Crown Resorts wins coveted Forbes award again
Crown Towers in Melbourne has collected a Forbes Travel Guide five-star rating for the fourth year in a row. This is what it takes for a hotel to win the prestigious award.
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Many consider selfies to be a modern scourge, but Crown Resorts hotels chief operating officer Peter Crinis is more than happy to see guests taking a quick snap or logging an Instagram moment.
The hospitality veteran is, after all, in the “experiences” business and a high selfie count is a pretty good indication the luxury properties he manages are delivering something memorable.
“We want to give every guest a memorable experience — we want what we have to offer to be better than anywhere else,” Mr Crinis said.
“If you are having a great experience and want to take a photo of that to share, then I think that is a great testament to the fact that you are having a great time and really enjoying yourself.”
Today it will be announced Crown Resorts has again received a five-star rating from Forbes Travel Guide, retaining its position among a select group of hotels globally.
Crown Towers in Melbourne has picked up the top rating for the fourth year in a row while the casino group’s Perth hotel has achieved it for the first time.
The only other Australian hotel to have ever collected a Forbes five-star rating is The Darling in Sydney, owned by key Crown rival Star Entertainment.
It has also kept its five-star rating for the fourth year running in the latest awards.
Anonymous Forbes inspectors visit about 1800 hotels in 70 countries each year, marking them on 900 different criteria based around facilities and service. From this, about 330 properties receive a coveted five-star award annually.
“It’s not an easy thing to achieve — we are really proud and chuffed,” Mr Crinis said.
“The training we provide each of our staff and the pursuit of excellence is how you get there. “We are in a human business so the more consistent and polished we are in our service, the better we do.”
At Crown Tower’s top-end villas in Melbourne, that service includes a team of 14 multilingual butlers to serve as personal assistants to guests during their stays.
It also means being ready to field any number of weird and wacky requests, from where to buy a quarter horse stallion to setting up a hot lap in a two-seater Formula 1 car at the Australian Grand Prix. “I’ve been in hotels for 30 years and at Crown for 23 and I’ve had just about every request you can imagine,” Mr Crinis said.
Maintaining standards — rooms are cleaned to a set of detailed directions, checked by supervisors and double checked in spot inspections by management — is one thing.
But the little touches, such as remembering guests’ names, took hotel stays to the next level, Mr Crinis said.