Luxury Hotels - Leading Hotels vs. Small Luxury Hotels

I am buying a wedding present for a world-traveling enthusiast friend. I am wondering which network is best:

Leading Hotels of the World

versus

Small Luxury Hotels of the World


As an aside, there's no chance these "networks" go belly up and the gift certificates become worthless?

I am buying a wedding present for a world-traveling enthusiast friend. I am wondering which network is best:

Leading Hotels of the World

versus

Small Luxury Hotels of the World


As an aside, there's no chance these "networks" go belly up and the gift certificates become worthless?

Most unlikely that either will go belly up. Personally, I would opt for The Leading Hotels of the World, as this gives the option of choosing from larger, city-based Grandes Dames or from The Leading Small Hotels of the World - all contained within the same portfolio.

If you're in the UK and want to be extra sure...

Whoever you purchase from pay with a Credit Card (not a debit card) - in the unlikely event that a supplier goes bump if you haven't received the goods you can claim your money back from your Credit Card company.

This is the situation in the UK, not sure what it is elsewhere.

In the event that the issuer goes bump could the Credit card company argue that you have the goods (i.e. a Gift Voucher, albeit a worthless one? I'm not sure....

I personally have a big problem with Gift Vouchers. The only person who seems to benefit is the shop (or in the event of Zavvi, the official Receiver) - so many vouchers go unclaimed and the comapny benefits hugely from this + plus with inflation the longer you keep them the less they're worth less (ok I know there is a bit of deflation at the moment in places). You usually don't get any cash refund on unused sums and you have little or no choice where you use it.

Why not give your friend a nice personalised certificate saying that you promise to pay for a holiday for them or give them the cash and get them to promise to spend it on a holiday - not romantic I know - but our family have agreed we don't do waste our money on Gift Vouchers now.

Is there a particular property that your friend frequents or has his sights set on? Most major networks and chains offer gift certificates of one sort or another, Four Seasons, Ritz Carlton, etc.

I am buying a wedding present ... there's no chance these "networks" go belly up and the gift certificates become worthless?

Either you're an incredibly good friend, wonderfully-generous, making amends for having bonked him / her while engaged or seeking to curry favour. Which ever it is, your friend is sure to be appreciative.

There used to be quite a gap between the two alliances in terms of hard product: Leading Hotels used to be just that, while Small Luxury Hotels tended to very pleasant, but second tier establishments.

In recent years many of the truly legendary grande dame hotels have dropped out of LHW. Don't let that discourage you, as it still boasts an impressive list. Meanwhile, SLH has been expanding with a smaller number of really quite surprising, and sometimes impressive, member properties.

Points to consider:


Your friend is well-travelled: are there any particular regions s/he tends to go to most -- LHW seems to offer the best overall global coverage, while SLH is particularly strong (but not exclusively) in mainland Europe.

Bling -v- class: Would your friend prefer a night of splurge at the Burj Al Arab in Dubai (thankfully, not a member of either alliance) or something smaller, quirkier but luxurious? I mention this as you may also wish to consider a gift voucher from Relais & Chateaux (http://www.relaischateaux.com) which offers a very unique range of high-end restaurants, as well as accommodation, among its rank and file. Again its primary footprint tends to be mainland Europe.

People have a very broad interpretation of what de luxe actually means. Some think that a United Airlines lounge is smart, while others think it's less pleasant than a dentist's waiting room (and both offer mouthwash to drink, in case you were curious as to where I stand). Making no pre-judgement (and don't want this to sound affected) but maybe your friend would be equally happy with an upmarket chain, such as that offered by Starwood's Luxury Collection (http://www.starwoodhotels.com/luxury/index.html). Some of the properties are historically noteworthy even if, in my subjective opinion, they've been homogenised.

Finally, you might also want to think about Orient Express Hotels (http://www.orient-express.com/web/luxury/hotels/luxury_hotels.jsp). The coverage is pretty good for most of the world (from the Ritz in Madrid to the Copacabana Palace in Rio). I've posted elsewhere that I've been encountering increasingly variable standards at these properties since the group went into massive expansion mode, nevertheless some of the places remain quite unique.


I hope that helps and sorry about the somewhat flippant remarks about your potential motives. It's a great present idea.

I agree with Kettering. The best way to take $100 and make it worth less than $100 is to convert it into a voucher which can only be spent in a certain way or at a particular place. For example - perhaps your friend's dream vacation is to a place where neither of these outfits has a property? Or there are better properties - or properties with better deals (unless you're paying for the entire trip - the latter may be important to your friend).

I don't know what the protocol is in terms of wedding presents for friends (only weddings I go to these days are those of young nieces/nephews - where cash is often the gift of choice). Perhaps you ought to check the wedding registry (people sometimes register for strange things - and you can usually find the registry on line). Robyn

P.S. I don't know where you live - but if your friend is a foodie - perhaps you might buy a dinner at a great restaurant where you live. Or if you know he's going to a particular place - maybe on his honeymoon - you could buy a meal there. Just give the restaurant your credit card number - let the restaurant charge his meal to it - and hope he doesn't order a $1000 bottle of wine ;). Robyn

It also depends on what kind of hotels they really like. In my experience the LHW ones are often very large and geared to business travelers---usually having the "seen and be seen" restaurant or bar in that city for locals. The SLH ones, on the other hand, are more intimate and boutique type of places. I find the latter to have more local character and be more romantic, but that can also mean their English isn't as good and there won't be an army of people to wait on you all the time.

I agree with this assessment. We have stayed in some really nice SLHs; they are almost always smaller, more quaint, intimate, and unique.



It also depends on what kind of hotels they really like. In my experience the LHW ones are often very large and geared to business travelers---usually having the "seen and be seen" restaurant or bar in that city for locals. The SLH ones, on the other hand, are more intimate and boutique type of places. I find the latter to have more local character and be more romantic, but that can also mean their English isn't as good and there won't be an army of people to wait on you all the time.

Thought I would update the board. I appreciate everyone's comments. I found them useful, and noted nothing flippant about them.

1. Gift Certificates for Leading Hotels of the World may also be used at properties within the Relais and Chateaux network. As a result, I opted to buy an LHW gift certificate.

2. Unfortunately, I had difficulty with their website, and subsequent calls to customer service. After some effort, I was able to get in touch with them only to find that they've canceled their gift certificate program. I imagine that existing certificates are not affected.

3. After further perusal, I opted to buy a certificate from Relais and Chateaux, only to find that they canceled their program as well. As an aside, both LHW and Relais and Chateaux still have active links for gift certificates on their websites.

4. As the debate between the options had then been made moot, I then opted to buy a certificate from SLH. I have spent a considerable amount of time researching the individual hotels. It appears (to me) that there's less consistency among the hotels within the SLH network than in LHW's network, but there are still plenty of gems to choose from and small hotels are more in line with my brother's tastes.

As an aside, while I appreciate the arguments made by those who dislike vouchers, I did not feel a cash gift was appropriate for my brother and his fiancee. Most importantly, however, a specific voucher shows that some time and effort was spent in thinking of things that the recipient actually may enjoy (you remember the old adage, "it's the thought that counts . . ."). He can deal with the minor inconveniences of the voucher . . .

BUT THEN, while reading the fine print, I realized that SLH's vouchers have the following restrictions:

They expire within 15 months.
They force you to redeem the vouchers only through SLH.com which likely limits access to special offers and discount rates/packages.
If you purchase a certificate in one currency (e.g. dollars) and use it in a country in which a different currency is used (e.g. Euros), the dollar amount is converted at the redeeming hotel's exchange rate.
Et cetera, et cetera, ad infinitum


And so . . .

Letter A: The critics have been redeemed.
Letter B: I opted, instead, to buy a subscription to Budget Travel Magazine as well as a luxury travel magazine yet to be determined (Travel + Leisure vs. Conde Nast vs. National Geographic Travel vs. other?) along with a check "earmarked" for travel. No red tape. No BS. Just cash.

Thanks again!

Thanks for telling us what happened. FWIW - hotel exchange rates usually are bad - not awful. I saw truly awful rates at the airport in Houston this trip (25-30% buy/sell spreads). Robyn