Today’s world is all about differentiation. This is the most natural and basic instinct that we carry as human beings as social animals who feel the need to constantly compare ourselves to others in order to derive a sense of well-being. In other words, we have to feel superior to others to feel good about our own situations. It’s all about relative ranking.
Nowhere is such a scaling system more commonplace and uncomfortably evident than when traveling. Everything is about status. You paid good money to get on that flight, but you have to wait until all the other priority groups first make their way to the jet bridge before you are allowed to board because you haven’t earned or paid for the “superior” status. Worse, even when it becomes your turn to board, you have to use a different lane to scan your boarding pass, physically reinforcing that you are not as good as those people who just boarded before you. However, you can always take comfort that you are not the lowest of the low since you are still allowed to bring on a carry-on bag and personal item while others even lower can’t.
Then you get to the hotel and realize that the airlines have nothing compared to the status scaling system of the hotels in which everything you do, eat, and play in a hotel is dictated by which precious........