Originally Posted by
evergrn
Yes, of course it's all business so the hotel industry will do what makes sense business-wise.
But their decisions will also be influenced to some extent by customer feedbacks. And to read all these comments here minimizing Hilton EL is frustrating, because they do nothing to motivate Hilton (and its franchisees) to open new properties with EL or try to keep open existing EL's. N.American properties will never elevate their EL quality to match Asia's, no matter how much we critique them. If anything, these types of comments will help fuel EL phase-out. EL's in N.America are good enough as they are, at least the ones I've been to.
Our "minimizing" comments are borne out of frustration at being screwed over by certain properties and getting nowhere via complaint channels. Tourism in America means paying good money for cheap-cheap-cheap quality*, which bleeds into the EL product. Lazily chunked "scrambled" (powdered) eggs, flavorless melon, a few sad bananas, and a broken Nespresso is the "executive" breakfast in a metro-area business property. The "lounge" is all too often a converted junior suite, or if you're lucky,
two whole standard rooms with the wall knocked down. I am looking at you, Hilton LAX and Mission Valley.
While I don't expect the lounges to go to Asian standards anytime soon (although if service industry wages remain this depressed for long enough, who knows once the labor becomes relatively cheap...), I am not going to lobby for a crappy product's preservation. Enforcing a minimum standard would be nice, in addition to giving elites (golds and diamonds or just diamonds, take your pick) the option to dine in the main restaurant. I'll take a guaranteed seat in the main restaurant rather than endure an overcrowded "lounge."