seven tips and tricks
Nothing is better than a list of recommendations. Here are seven pieces of advice for you to consider for your rooms.
1. Have some local or small that guests can keep (chocolate, deck of cards, wine)
Everyone loves to have something small as a welcome gift. Especially when it is practical. For example, an umbrella in seattle, chocolate made by a local company, or a deck of cards. I would use this as an opportunity to delight your guests and also as a small way to make your hotel stand out. You can even market the item, such as a water bottle they can use throughout their stay and take home with your hotel’s logo.
2. Charge a reasonable late fee when guests want to extend their hotel room past checkout.
Speaking of check-out, check-out should not be before 12pm. But if guests want to extend for more than an hour charge a reasonable fee to recoup the costs. The fee should be ~20% of the room rate to extend for up to 4hrs. For example, if your hotel charges $180 per night and checkout is 12pm, charge $40 to allow guests to extend their room to 4pm.
3. Always have a full length mirror in every guest room.
I mean, how else will people be able to know if their entire outfit looks good. You would be surprised at the number of hotel rooms that do not have a full length mirror.
4. Have silverware in the room, especially if you cater to corporate guests.
Pun intended. Food delivery is typical these days, so it makes it that much more convenient for guests to have silverware without having to call down. Also, if your hotel offers room service, make sure to set a reminder to pick up the tray outside of a guest room ~2hrs after the guest orders food.
5. Have plenty of garbage cans (and ideally recycling too) in the room and throughout the hotel.
This will save your housekeeping team from picking up garbage left in random places. In a guestroom there should always be a garbage in the bathroom and in the main room. And if you want to go crazy have two in the main room.
6. Have newspapers accessible and/or have a handout at the front desk with key local news.
Elderly guests tend to love to have newspapers and a little handout with local events for the week is a great way to bring the community to your guests and/or create a memorable guest experience.
7. Full size body wash, shampoo, AND conditioner bottles in the bathroom.
This may just be a personal pet peeve when hotels do not have conditioner (I’m talking to you European hotels). But there is also this newer trend of higher quality bathroom products in full sizes that are attached to the shower wall. I love this for a couple of reasons. First, it feels luxurious to use bath products you typically would not splurge on so guests tend to like the trend. Second and maybe more importantly as a hotel owner, it is better for the environment and economical to not have little plastic bottles of shampoo and conditioner.