Ins News:
Travelers who have checked into hotel rooms recently, as a record number of people did in 2005, may have noticed a few changes.
The multicolored polyester bedspreads are gone, replaced with crisp, white, plush down comforters. No-name soaps have been swapped out for high-end, herbal-infused lotions and shampoos. High-class hotel amenities are the new standard, and hotels are betting that their guests will enjoy the pampering so much that they will want to repeat the experience at home.
Luxury has become the new standard, and hotels have to work to keep ahead of the Joneses. After all, local supermarkets offer fresh sushi and Target’s shelves are stocked with 300-count sheets.
‘Consumers’ expectations have increased dramatically,’ said Bjorn Hanson of the hospitality and leisure practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers in New York. ‘Hotels have always tried to offer something that was equal to or better than what a consumer has at home.’
Fortunately, the hotel industry has the capital to satisfy the public’s more discerning tastes. After a 3-year industry slump, travel has rebounded and now surpasses pre-9/11 numbers.
‘The state of the industry is very healthy right now,’ said Robert Mandelbaum of PKF Hospitality Research in Atlanta. Industry profits were an estimated $20.8 billion last year, and hotels are putting that money back into the business.
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