The Best Hotels for Business Travel Here's a rundown of the top hotels in every price range in our in-depth look at how to do better business on the go.
By Bruce Schoenfeld •
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It's not about the journey, it's about … the hotel.
A decade after 9/11, business travel in America is more endured than enjoyed. In a gesture that symbolized the end of an era, airlines removed the olives from their salads. Then they removed the salads. Rental cars' odometers now spin past 30,000 and beyond before they're replaced. And who needs a massage when you've had a TSA pat-down?
Yet business hotels are far better than they've ever been. When the travel industry felt the squeeze in the early 2000s, hospitality executives didn't slash services. Instead, they targeted niches and sub-niches with tightly defined brands, most of which are efficient to build and operate. "You don't always need five restaurants and 100,000 feet of meeting space," says Jim Abrahamson, president of the Americas region for IHG, the parent company of InterContinental, Holiday Inn, and Hotel Indigo, among others. "These days, we have a product for your blue jeans, and a different product for your pinstriped suit. You only get as much hotel as you need."
Such segmentation has kept occupancy rates high and, crucially, opportunities attractive for developers and franchisees. And for travelers, it's meant the availability of a steady stream of new and updated properties outfitted with the latest amenities.
