Why Your Hotel Amenities Are Better Than Ever

Ace Hotel New Orleans
Photo: Simon Watson

Two words: amenity creep. It’s not what you think. It’s an industry term that describes the constant need for hotels to add the newest and next accessories to accommodate a guest’s every whim. Whatever happened to the humble shoehorn, the bubble shower cap, and the mini sewing kit? Those standard offerings have been traded out right under our noses for sleeker amenities—we didn’t even have a chance to miss them. From pet menus to private fireworks, today’s amenities go far beyond what one might discover in the bathroom; they’re artisanal, often innovative. What prompted the upgrade?

“The last decade has brought radical change in the hotel business. Social media has perhaps been one of the greatest elements of this progression, and with it, a new layer of responsibilities has been added,” says Chris Roberts, PhD, editor in chief of The Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research. “Amenity creep causes hoteliers to continue to add more and more to the hotel room to satisfy the expectations of guests.” According to a report by Judi Brownell, PhD, at Cornell University (whose hospitality school is ranked as one of the best in the world), female travelers seek a more holistic experience in their hotel stays, and accommodating them means attending to their core needs: feeling safe, comfortable, empowered, and pampered. Authentic amenities help achieve that all-encompassing experience.

Case-in-point: Ace Hotels. The series of signature properties launched in 1999 with the goal of offering affordable accommodations for the burgeoning creative class. The Ace’s very first boutique hotel was originally a rundown halfway house in Seattle that was transformed into a beacon for the Pacific Northwest city’s iconoclasts and travelers looking for something different.

Photo: Courtesy of Ace Hotel

“When designing our hotels, we look to local culture to influence the spirit and design of the place,” says Kelly Sawdon, partner and chief brand officer of Ace Hotel Group. “But one of the constants across all Ace hotels [is] the sensory properties of our bathroom amenities—the scent, the touch, the consistency. Scent is the sense most linked to memory and experience, and it’s wonderful to think our hotels are linked in this ephemeral way. We use handmade soaps from Pearl+ that are made with exfoliating crushed pearls, essential oils, and detoxifying charcoal. Janet Jay makes them. She’s an old friend from Portland, and the recipe was passed down from her Chinese grandmother.”

Since they first emerged in the 1980s, boutique hotels have set a new benchmark for the hotel experience, disrupting the whole industry with new and innovative takes on what travelers want most: a custom-made, personalized adventure that appeals to a specific lifestyle. Today, the actual lodging has become a by-product of the experience. Added values like co-working spaces and pop-up shops leave little for you to miss back home. Gradually, huge international hotel chains have followed suit, establishing luxury boutique sub-brands in order to capitalize on the growth of the trendy hotel concept.

Photo: Courtesy of Ace Hotel

Isabelle Larocque, CPSM, director of Product Development and Design for Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts has seen “a significant evolution in guest preferences” during her 11-year tenure. “A decade ago, amenities were a straightforward commodity. Now, our guests expect to be wowed by the hotel amenities. They want to connect with brands they know—that they may find at Harrods or Saks.” At the end of 2017, the Four Seasons launched a new amenity collection of 19 brands, ensuring a diverse selection that serves any design aesthetic, scent profile, or regional nuance around the world. “To identify these 19 brands, we reviewed 170 brands over the past year and a half, looking for superior craftsmanship, style, quality, and overall best-in-category offerings,” Larocque says.

Photo: Courtesy of The Four Seasons Maldives

The transformative nature of travel is innate, but the most in tune hoteliers in the industry have tapped into that, creating niche experiences—the most elite offering of today’s hotel amenities. “The Four Seasons clientele are world travelers; our guests have seen it all,” says Anthony Gill, general manager of the Four Seasons Resort The Nam Hai, Hoi An, Vietnam. So in addition to in-room services, Gill makes sure the resort gives guests the chance to create “deeper connections to the world around them.” In part, that means providing bespoke technology that accompanies guests during their stay, facilitating whatever experiences they desire. (Four Seasons Chat is an app-based concierge that works in over 100 languages.)

Cult perfumery brand Le Labo first started collaborating with hotels in 2008, two years after it opened its first Le Labo boutique in New York. It has since partnered with Edition Hotels (which is launching seven new hotels in 2018, from West Hollywood to Abu Dhabi), The Bowery in New York City, select hotels of Park Hyatt worldwide, and the Fairmont hotels, among others. “For Edition, Ian Schrager is behind everything. Creating for Edition is creating for Ian, and he is someone who is not scared of taking risks—he likes walking on the edge, so for us it is a natural collaboration,” says Le Labo cofounder Fabrice Penot. “We never need to convince him of anything. It is all about ‘feeling’ and very little about ‘thinking,’” Penot says.

Photo: Courtesy of Le Labo

Since guests actually use the hotel bathroom amenities today due to airline security restrictions and fees for checking luggage, the hotel swag is necessary. “Guests appreciate using products that they wouldn’t necessarily purchase but aspire to use themselves. Partnering with a luxury product evokes a sense of quality and refinement, ultimately enhancing the brands’ reputation,” says John Vanderslice, the global head of Luxury and Lifestyle Brands at Hilton Worldwide.

The Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts stocks Convivio by Salvatore Ferragamo. And from Berlin to Istanbul, the prestigious SOHO House champions the exclusive Cowshed beauty and grooming line. At the Gramercy Park, the very first hotel to partner with the Aesop brand, guests find its coveted bath amenities.

Photo: Courtesy of 11 Howard / Grown Alchemist

“It’s been a long time since the hospitality industry began moving away from cookie-cutter design and experience toward something more unique and ‘curated.’ First with the boutique revolution and then with the rise of lifestyle hotels, this movement has resulted in a lot more diversity that primarily caters to creatively minded travelers,” says Brian De Lowe, cofounder of Proper Hospitality. “Although service, comfort, and design are still the nonnegotiables, it’s oftentimes the subtler gestures that help us show just how mindful we are with every little element of our hotels,” he says. “We like to think of our guest rooms and baths as spaces to showcase a collection of our favorite things. So whether it’s splurging on handmade-in-California Aireloom mattresses…or importing Vifa wireless hi-fi speakers from Denmark, it’s all about introducing amazing objects of design and functionality to our guests.”