So, What Am I?

As we travel across the globe, making lodging and dining decisions, where do we turn? What resources do we use to make those “Booking” decisions?

We, as an industry, have done a very poor job of messaging and policing ourselves and a disservice to our guests. We have acquiesced to the marketplace. What a wonderful opportunity for trade organizations, Hotel, Restaurant and Travel associations, world-wide, to assume a leadership role.

They will not, as we well know, because their dues flow and membership numbers will decline, so goes the argument. Well, if that is the case, others (from Rating Companies, Internet sites and user content reviews or even governments) will tell us what our business is or is not. Who suffers? Everyone, but especially our guest, who is confused, impatient, anxious for direction.

In January 2010 at the Cornell-Nanyang Institute of Hospitality Management in Singapore (CNI), a Ratings and Ranking Roundtable commenced to analyze the “treacherous waters” of internet commentaries, as well as the inconsistent rating systems in various nations.

Although ratings and rankings (both formal and informal) can be a benefit to hotels and restaurants when they are positive, they also present complications. While the international rating organizations (such as Forbes or Michelin, serving a small audience) offer consistent and measurable standards, there remains no single system for ranking hotels worldwide. Moreover, some national governments have established their own rating systems, which often do not correspond to other standards, while other properties merely assign their own rating. The Internet offers even wider breaches of opinion. What a free-for-all!

Time to step up Hospitality Associations.

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