Random acts of kindness for Valentine’s Day

3-2-2015

McDonald’s uses the ‘random acts of kindness’ marketing technique from 1 February until Valentine’s Day. All over America their guests may be randomly selected to pay for their meal with selfies, hugs, high fives, and other forms of love.

Random acts of kindness

In 2009 we already wrote about the unexpected friendly gestures the Hyatt hotel group did to their guests. They gave away free massages, offered breakfast and randomly selected guests that didn’t had to pay the bar tab. Also companies like KLM used acts of generosity in the past. With the prominent position of social media in our lives these unexpected gestures are a strong stimulant for positive mouth-to-mouth or ‘mouth-to-media’ advertising.

The effect of the gestures by McDonald’s

On the internet more and more videos and pictures with the responses from guests who are offered a free meal are posted. This works out great. The company invests in an advertising campaign and free meals, their guests talk, write and share videos with their friends about it.

At the website of RAK, random acts of kindness, you will find a lot of inspiration for your act of kindness. They even have their own #RAKweek2015 for stories about random kindness from 6 to 15 February.

Small hospitable gesture: Leave it at Hyatt

27-11-2014

The Grand Hyatt Melbourne has launched its ‘Leave it at Hyatt’ service, enabling visitors to safely store their belongings on site, ready for their next stay.
We have been writing about small hospitable gestures for quite some time now and this is one great example. ‘Leave it at Hyatt’ is facilitating frequent visitors to travel lighter or in case they are a bit over packed for one return flight, to pick their luggage up the next time. According to the Australian Business Traveller, regular guests can fill out a form and leave items at the reception (all within reasonable proportions of course). When they return, guests can get their items delivered to their room. Clothes can even be dry-cleaned if requested!

The ‘Leave it at Hyatt’ service is creating repeating visits and brand loyalty

A similar service like ‘Leave it at Hyatt’ is sometimes offered at wintersporthotels. Having the ability to leave skies and ski shoes at the hotel enables the guest to travel lighter. On the other hand, hotels are assured that the guest will return! Nice small gestures. What small hospitable gesture can you offer your guests? ^Marjolein

Co-creation around the Christmas Tree

7-11-2014

Inspiration for decorating the Christmas Tree. Claridge’s, London’s legendary Mayfair Hotel, had the famous designers Dolce & Gabbana design their Christmas Tree last year.

In the Netherlands we start decorating our Christmas Trees from 6 December. So another month and we will be in the Christmas spirit again and people will expect this in restaurants and hotels as well. The idea of the Claridge hotel is a great example of co-creation. The Christmas Tree from the hotel has already been designed by McQueens, Lanvin (Alber Elbaz) and Dior (John Galliano). The effect; many articles in high fashion magazines and many online hits.

 Co-create locally

To get your restaurant or hotel in the picture, it is important to reach the local press and spread pictures through social media. Co-create your tree with designers or other celebrities from your own city, to create rumour around the brand. For the ‘designer‘ it’s positive to get his or her name in the press as well.

Throw a party when you unveil the Christmas tree!

If you unveil such a special tree, you need to give it a lot of attention, throw a party. Serve bubbles, eggnog or a winter cocktail when the lights go on. Together with the designers, your staff, local press, friends and local food bloggers. Interested in more inspiration for Christmas, check our hospitable Christmas gestures from last year.

Napkin origami

14-4-2014

In our publication ‘Royal hospitable gestures‘ we wrote an article about in old-fashioned origami with towels in hotels. But also restaurants can have a folded napkin on a set table. Duni napkins has some instructional videos folding napkins on their website, like the feather napkin in the video above. For every occasion and theme, a matching folded napkin.

Winter cocktails

13-12-2013

Want to serve a delicious cocktail during Christmas dinner or after? Baileys Chocolat Luxe asked three bartenders to create a winter cocktail with their beverage, they came up with the following. The “Rococo” was created by Bompas & Parr from England and is served in a highball with ice cream and raspberry. Liquor expert Missy Flynn from London came up with the “Chocolat Black Forest” and “Chocolat Mint” (with mint infused ice cubes). You can find all recipes here. Or turn a mojito into a Christmas mojito by adding a pinch of cranberry juice and cranberry’s. For the non-alcoholic cocktail lovers, Happy Drinks have some recipes on their site. Download our booklet ‘Christmas gestures‘ with more easily usable Christmas gestures.

Christmas pop-up

10-12-2013

This recent year we have seen more and more pop-up stores that have made it go from hot to mainstream. Empty retail spaces fill up temporarily with stores or hospitality formulas. We also saw hotel lobbies that supported diverse pop-up formulas. So why not a pop-up Christmas store or Christmas village in your lobby? Why doesn’t your hotel collaborate with the local gardening center? They usually offer the most beautiful arrangements for the holidays and can use some extra exposure! Think of those beautiful snowy Christmas settings as in the picture that mesmerize your junior guests. This creates a win-win situation as you have great decoration and it will encourage guests to stay just a little longer, buy an extra cup of coffee. The first hotel that creates a collaboration like this will definitely earn a mention on horecatrends.com. Download our booklet ‘Christmas gestures‘ with more easily usable Christmas gestures.

Dressing up the Christmas tree

9-12-2013

Pizza slices and boxes in the tree, spotted in New York and easily to recreate golden cutlery. A tree full of fortune cookies in a Chinese restaurant or golden chopsticks in a Japanese tree, all easy to execute ideas to customize your tree! Just consider what you sell (ice cream cones in an ice cream parlor or espresso cups in a coffee bar) and spray it in a Christmas color, easy and stylish! Download our booklet ‘Christmas gestures‘ with more easily usable Christmas gestures.

More Bedtime Stories

4-9-2013

In the first version of the ‘small gestures in hospitality‘, in January 2013, we showed a ‘bedtime story’ that we found on our pillow in Hotel ‘The Palace’ in Dubai. A beautiful, simple poem about going to sleep. At the Copley Square Hotel in Boston, they wish their guest a good night with ‘bedtime stories’ by children. The stories are written by students of 826 Boston. 826 Boston is a non-profit writing center dedicated to supporting students age 6-18 with their creative and expository writing skills and helping teachers inspire their students to write. Another great ‘small gesture in hospitality’.

#RCMemories through promoted by

10-6-2013

The official twitter stream of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, L.L.C. Tweeting for global travelers, collectors of #RCMemories and lovers of #luxury. We do not often see examples of hotels using the ‘promoted by’ opportunity via Twitter. Recently we spotted the above mentioned tweet promoted by @RitzCarlton: ‘Travel inspires the most treasured memories. Share yours on @twitter & @instagram with #RCMemories. We can’t wait to see what you discover‘. They gather photos taken by their guest at #RCMemories at Twitter and Instagram. Thus the story of vacationing at the Ritz-Carlton locations worldwide are told through pictures by their guests. Great marketing campaign! And inspiration for each hotel or restaurant. As to come up with a hash tag for your own business is easy. Getting your guest to send in pictures is a challenge! We contribute to the #RCMemories by placing the picture of the Bathmenu from the Ritz-Carlton in Kuala Lumpur. Also shown in our booklet ‘Royal hospitable gestures‘.

High Wine

3-6-2013

Restaurant Moerstede in Bergen op Zoom organizes a High Wine with culinary tapas on June 19. Led by a wine connoisseur, they will make a wine journey through different countries served with matching culinary tapas. A nice initiative that reminded us of the idea of a High Wine or High Bubbles from our booklet ‘Royal Hospitable Gestures‘. Based on the fact that in the Netherlands affordable High Tea is doing very well at restaurants and at various catering locations at garden centers. The success of these High Tea, Wine and Bubbles? You should just be able to walk in and order, so no reservations. It should be affordable and with lots of appetizers. It gives your guests the opportunity to pamper themselves (a bit luxury at an affordable way).