Professional: Hotel Rankings without Limit

Championship-winning coaches have a habit of demanding excellence from everyone on their team. They never tolerate mediocrity from anyone. Incredibly high standards are discussed everyday (yes, everyday). This article, however, is not about sports. Nor is it about AAA ratings, Mobil ratings, or Michelin Guide ratings. It is about what separates very good from exceptional. I’ve had the privilege to work with 5-star hotels, restaurants, and spas. I have also worked with 4-star establishment...

Robert Kent has been planning that big vacation for some time now. Scanning his laptop screen, he has selected that exotic location, and is now vacillating between three fine hotels. All three are highly regarded, appear to be luxurious, and offer top drawer amenities. One is a five-star property, one is unranked and the other one is World Class Certified™. Robert has stayed at some questionable four and five star properties in the past, so those rankings hold little value for him. Likewis...

Leading tourism and hotel consultants, MKG Hospitality looks into the growing popularity of economy and budget hotel products – supply and demand. Economy and budget hotel products will no doubt be the next major boom in the hospitality industry. In fact, we’re already seeing all the signs, particularly when observing mature markets, such as Western Europe and North America – generally considered as providing the best indication of how a global trend will transpire. Corporate...

Located in a converted nuclear bunker in Switzerland, this hotel offers no amenities, no frills, and no comfort. In the last decade or so, the luxury hotel industry has really taken off. Larger-than-life hospitality impresarios have been routinely tripping over each other to build the hottest hotel, the most lavish accommodations in the most opulent milieu. But the economic climate now stresses affordability over impractical extravagance, and the fashion world has taken note. Recession-friendly...

It is nothing new in modern marketing that companies claim to be friends of the environment in order to gain popularity. Environmentalists may favour a company claiming to grow flowers or use recycled packaging material. However, the European Flower Ecolabel, which came into the tourism sector in 1993, forces companies and organisations to prove what they claim with inspections to check if what they say about their environmental policies is true or not. The label is a very recognizable flower, k...