Paradise Less; Resorts Try Lower Prices, Fewer Frills As the Travel Slump Drags On
Michael Mierzewski, a Washington lawyer, noticed last spring that the room rate at the Big Sur resort he and his wife, Kathy, were visiting was down from previous years. He couldn't help noticing the freebies. The Ventana Inn & Spa (currently $410 to $1,077 per night for a double) was offering a daily free spa session. His choice, a massage.</br></br>"I suspect once the economy picks up and people are less afraid to travel, that we'll go back to more normal pricing of hotel rooms, and the free amenities will become less available than they are now," Mierzewski, 51, said recently.</br></br>But some hotels may be hoping for guests who don't notice everything, such as amenities that have disappeared. At some Ritz- Carlton hotels, the "bath butler" -- who draws a guest's bath and sprinkles aromatic oils or a few flower petals into it -- is gone from the menu of services. For the luxury chain, it's not a "must- have." "In order to save people's jobs in the last few months, we had to temporarily discontinue things in a few hotels," company spokeswoman Vivian A. Deuschl said. "And it is a temporary thing."</br></br>It can be no surprise to anyone who pays attention to the news that travel and tourism have yet to recover from a two-year triple whammy of recession, terrorism and severe acute respiratory syndrome. Airlines are going belly-up, and hotels and resorts the world over are complaining about low occupancy rates. Most hotels or resorts with more than 100 rooms are aiming for the meeting and convention business, industry officials say, but the business traveler seems to have fallen off a cliff back in 1998 and has yet to reappear on the scene.</br></br>The uncertainty of the world tourism market has sent luxury hoteliers off in various directions looking for the right formula that will let them attract customers but also stay healthy financially. Some are offering package deals they once never contemplated. Others are concentrating on the important amenities while cutting back the nonessential. When resorts feel squeezed, says John S. Fareed, director of the consulting firm Resort Marketing Partners, fresh-cut flowers, free newspapers, shoeshine mitts and brand-name shampoos disappear. Even towels in the room may be less plentiful.