Good view = lousy service?

By Joel Widzer

Travel columnist

updated 8:52 p.m. ET June 14, 2005

When I travel, I like to enjoy a nice view from my room. But over the years, I’ve learned that not all views are equal. Far too often, restaurants and hotels rely too much on their view and ignore what matters — service.

Take Orange County, Calif., for example. I remember when the coolest hotel was the Holiday Inn along the 5 freeway. Today’s “OC” offers several fine hotels with spectacular views of the Pacific Ocean.

Three of the best views (ranked in order) of this Pacific Riviera are south of Laguna Beach at The Montage Resort and Spa, The Ritz Carlton in Ritz Cove, and The St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort.

All three hotels offer similar services. The Montage and the Ritz Carlton hug coastal cliffs leading to the pristine surf and sand of California’s gold coast. The St. Regis occupies an expansive piece of land across California’s Pacific Coast Highway or PCH, as it’s known to locals.

I recently ventured out into my backyard — I live in Tustin Ranch — and visited each of these hotels to rate them on various criteria, all of which came down to two main variables, their view and quality of service. Interestingly, my assessment of each hotel’s service quality inversely ranks to their views.

Great views swayed many inexperienced travelers’ decisions, but they would be wise to follow the advice of my good friend Michael MacGregor, the director of marketing for the Hotel Vina Del Mar, in Chile. While we were enjoying a spectacular sunset from the picturesque view of the hotel’s bar, he told me “the view attracts guest to our property but the service keeps them coming back.”

My hometown experiment confirmed this.

The newest entry to Orange County’s southern coastline, The Montage, has arguably the best view. But if service is important to you, forget about this property.

My visit to the Montage was deplorable. Driving up to the valet section of the hotel’s entry was chaotic and messy, cars strewn everywhere with clueless valets giving and taking the wrong keys from confused drivers.

Inside the hotel, the staff told me “no” 30 times in fewer than 20 minutes. A few examples of this include my request to order an appetizer on the hotel’s outside veranda, the response was a flat-out “no!” Later, I tried to order something to eat in the hotel’s lobby – again, “no!”

The server requested that I go to the hotel’s restaurant for food. When I went to the restaurant and asked to have an appetizer instead of a full entrée, I has told “no” and directed to the noisy and crowded poolside bar with children running between the chairs.

When I asked why I couldn’t have something to eat on the outside veranda or the main sitting area the staff stated the owner doesn’t want people entering the hotel and seeing plates on the table. I suggested that maybe the owner should focused more on service then a fleeting view.

MORE FROM BUSINESS TRAVEL

Business travel Section Front

DOT fines airlines for six-hour tarmac delay Airlines: No review for frequent flier programs Holidays will again test N.Y.-area bottleneck The best airport lounges in the U.S. World’s best business hotels 2009 Continental matches peak days fee hike Government wants faster airport screening Air Canada starts trial use of in-flight Internet AirTran giving double rewards for Milwaukee travel AirTran to put ads on seatback tray tables Business travel Section Front   Add Business travel headlines to your news reader: