Greenbrier seeking fifth star

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — The new owner of The Greenbrier resort is going straight to the source to find ways to restore a coveted five-star rating from the Mobil Travel Guide.

The southeastern West Virginia resort lost its fifth star in January 2000.

New owner Jim Justice has vowed to get that back. He’s asked the Chicago-based Mobil Travel Guide’s consulting division to help identify the resort’s strengths and weaknesses, including a review of more than 550 standards.

Greenbrier employees also will be instructed on standards that Mobil uses to rate hotels. The employees have a big stake in the outcome — Justice has said they will get a 10 percent bonus if the fifth star is restored.

Hiring the Mobil consultants is no guarantee of success.

“It’s a prep course before the test,” said Shane O’Flaherty, president and CEO of Mobil Travel Guide. “Ultimately, you have to perform well on the test. It provides the property with a roadmap, but the property has to navigate the roadmap.”

A $50 million renovation at The Greenbrier earlier this decade couldn’t restore the travel guide’s highest rating, which Mobil’s Web site says comes with “an exceptionally distinctive luxury environment offering expanded amenities and consistently superlative service.”

Currently, 44 hotels across the country have five-star ratings.

The average size of a Mobil five-star property is 250 rooms. The Greenbrier’s hotel has 721 rooms.

“Regardless of size, it’s really about the attention to detail,” O’Flaherty said. “Is it challenging [being a large hotel]? Sure. Is it insurmountable? Absolutely not.”

O’Flaherty said the Trump International Hotel and Tower in New York lost its fifth star in 2004 and regained it last year.