BUSINESS
March,10 Saturday 2007

Hotels in for an Upgrade (2)
For vacationers, mints on pillows no longer suffice

Survey says...

D.K. Shifflet & Associates Ltd., a consumer-travel research firm, recently released a study showing that hotel guests rate quality of service and a smoke-free building as much more important than expensive bedding and high-end toiletries .*

The Shifflet report concludes that travelers generally like the room improvements but don't like higher hotel bills, which it says are driving travelers to pick hotels that are a notch * below where they would really like to stay.

Stott Berman, a Miami-based partner in Pricewaterhouse Coopers' hotels and leisure division, said hotels often don't see an alternative to making costly investments.

"There is definitely competitive pressure to stay in touch with the customer," Berman said. "If you find yourself in a hotel room with a superior bedding product, you will remember the places you stayed that didn't have it. Hotels are aware of this. This is really an industry of followers."

Holiday luxury
Seasoned travelers, the ones who spend a lot of nights in hotels, crave luxuries, including spas and bathrooms with lots of extras.

The Buena Vista Palace Hotel * Spa in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, is one of the region's hotels undergoing a major renovation. Greg Hauenstain, general manager of the 1,000-room hotel, said people want hotel rooms and suites that are more luxurious than their own homes.

"It comes from our research and the consumer research we have received," Hauenstain said. "People are willing to pay what a room is worth. It's all about staying competitive. It is about maintaining and growing our market share."

Vocabulary Focus
notch (n) --- an imaginary point or position in a system of comparing values, where a higher position is better and a lower position is worse

Specialized Terms
toiletries (pl n) --- 个人卫浴用品 soaps, shampoos, toothpaste and other items used to keep yourself clean