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Luxury hotels are mathematically bad value

29 May, 2026

Agreed, and I can prove that luxury hotels are mathematically literally very bad value

For the amount of "more" money you pay for this luxury, you should be getting way way way more than you actually get (as measured by ratings)

Aman should have an average rating of 9.5 but in reality barely hits an 8 on average, so they simply cannot produce the "luxury" experiences they are trying to market and brand themselves for

It's essentially all smoke and mirrors, and reflects my experiences completely, you pay 10x more and get either 0.5x-1.5x more (eg many times 2x worse, sometimes a bit better) not 10x better!

Other luxury chains are slightly better but none of them even get close to a 9 rating with the famous Ritz-Carlton being especially bad: its average rating is a 7.68 for a median price of $549/night, terrible!

Real value can be found with Okura, Minor, Melia and even Marriott. Okura is interesting because well known as luxurious but median only $143/night

So as I always say, luxury is mostly a scam, it doesn't exist and you're best off spending much less for much better value (and often better experiences too)

Source: my new site stats page http://hotelist.com/stats

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