The Westin Hotel in downtown Providence has lost its coveted four-diamond rating from the Automobile Association of America.
This should be seen as a serious development for taxpayers who invested in the project. It should also alarm state officials who would like to get the state out of the hotel business once the money that has been invested has been recouped.
Logic would suggest that a three-diamond hotel would produce a slower return on investment than will a four-diamond hotel. We wonder, does the Westin now face a greater challenge in luring meeting planners? And does a three-diamond hotel, for example, command the same room rates as a four-diamond competitor?
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According to AAA officials, at the four-diamond level, it’s all about customer service. And when they visited the downtown hotel late last year, they apparently found customer service to be lacking.
Officials at the Westin and the Rhode Island Convention Center Authority — the agency that oversees the hotel — were in full defense mode last week.
They went as far as to block public access to the skybridge that connects the hotel and Providence Place.
Citing the AAA downgrade, they said the skybridge was contributing to a loitering problem. It was attracting a crowd they said, including teenagers who were playing around on hotel elevators and homeless people drawn by the comfort of the surroundings.
Closing the skybridge caused quite a stir. At a City Hall press conference, Providence Mayor Vincent A. Cianci, Jr. criticized the hotel and Convention Center officials, suggesting they were "nuts" for blocking pedestrian’s access to the mall.
Last week, an interim solution was reached – allowing for public access.
By our account, officials at the Convention Center Authority and the Westin have some work to do. The skybridge dilemma needs to be solved on a permanent basis – and the solution should include the public’s right to utilize it. When the skybridge first opened, hotel officials trumpeted its arrival. It was unique – and practical. It looked good, and it made for a much safer jaunt for pedestrians making their way across Memorial Boulevard.
Perhaps the Westin must invest in a complete overhaul of its lobby, so that the skybridge can be incorporated in full and guests of the hotel are afforded the service they should expect at such a signature hotel. An investment in such a capital project would cost far less than the potential loss of business should the Westin not reclaim its four-diamond status.
The loss of an AAA diamond is a big deal. Providence deserves a Westin that has earned such a rating, the kind of rating the hotel enjoys in many other cities.
