The Greenbrier resort works to reclaim 5-star rating

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — 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 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 will be instructed on standards Mobil uses to rate hotels. Justice has said employees will get a bonus if the 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 chief executive of Mobil Travel Guide. "Ultimately, you have to perform well on the test. It provides the property with a road map, but the property has to navigate the road map.”

A $50 million renovation at The Greenbrier 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.”