What makes a great hotel? Is it five-star service, or maybe an ultra-chic interior design scheme? Perhaps your favorite hotel earned your devotion with a fabulous dining venue or even a marvelously decadent spa. With the multitude of upscale options available to business travelers, deciding where to stay can seem like a coin toss where “heads” always lands up! That’s why we posed this question to more than 70 hotels: Could it be the little things that make a big difference?

We think so. On the following pages you’ll find new information on which hotels offer the best perks — from such essentials as wireless Internet access to the equally indispensable guestroom toiletry kit. Read on for the lowdown on everything you need to know to choose the hotel that’s just right for your next business trip.

Working Without a Wire
For many of us, wireless Internet access is a high priority when it comes to conducting business away from the office. But as more and more business travelers rely on WiFi to stay in touch, hotels are still struggling to implement the networks necessary to provide service. The result is a market with varied connectivity standards and inconsistent billing practices. As hotels rush to install WiFi networks, the immediate results can be unpredictable with service varying within hotel brands and often within the hotel buildings.

Our survey revealed that only a small percentage of responding hotels offer free WiFi throughout the property. These included the Amalfi Hotel in Chicago (Yahoo voted them “best wired hotel in Chicago”), The Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles, Raffles L’Ermitage, Luxe Hotel Sunset Boulevard and the Chateau Marmont in Beverly Hills, The Jumeirah Essex House in New York City, all Sofitel Hotels and several of the Prince Resorts in Hawaii, (see the chart for complete details).

We also discovered that four- and five-star hotels are more likely to charge a fee for wireless access than some mid-range properties. (That’s probably because they figure their guest can afford it. What’s another $9.95-plus per day when you’re already paying several hundred dollars a night for your room?)

Of the three Ritz-Carlton properties that participated in our survey, for example, only one — The Ritz-Carlton Berlin — offers free, hotel-wide wireless Internet service. If you stay at the Ritz in Naples or Shanghai, expect free WiFi in the lobby, but you’ll pay $9.95 a day if you want to work in your room. Four Seasons properties surveyed revealed three locations — Hampshire (England), Georges V (Paris) and The Regent Singapore — offer free WiFi in both public spaces and guestrooms. But other Four Seasons hotels and resorts either charge a fee or do not yet offer wireless Internet access. Four Seasons Resort Palm Beach bills $10.95 per 24-hour period and Four Seasons Hotel New York does not currently provide a wireless signal.

On average, $10 to $15 a day is a typical rate for wireless Internet access, but charges vary. (Hilton Vienna reportedly charges a whopping €30 — about $37.50 — a day.) Doubletree offers free access in public spaces, while Crowne Plaza shows promise with total access currently available at select properties. In January, Fairmont made complimentary high-speed Internet access available to members of its President’s Club, the company’s frequent guest loyalty program. Membership is complimentary, and guests can enroll at the time of reservation or online at their convenience. Over-all, change in the world of WiFi is rapid. A number of hotels that do not currently provide complimentary access reported plans to do so in the near future. The bottom line? Before selecting hotel, ask about wireless connectivity and related charges.

Pledging Allegiance
Another value issue we looked into is that of hotel loyalty programs. It used to be that just having a program was enough to draw repeat business. Now that nearly every hotel offers a reward program, it’s no longer a matt er of who has a program, but who has the best program. The downside? Many loyalty programs require members to contend with blackout dates and reservations-subject-to-availability clauses. So this year Global Traveler decided to track down which hotels made improvements to their rewards programs.

We spoke with Steve Sickel, senior vice president of loyalty marketing for InterContinental Hotels Group, who explained the reasoning behind recent changes to the firm’s Priority Club rewards program, which IHG re-launched in 2002.

“The feedback we got was that people regarded loyalty programs as too complex and not worth the effort,” said Sickel. “We wanted to create something that was much simpler and more flexible.”

The first step was to eliminate the expiration date.

“Our guests see their reward points as true currency. For them it’s like a bank account,” he said.

We agree. Frequent travelers expect the points they accrue to have real value. Extending the idea of “point currency,” Priority Club points also can be exchanged for non-hotel rewards, including retail gift cards. If you don’t find what you’re looking for in the catalog, opt for help from the “personal shopper” feature — an agent who will track down the item you want, quote the number of points to exchange, and have it delivered to your door.

Pretty impressive.

But the biggest reason InterContinental’s Priority Club tops our list is its cutting-edge, any-hotel-anywhere policy. If allowing members to redeem points for stays at other hotels seems counterintuitive, consider the reasoning that, Sickel said, finally convinced the powers-that-be at IHG it was worth a try.

“Loyalty is a two-way street. Our guests appreciate the trust we show by allowing them to redeem their points at other hotels, and it pays off to be flexible.”

We wish all hotels would apply this philosophy to their loyalty programs.

Catching ZZZZZZs
According to Yesawich, Pepperdine, Brown & Russell’s 2003 National Business Travel Monitor, a national survey of the travel habits, preferences and intentions of U.S. business travelers, more than half of those surveyed said they don’t get enough sleep during trips. It’s no surprise then that premium bedding programs have become fairly ubiquitous among major hotels.

Perhaps best-known is Westin’s truly amazing Heavenly Bed. Its combination of a high-quality pillow-top mattress, fluffy white duvet and ultra-plush pillows sets the gold standard in hotel beds. Doubletree hotels promise “Sweet Dreams” with a plush-top coil mattress, four jumbo down pillows, 200-thread-count linens and baffle-box down blankets. Sheraton’s Sweet Sleeper is comparable. (The Sheraton Web site claims that if all the Sweet Sleeper pillows were stacked together, they’d reach higher than the top of Mount Everest!)

Nuances like “plush-top” verses “pillow-top” abound in the world of hotel bedding. In fact, even the definition of a bedding program depends on the hotel. A few respondents simply answered “no” to the query, “Does your hotel have a bedding program?” while others enthused about high-quality linens and thread-count. Italian luxury linens like Mascioni, Frette, Fili d’oro and Rivolta Carmignani emerged as favorites in this category.

Among the most elaborate sleep schemes, we discovered Crowne Plaza’s Sleep Advantage tops the list. The hotel’s comprehensive sleep program includes quality bedding, nightlight, drape clips, a sleep CD and a sleep amenity kit featuring earplugs and lavender-scented spray. Crowne Plaza also designates “quiet zones” and instructs staff on how to preserve a restful environment. And after a good night’s sleep, your wake-up call is guaranteed – or there’s no charge for the room night.

Wake Up and Smell the Coffee
At the moment, hotels seem to be split on the issue of coffee service. Is a coffee machine expected in the guestroom? Global Traveler’s vote is yes. No one wants a room service delivery halfway between showering and getting dressed. Hotels cite concerns about using tap water to brew coffee or the difficulty of providing fresh dairy products. Those of you who read last year’s survey may remember our suggestion: Provide complimentary bottled water for brewing and put the milk or creamers in the minibar. To be fair, we know of guests who never use the in-room coffeemaker. In fact 42 percent of us leave the hotel for coffee, even when in-room brew is an option. That’s according to research conducted by Sheraton’s Four Points brand in 2003 which also revealed that, when given the option of requesting a coffeemaker, only 2 percent of guests follow through. (All well and good, but we contend the other 98 percent just doesn’t want to bother with the hassle.)

So, w hat’s our solution to the coffee conundrum? Hotels should provide a simple drip machine in each room with high quality coffee, along with fresh milk and cream, plus the usual sweeteners. (Don’t forget the Splenda!) A good hotel will throw in a few to-go cups and lids. A great hotel will do all of this, plus offer espresso and cappuccino in one of the property’s common areas.

Oh the Toilette
When Global Traveler staffers travel we pay attention to detail everywhere — even in the bathroom. This is where we prepare to face the demands of the day, and it’s the last place any of us wants to run into an inconvenience. Second only to an ample supply of hot water, high-quality toiletry items have the ability to turn a ho-hum morning routine into a downright enjoyable experience.

In our quest for the best, we asked for samples of shampoos and conditioners stocked in hotels from New York to Singapore (and a quite a few places in between). We then conducted a blind test of more than 50 different products, assigning scores of one to five for scent, texture and performance. We allowed extra points for “x-factors” like pleasing color or great latherability.

If, like us, you harbor a strong preference for name-brand toiletries over hotel-brand products, you may wonder, as we did, how much of your bias could be attributed to effective marketing. Here’s what we concluded: When luxury products are transferred from attractive packaging into plain, number-coded bottles and stripped of their fancy brand identities, they are, with few exceptions, still better than hotel products.

Bulgari’s lightly scented green tea shampoo and conditioner received the highest scores. The Ritz-Carlton in New York’s Battery Park stocks it, as do Villazzo Hotels in Miami, St. Tropez and Aspen. The Four Seasons in Milan opts for sleek, black-on-yellow tubes of Aqua di Parma, while properties in Amman and Jackson Hole favor the herb-infused L’Occitane en Provence, which also scored well. The “springlike” scent of Fleur du Matin shampoo by London parfumier Miller Harris was popular with the judges, and can be found at Fairmont Hotels. Aveda’s Rosemary Mint line, available at Amalfi Hotel Chicago and Prince Resorts in Hawaii, was praised for its freshness and appealed equally to men and women. Those who go for mild, apothecary-style tonics may want to try the Hotel Bel-Air where rooms are supplied with large bottles of Kiehl’s products. Finally, W Hotels’ hip choice of Bliss Lemon-Sage Bath Kit won’t disappoint the young and trendy crowd.

So, what does it take to make a good hotel a great hotel? They say, “The devil is in the details.” We did come across a few hotels that fell short of the mark this year — and many that exceeded our expectations. We’re now more certain than ever that it’s precisely by sweating the small stuff.