Zagat released the results of their 2009 Hotels, Resorts & Spas Survey last week, and in these times of economic uncertainties, it is more important than ever for the hospitality industry to pay attention to these results. According to Zagat, “the 2009 guide covers 1,001 hotels, resorts and spas nationwide based on input from 14,049 frequent travelers and travel professionals, such as meeting planners and travel agents.”

According to the survey, travelers’ main complaint about the hotel industry is poor service, followed by poor room conditions.  In a time where hotels need to work harder to gain and maintain customer loyalty, the hospitality industry needs to address travelers’ issues and offer them the services and amenities they are demanding, and incorporate them into their brand.   I thought about my priorities when picking a hotel, and came up with this list of things I look for most in a hotel.  I plan to share my list, and the Zagat survey, with all my hotel clients.

Service:  When I book a hotel, I expect more than just a room.  I want an entire experience, and this includes a high level of service.  I want a friendly, fast and attentive staff.  I am much more willing to overlook mistakes if they are met with an apology and a fast correction (an added upgrade, gift or discount doesn’t hurt either).  For me, the “make or break” aspect of a hotel is often the reception, concierge, room service, and/or other staff members.

Personalization: Little personal touches go a long way.  I don’t want to be treated like part of a herd, I want my specific preferences to be addressed- and hopefully remembered.  Everyone is different and hotels should treat each guest like they are the most important person in the hotel.

Value:  This might be the most important thing I look for in a hotel.  At the end of the day, I want to feel that my money was well spent and I got what I paid for.  I am always willing to take a chance on a new hotel if they are offering an irresistible deal.  And, if I love my experience, they will have a loyal customer for life, and I am likely to return again and again.

What matters most to you when you are choosing a hotel?

As you’ve read here before, we are thrilled to be handling the PR for Setai San Diego, the new 184-room premier luxury hotel located in downtown San Diego’s financial district, which opens next month (Dec. 2008). As Setai San Diego nears completion, the hundreds of design, art and custom-made features are being installed and really bringing the property to life. It is definitely unlike anything San Diego has ever seen and we think it will blow people away.

More pictures to come, but this gives you an idea of a standard room.

Setai San Diego has also just announced its dining and bar partner is Suite & Tender Bar, Lounge and Restaurant.  It will feature the cuisine of James Beard Award-winning Chef Christopher Lee, and will be a softer, more sophisticated take on the typical steakhouse. Suite & Tender is based on a gastro-tourism concept where diners have the chance to create an experience that is completely their own and will focus on choices, not rules. In addition to table-side cocktail service, it will offer a wine selection that gets this Napa Valley native very excited: guests will be able to sample various wines from a distinguished American-focused wine list, and create their own flights, deciding between a sip, a taste or a bottomless glass. Take a guess at which option I’ll be choosing from when dining or hanging in the Lounge…

I was in a client meeting last week at our office and we started talking about the economy and how people were constantly looking for ways to save money while not having to give up the luxuries they had become accustomed to, such as dining out or pampering yourself with a facial. My client mentioned how well a coupon magazine was working for one of the restaurants at her shopping and dining property on the waterfront in downtown San Diego and how the magazine as a whole offered such amazing deals all over the county.

Knowing how people like a deal, including myself (trust me, ask anyone at my advertising agency in San Diego), I suggested to her, and my fellow co-workers to check out this great website where you can search for coupons ranging from 2-1 offers at restaurants to major travel discounts. I was stunned when I learned none of them had heard of Backpage. I’ve been a user for years, ever since I moved to San Diego three years ago. The site is very similar to Craiglist, which doesn’t offer coupons, and they have websites for all the major cities in the US.

It’s free for people to post and download the coupons. Check it out, you never know what deal you might find this month.

We just wrapped a design project for the Sheraton Gateway SFO. With more than 10 hotels in the Peninsula competing for the same customers, we had to create something that would elicit a “This is different!” response from meeting planners and guests.

The hotel recently completed a $22 million renovation and wanted materials that reflected the feeling and energy of the property. We created the “modern airport hotel” positioning and sent a photographer and videographer on site to capture its personality.

Our design and web team created a new brochure and sales folder, as well as a redesign of the hotel’s website landing page.

The videos were scripted and edited to support our two key differentiators – the property upgrades and excellence of staff.

I think we hit the mark – what do you think?

We can now officially announce that we have been retained by the Setai San Diego to manage public relations for its grand opening. Slated to open at the end of the year in downtown San Diego, this is the first Setai to open on the West Coast. The brand is better known on the East Coast due to its luxurious So. Beach property. But pretty soon, the left side of the country will understand what all the buzz is about.

The hotel is located on Fifth Ave. in the Financial District just outside of the Gaslamp Quarter.  The ultra-chic property was designed by the Rockwell Group (and they really do rock). We did a walk through yesterday and I couldn’t stop touching the walls. I lost count of how many wall finishes there are from floor to floor, but truly it was the most touchable hotel I have every experienced. The installation art is gorgeous (and there’s quite a bit of it). The 184-room hotel, will feature a spa, rooftop pool, restaurant, lobby bar, luxe suites and the largest, most exclusive three-story penthouse on the West Coast.

Needless to say, we are stoked to be representing this luxury brand and bringing a new level of hospitality to San Diego.

I’m way to tall too be a jockey.

I don’t look nearly as awkward as Shaq racing a thoroughbred, but I certainly don’t look natural.

How would I know? The Del Mar Thoroughbred Club just released its “Jockey Yourself” e-blast to promote the start of its season and its new website that we helped create. I couldn’t wait to see how I’d look on a horse and wanted to share that fabulous experience with you. You can watch me here (I recommend using sound…there’s nothing like Trevor’s voice to help bring about the excitement of the race meet).

This is Del Mar’s first interactive program to promote the season. Latching onto the area’s excitement for Opening Day that seems to explode after the 4th of July weekend, we expect this individualized treat to quickly sneak its way into everyone’s inbox.

So go ahead….Jockey Yourself.

Word is spreading about Bailey Gardiner’s moving skills. Check out some of our new advertising, public relations and interactive clients:

BeautyEncounter.com, your online resource for hard-to-find and exclusive beauty products.

Sheraton Gateway Hotel SFO, a recently renovated 400-room property near San Francisco’s airport.

Cadena Churchill, LLP, a Southern California-based law firm.

Educational Enrichment Systems, Inc., a local non-profit specializing in early education for low-income families.

And San Diego National Bank, the community’s local bank.

We welcome our new friends.

I’ll be forward and boast that traveling is my forte. I am GOOD at navigating airports, subways, cities and foreign menus. I look forward to putting myself in awkward situations with language barriers, being irrationally judged and please, go ahead, ask me about our president. Most importantly, I am GOOD at airplane etiquette – or what Delta Airlines has coined, “Planeguage.”

Many other travelers, however, are not. In attempts to bring airplane etiquette to the table, Delta has created a series of short animated videos that poke fun at the nuances of traveling. There’s the “Lava Dance,” “Middleman,” “Miracle on 34th row,” “Kidtastroph,” etc. They are clever, catchy and as a seasoned traveler, hysterical. Rather than teach, they subtly point out the issues so that, as Delta spokeswoman Betsy Talton says, the videos “help raise travelers’ consciousness about what it means to be good travel companions.”

Well done, Delta.

San Diego’s winter weather makes it difficult to throw an outdoor event.

I know what you are thinking, “It rains so little in San Diego that an overflowing toilet can cause flash floods.” And that’s exactly the problem.

Issues float to the surface in one form (sorry for the extended, and perhaps, off-color metaphor): we get rain so rarely that when we do, life can’t function as normal.

Let me give you an example. Recently at Seaport Village’s holiday event, we needed 26 tons of sand delivered. And then it rained. We, of course, still wanted and needed the sand, but the sand yard called to say they canceled our order. Why? Because it’s what they usually do and it can still be delivered on Monday. It took a full day’s convincing for their dispatcher to realize that our sand sculptor really can use wet sand.

After all, he’s just going to wet it down with the hose anyway.

Lucky for my client, time flushed away (sorry, I can’t help it) the rain and cloudy skies in time for a beautiful event. Even more lucky for my client’s tenants because if it had rained, regardless of our “rain or shine” policy, no one would have come.

It’s just the reality of a city that gets so little rain we forget what it is in between downpours…umm, I mean, sprinkles.