HotelChatter - Tag: Overservice

Goodbye, Brownies on The Pillow: Hotels Ditch Services in an Effort to Save Some Cash

juliana — 2009-08-26T10:58:24-05:00

<![CDATA[<img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/1425/gphfivestar.jpg" class="top"> <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/hotel-reviews/Gramercy+Park+Hotel/local/4">The Gramercy Park Hotel</a>, which by the way, is still a five-star hotel.All of the sudden the outlook for the hospitality industry seems to have gone from bad but with hope on the horizon, to worse with drastic cost-cutting measures now taking place. Indeed, 2009 has been one of the worst years in history for hotels but yet the best year for travelers looking for steep deals. However, just because you got that five-star hotel for half of its usual price, doesn't mean you'll be getting all the perks you'd expect. A <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=a0Jx2BsWXajo">new report</a> says that hotels have begun dropping stars from their star ratings so that they can reduce their level of services and

Chicago: Julie of 'Julie and Julia' Has an Adventure in Overservice

Jenna — 2009-07-30T16:40:55-05:00

<![CDATA[<img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/6929/juliejuliawater.jpg" class="top"> Ah, overservice if you aren't creeped out by it, you can always laugh about it. Or blog about it, really. Or laugh at how hilarious your own jokes are as you're blogging about it. Not that we'd say that was a frequent occurrence on late Thursday afternoons at HC HQ or anything. Alas, the world's current favorite food blogger-turned-author (turned mega-celeb now that her book became a soon-to-be-released Meryl Streep movie), Julie Powell of Julie and Julia fame experienced an overservice adventure of her very own which she, of course, blogged about. Powell had checked in to the <A href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/hotel-reviews/Four+Seasons+Chicago/ian/112676">Four Seasons Chicago</a> and found this sorta-creepy, very personal bottle of water waiting for her. On

Do You Always Let the Hotel Bellman Take Your Bags?

Jenna — 2009-06-19T16:35:27-05:00

<![CDATA[<img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/6929/bellmanluggage.jpg" class="top"> Not too long ago, we were staying in a hotel for one night and showed up with a miraculously light load of nighttime supplies. All we had was a teensy wheelie bag, one of the airplane-cabin-friendly kinds that were small enough to fit in the overhead compartment. 'Twas a load of luggage that we were perfectly capable of handling by our perfectly capable selves but as we checked in, the bellman whisked it away from us and ran off into the night. Er, ran off into the elevator. Or, worse, stood there with us before accompanying us up the elevator to our room. And then we have to tip them. What are we supposed to do,

Bill Marriott Hearts the Employee Who Gave a Guest His Pants

Jenna — 2009-04-03T09:45:01-05:00

Well, we're going to go ahead and put this in our "Adventures in Overservice" category, even though this is just sort of a story about someone doing something ridiculously, exceptionally nice for a stranger — regardless of whether this was a hotel employee/hotel guest arrangement.

Yesterday (so April 2nd, which leads us to believe this is a legitimate tale and not a joke at all), Bill Marriott blogged about a particularly interesting Marriott customer service anecdote that had him quite tickled: a Canadian Residence Inn employee actually gave a guest his pants. For real.

Adventures in Overservice :: The Art of Toilet Paper Origami

ChristineM — 2008-10-09T16:30:42-05:00

<![CDATA[<img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/1425/toiletpaperorigami.jpg" class="imgborder">Origami is again assuming its rightful place in the world thanks to the hotel business. Housekeepers at luxe lairs around the world are neatly folding the loose end of a partially used roll of toilet paper into a neat little bow or fan--because toilet paper origami is an art form only enjoyed by the highest end travelers. So when the room's temporary inhabitant next finds himself on the pot, he'll know that this hotel takes its commitment to creating an "experience" for him seriously, even while he's on the throne. And if the hotel fancies themselves that much more deluxe, the tissues poking out of the tissue box will have been made to resemble the petals of a