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I am assuming that hotel franchisors have some program in place to monitor both franchisor owned properties and franchisee owned properties. I've seen properties that were one brand be changed to another brand; often going from a higher level property to a lower level property. I've assumed that the property failed to meet the standards of one brand, got dumped and managed to qualify with another franchisor.
Due to a child in college, I have had to stay in an area where the rooms rates are doubled when either college in the area has a major event. Rooms are in short supply and the lower quality properties book up during these events. My husband and I have been loyal Intercontinental Hotel members and have platinum status. We've stayed in the Holiday Inn Express in this location two times and won't do it again. The first time was bad. The second time was horrible, the odor in the room was horrendous. All the hotels in the area were booked full. There was no other room to move us to. The only option was to sleep in the car or go to a hotel more than an hour away.
We've stayed in many Intercontinental Properties and never had an issue even remotely close to this experience.
On another visit we stayed in the Quality Inn --- my first and last time to stay in this property. I am assuming that this experience was not representative of other Quality Inns.
If these two chains - Intercontinental and Choice Hotels - have any type of monitoring program for franchisees, why do they allow these sub-standard properties to stay in their system? Anyone know how the chains monitor their properties?
I think both chains have quality monitoring programs, but the question is what are the actions taken and how frequently the quality is controlled.
It also depends on the hotel itself, and I guess on how much money the hotel is making. In an area like Grand Canyon Village or whatever where building permits are limited and prices are extraordinary high, hotel chains are keen on keeping their franchisees even though they may not fullfill all criteria. Same for expensive inner city locations. The cashcows are making enough money, and people stay there whether they are renovated or not, so why should they invest.
I made very good experiences with brand new Holiday Inn Express properties in remote locations, such as Pittsburgh Southpointe PA, Newport OR and many many more, while experiences in inner cities or very touristic areas with higher price levers were usually less good.
I think both chains have quality monitoring programs, but the question is what are the actions taken and how frequently the quality is controlled.
It also depends on the hotel itself, and I guess on how much money the hotel is making. In an area like Grand Canyon Village or whatever where building permits are limited and prices are extraordinary high, hotel chains are keen on keeping their franchisees even though they may not fullfill all criteria. Same for expensive inner city locations. The cashcows are making enough money, and people stay there whether they are renovated or not, so why should they invest.
The Grand Canyon Village has zero hotel chains! The land is owned by the US Park Service who grants a contract to a single corporation that runs the lodges and food services. At obe time, that corporation was Fred Harvey. Currently, it is Xanterra.
The major hotel chains (including Intercontinental) have employees that work as inspectors. They also hire companies who find and schedule mystery shoppers who pretend to be customers of the hotel, then write a fairly lengthy report. The bars and restaurants are also shopped by mystery shoppers.
The consumer also as a part to play in the "Low/Under" standards hotels,
Write (Send a Email) to the Flag Owner, They do track them,
A comment on a travel review website (If the flag sees it at all) or a call to the reservation 800 number does not pull as much weight as a Directed Email to the Franchiser (Flag Owner), It will get recorded in a internal database, that is reviewed by the regional mangers for the Flag.
A few bad ones, will ping them to pay a visit to do a unscheduled inspection, and/or do a "Mystery" shopper.
I think 'Grand Canyon Village' was a reference to Tusayan at the gate to the south entrance rather than the park proper.
Definitely review and complain- it lets the hotel chain overseeing the franchise agreement know there issues negatively impacting brand image. And they might throw some token service recovery points into your loyalty account, especially if you've got status. Though some of them like the Choice family tend to be a little more inconsistent than others.
I also always check with the review web sites. Yes, there are tons of fraudulent reviews, but the typical property also has enough legit ones that you can get a sense whether it's clean, safe, and has remodeled at some point since the first Clinton administration.
I have found that writing and sending an e-mail is a complete waste of time. You will be lucky to get ANY response at all or a stupid automated response.
Writing a letter will generally get you a phone call and resolution to the problem. They are taken far more seriously.
It depends. If you have status (Platinum or higher) and directly write an e-mail to the priority help desk, they are usually quite helpful. I had an issue with the best price guarantee where the hotel kept ignoring my e-mails and requests to refund my money for days, but after contacting the platinum assistance they replied after few hours.
Douglas Dakota, that's a good idea. In hindsight, I feel like we should have been moving mattresses to find the decomposing body. That's an exaggeration, but the odor was horrible. It is a small city. With 500 students matriculating the next day, there were no rooms available.
This happened in Lexington, Virginia. With two colleges, the Virginia Horse Center and the intersection of two Interstates, I guess substandard hotels can exist because people often have little choice. You either drive a much longer distance or get stuck staying in a hotel that should have at least undergone a major renovation at least several decades ago! The good properties book up well in advance of major events.
in some of the lesser quality chain hotels, complaining to corporate just gets your complaint forwarded to, and a response from, the franchise hotel owner that you had the problem with in the first place. Who usually doesn't care.
I usually stay at Hampton Inns and have rarely had any problems. Consistency of quality is right up there. Marriotts are pretty good too. Choice Hotels - forget it, it's a crap shoot.
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