IAN-UK

I perhaps wasn't clear. IHG developed the concept of Club Experience, drew up the brand standards and imposed it, or otherwise invited hotels to sign up.

Amsterdam appears to have tweaked the rules. The tweaking would i think upset the product development team at IHG. Especially if guests complained about it.

Or perhaps the rule is a variant of the Experience being trialled. In any case, IHG should be let know that you are unhappy.

I'm currently at an IC where there is concern that changing the breakfast table set-up in the club lounge will run foul of IHG audits. Seems they are taking these things more seriously: for better or worse ...

scubaccr

Maybe the drinks problem with champagne at A-Bar (cocktails are chargable) is that a charged glass of moet is 19euro, and that IC Amstel rather than have some separate purchase/accounting for the club-experience drinks, such drinks come out of bars bottom line, and Amstel no doubt deducts bf (on day price)/drinks(bar menu price) from Club-Exp-fee and wants to make a profit.
.... I have seen A-Bar staff go to Lounge to grab Moet bottles, as A-Bar only sell Veuve Cliquot... so now a further internal depts x-charging complication

Hotels in this scenario choose to totally forget that real cost to the hotel to provide is not the sale price but the provision cost price, and even if Club-Exp is 120euro and guest has bf + drinks of nominally 150euro, the hotel is not losing 30euro but making 60euro or more.

Though if an RA with foc Club-Exp, then cost to hotel is not 150euro but maybe 60euro, though you could argue RA would not stay at Amstel at 5000euro/night w/o the Club , so that 60euro expense is required to make the profit on a 500euro room

Flying Lawyer

How are lounges meant to operate? Have clients sitting there all night getting drunk? That is what has spoiled my experience in the past in several places: Clients sitting there being afraid leaving the hotel and having one drink after the other...

Flying Lawyer

I am a very frequent Amstel guest and my average room rate is in the range of 350 Euro, neither 5000 nor 500.

And getting decent breakfast, tea and drinks in one of the nicest places in Amsterdam is - for me - certainly worth it and it is by far better than the value for money before they introduced Club life.

Fortunately they limit the numbers of drink, otherwise - and I do get this impression - I would face the company of some guests trying to drink as much alcohol as they can or cannot on the terrace and this would certainly not improve my own experience. If you want to get drunken, try it with Moet at breakfast (but pls, only after I had mine )

Flying Lawyer

If business were that easy one would not have to study economics. The real cost is of course the cost of the product plus rent plus staff plus plus plus. You cannot simply forget that you are sitting in a landmark property. They need to earn rent and staff costs too. If I would follow your approach they could sell everything at cost of the product and would be down the drain in a month or so.

Land-of-Miles

The staff costs are sunk, there is only marginal costs for the club life offering and that marginal cost is the cost of the good and drink alone, unless you want to seriously argue that it requires extra bar staff?

I never much liked the Amstel I thought club life might change that it did not and I spent €1k in 2 days.

turner32

You like a good drink at breakfast, okay, but I don't. I'd rather have 3 or 4 drinks in the evening, and then head out for dinner. I don't recall you being made the arbiter of Club lounge drinks, and neither should you judge people for expecting what, or indulging in, what they have paid for.

turner32

The costs are negligible. The A-bar staff are under-worked anyway, so it's not as if they're staffing a dedicated lounge.
No-one forced the hotel to supply champagne, so they could easily provide a sparkling wine instead.

I agree with IAN-UK about speaking with IHG about Club Life Experience and its implementation, but with whom or where would you even begin?

scubaccr

1. The Club Experience has zero extra non-cosumables cost to the hotel ie
a)zero extra dedicated staff
b)zero extra dedicated space (ie club lounge, segregated table space)

2. By Amstel is seemingly costing the "allowed" Club-Experience out regards the headline 100euro/night supplement for
i)breakfast (x2 / room)
ii)teas (x2 / room)
iii)evening canapes+drinks (2ppn)

How many of us are out during the day, don't bother with afternoon tea, don't always take breakfast, but will due to lack of alcohol in Amstel minibar frequent A-Bar for most of allowed 2-hours. In fact the cutdown afternoon tea is quite meh, so i don't bother with it.

3. Amstel by cross expensing daily, means on a 3day stay if guest only uses a-bar 1of3 nights guest still is only entitled to 2drinks onm the one night they use a-bar.
Come on, get real, all consumption by ALL Club-Exp guest will average out, however Amstel choose not to do that due to way they internally account for items of the club-experience.

Land-of-Miles

I would note that my survey which gave full vent to my feelings on the club life restriction did not seem to credit the promised 2k points and thus presumably made its way directly to the bin.

Flying Lawyer

The entire hotel business has no extra cost because it is there anyway.

Breakfast just costs the price of a roll and a coffee, room just costs the price of washing and cleaning, restaurant just costs the price of a 200 gram steak at Tescos. GREAT. And nonetheless they charge 300 Euro per night. I will probably start hotel business tomorrow.

turner32

What a ridiculous comment. What you've said bears no relevance to either of those comments.

Land-of-Miles

Indeed risible comments.

The property either wants to encourage guests who might be expected to spend a fair bit when there (i.e. RA's) or it doesn't. It clearly doesn't which is fine by me.

You can pay outright for a suite in what to me are better located far nicer and more contemporary properties for less than the pre-upgrade price at the Amstel. The property really isn't all that and neither really are the suites. Of course my susbtantial F&B spend goes with me too.

Flying Lawyer

The only preposterous approach is the impolicy to await to get everything free of charge based on the argument that it does not induce extra costs. And an argument like "The A-bar staff are under-worked anyway, so it's not as if they're staffing a dedicated lounge" might show some arrogance but not a wealth of economic experience. A hotel is still a business and not a charity as you and other "risible comments" propose. Fortunately we all have different expectations and not every approach pleases everybody.

turner32

a question for you.

Which costs more to run:

a) a bar that already exists, is already lit, powered, staffed, etc?
b) a separate, dedicated lounge, -take any you choose as an example.

Please point to where anyone mentioned, as you bizarrely did - Tesco steaks, and anyone who suggested that hotels should be run as a charity.

​​​​​​​good luck.