, Delta Hotels, Le Meridien, Westin, Autograph Collection, Renaissance, Apartments by Marriott Bonvoy, Tribute Porfolio and Gaylord Hotels are owed 90,000 Marriott points + $200 compensation, in addition to being accommodated at no extra charge at a nearby hotel. It's still not as convenient, however, as not being walked in the first place.

3. Daily Housekeeping and Turndown Service

Post-pandemic, a number of mid-tier hotels have gone to housekeeping on request, a consequence of fewer cleaners and those cleaners being forced to do more work. If you enjoy the vacation aspect of coming back to a room or villa that's been cleaned and tidied, you'll appreciate that daily housekeeping and turndown service remain alive and well at true luxury hotels and resorts.

4. Bathroom Quality

While images of a luxury hotel tend to conjure up opulent furnishings and panoramic views, many times, you'd be able to tell a luxury hotel just by looking at a photo of its bathroom (unless it's an older property that hasn't been renovated). Some of our favorite luxury hotel bathroom features: double sinks; a soaking tub and separate, glass-enclosed, walk-in rainfall shower; spa-like bath robes and slippers; separate toilet chamber with a Toto washlet; locally-made or high-quality bath products such as Aesops or Bamford. Mid-tier hotels might have some of these features, but certainly not all.

5. Breakfast and Restaurant Quality

In addition to bathroom quality, one of the key differentiators of a luxury property is the quality of its breakfast and dining. At breakfast, we look for fresh squeezed orange juice (and at resorts, additional fresh squeezed juice options); fresh berries either on the buffet or able to be ordered a la carte; high quality locally made or organic jams and preserves; barista-prepared rather than machine-made espresso drinks; egg dishes made from free range eggs; and breads, pancakes, granola, and pastries that are prepared from scratch by a dedicated team on-site rather than bulk-ordered or made from a mix.