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Do Hotel Folks Believe Their Own Hype?

The trade press is full of reports about hotel chains boasting of “edgy,” “trendy,” “cool,” or “hip” features. Those terms—whatever they might mean to those who use them—may seem important to business insiders. But do they really matter to travelers? A new survey suggests they don’t.

The Travel Insider, a useful travel information resource, recently queried its readers about the most important hotel amenities, and to nobody’s surprise (except for the hype merchants), conventional values prevailed. What practical travelers want is some combination of no-charge breakfast, airport and attraction shuttle service, no-charge Wi-Fi, and frequent stay points. Turn-down service and spas? Not so much.

I guess that with so many hotels operating what appear to be assembly-line accommodations, individual chain managements stay up nights trying to think of something original they can do—or at least say. But for ordinary travelers, that stuff really doesn’t matter. We’ll take the practical, thank you, and leave the “edgy” and “hip” to the hypesters.

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(Photo: Shutterstock/olly)

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