It’s all in the stars – hotel ratings

classic wooden bed beside a black side table with lighted night lamp

There’s a dizzying array of choices out there these days, particularly since many hotel chains now have both budget and high-end accommodation line-ups.

Assuming you’re not subscribing to one of the many gig-economy accommodation offerings like Airbnb, Tripping, Home2Go, FlipKey, OneFineStay, Vrbo, Couchsurfing, Roomorama, Housetrip, Casamundo, Luxury Retreats or Wimdu (Did you know there were so many?), you are probably going to choose to use an aggregator or you might book directly with the chain.

Choosing a hotel stay can be confusing with all the choices. Do you book based exclusively on location, or do you use price and location, price, location and star rating? Do you then decide based on the reviews? What does the star rating mean anyway?

History

The hotel star rating system means different things to different hotels and different hotel groups. The more stars the greater the luxury, or so consumers might think.

In 1958, Mobil Oil and Gas began sending out anonymous paid staff to review restaurants, hotels, and spas for its guide books called Mobil Travel Guides.  Although less exclusive than the Michelin Guides, a 4 or 5 Mobil star was a significant achievement for any establishment.  The method of assessment is however unregulated.

The American Automobile Association and their affiliated bodies use diamonds instead of stars to express hotel and restaurant rating levels.

In the US, the hotel star rating system is based on popular opinion, in Europe, four stars equate to five stars in the US. In both cases, the rating is meant to denote the quality of the hotel. However, even across Europe, the stars don’t quite equate to the same thing at each establishment. Hotel stars are effectively meant to be a rating system that evaluates the features and amenities available at a hotel to help guests choose the best hotel for their stay and budget.

US hotels are judged by private companies and websites, whereas European hotels are evaluated by government agencies and independent organizations.

Star Ratings Australia, is owned by the Australian Tourism Industry Council with a Star Rating representing the quality and condition of guest facilities which is determined by 200 criteria according to  “The truth about five-star hotel ratings”

Whether a customer is looking for a bed for the night or a more comprehensive experience, they can directly compare hotels based on their star ratings, or so the principle goes. Narrowing down the search according to the features most desired for the price.

Hotels receive a rating of 1 to 5 stars, some even higher! 1 is classed as being basic and 5 is the most elaborate in terms of amenities and service.

Per Wikipedia, “there is so far no international classification which has been adopted. There have been attempts at unifying the classification system so that it becomes an internationally recognized and a reliable standard, but they have all failed.” The World Hotel Rating (WHR) site references “A unified global rating system has been proposed by the World Hotel Project”

The ratings

Zero-Star Hotel, guests are provided little more than a bed and an outhouse according to The Manual. “On paper, it sounds more like a rural hostel. In reality, the “bedroom” is a luxury designer suite situated amid the beautiful rolling hills of Switzerland’s Appenzell region.” But this hotel’s rating is far from unique there are a number of them.

Ok so zero stars is a bit quirky and perhaps even artsy but they’re not all like that, some hotels across the globe simply don’t have any star ratings at all like these Managua hotels, most of which are hostels but some of which are just private local hotels.

A single-star hotel often provides only the bare essentials for a night’s stay. A bed and an en suite bathroom, but the latter are not guaranteed. Expect limited amenities and minimal service from the staff. The single-star rating is just an indication of basic accommodations and does not reflect cleanliness or safety. One-star hotels offer a place to lay your head for the night, but that is about it. A television or phone may or may not be available in the room. Such establishments are unlikely to have their own dining facilities or at best, they are rudimentary. The reception will also be limited in the hours that it keeps as well as housekeeping services.

A two-star hotel offers the basic necessities of a bed and bathroom in each room and may offer amenities, like a TV, phone, and wardrobe. They may have 24-hour front desk services with limited daily housekeeping and self-serve dining at the hotel, such as perhaps a continental or buffet breakfast. Such hotels may be part of a larger chain as opposed to single-star hotels that are often private. Two-star hotels are often targeted at pass-through travellers like travelling salesmen or sales reps and may also be older properties that either cannot or haven’t been renovated.

Three-star hotels often offer a balance of amenities over room rates. Mid-tier, semi-upscale hotel chains, focus on being consistent wherever you encounter them; often with a tub and shower ensuite. The lower end of the Hilton, Hyatt and Marriott hotel groups are not super luxurious but they are pretty consistent, often pass along more privileges to reward members and have upmarket fixtures and fittings in the rooms like a desk, wired and wireless internet, a TV, phone, a fitness gymnasium, perhaps even a pool and bar and some sort of dining facilities for breakfast. Targeted by the mid-tier business traveller they’re to be found in most major cities across the globe. Different classes of rooms may have queen, double queens or perhaps king beds depending on the targeted clientele.

In the US, the 4-star hotel is upscale. Providing amenities and extras to create a more pleasant multi-night stay. Often located near beaches or nightlife attractions in major cities, their reception areas are noticeably upscale with reception, valet and concierge services as well as 24-hour housekeeping, late-night room service and table dining options. A 4-star hotel may have multiple pools, health spas and racket and basketball facilities, a fitness gym and even live music playing from one or more bar and restaurant facilities.

The typical five-star hotel is one that provides what the AAA describes as “the ultimate in luxury and sophistication; extraordinary in every manner”; Forbes might consider it an “Outstanding, iconic properties with flawless service and amazing facilities“; Michelin might say it is simply “Exceptional” and Hotel.com might say “High degree of personal service; “sumptuous” lobbies; concierge service, stylish rooms, elegant intimacy

Five-star hotels are known to be some of the most glamorous hospitality locations in the world due to the level of service they provide.

A personal butler, doorman, designated concierge, around-the-clock room service, valet parking, spa with massage services, gyms with personal trainers, live entertainment, and even child care.

Often with superior amenities like a steam room, sauna, and heated indoor and outdoor pools, they may have one or more signature restaurants and bars staffed by top chefs. The 5-star hotel often boasts attention to detail, personalized guest services and menus or special room requests. Frequently located in iconic architecturally significant buildings with state-of-the-art conference facilities and business services and extravagantly furnished rooms and lobbies, these facilities are the pinnacle of hotels that choose to be graded.

Getting personal

Hotels generate a great deal of data from the moment a guest books accommodation online to the front office check-in, to the self-service check-out. When housekeeping services the room, the guest takes room service or anything.

According to the Harvard Business Review (HBR), customer experience is the number one reason travellers use select hotels and this may outweigh the price the location and yes, even the stars!

In hospitality, harnessing customer data helps decision-makers to solve the most challenging of tasks including anticipating occupancy, competitive pricing, customer segmentation, guest loyalty and identifying the most profitable guests.

This is only possible if you have the best possible guest data and the best possible customer database and Pretectum thinks that a customer MDM is the perfect solution for that.

Before, during and after their stay, guests leave you with potentially loads of data. That data is found in different systems including the reservations system, website, property management system, point of sale, loyalty system, check-in system and even social media!

All of this guest data in aggregate can give you a clear picture of your guests and help you better understand their present and future needs, you simply need to collate the data and store it all securely in one accessible and referenceable place. Somewhere like the Pretectum CMDM.

Today that’s the number one investment priority for all serious hoteliers!

Contact us today to find out how the Pretectum CMDM can help.

Your Most Valuable Asset

Hotel Five Stars

Despite access to a lot of data, hoteliers have long underutilized the data at their disposal, perhaps because it was too fragmented of insufficient or variable quality or perhaps because they were not even sure where to start.

When used effectively, guest and stay data can provide hoteliers with the opportunity to improve direct customer interactions, improve revenue and optimize the way properties are run.

At face value, the challenges in hospitality are not dissimilar to those in other industries like banking, retail and automotive.

For hoteliers though, Harvard Business Review says that customer experience is the number one reason travellers use to select hotels the decision based on experience often outweighs price, location or star rating. The experience might be their own or it may be the experience of others too if they have never stayed there before. The same piece cites positive past experiences as resulting in 140% more spending.

Pretectum’s view is that one of the best ways to improve the customer experience is by leveraging the data that you have of your guests. With the Pretectum cloud-based CMDM you collect guest data, some kind of understanding of your guest and their demographic. With this optimized guest master data system in place and a good approach to evaluating and maintaining clean, organized, de-duped and error-free guest data, the analytics possibilities are endless.

Pretectum considers this to be one of the easiest ways to maintain your guest database to target an improved customer experience.

A well-maintained guest database will include not just the basic data about the guests but likely includes rolled-up or aggregated purchase behaviours too. That same database will also contain guest preferences as well as feedback from past surveys. This information can be incredibly valuable for developing your marketing or customization and personalization approach to your guests.

Connected

Industry analysts suggest that new customer acquisition is about five to seven times more than retaining existing ones. 65% of many companies’ business actually comes from repeat business customers.

Integration of your core systems to the CMDM is all done via APIs, these could be your property management system (PMS), your CRM system or your CDP. Connecting your systems allows you to set up automation, integrated and unified search and real-time data validation.

Click on the image for a better view of the platform
Click on the image for a better view of the platform

Making use of the guest data gives hoteliers an ability to anticipate guest needs, this is done by leveraging the central customer master data management system that comprises the guest database and analyzing tastes, behaviours and preferences.

You’re only really able to consistently impact the guest experience positively by analysing and using guest data effectively. Even ahead of check-in you can upsell accommodation with relevant offers and upgrades. Offers don’t have to be limited to just your facilities they can be part of collaborations or co-sells too! For offers to be timely, innovative and relevant they need to layer in guest preferences, rewards and discounts.

There should be little doubt, that you can use your guest database to improve your customer relationships and grow your business. It all starts with the first easy step of evaluating your business needs and evaluating the choices available to you in terms of customer master data management systems that can be complementary to the systems you may already have in place.

Contact Pretectum to learn more about how you can leverage CMDM to improve your hospitality business.