When “Too Far” Isn’t Too Far: How Laurus Travel Chooses Hotel Locations

— by Julius Yan 
President & Co-owner

When choosing a tour, the location of the hotel matters. After a full day of sightseeing, guests understandably want to return to a comfortable hotel that is conveniently situated for exploring the destination.

At Laurus Travel, hotel location is therefore not an afterthought. It is one of the most important considerations in designing our tours.

I am personally involved in selecting the hotels used on our programmes, and I have verified the location of every property currently used by Laurus Travel. Without exception, our hotels are centrally located and chosen to provide convenient access to the places featured in our itineraries.

Yet, from time to time, we see reviews describing one of our hotels as being “far from the city centre.” In some cases, such comments are simply a matter of perspective. In others, the description is factually difficult to reconcile with the hotel’s actual location.

Tokyo: a good example

Take the Tokyo Dome Hotel, used on our Japan tours.

One guest commented that the hotel was far from central Tokyo. Yet the Tokyo Dome Hotel is in Bunkyo, firmly within central Tokyo, immediately beside Tokyo Dome City and close to Suidobashi and Korakuen stations. The Imperial Palace is also nearby.

More importantly, Tokyo does not have a single, clearly defined “city centre” in the way some smaller cities do. Shinjuku, Shibuya, Ginza, Marunouchi, Ueno and Asakusa are all major central districts, connected by an exceptionally efficient railway and subway network.

For a touring programme covering different parts of Tokyo, being conveniently connected to the transport network can actually be more useful than being in the middle of one particular tourist district.

What “central” means on a tour

There is an important distinction between being centrally located and being within walking distance of every attraction.

A hotel in the centre of a large city may still require a train, subway or taxi to reach particular sights. That does not make its location remote or inconvenient. In fact, this is simply the reality of travelling in major metropolitan areas such as Tokyo, Beijing, Shanghai, Paris or London.

When we select hotels, we consider their position within the city, access to public transportation, proximity to the principal areas of interest, and how practical the location is for the particular itinerary.

We also consider the experience of returning to the hotel after sightseeing: is it easy to find? Is it well connected? Is there a good choice of restaurants and amenities nearby? Does the location give guests the opportunity to explore independently in their free time?

These are all part of the decision.

Why reviews about location need context

We value guest feedback and take criticism seriously. Everyone experiences a destination differently, and a traveller may quite reasonably prefer one neighbourhood over another.

But hotel-location reviews should be read in context.

A statement such as “far from the city centre” can mean very different things to different people. It might mean that a particular attraction required a 20-minute train journey, that the hotel was not in the neighbourhood the guest personally preferred, or simply that the guest expected to be able to walk everywhere.

None of these necessarily means that the hotel is poorly located.

For Laurus Travel, the question is more practical: Is this a centrally located hotel that provides our guests with a convenient base for experiencing the destination?

That is the standard we apply to every property.

Location is part of the Laurus Travel experience

Our hotel choices are made deliberately, not simply according to availability or price. I personally oversee the selection of our properties, and I have checked every current Laurus Travel hotel to ensure that it meets our requirements for location.

Every hotel we currently use is centrally located.

That does not mean every hotel sits beside every major attraction. Nor would that be realistic in a large city. It means that our guests stay in well-positioned parts of the destinations they visit, with convenient access to sightseeing, transportation, restaurants and the wider city.

So the next time you read that a Laurus Travel hotel is “far from the city centre,” it is worth taking a moment to look at the map.

The facts may tell a rather different story.