Friday, January 25, 2008

Hotel Ratings

Rating Hotel ratings

Have you read the home pages of any hotel web sites lately? They are all starting to sound alike, with promises of sweet dreams, luxury rooms, and superb service. It's had to know which hotel can deliver on its promises.

Hotel ratings Can Help

Fortunately, hotel ratings by real people who have actually stayed in the hotel can help you separate reality from the puffery when it comes to claims hotels make. By reviewing hotel ratings before you book your next vacation or business trip, you can get near real-time information from travelers who stayed at the hotel last month, or last week, or last night.

What Should A Hotel rating Include?

A good hotel rating includes information about every aspect of the hotel traveling experience, from ease of reservations to ease of check-out, and everything in between.

At a minimum the hotel rating writer should tell you whether the room the writer stayed in was the same room the writer reserved. The rating should tell you how long the hotel check-in process took, how long the line was to check in, and whether the desk staff were pleasant and efficient.

A good rating will describe the hotel room in detail, including the style of the decor, the cleanliness of the room, the view from the windows, the temperature of the room, and whether the temperature was easy to control. Most travelers will also describe the softness or hardness of the mattress on the bed, the size of the bed, the quality of the bedding and how comfortable the sheets were.

Finally, a good hotel rating will tell you about amenities in the room, like the television, clock, radio, mini bar, wireless network access, ironing board, and complimentary grooming aids.

Going Beyond The Hotel Room

Most travelers also want to know about the rest of the hotel, outside their guest room door. If the hotel has a gym, the rating should describe the hours when the gym is open and what kind of equipment is available to guests at no additional charge. A rating should provide a mini review of the restaurants and shops on the hotel premises, describing what kind of food the restaurants serve and whether they are casual or fine dining establishments, and what kind of merchandise is available in the retail shops.

Going Beyond The Hotel

Finally, a thorough hotel rating should also include a little information about the neighborhood where the hotel is located and what kind of restaurants, shopping, and cultural amusements the traveler will find nearby.

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