Your first stay at a 5-star hotel can be surprisingly different from what you’re used to. Here are some things experienced luxury hotel guests already know.
Unless they were born with a silver spoon in their mouth, chances are most people are well into adulthood before they stay at their first 5-star hotel.
Maybe it “finally” happened because they saved up enough points. Perhaps they decided to splurge for a special occasion. Or maybe they just lucked out, like we did when we found a “buy one night, get one night free” deal at the Waldorf Astoria in NYC.
(The offer was apparently a mistake. They pulled it REALLY fast, but still honored our reservation. SCORE!)
Whatever gets you through the door, staying at a 5-star hotel for the first time can be a little…different.
Not necessarily intimidating. Just unfamiliar.
Because there are things people who regularly stay at luxury hotels already know to do, or not do, that someone staying at one for the first time might never even think about.
Here are some of them.
They pack things they won’t need
A Park Hyatt is VERY different from, say, a Holiday Inn Express. Obviously, the price of the room will be entirely different, but the amenities offered at the more expensive hotel will generally be on a whole other level, too.
So slippers, bathrobes and toiletries (not just soap, shampoo and conditioner, but usually lotion and potentially a whole bunch of other stuff) will typically already be there.
If it’s raining, they may have umbrellas for guests to borrow.
And whether you’re using the pool or going to the beach, they’re obviously going to have towels available for you, too.
Someone staying at a luxury hotel for the first time may not realize just how much stuff the hotel provides and wind up bringing half of it from home.
Which means less room in the suitcase for whatever you’re inevitably going to buy on vacation. 😉
They think they have to act a certain way
I suspect this is a big one.
Some first-timers might assume they have to dress nicer than jeans and a T-shirt. Others may think they have to act “fancy,” worry about using the wrong fork, be afraid to ask a “stupid” question or suddenly start whispering because…well, it’s the Waldorf.
Meanwhile, plenty of the other guests are wandering through the lobby in jeans and sneakers and acting exactly the same way they would at a 2- or 3-star hotel.
It’s a hotel.
A really, REALLY nice hotel.
But still a hotel.
They’re not quite sure what to do about the doorman
It certainly doesn’t help that doormen are becoming something of a dying breed.
So when you’re not accustomed to having someone open the door for you every single time you enter or leave the hotel, it can become an awkward little dance.
Do I wait? Do I open it? Is he going to open it? Am I supposed to tip him? Every time???
And if you’re a stubborn, independent person who would much rather just open the door yourself, the whole thing can take some getting used to.
Not that I’m talking about myself, mind you… 😉
They don’t make good use of the concierge
If someone stays at a mid-level hotel, especially one that caters to tourists, there may be a concierge or similar desk that can suggest things to do, places to eat, shows to see, etc.
But the concierge at a 5-star hotel, especially this kind, can be on an entirely different level.
A really good concierge knows what questions to ask so they can provide genuinely personalized assistance, rather than simply handing everyone the same list of restaurants.
And sometimes they’ll help with things you wouldn’t even think to ask about.
We’ve had concierges offer us personalized tours of their hotels. At one property, after we discovered we’d forgotten our U.S.-to-Vietnam plug adapter, the concierge offered to go out and buy one for us.
Some luxury hotels even have house cars that will take guests to nearby destinations, and the concierge can arrange that, too.
“Hi, we need a ride to the Hop On, Hop Off Bus stop.” (Yep. That was us at the Park Hyatt in Washington D.C., a very, very long time ago. 😉 )
The point is, if you’ve never stayed somewhere with that level of service, you may not even know what you can ask for.
They don’t make use of the included amenities
This one can be especially confusing because “5-star” doesn’t automatically mean “everything is free.”
Sometimes quite the opposite. 😉
But luxury hotels and resorts can include amenities you may be accustomed to paying extra for elsewhere.
That could mean snacks or drinks in the room, laundry service or facilities, pool and beach chairs and umbrellas, bicycles, transportation, fitness classes and any number of other things.
Of course, some 5-star properties will happily charge you 5-star prices for those exact same things. And then there are resort fees, which may mean you’re technically paying for the “free” stuff anyway.
So check.
Because if something is already included in your room rate or resort fee, there’s no prize for going home without using it.
And a first-timer who assumes “Of course that costs extra” could miss out on a whole bunch of things they’ve already paid for.
They don’t give themselves time to explore the hotel
It’s a big generalization, but if you’ve stayed at one mid-level chain hotel, you’ve pretty much stayed at them all.
Lobby. Breakfast area. Maybe a pool and little gym. Your room.
Done.
But a 5-star hotel, especially a large, historic or resort property, can practically be a destination unto itself.
There may be spectacular public rooms, gardens, restaurants, bars, artwork, architecture, pools, spas and all sorts of little corners you’d never see if your entire experience consists of walking from the front door to the elevator and back again.
When we’re staying somewhere particularly nice, we deliberately leave time to explore it. Sometimes half a day. Sometimes even a full day.
After all, you’re paying to stay there. You might as well actually experience the place.
They don’t realize how much they can ask for
This may be the biggest difference between staying somewhere perfectly adequate and staying somewhere where service is a huge part of what you’re paying for.
Need a different type of pillow? Ask.
Forgot a toothbrush? Ask.
Need something pressed before dinner? Ask.
Want extra hangers? Ask.
Need an adapter? As we discovered, ASK. 😉
That doesn’t mean the answer will always be yes, and it certainly doesn’t mean everything will be complimentary.
But at a good 5-star hotel, there’s often an emphasis on solving the guest’s problem that you may not encounter at a more basic property.
The trick for a first-timer is realizing that in the first place.
The biggest newbie mistake?
Maybe the biggest mistake is simply not knowing what you don’t know.
If you’ve spent your whole life staying at hotels where you carry your own bags, figure out your own transportation, bring everything you might need and essentially use the hotel as a place to sleep, why would you automatically know that things work differently at a luxury property?
You wouldn’t.
And there’s nothing wrong with that.
So if you’re finally splurging on that 5-star stay, don’t spend the whole time worrying about whether you look like you belong there.
Ask questions. Look around. Find out what’s included. Use the concierge. Explore the hotel. Enjoy the ridiculous bathrobe.
Because whether you’re paying $1,000 a night, using a mountain of points or got lucky enough to snag a deal the hotel apparently never intended to offer…for however long you’re staying there, you belong there just as much as everybody else.
And for goodness’ sake, don’t pack a bathrobe.
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1 comment
IME, the fancier the hotel the more stuff you have to pay for. While the Holiday Inn may offer free breakfast, parking, wifi, etc. At a fancy hotel, each of those things is going to cost you. Perhaps a lot.
For the clientele that usually stay at 5-star hotels, this may be expected. For those who step up as a treat or a score, it can seem petty. I mean a room that costs $1K night and doesn’t have free wifi, really?