Seemingly trivial reasons why you choose one hotel/airline/shop over another

[Mattg]

I was deciding which hotel to stay at on an upcoming trip and ended up going with one over the other because I really like the juicer they have at the breakfast buffet.

Businesses go to a lot of effort to market and differentiate themselves, but there must be so many other seemingly random reasons why people choose one café, or restaurant, or hotel, or hairdresser, or airline, or whatever else over another. What are some of your reasons?

 

[kpc]

In Japan, the closer to the train station the better!
Good reviews a must!

 

[rbjhan]

Also in Japan, a public bath!

 

[gfurlong]

After over 20 years with Qantas as a Platinum FF, I changed to Virgin a month ago when Qantas all of a sudden started charging Platinum for Row 4 as an extra legroom charge. It was the final "insult".

Degraded service, lounges going downhill, old planes, reliability and more obviously led-up to it, but that was the small little detail that pushed me over!

 

[AIRwin]

For hotels - free breakfast or bicycle hire or airport pickup/dropoff

 

[NM]

For hotels - free breakfast or bicycle hire or airport pickup/dropoff

Free breakfast is generally on my selection criteria too. But its a strange criteria for me to use since my normal breakfast when not traveling consists of a cup of tea. Hmmm, maybe I should reconsider my travel selection criteria

 

[SeatBackForward]

The welcome cookie, you know which brand of hotels that is!

 

[drron]

The welcome cookie, you know which brand of hotels that is!

The Crowne Plaza Changi then must be for you. a month ago this ia what we got at checkin.

 

[andye]

I tend to try out different places but am strangely taken by the smoothie dispenser at the London Hilton Metropole breakfast so have been a repeat visitor.

 

[SYD]

The welcome cookie, you know which brand of hotels that is!

It slightly odd getting one in DRW and it’s 40°C out!

 

[SeatBackForward]

The Crowne Plaza Changi then must be for you. a month ago this ia what we got at checkin.

Whoa now...what imitation is this...

 

[elanshin]

I personally like to try new things but I always keep a list of "i don't mind going there again", "I'd recommend this to friends" etc.

For example, if the question for non FF (all else being equal) is transit in KUL or SIN to Europe, I'd immediately say SIN. But at the same time that may not be what I personally do.

As to what keeps ne at certain places, usually "Value" is what I look for. There are certain red flags that become "No". For exampl I don't mind staying at Ibis, it's not my first choice, but given most Ibis' consistency around the world, I have a pretty good idea of what I'm getting into if that does end up being the choice.

 

[cgichard]

Years ago, when I ran a business whose busiest day was Christmas Eve, I would fly to the UK on Christmas Day to spend the Christmas break with my family there. At first it was with BA, but when they stopped flying from Melbourne, I tried Qantas. And hated the cabin crew wearing Santa Claus hats and going "Ho, ho, ho" down the aisles. So, on the recommendation of my then travel agent, I switched to Singapore Air, even though they offered me "char-kay" (meaning turkey!). That choice was confirmed when SQ gave me a free upgrade to J when I was flying at short notice to my mother's funeral. And so SQ remains my strong preference, and now always in J but no longer at Christmas.

 

[JohnK]

In Thailand choose hotels to stay away from tour groups.

I know some hotels have started with tour groups already and that early morning cattle muster, the lingering mess everywhere around the hotel when they're not out on tour, the loud noises in the corridors at all hours of the night. No thanks.

 

[kyle]

Understated luxury is what I want for hotels. Just like how I pick good restaurants that don't have dress codes.

 

[WilsonM]

I'll always try and look for hotel rooms that don't have the all-in-one shower-tubs - I really just don't like them at all, as they feel poorly designed for both purposes. This doesn't override loyalty, location and price concerns that much, but it does actually play a part in decision making.

 

[Tiki]

Proximity to public transport and walking distance to shops and restaurants.

 

[luxury-lizard]

For hotels - a Nespresso machine in the room will swing it for me (all other things being pretty much equal)

 

[jase05]

We used to frequent the Padma Legian quite a bit and chose to over others because they had a great concierge staff member that would organise a scooter to be ready when we checked in. They negotiated a good rate from a relative I’m guessing. I believe that during Covid he returned home to Java and no longer works there unfortunately

 

[SydneySwan]

My No 1 criteria in hotel selection is a swimming pool that you can swim laps in, preferably available from 6am onwards. I often email a hotel that I am considering booking to find out the opening times and the pool length.