Value of 'Five Diamond' rating varies for hotels

By Kelly Yamanouchi
Advertiser Staff Writer

When a hotel receives AAA's Five Diamond award or gets listed as one of the top properties on Zagat Survey or Conde Nast's Readers' Choice awards, it doesn't necessarily follow that the rooms will be filled every night.

The Kahala Mandarin put a great deal of effort into winning back its Five Diamond award after losing it in 2001. Advertiser library photo • Nov. 12, 2001

That's why a year ago when the Kahala Mandarin Oriental lost its Five Diamond award, general manager Jan Goessing took AAA's extensive evaluation checklist and turned it into training guideline for his staff. "All employees were retrained," he said.

The list, which has hundreds of items, includes:

• Reservations phone answered within three rings.

• Check-in attendant addresses guest by name during initial greeting.

• Bell escort offers to fill ice bucket.

• Housekeeping services re-points tissues.

• All associates exhibit a professional vocabulary.

"Every employee should be asking the question, 'Is there anything else we can do for you?'" Goessing said.

After losing the Five Diamond, the Kahala Mandarin began offering ironing boards and coffee makers at check-in. It added new spa suites and is a couple weeks away from opening a new restaurant. Goessing hired a new director of maintenance and started a preventive maintenance program.

"The main focus needs to be on the maintenance of the facility. If you don't do that they (AAA) will find out," Goessing said. "The reason we care for (the award) so much is they're truly checking the standards. The customer can truly trust that rating."

The effort paid off last week when the Kahala Mandarin Oriental won back its Five Diamond rating, making it the only hotel on O'ahu with that badge. Goessing held a black-tie party for his 364 employees to celebrate.

However, the AAA Five Diamond award isn't always worth the effort, said Luly

Unemori, a spokeswoman for the Wailea Golf Resort, which doesn't have the award.

"There's a certain cost associated with getting the AAA award," Unemori said. Because the standards are so strict, in order to get the Five Diamond award a hotel may need to replace all of the televisions, for example. Because of that the hotel's costs will increase and it isn't clear whether the award leads to room rate increases.

Officials at the Halekulani, which also lost its Five Diamond rating last year and didn't win it back this year, were not available for comment.

Some say other hotel awards based on consumer surveys are more important.

"I think (AAA's award) is sort of more of an old-fashioned gauge," said Joan Palmtag, director of sales and marketing for the Mauna Lani Resort. "They don't differentiate between a resort hotel and a city hotel."

For example, the Mauna Lani's rooms have coffee tables and couches instead of desks. "We get docked points for that," Palmtag said. At the same time, there's no item on the checklist for lei greetings.

Instead, Mauna Lani emphasizes other awards such as the Conde Nast Reader's Choice award in marketing materials.

"Personally, to me I think it's what our customers say that is important," Palmtag said.

Others prefer the Zagat Survey, which this year listed the Halekulani as third in the world among hotels with more than 100 rooms — behind two in Chicago, the Peninsula and the Four Seasons.

Still AAA spokeswoman Janie Graziani defends the power of the Five Diamond. "Winning this award allows a property to expect to charge a certain level of price for what the person is getting in return," she said. That's particularly valuable as most hotel managers struggle to raise room rates while travelers search for bargains.

Reach Kelly Yamanouchi at 535-2470, or kyamanouchi@honoluluadvertiser.com.