A LASTING IMPRESSION

We delve into how you can elevate your hotel’s reputation and showcase your brand personality through your in-room amenities.

Amenities at a hotel play an important role in contributing to the guest experience. With technology on the up and hotels creeping to becoming more digitalised, that connection between guests and staff members may be slightly reduced, meaning it’s important to find other ways in which that guest experience can be elevated.

Hotel amenities are the additional features, services, and facilities that hotels offer to their guests, beyond basic necessities such as a bed, bathroom and linens. These amenities can vary from hotel to hotel and can range from small gestures, like a complimentary bottle of water, to more luxurious features like a spa, champagne on arrival and personalised robes.

Whatever decision you make regarding which additional extras you will offer to your guests, it’s important to ensure your in-room amenities complement your overall ethos as a brand to ensure continuity, in addition boosting your reputation.

UK Head of Sales at VOYA, Lucy Pike-Bowyer, believes that a hotel’s commitment to sustainability should continue into their rooms, and eco-friendly amenities are a great place to start. At VOYA, they make this easier for hotel partners as their new amenity products are 100% recyclable and made using recycled materials, i.e. PCR (post-consumer recycled plastic).

Guests expect the basics such as shampoo, conditioner, and body wash; but it’s those thoughtful extra additions such a pillow spray and bath salts that make a big impact.

Lucy believes that a key area to get right at your hotel is the toilets – what do they say about you? Nearly every person that visits your hotel will, at some point, pop to the loos, and it tells guests a lot about the pride that goes into a building: “Having a good quality hand wash and moisturiser says you care, even about the little things. It’s a place not to be overlooked!” Lucy added.

With the cost of living continuing to rise, it’s important that hotels offer memorable and brand-focused amenities but in a cost-effective way; Lucy advises doing this by “adding value, not discounts.”

In a time where clients might be cutting back, it is important not to enter the race at the bottom when it comes to price point: “This is where you can use luxury amenities and turndown gifts to add value to your offering. Ask yourself what sounds more appealing, £10 off or a £20 gift? Amenities are an opportunity to stand out by adding something extra, rather than cutting back or taking something away.” Lucy finished.

Whether for business or for pleasure, a trip should always provide an experience. Happy, satisfied guests come back, become loyal to their hotel, and may eventually consider this place as their second home after several stays.

Gerd von Podewils, CMO of ADA Cosmetics, notices that hotel cosmetics play a significant role in creating loyalty, because the bathroom is of utmost privacy. Guests apply the hotel’s cosmetics to their skin and hence, expect products that are safe and hygienic, and that deliver professional results.

ADA delivers all of this by “putting beauty into travel”. Guest satisfaction is at the pinnacle of everything the brand does. ADA offers a wide variety of brands catering to lifestyle, design, and luxury hotels, but also for wellness and beauty properties.

In terms of which amenities go down best with guests, Gerd explained that a topic which remains extremely important, even post-COVID, is hygiene. Travelers want to be sure that the products they use are completely hygienic, meaning this is an essential factor to bear in mind when deciding on your in-room amenities.

In addition, quality and sustainability play an increasingly significant role for guests. Gentle, eco-friendly body care lines, ideally certified by renowned institutions, are becoming more important to the overall guest experience, a hotel’s reputation and when initiating consumer relationships.

Gerd explained that a good way to surprise guests is by offering new, upcoming brands that they potentially discover for the first time – like ADA’s new Soapsmith