Real luxury
21/09/24 01:44
According to the Five Star Alliance, a Five-star hotel offers guests “the highest levels of luxury through personalized services, a vast range of amenities, and sophisticated accommodations.” I think that the term “five-star” comes from ratings given by travel guides. The old Mobil Travel Guides rated restaurants, hotels, spas, and cruise ships by awarding stars on a scale of one to five, with five being the highest level of luxury and service. Those guides are now called Forbes Travel Guide and the guide only reports on Hotels that have earned four or five stars.
I’m not a five-star kind of person. When we travel, we prefer to stay with friends or in our own camper. When we do stay in a hotel, we often seek out small, unique, and maybe even a bit run-down properties. Over the years, we have found small motels with just a few rooms that have hand-made quilts, unique decor, and charm. We’ve also spent a few nights in places that were a little too run-down and in need of repair. A couple of times we’ve stayed in places that we would not return to for a second night. However, there have been many more that were delightful surprises.
When we traveled in Europe we stayed with friends or at Youth Hostels. When we traveled in Japan we sought out small hotels that were uniquely Japanese.
I’ve never owned a copy of the Forbes Guide and I don’t use one in selecting a place to stay.
When we traveled in Japan, we found hotels that provided Yukatas. A Yukata is a cotton kimono that can be used for walking to and from the onsen. A westerner used to private bathing, I never got up the courage to visit an onsen, and I certainly would not feel comfortable going out in public wearing just a yukata. I tried them on, wearing them only in our private room. Slippers are common amenities in Japanese hotel rooms, where shoes are always removed at the door.
A five-star hotel, however, offers bathrobes, slippers, luxury toiletries, and large fluffy towels. We expect clean towels, but “large” and “fluffy” are not accurate descriptors of the institutional whites found in the places we stay. I’ve occasionally stayed in hotels that have stocked mini-bars, but avoided using any of the contents because of the prices. Five-star hotels often offer free-mini bars. There are also ones that offer fresh flowers and even house plants that you can take home after your stay.
There are other amenities that are offered in five-star hotels, including a lot of hotel staff that I prefer to avoid, if possible. I really don’t need valet parking, a butler, a doorman, 24-hour concierge, or nightly turn-down service. I don’t know the customs about tipping service personnel and find that simply providing my own service is more comfortable for me. Five star hotels might have on call medical staff, luggage storage, executive limousine service, free newspapers (OK, I remember when people used to red paper newspapers. We used to subscribe to daily newspapers. And I don’t really think of USA Today as a real newspaper.)
I’m no expert on thread counts for sheets and am not sure I could identify a memory foam bed if I laid on one.
I simply don’t need a five-star guide because I have a different standard for luxury travel. I’ve had the luxury of home cooked meals and by that I don’t mean meals cooked in a commercial kitchen that have fancy ingredients and a lot of butter. I mean real meals cooked at home with regular groceries just like we eat at home. Burgers straight off of a backyard grill taste better to me than anything offered from an institutional kitchen.
I travel with the luxury of my own toothbrush and the brand of toothpaste I prefer. I sleep in my own pajamas and have had the luxury of fresh sheets dried on a clothesline.
I’ve known the luxury of meaningful conversation with friends I have known for years and I’ll take that over the fanciest smart TV with all of the movies you could imagine.
We traveled on three different airplanes the day before yesterday and walked past first class on each of them. I sit in tourist and board with group 7 most of the time. I know the size of an overhead bin and often can stow my carry on under the seat in front of me. I’m used to the person in front of me shaking my tray table when they recline their seat. I know how to pull in my elbows when I get stuck with a middle seat and a rather large stranger next to me. But I doubt that there were many travelers on any of the flights we took who had the luxury of having their daughter take them to the departure airport and their son pick them up at the arrival airport. That is the real luxury that we enjoy and I wouldn’t trade it for boarding early and having the entire rest of the airplane shuffle down the aisle in my seating area before the plane could depart.
My definition of luxury is different than that of the people who write hotel guides. I suspect it is different from the definition of those who spend a lot of money seeking out five-star hotels. Everyone is entitled to their own ways of travel, but I find our way of travel to have the kind of luxuries I prefer. When I travel, I prefer to travel with a companion who really knows me and with whom I am delighted to spend time. My wife of more than 51 years is ideal for me. Being with her is luxury beyond the amenities a hotel can offer.
We had a longer than usual layover in Winnipeg on our way home. When we first got to our gate, there weren’t many people and there was a large open area without seats in front of the agents’ desk. There were children playing in the area and we spoke with others waiting for the plane. We were all of the same class in that small community. Before the flight took off, agents bought out poles and ribbon dividers to facilitate our falling into lines and being separated before boarding the plane. First class travelers needed to be separated from economy class flyers. The process was a bit of left over colonialism that seemed out of place and we wondered if there weren’t a better way of running an airline. We did, however, stand in the correct line and waited until our turn to board.
I settled in the seat next to my favorite travel companion and enjoyed all the luxury I need. I’ll leave the travel guides and star ratings to others.
I’m not a five-star kind of person. When we travel, we prefer to stay with friends or in our own camper. When we do stay in a hotel, we often seek out small, unique, and maybe even a bit run-down properties. Over the years, we have found small motels with just a few rooms that have hand-made quilts, unique decor, and charm. We’ve also spent a few nights in places that were a little too run-down and in need of repair. A couple of times we’ve stayed in places that we would not return to for a second night. However, there have been many more that were delightful surprises.
When we traveled in Europe we stayed with friends or at Youth Hostels. When we traveled in Japan we sought out small hotels that were uniquely Japanese.
I’ve never owned a copy of the Forbes Guide and I don’t use one in selecting a place to stay.
When we traveled in Japan, we found hotels that provided Yukatas. A Yukata is a cotton kimono that can be used for walking to and from the onsen. A westerner used to private bathing, I never got up the courage to visit an onsen, and I certainly would not feel comfortable going out in public wearing just a yukata. I tried them on, wearing them only in our private room. Slippers are common amenities in Japanese hotel rooms, where shoes are always removed at the door.
A five-star hotel, however, offers bathrobes, slippers, luxury toiletries, and large fluffy towels. We expect clean towels, but “large” and “fluffy” are not accurate descriptors of the institutional whites found in the places we stay. I’ve occasionally stayed in hotels that have stocked mini-bars, but avoided using any of the contents because of the prices. Five-star hotels often offer free-mini bars. There are also ones that offer fresh flowers and even house plants that you can take home after your stay.
There are other amenities that are offered in five-star hotels, including a lot of hotel staff that I prefer to avoid, if possible. I really don’t need valet parking, a butler, a doorman, 24-hour concierge, or nightly turn-down service. I don’t know the customs about tipping service personnel and find that simply providing my own service is more comfortable for me. Five star hotels might have on call medical staff, luggage storage, executive limousine service, free newspapers (OK, I remember when people used to red paper newspapers. We used to subscribe to daily newspapers. And I don’t really think of USA Today as a real newspaper.)
I’m no expert on thread counts for sheets and am not sure I could identify a memory foam bed if I laid on one.
I simply don’t need a five-star guide because I have a different standard for luxury travel. I’ve had the luxury of home cooked meals and by that I don’t mean meals cooked in a commercial kitchen that have fancy ingredients and a lot of butter. I mean real meals cooked at home with regular groceries just like we eat at home. Burgers straight off of a backyard grill taste better to me than anything offered from an institutional kitchen.
I travel with the luxury of my own toothbrush and the brand of toothpaste I prefer. I sleep in my own pajamas and have had the luxury of fresh sheets dried on a clothesline.
I’ve known the luxury of meaningful conversation with friends I have known for years and I’ll take that over the fanciest smart TV with all of the movies you could imagine.
We traveled on three different airplanes the day before yesterday and walked past first class on each of them. I sit in tourist and board with group 7 most of the time. I know the size of an overhead bin and often can stow my carry on under the seat in front of me. I’m used to the person in front of me shaking my tray table when they recline their seat. I know how to pull in my elbows when I get stuck with a middle seat and a rather large stranger next to me. But I doubt that there were many travelers on any of the flights we took who had the luxury of having their daughter take them to the departure airport and their son pick them up at the arrival airport. That is the real luxury that we enjoy and I wouldn’t trade it for boarding early and having the entire rest of the airplane shuffle down the aisle in my seating area before the plane could depart.
My definition of luxury is different than that of the people who write hotel guides. I suspect it is different from the definition of those who spend a lot of money seeking out five-star hotels. Everyone is entitled to their own ways of travel, but I find our way of travel to have the kind of luxuries I prefer. When I travel, I prefer to travel with a companion who really knows me and with whom I am delighted to spend time. My wife of more than 51 years is ideal for me. Being with her is luxury beyond the amenities a hotel can offer.
We had a longer than usual layover in Winnipeg on our way home. When we first got to our gate, there weren’t many people and there was a large open area without seats in front of the agents’ desk. There were children playing in the area and we spoke with others waiting for the plane. We were all of the same class in that small community. Before the flight took off, agents bought out poles and ribbon dividers to facilitate our falling into lines and being separated before boarding the plane. First class travelers needed to be separated from economy class flyers. The process was a bit of left over colonialism that seemed out of place and we wondered if there weren’t a better way of running an airline. We did, however, stand in the correct line and waited until our turn to board.
I settled in the seat next to my favorite travel companion and enjoyed all the luxury I need. I’ll leave the travel guides and star ratings to others.
