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Inclusive stays, the future for luxury city hotels?
Review 05 September 2011
Four Seasons Denver, one of the recently inaugurated Four Seasons hotels in the U.S. launched this week an unprecedented ''Sky's the limit'' package. Starting at US$ 1.111/night, guest can enjoy: luxurious accommodation, unlimited dining in the main restaurant and through In-Room Dining (excluding alcoholic beverages), unlimited treatments in the Spa, unlimited in-room movies, unlimited laundry services, complimentary Internet access, complimentary parking and a bottle of champagne upon arrival.
While most luxury city hotels still charge for internet access, hardly include breakfast in their standard rates, the Sky's the limit package at Four Seasons Denver comes as a major surprise. Could this be a new trend for pricing at city hotels, which a major luxury chain such as Four Seasons is experimenting? Or this could be an aggresive competitive approach in a city such as Denver where a relatively new hotel such as the Four Seasons faces stiff competition?
Four Seasons Denver's unlimited offer goes beyond other recently launched offers at Four Seasons holiday destination hotels in Palm Beach, Nevis, Punta Mita, Whistler and Scottsdale which offer regular perks such as complimentary airport transfers, value vouchers for F&B or SPA, yet, none of the hotels offers ''unlimited'' services, at most offering one complimentary dinner or one complimentary SPA treatment per stay. The majority of Four Seasons city hotels worldwide provide more or less similar offers such as an additional complimentary night for a minimum stay, credit voucher for F&B or SPA but none of the hotels features unlimited SPA or F&B.
Mention should be made that none of the special offers by the Four Seasons hotels mentions specifically ''all inclusive'' in their wording, instead using ''exclusive inclusive offer'' or ''unlimited''. This could prove to be a sensible approach, thus creating the perception of a different type of inclusive special offer, instilling travellers the perception of worthiness. For instance, the regular nightly rate inclusive of breakfast, at Four Seasons Denver is US$ 245 compared to US$ 1.111 which is the nightly rate of the ''Sky's the limit'' package.
Four Seasons' direct competitors in Denver include the grand historical Brown Palace managed by Quorum Hotels & Resorts, the Ritz Carlton and the JW Marriott Cherry Creek.