Reply To: IHG Diamond – how much longer…?

[JDB]

@BBbetter – you forget that us old folk have travelled with children for many years and didn’t have the internet to ask questions. We had to work it out for ourselves with help sometimes from family. So I’m not assuming anything. We don’t have any grandchildren yet, but do have nieces, nephews and cousins etc. who travel with small children. They mainly prefer rental places partly for reasons of economy/value, but also not wanting to have to share a room with children, have much more space and be more flexible.

Most of my family enjoy cooking and frankly making a nice breakfast is a doddle. Most places have a dishwasher etc.

I have totally fallen out with Four Seasons as standards have collapsed while prices have gone stratospheric, but I get your drift although it’s totally adrift! We stay in all sorts of hotels for maybe 100-120 nights a year from the very top of the scale to some very modest ones. We don’t actually holiday in the expensive places so much talked of here because it just seems such bad value, so I think you are making an awful lot of assumptions.

We take very considerable care in choosing/booking places but frankly there’s as much risk of a hotel being crap for your purposes vs an Airbnb. We have only ever not checked into one (which was actually VRBO) which turned out oddly well. We have not stayed or checked out early from far more hotels, but then Airbnb is a more recent thing.

As for asking nicely, even very modest family run hotels appreciate human contact rather than emails or just booking.com. Personal contact and relationships still count for a lot in business as well as hospitality – luckily many youngsters, perhaps including you disagree and hide, so we get a good hearing and great results!

If I went to a dreary chain that has dehumanised everything then probably I won’t get a good response. That’s why we avoid – they aren’t even cheap these places.

As for it ‘rocking my boat’ communicating with hosts/hotels it just seems like basic common sense to make one’s own luck and ensure everything is going to be right rather than just pitching up with family and hope for the best or to need to wave some intergalactic card expecting a red carpet to be rolled out.