For the eye-watering rates they charge, luxury hotels should make sure their guests feel like VIPs. Instead, many guests come away from their five-star experience feeling ripped off.
It’s the little things that add up. When you hand over your hard-earned cash to stay at a high-end hotel, you expect personal touches. Complimentary services and add-ons that smooth the travel process and bring you the best on a silver platter (sometimes literally) perhaps speak more to luxury than thread counts and fancy amenities. Unfortunately, many hotels skip them altogether.
Here are 15 things luxury hotels should offer as complimentary but just don’t seem to.
Complimentary Airport Collection
Airport transfers are one of those travel admin details that can be disproportionately annoying to arrange. But, for a luxury hotel that organizes transport for their guests daily, it’s a value-add they could easily include, especially as they have partnerships with trustworthy services in the area. After all, you’re paying extra to avoid stressful tasks.
Daily Newspapers in the Room
Daily newspapers may be available in the hotel lobby or lounge area, but it’s so much better to have your own copies in your room. What’s more luxurious than lounging on Egyptian cotton sheets with your morning paper and coffee?
Snack Baskets with Local Delicacies
Luxury hotels need to go beyond in-house fine dining. They should introduce you to delicious delicacies from the area. Providing a snack basket with a curated selection of local foods, like traditional baked treats, relishes, or indigenous fruit, is the kind of personal touch you’d expect when you pay a premium.
Personalized Toiletries
Forget non-descript shampoo that doubles as shower gel. Luxury hotels should offer a range of products from which you can select. Not all guests have the same hair and skincare needs. The right toiletry products for you should be waiting in your bathroom, especially if you are a regular.
Feminine Hygiene Products
Feminine hygiene products are not a luxury, so why do upmarket hotels (or any hotels, for that matter) not provide them as a standard part of their service? They are as necessary as toilet paper and definitely more used than flimsy shower caps.
Swimming Gear
If it’s a luxury hotel by the sea, you’d think swimming towels, snorkels, flippers, and goggles would be ready by the loungers. Unfortunately, sometimes using the loungers isn’t even free.
Ecofriendly Products
Single-use plastic is not something you want to find at a luxury establishment. But, sometimes, it rears its head in takeaway coffee cup lids, cutlery, toiletry packaging, straws, and bottles. Reusable glass water bottles don’t seem to be on the list of complimentary items—why not?
Pooch Paraphernalia
If you’re staying at a luxury hotel that allows pets (and perhaps they all should), a water bowl, treats, a bed, clean-up bags, and, where possible, an outdoor play area for your fur baby should be part of the package.
Concierge Services
Someone on call who can arrange your transport, fill you in on the best restaurants in the area (and book you the best table), help you secure passes to the top tourist attractions, and arrange a babysitter for your kids—is that so much to ask? Not when you’re paying top dollar; it should be standard with a five-star stay.
Good-Quality Beverages in Your Room
A tiny plastic kettle, stale teabags, and instant coffee do not scream luxury. With compact coffee machines that can fit on a bedside table readily available, it’s not too much to expect to find one in a premium hotel room, along with a selection of fine teas and fresh milk. Sparkling and still water, sodas, beer, and everything else in the minibar should also be complimentary.
Fluffy Bathrobes and Slippers in your Size
Many hotels have hopped on the bathrobe bandwagon. But often, this means a one-size-fits-all situation that’s charged to your account. The slippers? Not much more than thin toweling material with a cardboard sole. Good-quality, fluffy robes and slippers in your size that you can take home afterward should be non-negotiable.
Flexible Check-in and Check-out Times
Paying for late check-out or early check-in seems so outdated, and when it’s a high-end hotel, it feels positively stingy.
Access to Hotel Amenities
Complimentary access to the hotel pool should be a no-brainer, as should access to wellness facilities like saunas, gym classes, and relaxation areas. It’s poor form to charge guests for onsite amenities, and yet, it’s not unheard of.
Parking
Whether it’s your own car or a rental, or even if it’s a vehicle belonging to someone visiting you during your stay—a safe parking space should be a given, and given freely.
Breakfast
Last, but not least, breakfast. Why is this still being charged separately at so many luxury hotels? Even country bed and breakfasts include the first meal of the day in their rates.
Time to Loosen the Purse Strings
Being charged separately for every tiny aspect of your stay, from slippers to snacks, at a high-end hotel takes so much away from the experience. It makes a five-star stay feel less like a luxurious treat and more like a theme park where you pay for each ride. Doesn’t quite scream luxury, does it?
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