A lot of hotels that cater to international guests will fly a number of flags outside the premises. Almost always one of these flags will be that of the country in which the hotel is located. How do they decide which other flags to fly?
Some wild speculation:
They fly the flags of neighbouring countries.
They fly the flags of the hotel owner’s favourite countries.
They fly the flags of whichever countries they get the most guests from.
The fly the flags of whichever countries they want to attract guests from.
They fly the flags of whichever countries they think make the hotel look the most prestigious.
They generally use one of the above rules, but if they happen to get a booking from an important international guest, they’ll substitute one of the usual flags with the flag of that guest’s country in order to make them feel welcome.
I realize that not all hotels will adopt the same policy, but maybe there are some general tendencies. Is there anyone here who’s owned or worked at a hotel who can explain their flag policy?
BTW, it’s been a few decades, but I think the student union at my college did the same thing, with flags representing all of the countries from which students came.
I think you’re putting a lot more thought into it than the hotels themselves. I suspect it’s mostly the guest related (most guests, attracting guests) options above. Tourist hotels in South Africa will frequently include the UK, etc. flags.
I suspect they do “on average” (i.e. where many of their guests, real or aspirational, come from). I’d be very surprised if they’re changed on a day to day basis based on who specifically is checking in.
Often, yes. It’s usual to ask for a guest’s address, after all, which they might not include the country if it’s a domestic traveler, but often will if they’re travelling internationally.
The first hotel I heard of doing this (flying the flags of its guests) was the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York. They have a dedicated flag room with “over 190 flags of nations and corporations” so they may very well have the national flag of Burkina Faso. They also get a lot of heads of states and other dignitaries staying there, so they definitely go to the trouble of changing the flags for those guests. No idea if they do so for a salesperson from Eswatini or Estonia.
Maybe they have a flag handy for Burkina Faso. I always thought the hotels who displayed flags of other countries did like ships do: maintiain a supply of flags for every nation–and then when a dignitary, such as a city mayor, high court judge, country president, etc., visited, put up their flag.
My guess, but I don’t work in the hospitality industry, is that most of the time it’s based on an average of where the guests mostly come from; but if there is a special occasion, such as someone particularly important staying there, or a convention with lots of guests from a given country happening, then you might add that country’s flag ad hoc if it’s not yet represented.
They do in most European countries, where all residents (even temporary ones such as tourists) must identify themselves and place of origin to the police/government, or get their landlord (e.g., a hotel) to do so on their behalf. Checking into a hotel here usually requires presenting a passport and filling in a (sometimes lengthy) form for every individual member of your travelling group, though nowadays hotels sometimes pre-fill the form using data from online bookings.
We will after check in as we require a form of government-issued ID* at check in, except for tours or something like a sports team where we just get names.
*It’s amazing what people think is an appropriate form of ID. Frequent shopper cards, their Sam’s Club membership card, their gym membership card - the mind boggles.
ETA: Europeans are awesome about knowing to have and hand over ID.
Apart from national legal requirements, it’s also useful for a hotel’s marketing to have contact information including home and email address. I get a Christmas card or message from a small-ish family hotel in the Tirol that I’ve been to for summer walking (not that they feel the need to bother with displaying flags out front - that seems to be a thing for big chain hotels that aim for conference business or just to suggest they’re big and important in themselves).
Possibly a virtue of Europeans undertaking frequent foreign travel, where carrying/brandishing a passport becomes second nature. Most hotels across Europe will request a passport at check-in, as many European governments require it.
Slight tangent: The Air National Guard base at the Tucson International Airport provides training for foreign F-16 pilots. They used to fly the flags of whichever countries were currently training pilots there, not sure if they do that anymore.
I always hand my ID and credit card to the desk clerk before they even get a chance to ask. They rarely are surprised, do I figured it was pretty common.
I’m imagining a tired, bedraggled Estonian family, fruitlessly searching the streets of Manhattan until they can find a hotel flying the Estonian flag so they can rest for the night.