HOTEL
MANAGEMENT
THE NEW LUXURY HOTEL GUEST AND THE SHARED
HOTEL ROOM
By David Goldstone,
President, The Americas - DigiValet
What was the experience of staying at hotels
twenty or thirty years ago?
In most cases, it was a pretty straightforward affair.
One checked into a property, entered the room. If
all went well, the TV worked, you maybe had HBO
and everything was clean and the room features
and amenities were as promised.
If it was the late 1990s and you were a savvy
business traveler, you looked for a connection for
the modem for your computer, plugged it in and
you were hopefully on your way.
50 ILHA
(Most often, those modem connections did not
actually work and rarely got you dialed up quickly
and effectively).
If you were a luxury traveler staying at a top-
tier property, you paid for an additional suite of
services: a well-appointed lobby bar, valet parking, a
fine dining restaurant, perhaps a spa onsite.
As they have always been, hoteliers were adept at
creating great experiences - but guest services were
fairly well standardized and their scope was entirely
within the control of the hotel owner and manager.