United747

I care more about hard product, but they both need to be there, especially at luxury hotels.

KatW

For me, location and setting constitute an important part of the hard product. Otherwise it wouldn't matter where a hotel is built, any old place would do.

As for hotels/resorts where the hard product blew me away:

La Casa Que Canta, Zihua
Laucala, Fiji
Le Bristol, Paris
Gravetye Manor, West Sussex

Hotels/resorts in which in the hard product was utterly disappointing:

Post Ranch Inn, Big Sur
The renovated Hotel Bel Air, LA
Pedregal, Cabo
Renovated Ritz Carlton, San Francisco

callmedtop

KatW, I've always trusted your opinions and have really enjoyed your reviews, but have to ask about Le Bristol. We found the common areas / restaurants absolutely stunning (and my favorite in Paris), but the rooms (regular + Jr. Suite) utterly disappointing. Felt almost cheap? What room category do you typically stay in, and do you feel like the rooms are equal in quality to the overall physical property?

Kagehitokiri

which gets into hard product including many things, and rooms can vary

how much time is spent in room (and hotel) also varies and factors in

wish there were more like laucala (understandable why there are not) and frankly i would not really care where they were, closer to home or at home would certainly be convenient even if not as good

KatW

On the famous other hand, Laucala could be found only in tropical island locales with inexpensive labor in cultures that make an art of hospitality. Scratch Cap Juluka off your list.

To detach Laucala from its environs simply is not possible, period.

KatW

Thank you, good question, callmedtop.

Never have experienced any of the rooms at Le Bristol. For our first stay six nights in June 2014 we booked a jr. suite which was on the second (first) floor. It was enormous with foyer, walk-in closet and luggage space, commodious living room and spacious bedroom. It was gorgeously appointed and supremely comfortable ... and had absolutely NO view, Zip. Nada. The (only two) windows looked out over the outside of the (dirty) glass cupola topping their three-star restaurant below.

Space is important to me, one of my non-negotiable expectations and I am prepared to pay for space.

Because I'm so smart, the following year when we stayed seven nights, I asked for a junior suite on a high floor expecting a view. Well, there was a sort of view across the street looking into an unremarkable building and lots of natural light, a Juliet balcony (almost). But the "suite" was horrid: tiny, cramped with too much furniture and utterly unacceptable. I gladly would have returned to the no-view jr. suite and asked piteously to do so but it was occupied (I'm certain savvy guests ask for this one and they are correct to do so).

Once I calmed down, I rang the nice lad who met us at the entrance and escorted us to the ostensible suite for checkin. I indicated sternly we needed larger accommodations and gladly would pay whatever was the going rate. I was that unhappy. He apologized and said he'd look into it.

30 minutes later we were ensconced in an enormous top-floor one-bedroom suite with foyer, dining room, spacious living room, and two gargantuan bathrooms plus a huge outdoor terrace overlooking LB's interior garden. At the same rate as the cramped jr. suite we'd been given. When I checked the rack room rate on the back of the entrance door, I just about infarcted: €7,000 per night.

There's nothing special about us other than how stumble-bumble we are. I have no idea why they were so kind to us. Our then TA never has done much for us but she is French so maybe that was a factor. During our first stay, management promoted a concierge to chief concierge -- the first female chief concierge in Paris. We sent her a bouquet for congratulations. She had been so very kind to us, arranging concert and museum tickets. And, just generally sweetly kind and competent.

I expect we did make clear our utter delight with the place (and the two Birman cats). Well, we were entirely gaga, everything about the place down to the porcelain at tea just set us kattywhumpus (that is a good thing). If we could be comfortable in Paris, this was the place!

The only takeaway from this experience is one I long have practiced. Never stay in any of the basic one/two/three level of rooms, always go for a suite however junior. And, as all know here, book at least through a Virtuoso TA or cultivate over time a luxe TA with multiple access. I am fine to pay for the level that makes me happy. Anything above that is unexpected delight.

Finally, everything here is outrageously expensive, if you were thinking of dropping by for tea or a drink. It worked for us even though I did notice the outrageousness of it. But, apparently, Paris. And, it was so fine for us.

We tipped the lovely German lad who arranged the upgrade, €500. Which I later thought too skimpy. But he sends us Christmas cards.

Whew.

RichardInSF

In previous discussions relative to this topic, the board consensus has been that service is what distinguishes a luxury hotel from the next level down, the upscale hotel.

Many upscale hotels have a fine hard product.

Incidentally, I stayed only once at the Bel Air hotel and was not overly impressed. One annoying thing, especially since there aren't any other restaurants nearby, was the two out of four nights they rented their signature restaurant out for events and relegated hotel guests to a table in the bar with a limited menu.

Another problem at the time was that they had somehow combined the hotel phone system with the Beverly Hills hotel and the operators didn't even know which hotel you were calling from.

callmedtop

What a great post - thank you! With all that said, what category / room type do you recommend booking, and what room requests to pass on to the hotel / TA, given the nature of "every room being different" at Le Bristol?

KatW

If you book through Virtuoso, you get an upgrade at Booking which is a rare wonderful thing and likely has limits. I would book a Jr Suite which should get you to at least a Deluxe jr suite and that matters.

You may not be able to upgrade at booking to a basic suite from a Deluxe jr suite but I would try.

The LB website shows a huge difference in jr suites. Maybe keep asking until you get one you like. Next time I book I will go right to Deluxe jr suite. This is one of those hotels that has many different categories.

obscure2k

In my opinion, hard product trumps soft in a beach resort. In a big city, soft product trumps hard product.
Examples: In Hawaii, Bora Bora, etc., the service is often sub-par, but that takes second place to a gorgeous ocean view, overwater bungalow with great shower and privacy. In a tropical environment, my focus is on the hard product. I have no expectations of great food and service.Service on a beach is a big plus as is a great beach.
Ritz Paris offered the best service I have ever encountered. So, that is my template for the best hard product and best soft product. Every need was anticipated. i have stayed in (nearly) every great hotel in Paris. The Ritz hard and soft product trumped every other hotel.
The best combination of soft and hard product in a U.S. (mainland )Hotel was the Carlyle in New York

KatW

That makes a lot of sense. But the hotels/resorts I have loved best exceed on the superlative hard product and their service is sumptuous.

KatW

And, don't get me started on Hawaii!

TheBrownPrince

It has to be both for me to consider it a luxury hotel. Gorgeous hard product is an expectation. Service is what can truly impress me and make my stay memorable. It's that little extra that will get me to rave about a property.

Not meeting a certain minimum standard in either hard or soft automatically makes it a "bad stay" for me.
For example, I had simply breathtaking villa with a panoramic view at Shangri-la Boracay but their messy/inadequate logistic arrangements made us (and many others waiting for the same shuttle... they sent 1 shuttle for a crowd that would fill 4 and then proceeded to lie to us all that the next one was on the way) miss the sunset. That was just sad... and then the patronizing GM told me that I should book with him directly on my next visit after I raised this issue in the hope it would benefit their guests. Now I have a perfect example/anecdote for this sort of thread :-D

Sorry for the off tangent rant but you can see how service failure can undo an impression left by an excellent hard product...

KatW

By no means an off-tangent rant.

United747

I completely agree. There is only one hotel in the world that I'm an advocate for, and it was the service that brought me over the edge.