Some hotels treat their most frequent guests to a welcome amenity waiting for them in their room. But they don’t always suit their audience. You should never look a gift horse in the mouth, but what about trading one welcome amenity for another?
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Yes, It’s Free But That Doesn’t Mean I Want It
I understand that it is a first-world problem to receive welcome amenity but not the desired welcome amenity and complain. I am not complaining. However, just because something is given to me, doesn’t mean I want it solely because I didn’t have to pay for it.
For example, I sometimes turn down meals on an airplane where I know that the food will not be good but will be loaded with sodium. I don’t eat Southwest Airlines’ pretzels because I don’t care for them, just because they are complementary, doesn’t mean I will enjoy them.
The Purpose Is To Positively Enhance the Guest’s Experience
When a hotel offers a welcome amenity to a guest, they want the guest to enjoy their experience and feel right at home. Hyatt hotels are great at these, the Kimpton Seafire recently welcomed us with a chocolate pretzel cake and bottle of Prosecco, The Principal Hotel (Kimpton Manchester) had a bottle of wine and snack box.
It sends a message to the guest that before they even arrived on-site, someone at the property was thinking about them and wanted to make sure they were happy.
Personally, I love it any time a hotel takes the time to put in a small amount of extra effort. Even select service properties like Hampton Inn or Hyatt Place will sometimes leave a small bottle of water, and a bag of chips with a note that says, “Welcome, Mr. Stewart.” It’s thoughtful.
Whine And Cheese
I am sure the wine critique will have the world up in arms, so let me first address the cheese plate. Holiday Inn Resort Aruba and dozens of Hyatt hotels the world over have generously put out fruit and cheese plates for us to enjoy upon checking in. I love cheese so I have no complaints, but what about guests who are lactose intolerant? What about those who aren’t the enthusiasts my wife and I are? If the guest can’t or doesn’t consume the welcome amenity, does the intended effect still take place?
My wife and I don’t often drink. We don’t have anything against those who do, we used to it’s just that we don’t anymore. A bottle of wine (red, white, bubbly, or rosé) will sit there untouched our entire stay. Most of the time I wish that the staff would just take it home with them instead.
The Grand Hyatt DFW allowed guests to order off of a specific welcome amenity menu, but if you can’t eat spicy food or don’t care for TexMex you are kind of out of luck with the exception of a snack box.
Uncouth or Helpful?
When I buy someone a present, I want to give them something they will like. If I’m having guests over for a cookout and one is a vegetarian, I will gladly cook a mushroom for them or whatever it is that those sort of people eats. If they want a Pepsi instead of a Coke… they wandered into the wrong backyard.
The point is, I would rather someone communicate what would make them happy rather than have them not enjoy their experience. I would imagine hotels are the same way. However, some guests are perceived to be pretentious. Who rejects or tries to swap a gift someone gives them? It’s not a good look.
So when a hotel brings a bottle of something that they intend to make me happy but I will never drink, would the hotel rather I told them so they could provide something else, or just leave it in the room? Should I try to trade the welcome amenity for something that delivers the desired effect, or leave it as it is?
What do you think? Would you trade a welcome amenity if the given item wouldn’t benefit you? Is it uncouth or helpful to the property?
I do it all the time. I have a family member who has issues with alcohol abuse and call to ask that alcohol not even be placed in the room. Most hotels understand and offer something else immediately when I call.
I don’t drink alcohol and so I try to give the bottle away whenever I can. Or, if possible I will take it home and give it to a client. When traveling overseas it just remains in the room.
I would love to exchange it for a dessert but it is too much of a hassle for me to try to exchange it. Most hotels don’t have an exchange program, so they won’t know what to exchange it for and neither do I.
Are you Kimpton Inner Circle ? iC Royal ? Just curious because those look like nice amenities.
There’s a simple enough solution, I think. Hotels should add a “checkbox” option in your frequent guest profile, things such as “don’t drink alcohol”, “nut allergy”, “vegan”, etc. Then the hotel can check that before you arrive and place an appropriate welcome amenity based on those preferences. Seems like a win-win – you get what you want, and the hotel doesn’t have to worry about either inadvertently offending guests or wasting items that go unused.
Would a voucher that can be used for some hotel services be helpful instead?
Most of the welcome gifts have been pared-down in my observation. They used to be extravagant: full-size wine/champagne, fruit bowls reminiscent of Carmen Miranda, boxes of cookies and chocolates. Now rather slim pickings ( or maybe it’s just my lowly ‘status’ these days). Commonly a few chocolates and some limp fruit.
Also, I have to say there are some amenity gifts out there that are cheap as hell. Palazzo in Las Vegas participated in the AmEx fine hotels and resorts program. All hotels are expected to offer a $100 credit of some sort for rooms booked through it, which they do … but it’s only redeemable for the spa, which only has services starting at $180 before tax and tip. They won’t allow it for use in the salon or as a food/bev credit. This is one of the few times a hotel was unwilling to change their amenity.
I’ve never traded an amenity. For me, amenities have roughly fallen into three categories: bottle of wine, whole fruit, and chocolates/sweets. My partner doesn’t drink and I don’t beyond the odd glass of wine at dinner, so the bottle of wine is usually a waste on us. I don’t like the idea of lugging something I won’t drink back home, so I often just pour it down the sink. For some reason, I feel like I’m insulting someone if I don’t consume the bottle, so I pour it down to make it seem like I drunk it. The whole fruit usually goes uneaten. Therefore, for us, the best amenity is just a couple of really high quality chocolates. A nice, small treat.
I love it when it is something local- last time at the Sheraton Mexico City they left me two craft beers and some local snacks that were delicious! I appreciate the thought. That said, I do wish hotels overseas would not leave fruit. It goes to waste since I have no safe way to clean it and eat it. It makes me feel horrible to see it go to waste especially since I travel to a lot of countries where there is a significant underserved population. I agree with the suggestion that those with a member rewards profile should be able to select a “preferred” welcome gift, to include if possible a donation to a local charity that the hotel partners with.
“I don’t eat Southwest Airlines’ pretzels because I don’t care for them, just because they are complementary, doesn’t mean I will enjoy them.” *complimentary
I think if you’re requesting an alternate gift, it has to be done respectfully and with no expectation of having it accommodated.
Personally, the best welcome amenities are those that have some level of shelf life – wine, packaged sweets, packaged nuts, etc. If a guest doesn’t like it, they’ll leave them, and the hotel can essentially re-gift them to another guest. Whole fruit is a fine idea, but hotels often don’t provide a means to peel/cut them, and they often don’t look appetizing (and I agree with Lara S.). “Fresh” items are the riskiest in terms of waste. If it’s something that a particular guest definitely enjoys, it’s great. But unless the hotel knows their preferences ahead of time, IMHO, they shouldn’t leave it in the room.
Perhaps the best way is to either ask at check-in for their preferred item(s) or to have it in their profile. In any case, to me, most hotel welcome gifts are actually welcome. They might not always be my preference, but I do appreciate the gesture.