high-end hotels usually disappointing?
 

Anybody else find that with high-end places one usually is disappointed? Because one has paid so much and has such high expectations (or the reviews posted here are so great) and they just don't meet that.

Whereas my $11 hotel room in Siem Reap is great. Included airport shuttle, breakfast (admittedly just toast and eggs), front desk people were very hospitable when I arrived, showed me a map with the places to eat around town, room was bearable and had no bugs!

No. I'm rarely disappointed by high-end places.

Never underestimate the value of what paying more does to one's ego.

Even if it's a turd in a golden shell.

I think it depends on what you think are "high-end" hotels. Lot of people think a Hilton, Marriott or Radisson Blu is a "high-end" hotel and spending $250 a night is a huge thing. Often enough they will be disappointed by ending up in a lean business hotel which just runs a business and not a place where you got treated like a king.

If you talk about real high-end luxury hotels, I rarely have been disappointed while at the regular 4 to 5 Star business hotels the experiences are very mixed.

as fassy said, you are not visiting the right "hotels"

"hotel" does not even begin to describe the best properties

Perhaps I've not visited the right hotels but I am usually underwhelmed by high end places. The rooms may be bigger and the carpets thicker but I dislike lobbies chock full of jewellers and peddlars of luxury knick-knacks and I have a healthy disdain for the criminal end of the spectrum of fellow guests.

But they are certainly much nicer than branded chain hotels which are way overpriced and often not nice at all.

I think it depends on the value you ascribe to what drives a "high end" hotel. Your $11 hotel probably didn't have "1000-knot-per-inch, hand woven from baby silkworms raised on a vegan diet" rugs, and the like. Some people find the "luxury" of these items - the visuals - etc., worth the money.

It's a bit like some people value the mechanical complexity and elegance of a multi-thousand dollar Swiss mechanical chronograph and other see that a $10 quartz watch will keep better time.

I'm typically fine with a nice, clean Fairfield, Holiday Inn Express, etc. for personal travel, and a middle of the road Marriott, Westin, etc., for family. We've had stays at high end properties, and don't derive much value out of the fancy stuff.

I stay at Marriott properties if they are available. If it's short term I stay at a JW. Long term I look for an MEA.

Is it worth it? Well, to start with when I describe the food or the bed or the room or any other amenity say "admittedly just ......". There is a difference between a King size bed with box springs, deep mattress, comforter, duvet, etc. and a small bed with a 2 inch mattress on a wooden box. Yes, you can sleep. Yes, there is a difference.

I won't stay at a hotel that is lower quality than my own home. Why should I? Why would anyone?

The sleep quality is roughly the same but i have never been disappointed by the high end treatment.

I have expectations that are tailored to the property whether it is a cheap and cheerful place or a high end hotel - for example, I was very disappointed in a Mandarin Oriental a few years ago, consistently the phone was not being answered, not only when I called internally, but also when people were calling the hotel trying to be put through to my room. I expect a 5 star property to answer the phone within a couple of rings each and every time. I don't expect a small family run motel / B&B to do that tho.

This is the right answer. One can be equally pleased and satisfied with a clean, basic, friendly two-star motel or some lush, opulent five-star compound. What is more, a genuinely sophisticated person knows how to make him/herself comfortable in either setting.

Announcing that less ambitious hotels are "below my personal standards," etc. is no sign of sophistication, no matter how long you've subscribed to Conde Nast Traveler and all that glossy, schlocky travel porn.

Carping about lack of gold-plated sink taps in a basic place, OR finding endless nitpicky fault with the sheet thread counts, etc. in a luxury place where people are turning handstands to make guests happy, is a big red flag in a human being.

On paper, the nicest place I've stayed was The Peninsula HK. At the other end of the spectrum, I've spent a night in a stall at HKG.

Once I'm asleep, nothing else - amenities, service, noise levels - matters. Until I'm asleep, I'm probably relaxing in bed.

That's probably why my favorite part about any hotel is the possibility of a vast breakfast spread...

I guess it is funny how things that should be individual preferences (like bed firmness) can be universalized, how Westin calls their bed "heavenly", and many other properties make similar claims about their beds.

Don't people have different tastes? Yet how can one hotel be "great"? Maybe some people like gold-finish, and some hate it.

But when I stay at a nice place, I expect it to be nicer than a normal place. But, as emma69 pointed out, it doesn't mean "better staffed" and sometimes things fall short. And sometimes at cheaper places people are more informal and say things that make you feel welcomed, like "welcome back VIP" (for a person who stays frequently) in a joking, smiling manner, that wouldn't befit a "5 star" hotel.

I don't want to meet any non-vegan silkworms. Sounds like the plot of a bad science fiction movie.

No, not usually disappointed at a well-run luxury property.

I've certainly been disappointed at some mainline Marriott/Hilton/Starwoods that were charging a high-end price because I happened to be there at a peak time. (Frankly, there are a lot of these in NYC that don't live up to expectations.) But if I'm at a Ritz or Four Seasons, it almost always delivers.

I don't go out of my way to book these kinds of places for personal trips...if I want something luxurious with my own dollar, it's usually a small boutique or B&B. These places, at the luxury end of the scale, are often incredible.

And in a weird un-flyertalk kind of way, refreshing to know that no guests are on uneven footing due to varying elite statuses. You book a specific room and that's what you almost always end up occupying.

I don't do as many of those anymore, but yes...I get the sentiment. Did a lot more of them backpacking at a 10-15 year younger age. :)