Travel in Hotels
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There is considerable variation and many frills within these basic types, the rule of thumb being that the more you pay, the larger your room becomes. Some business-oriented hotels offer an executive level, where a steep premium gets you access into an airline-style lounge and typically some perks like "free" Internet access or pay-per-view movies. Naming for these rooms varies, with eg. the Kuala Lumpur Hilton (http://kuala-lumpur.hilton.com) dubbing even its cheapest rooms as "Deluxe" and the next category up being "Executive" — but you need to upgrade one more step to an "Executive Suite" if you want to actually get the executive level perks.
The guide below is by necessity a generalization, as star ratings are awarded by each country according to their own rules, and the difference between a 3-star and a 4-star may be something as obscure as having a minibar in each room. It's also worth noting that star ratings are often 'sticky', in the sense that once awarded they're rarely taken away: a four-star built last year is probably still pretty good, but a four-star opened in 1962 and never renovated since may well have turned into a dump.
The notion is that a hotel can be six or seven stars is a joke among travel professionals since most respectable hotel rating systems do not give out a rating higher than five stars. The Mobil Travel Guide awarded the Five Star rating to only 32 hotels in 2006. The consensus is since so few hotels really can achieve the five star rating then there shouldn't be a rating higher than five stars.
An example of a self-proclaimed "seven star" hotel is Dubai's Burj al-Arab (http://www.burj-al-arab.com/). It's certainly a luxury hotel, but the marketing department at the hotel awarded itself the fictional honor — perhaps to justify why a single night starts at US$1000.
The five-star hotels is the quintessential luxury hotel, offering frills above and beyond the actual needs of the travel. Five-star hotels tend to have opulent and expensive decorations; fancy gyms, swimming pools and spas; plus restaurants that serve food good enough to draw non-guests to sample it too. Major five-star chains compete to offer the most ludicrous frills imaginable: Westin touts its Heavenly Bed mattresses, while Conrad will let you order from a menu of pillows. Needless to say, all this comes at a steep price, and you're unlikely to be able to justify the expense of a five-star for ordinary business travel. The other downside to five-stardom is that hotels that can jump through all the hoops to achieve the rating are likely to be large and impersonal.
Major chains: Conrad (Hilton), St. Regis, Westin and W (Starwood), Intercontinental, JW Marriott, Shangri-La, Mandarin Oriental, Sofitel, Four Seasons
The four-star hotel is a good business hotel. Everything works smoothly, there's Internet in every room, a well-equipped business center, they'll arrange your airport transfer and room service is palatable and only somewhat expensive. And your boss will probably not faint when they see the bill.
Major chains: Hilton, Marriott, Novotel, Crowne Plaza (Intercontinental)
Three-star hotels are solid but dull. Your room will have an attached bathroom and there's probably a restaurant downstairs and 24-hour reception service.
Major chains: Courtyard by Marriott, Ibis, Holiday Inn, Mercure
Two stars means no-frills hotel. In most countries two stars means that your room probably has its own bathroom and there's probably a TV and telephone in your room, but rooms are bare-bones and you're unlikely to want to spend any more time than strictly necessary inside.
Major chains: Comfort Inn, Motel 6, Super 8
You don't see many of these, and with reason. One-stars are not just no-frills, but often downright dodgy: rooms are barely functional, shared bathrooms are somewhere down a corridor and the painted ladies from the all-hours karaoke bar next door dance the horizontal tango all night long in the room next to yours.
Major chains: Formule 1 and Etap (Accor)
Unrated hotels are a mixed bag. Most, it is safe to say, are hotels that are either too dodgy achieve even the meager requirements of a one-star — or, alternatively, too small and personal to be able to offer (say) 24-hour room service, although the service and amenities offered are otherwise of five-star caliber.
These clubs are designed to keep a customer loyal to one chain and often include various rewards such as: Free rooms/nights in a hotel, Airline miles, Free room upgrades, Movies, music, tickets, golf clubs, and gift certificates to stores.
Some of the more known loyalty clubs are:
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