Is skimpflation here to stay? Skimping out on services.

[marylander1940]

‘Skimpflation’ leaves customers unhappy as businesses slash services (today.com)

OP note: it's an old practice that pisses off customers and the nickel and diming is just not worth it. 

 

Edited November 9, 2021 by marylander1940

[MikeBiDude]

I’m getting very irritated with reduced housekeeping services when I stay in a hotel! 

[marylander1940]

4 hours ago, MikeBiDude said:

I’m getting very irritated with reduced housekeeping services when I stay in a hotel! 

I used to get the green choice points in exchange for no housekeeping service but not that's gone... what I really miss is the club lounge for hor d'oeuvres. 

[+ WilliamM]

I only received that service in  a Luxurious hotel in Ipanema in Rio, and once in Berlin across from the the government buildings. The later was something rent boys wanted to see!

[handiacefailure]

I am top tier with Hilton and Hyatt and Hilton said house keeping only fifth stay is here to stay and Hyatt you have to opt in for it daily and only can do it if you have higher status.   I stayed at a Hilton Grand vacation club in vegas and they said there was a fee to have housekeeping, the dishwasher wasnt emptied and was told to use the dishes I wanted and to reload it before you leave and run it and I wanted trash removed and was told I had to pull the trash and take it to the trash room at the end of the hall and ask for new liners at the front desk, they weren't even willing to let me leave the trash bag in front of my door and remove it and give me a new liner and the pool had no bartender and they had the nerve to charge a $25 a day resort fee.   My next stay in Vegas I stayed at Paris hat had no resort fees and they did clean my room every day even though I didn't request it.   In the past a lot of hotels would give you points and I would just skip housekeeping.   I just wish hotels would have a spot to pick up extra soap and towels so you didn't have to wait in a long line at the front desk.

I feel sorry for the housekeepers since their tips have to be suffering.   I would normally just ask that they swap out the towels and would tip them pretty good but since I don't even have that service I'm not tipping nearly what I did before so they have to be hurting for tips.

[Luv2play]

I've been staying at the OMNI hotels in downtown Montreal and Toronto recently and they give you the option of foregoing housekeeping during a short stay of a couple of days and they will donate money saved to hunger programs. So I have opted for that.

They will still provide extra towels on request which I take advantage of since each night I have providers who like to clean up with me, which is another form of room service I enjoy.

I still leave a $20 tip after a two day stay since the chambermaids still have to do the rooms before and after I am there. I always pack a couple of extra sheets in my luggage to lay on top of the hotels' sheets so that I have a clean play surface for each encounter. I did that anyway before the pandemic.

[Guest]

8 hours ago, handiacefailure said:

 

I feel sorry for the housekeepers since their tips have to be suffering.   I would normally just ask that they swap out the towels and would tip them pretty good but since I don't even have that service I'm not tipping nearly what I did before so they have to be hurting for tips.

I suspect that it has more to do with staffing shortages than a desire to cut services.  Do you know otherwise?

[+ Pensant]

3 hours ago, BnaC said:

I suspect that it has more to do with staffing shortages than a desire to cut services.  Do you know otherwise?

I also suspect that the pandemic is being used as an excuse to cut services that will never be restored. We’re going to have to get used to a meaner world, I fear, except for the uber-rich.

[+ Autumnal]

In addition to the lack of housekeeping, the maintenance of the rooms is also being neglected. Stayed at a Marriott owned hotel recently and the towel bar fell off the wall when I lifted the towel up and the toilet paper holder wouldn't stay in the horizontal position (a slide the roll on design) so the roll would end up on the floor - small easily fixable problems that are either not getting reported by housekeeping or the maintenance staffs have also been slashed.

If the hotels are cutting services they should also be cutting the prices, but fat chance of that ever happening!

Edited November 10, 2021 by Autumnal
Typo

[Luv2play]

Here in Canada my experience has been that hotels ae offering excellent rates on their rooms, at least in the big cities. Most are only partially occupied and they're hungary for business.

Before the pandemic it was difficult to get a room at a popular hotel at the last minute unless you took a suite that was double the price of a room. Which I had to do once because it was Pride Weekend.

[Guest]

2 hours ago, Luv2play said:

...Most are only partially occupied and they're hungary for business...

I feel a song and dance coming on...

 

[+ DynamicUno]

11 hours ago, BnaC said:

I suspect that it has more to do with staffing shortages than a desire to cut services.  Do you know otherwise?

Marriott's CEO has been on record about wanting to insure cutbacks and service unbundling are maintained post-pandemic, taking cues from the airlines.  He's been the most up-front about it, but the big hotel chains all appear to want to boost the hotel owners revenue streams by locking in a lower baseline level of service and allowing them to charge for things like daily housekeeping, access to certain hotel amenities, etc.  This isn't just limited to the budget/business travel brands either.

I think it's a bad idea, especially when competing with Airbnb, but consumer opinion doesn't seem to be driving the priorities now.

 

 

Edited November 10, 2021 by DynamicUno

[Guest]

2 hours ago, DynamicUno said:

Marriott's CEO has been on record about wanting to insure cutbacks and service unbundling are maintained post-pandemic, taking cues from the airlines.  He's been the most up-front about it, but the big hotel chains all appear to want to boost the hotel owners revenue streams by locking in a lower baseline level of service and allowing them to charge for things like daily housekeeping, access to certain hotel amenities, etc.  This isn't just limited to the budget/business travel brands either.

I think it's a bad idea, especially when competing with Airbnb, but consumer opinion doesn't seem to be driving the priorities now.

 

 

I understand.  In a competitive world, where differentiation of a commodity is based on service and delivery, I don’t think that will be forever. 

[+ sniper]

This bullshit was going on before the pandemic

 Vegas hotel spas are a shadow of what they were in the early 2000s. You used to be able to practically eat a meal with what was available to you, and then they started taking things away one by one until now you get water and that's it. Some still have coffee. The bean counters insisting that every single area stand on its own from a dollars and cents perspective are ruining the travel experience and the benefit of multiple options. I only expect it to get worse now that the casino companies are selling the buildings and leasing them back.

[+ Vegas_Millennial]

I refuse to pay a resort fee or destination fee, and I want daily housekeeping.  That limits my choices very much but they do exist.  I make it known when leaving a review that those are the items that matter to me, along with a comfy bed, AC that works, and good shower pressure (no "low-flow).

Some properties have been great, I just need to remind them about housekeeping every morning it seems.

I don't really care about an included breakfast, but that seems to be a big deal to a lot of people.

[Rudynate]

We stayed at the Westin at SFO recently. It was pretty much full service.  You had to book an appointment to get your room made up, though.  But it wasn't otherwise limited.

[+ ButchAtl]

Resort fees (especially when the hotel has questionable "resort" facilities)  are a pet peeve and I try to avoid them whenever possible.

One hotel in Orlando was a convention type hotel (banquet rooms) which had an average type  pool.  They had a  spa (for which  you had to pay if used), and thought that allowed them to be a "resort." 

Lol 

 

[marylander1940]

Skimpflation can lead to a quality sacrifice, as consumers opt for cheaper alternatives

WWW.RETAIL-INSIGHT-NETWORK.COM

---

Skimpflation causes consumers to cut down on costs by opting for cheaper alternatives, which could results in a reduction of quality.

Brands are already changing recipes to cut cost and offer their goods at the same price they used to do. 

Manufacturers Cut Costs with ‘Skimpflation’ – and Savvy Consumers Take Note - The Food Institute

FOODINSTITUTE.COM

---

Some food brands have reformulated their products using cheaper ingredients – a tactic some refer to as “skimpflation.”

From the article: A four-pack that he bought years ago weighs 2 pounds, 0.2 ounces—whereas a brand new four-pack weighs only 1 pound, 7.6 ounces. Both packages claim to contain 1,000 sheets of toilet paper.

OP note: I won't fact check it counting sheets of toilet paper...

[Jamie21]

I find hotels usually ok, you get what you pay for. I like a window that opens (so many are sealed shut, and the room becomes hot and stuffy), decent toiletries, lots of towels, a comfortable bed, tea and coffee making facilities and a gym (even if it’s small). The shower has to have a hand held detachable head (if you know…you know) and there must be places around the sink to put stuff. Finally I don’t want to have to spend 20 minutes working out how to use the lights. If they provide all that I’m happy. 

[marylander1940]

On 11/9/2021 at 11:19 AM, MikeBiDude said:

I’m getting very irritated with reduced housekeeping services when I stay in a hotel! 

 

Wait till you get to Vegas and pay a $ 37 resort fee for this services:

 

• A daily resort fee of $37.00 plus applicable tax will be applied to all reservations. The resort fee includes:• In-room wireless internet access• Unlimited local
• domestic long distance (the 50 United States and DC) and toll-free calls• Airline boarding pass printing• Digital newspaper and magazine access• Fitness center access for guests 18+. Amenities

• such as fitness center access
• are subject to availability and guest demand..

 

[Lookin]

Fifty 😳 years ago , I worked on a number of consumer product brands that sold in the millions of units annually.  We tried to keep the prices steady but, when the cost of an ingredient went up even a little, it could take a hundred grand off the bottom line.  When that happened, we had four choices:

• Absorb the loss, which was easier then since executive compensation wasn't as closely tied to stock price (profitability) as it is today.  If we expected costs to go down again, we could hold on for better days ahead.
   
• Raise the price and hope we didn't lose too many customers.  We had lots of data and could predict volume loss pretty well.
   
• Reduce the amount of product.  'Shrinkflation' wasn't a word then, but that's what it was.  It was more difficult than simply raising the price, but it was a way to lower ingredient costs, packaging costs and shipping costs all at once.
   
• Reformulate the product, using cheaper ingredients.  That was a riskier proposition, although we did extensive consumer testing to ensure there wasn't a statistical difference in consumer preference.  What that can lead to is a gradual deterioration in product quality over the course of many years of cheapening the product.  There are products today that bear only a slight resemblance to the same brands a decade or two ago.  Looking at an ingredient list these days often requires a degree in chemistry. 👨‍🔬

 

The choices these days are pretty similar to the choices we had a half-century ago, except that companies are much less tolerant of any cost increases that would lead to a miss on quarterly earnings, and the resulting hit to the stock price.

It's also my opinion that customers have become more accepting of price increases, smaller portions, and lower quality.  I wouldn't want to manage a consumer brand these days.  Nor do I continue to buy products that have been degraded over the years.  That's led me away from many packaged food products and back to unprocessed foods, like beets and carrots.

As long as I don't eat too many.  

 

[handiacefailure]

On 3/29/2024 at 5:42 PM, marylander1940 said:

 

Wait till you get to Vegas and pay a $ 37 resort fee for this services:

 

• A daily resort fee of $37.00 plus applicable tax will be applied to all reservations. The resort fee includes:• In-room wireless internet access• Unlimited local
• domestic long distance (the 50 United States and DC) and toll-free calls• Airline boarding pass printing• Digital newspaper and magazine access• Fitness center access for guests 18+. Amenities

• such as fitness center access
• are subject to availability and guest demand..

Resort fees really piss me since I have top status with a couple chains and the items they are including with that absurd fee, are items I get as part of my membership status.

It's just not Vegas, a lot of NYC hotels have been charging a "mandatory fee" for a few years and the Palmer House in chicago is charging a $25 a night mandatory fee.   At least in NYC and Chicago though you get it back to use as a credit for food and beverages but sucks being forced to use it at the hotel since I like to eat offsite and not at a hotel restaurant  

[marylander1940]

5 minutes ago, handiacefailure said:

Resort fees really piss me since I have top status with a couple chains and the items they are including with that absurd fee, are items I get as part of my membership status.

It's just not Vegas, a lot of NYC hotels have been charging a "mandatory fee" for a few years and the Palmer House in chicago is charging a $25 a night mandatory fee.   At least in NYC and Chicago though you get it back to use as a credit for food and beverages but sucks being forced to use it at the hotel since I like to eat offsite and not at a hotel restaurant  

You also have a food credit in San Francisco downtown hotels. Unfortunately in Vegas it's nothing but a scam and what they're offering is a scam.