Hospitality Industry

Over the past few years I have had the opportunity of traveling far and wide across the world. I have been fortunate enough to be able to stay at some of the well known hotels. I have stayed at the Marriott, Hyatt, Le Meridian, Taj, Leela, and others at various locations in India and abroad. I must say that once you are used to the routine it is quite boring to stay at almost all of these hotels. Except for the subtle surprises that a Marriott might offer at occasions and on other occasions when the hotels bungle up your reservation and upgrade you to an executive room (more due to a lack of a better option that choice), there is nothing unique or surprising, that one would find while staying at these hotels.

For a hotel that calls itself 5-star would you not think that they should be in a position to delight the customer with the type of experience that is put on offer. When I enter the room of a 5-star hotel, no matter what, I will find a bed laid in the centre of the room, with TV kept across the room, a desk/study and a sitting area, not to mention the restroom, which is the most mundane bit. Why has that got to be the case in every hotel?

It amazes me that barring the landscaping that runs outside of the hotel there is pretty much no attempt made to differentiate the hotel from what they offer at the rest of the places. If this was 2000BC and designing was still taking baby steps then that would be a good excuse; fortunately it is not! Why can't each hotel; based on the geography and location be bound by a theme of its own. Something that makes it unique, something that offers surprises and mystery at the same time. When I enter the room of a beach resort, why can't the room have furniture that fold into the wall so that the room can be converted into a large play area during the day for the kids to play and cosy room by night for them to sleep peacefully after an entire day of riot. Why can't there be a water flow maintained through the entire property, water passing through every room, thereby cooling the rooms, instead of the regular AC. Why can't designing be taken to a new level to make living spaces special and experience worth remembering and so remarkable that you need to tell all of your friends?

The amount of money that these hotel chains would spend on marketing; if spent on making such upgrades, will perform the function of marketing automatically. Why does nobody put in that effort to make the experience special? What is with being routine and boring? Its amazing to be unique!

I wait in hope that someday, one of these chain will decide to do something unique, remarkable and out of the box. I would love to go stay at such a place...