Jun

Inconsistent Quality Levels Plague Franchised Hotels

Starwood is upgrading its Sheraton brand (according to this article by Arnie Weissmann, Editor in Chief, Travel Weekly: Starwood reveals major makeover plan for Sheraton brand and in doing so will ask owners of properties currently flagged as Sheratons to either invest or move-on.

Franchised businesses frequently suffer from inconsistent quality levels leaving consumers either wowed or disappointed by what we get versus our expectations. Inconsistent quality among branded hotels is why when selecting luxury hotels to represent on Perfect Escapes we do not use the hotel�??s brand (or sub-brand) as criteria for automatic inclusion or exclusion. Instead, we consider each property on its own merits.

In Starwood�??s case, they own many hotel brands including: Sheraton, Westin, W, St. Regis, Luxury Collection, Le Méridien, Four Points by Sheraton, element and aloft brands.

Starwood does not franchise its hip W and posh St Regis brands (although they do license out the names for luxury residential condominiums), and we find them universally to be luxury hotels. On the other hand, we find only 17 of the over 400 Sheraton hotels to be luxury properties. Starwood does preserve its Luxury Collection marketing brand for only properties that we find to be in fact luxurious. We promote over 50 of Starwood�??s Luxury Collection hotels on Perfect Escapes.

The Sheratons that we consider to be luxury hotels are:

Sheraton Laguna Nusa Dua
Nusa Dua, Indonesia

Royal Orchid Sheraton Hotel
Bangkok, Thailand

Sheraton Mirage Resort and Spa
Gold Coast, Australia

Sheraton on the Park
Sydney, Australia

Sheraton Cesme Hotel, Resort & Spa
Cesme, Turkey

Sheraton Centro Historico
Mexico City, Mexico

Sheraton Hacienda del Mar
Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort and Spa
Chandler, Arizona

Sheraton Bal Harbour Beach Resort
Bal Harbour, Florida

Sheraton Moana Surf Rider
Honolulu, Hawaii

The Royal Hawaiian
Honolulu, Hawaii