sensei

I am with the OP. While I sympathize with the challenges hotels are facing, like the rest of us, they need to continue operating to their best ability. That is what I am doing with my customers even when they are currently unable to purchase my services. There are longtime relationships involved. I can’t put an auto reply on my email and direct them to our help desk.

5 star hotels provide a luxury service product and it is trying times like these when truly great properties shine. I recently experienced this at Park Hyatt Tokyo. The OP had a dissatisfactory experience and I am glad he shared it as I will avoid the property he referenced based on what was shared. If the argument is COVID 19 has changed everything and you can’t expect good service going forward I fear many luxury properties will struggle to command a price premium over budget accommodations.

hailstorm

Once again in this thread, someone makes a faulty comparison between a hotel in Tokyo, a place that has never experienced a true "lockdown" and where >90% of luxury hotels are at least partially operational, and a hotel in London, where continued operations are banned by the government.

It's one thing to praise a top hotel for going above and beyond to provide truly great service. But asking for proactive lodging assistance that is prohibited by law goes beyond what is reasonable to expect from any establishment.

777 global mile hound

Thank You too for your well said post
It brought me down memory lane.
I'd like to add not just 5 star properties that rise to the occasion when faced with a major challenge plenty of 4 Star and perhaps some 3 star too in my past memory
I remember being in New Orleans with the Hurricane fast approaching years ago.We were scared as we knew of the past devastation.
Was staying at the Westin Canal Place and they closed the hotel to incoming guests and waited until all of my rooms
and traveling companions departed so we could all get out safely to our flights beyond checkout time
They couldn't go home and shelter because of us
.I worked every trick I could to get everybody home and got out myself on the very last flight.
The Westin also made an exception @ my request for a friend the night before who was at another area hotel and was asked to vacate early.
They opened up a room against hotel rules as a Platinum member and 20 year guest of the hotel even before Starwood existed

The concierge arranged a private limousine & driver so we wouldn't have to worry getting to the airport where the flights were ending before the airport closed
When I think about the horrific past events of Katrina once it hit and how brilliantly the management and security performed @ area hotels especially
@ The Sheraton and the Hilton Riverside who remained open post storm protecting their guests making sure they were well fed and comfortable
as best they could even without electricity I am still to this day in awe.When i say bullets were flying I'm not making this up
Fred Sawyer Hilton GM at that time was heroic
Its one of the reasons since then I have always believed in full service hotels.
No one likely thinks about it typically however the big hotels have emergency contingency plans and are trained to implement them when called on
This is the dedication and professionalism I speak about for the hospitality industry in life and death events where the show must go on.
Both then and now I salute all of those that serve the traveling public especially in the most dire of situations and risk the potential for getting into harms way
They like our medical front lines are inspiring

skj

Are you really making this comparison ?

craigthemif

Yikes... I didn't realise that concierges at 5-star hotels are now the true heroes of the coronavirus crisis...

777 global mile hound

Comparison not quite
Parallels yes no one will compare a global pandemic to a regional catastrophe just based on scale
However yes the hotel management & team remain heroes to me this day and how they coordinated with national guard corporate police local hospitals.
All of those folks that serve the public in and out of the hotels
Below sheds light on just one example of many and what they took to serve the traveling public professionally under some very dire circumstances

https://issuu.com/lisadare/docs/airw...atrina_edition

777 global mile hound

Yes of course that is exactly what I refer too and meant you nailed it! They are the true only heroes out there in or out of the Pandemic!
Now if you could only spell realize to drive your brilliant take of my focal points

gengar

Interesting how quickly you've gone from "not entirely fair" to "faulty". While we're on the topic of "faulty", you'll also note my earlier post was not a "comparison" in any sense of attempting to equate the two properties - in fact, I did the precise opposite.

OsakaWino

Really???

2 of Hyatt's 4 upscale properties are closed, the Mandarin Oriental, Peninsula, Ritz Carlton, Aman, Okura, and Four Seasons are all closed...

hailstorm

Not sure I'd classify the Hyatt Centric as an "upscale" property.

90% may have been hyperbole, but there's still Shangri La, Prince Gallery, Park Hyatt, Grand Hyatt, Hoshinoya, Prince Park Tower, ANA IC, Conrad, Westin, Keio, The Strings, Ascott, Pullman...so choices exist.

OsakaWino

But I'm also not so sure that it is true that no choices exist in London. A cursory search on Google turned up quire a few for a 2-night stay in the coming week, as did a search on Hilton.com (but not Hyatt.com).

hailstorm

Yes, but you can't stay there.

writerguyfl

This thread keeps getting more and more bizarre.

59Impala

yeah... that's why the OP does not react either anymore... thread could be closed...

Richard1148

I expected it to be closed the first day. I am surprised that a moderator has not shut it down yet.