When I pulled up to The Jefferson Hotel on a recent Friday afternoon, I was met by a cadre of men in uniform. They whisked me out of my car, plucked my bags out of the trunk, spirited my car away and escorted me into the grand lobby to check in, all within seconds of my arrival. I was breathless.
I soon realized that service is the name of the game at a five-diamond hotel. As a guest, you receive prompt attention — even before you may realize you need it.
Jane Hudson/Her magazine |
A waiter at the Jefferson Hotel in Richmond, Va.
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Afternoon tea at the Umstead Hotel and Spa in Cary.
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That's just one of the qualities that separates a top luxury hotel from all those other places where you can spend the night away from home.
"Five Diamond establishments reflect the characteristics of ultimate luxury and sophistication," AAA Tourism Information Development Director Michael Petrone said in a press release announcing this year's top-rated hotels. "The physical attributes of these properties are extraordinary in every manner, and personalized services for guests consistently exceed expectations of even the most refined traveler."
Both AAA and Mobil employ trained evaluators to inspect approximately 50,000 hotels in the United States and Canada annually. The inspectors evaluate the hotels using several hundred objective criteria including housekeeping, room service, hospitality and amenities.
AAA assigns up to five diamonds for its rankings, and Mobil assigns up to five stars.
Less than one-half percent of all properties inspected received AAA's Five Diamond Award, Petrone said.
The Jefferson Hotel in Richmond and The Umstead Hotel and Spa in Cary — the two hotels I visited — each earned AAA Five Diamond status this year. The Jefferson also was awarded Mobil's five stars, while The Umstead received four stars on its evaluation.
Here are some of the things I noticed that set these award-winning hotels apart from the rest:
*****There is no such thing as free parking. Expect to shell out at least $12 per night for your car, even when you park yourself and schlep your bags up to the hotel. For an extra four bucks or so, you might as well let the valet park your car.
*****The staff knows who you are. Everyone I came into contact with — the bellhops, the waiters, the valets, the concierge, the telephone operator — called me by name. And they not only greeted me whenever they saw me, they were always pleasant and helpful.
*****The hotel and its grounds are immaculate. It's kinda like our local legend of The Devil's Tramping Ground, where anything out of place disappears into thin air (See Wikipedia if you don't know the story). But there's nothing sinister about it — the staff is just that efficient.
*****The shampoo smells great. The free bath amenities are of a higher quality at a five-star hotel. The Jefferson provides bottles of Molton Brown shampoo, conditioner, body wash and body lotion; it's imported from England and it smells divine, like honeysuckle. The Umstead's bath products smell of eucalyptus, like a high-end spa, and were made specifically for the hotel/spa.
*****They give you a robe and slippers to wear. The robes are plush and white, accented with the hotel crest or monogram. But the robe isn't yours to keep; you can buy one in the gift shop for a minimum of $50. I kept the white slippers though; who wants to wear someone else's slippers?
*****The towels and bedding are plush. The top hotels provide fluffy white towels, and lots of them. And the beds are made with high thread-count linens and billowing down comforters and are piled with fat feather pillows. You can ask for a synthetic pillow, if you must. A staff member will graciously bring you one.
*****You'll pay as much for breakfast as you usually do for dinner. Eating at a five-star hotel's restaurant is pricey but convenient, especially if you don't know the area or are traveling alone. The restaurants at both The Jefferson and The Umstead serve fine American regional cuisine, and dinner entrees are $25-$35. Expect your meat to be stacked on top of your side dish for presentation's sake. Breakfasts will range from $8-$18, with fresh-squeezed juice running you $6 a glass.
*****They serve afternoon tea. You get your own little pot of hot tea with lemon and honey and cream, along with a variety of savory sandwiches and sweet treats. And a harpist will probably play angelic music while you sip and nibble. It's a nice present to yourself.
Some of the other attributes of a five-star hotel include around-the-clock room service; a pool; a spa and/or salon; a gift shop/snack shop; complimentary newspapers; high-speed wireless Internet service; and state-of-the-art televisions (today that means high-resolution flat-screen TVs with satellite reception with DVD players).
