By Dane Steele Green
Originally Posted on The Huffington Post.
On a recent trip to Zagreb, a colleague of mine, David Perry, mentioned that he stayed, of all places, at the Best Western. This is not some far corner of the globe, as the capital of Croatia, the city has plenty of top-shelf properties that we travel writers go ga-ga for. Why in the world was the guy opting for a budget hotel? He’s not that bad off.
And then he dropped the kicker: The Zagreb Best Western is a top-shelf property.
Turns out, a lot of the hotels we think of as budget accommodations in the United States are actually mind-blowing properties internationally. And it is a fairly common practice.
So says Maire Griffin, Vice President of Global Communications for the Wyndham Hotel Group. Any veteran traveler should recognize the Wyndham name; properties with that moniker are rightly regarded as a luxury experience. But that is just one brand under a much bigger umbrella; the conglomerate also includes very well-known budget hotels including Ramada, Days Inn, Howard Johnson, and Travelodge, among others.
“The American public expects these properties to be low- to moderately-priced,” she told me. “So they tend to stay like that. But it’s a different story outside the country.”
Call it the hospitality equivalent of typecasting. Brands like Ramada and Howard Johnson are perfectly passable hotels, but, come what may, they are budget and not particularly fancy. And that is what we love about them, particular the vast majority of us that can’t afford a splurge at the Ritz-Carlton. Cut-rate hotels and motels began to appear in the 1950s, when the advent of the automobile and improved highway systems made “middle-class travel” not only affordable, but feasible in the first place. You didn’t get a whole lot then or now, but these properties were not intended to be spaces that you never left to be ensconced in; you were supposed to leave them at one point and check out the local attractions. And then, after a long day, a comfy bed with clean sheets, a TV to unwind with, and a bathroom were all just what the doctor ordered.
Make no mistake: cut-rate chains like Ramada are very successful businesses; they have the money to upgrade to the point of a total reincarnation should they choose, but they run into the fact that they have become so synonymous with affordability that the American public would not buy into the idea of them as luxury properties. Moreover, they might even face a backlash from loyal customers expecting lower prices. Those properties that are historically budget in the United States have, ironically, painted themselves into a corner.
Ironically enough, Howard Johnson actually did go through a company- and property-wide refurb in 2006, when Wyndham bought it from Marriott. The results are actually very eye-catching, but the old rules still apply. Compare the its Soho (NYC) property’s amenities to a luxury hotel and “HoJo,” for all the new aesthetics, is still fairly unfussy. That’s not a critique; it’s what we expect from the brand.
And then Ms. Griffin showed me via the wonder of the Internet, the City of Flower Howard Johnson in Kunming (yes, in the singular), deep in China’s south, and my mouth fell open. It’s sleek. It’s futuristic. It’s an architectural triumph. And it’s a HoJo. The amenities go right out the door; when was the last time you heard of a Howard Johnson with a fully-equipped fitness center, two meeting rooms, and a grocery service?
Even better, it’s still a good deal when it comes to rates.
This got me thinking about that Best Western (not a Wyndham name) in Zagreb and a lot of other budget American hotel chains that I did not even think to research when traveling abroad. “Budget luxury” is one of those travel Holy Grails — and a loaded term if there ever was on — that everyone is looking for and never seems to find. To be sure, David described his room as “cozy” and hardly palatial. But then he mentioned that hallmark of budget accommodations the world over: you aren’t supposed to stay in them for very long. And he didn’t; all of Zagreb in its Neo-Baroque finery was waiting and he didn’t go all that way just to stay in a hotel. After a day of hoofing it, he didn’t care if the room was a coffin or an echo-chamber; he just wanted to go to bed. And it was a great bed.
It’s something to keep in mind as you are getting over the sticker-shot of that luxury-brand hotel you were thinking of staying at.
Steele Luxury Travel