Hotels & Hospitality

A script guarantees nothing goes badly wrong. It also guarantees nothing memorable happens.

A guest staying three weeks needs almost nothing that a two-night guest needs. Most properties have not adjusted.

The average score is close to useless. The useful information is in the recent, specific, three-star reviews.

A restored haveli must serve two masters — the building it was and the standards guests now expect.

Guests arrive tired and are asked to stand and fill in forms. It remains the least examined part of the stay.

A card asking you to reuse towels is not an environmental programme. The real measures are mostly invisible to guests.

It is the one service almost every guest uses, and the one where cost-cutting is hardest to hide.

Neither is better in general. The right answer depends entirely on what the specific trip demands.

The category proved that small properties could compete with chains — and then the label got applied to everything.

The lobby chandelier does not survive in memory. The shower, the bed and one conversation almost always do.