#Trending This Week - Instagrammable Meetings, Fashion Brands Check In, Experiential Dining, Guests Making A Difference, And Outdoor Adventures
Issue 211 • August 27, 2024
It’s the unofficial last week of the summer and I imagine most readers might be perusing this newsletter from a beach chair somewhere. So let’s get right to it. FASHION BRANDS ARE CHECKING IN at luxury hotels as another way to reach high net worth consumers. EXPERIENTIAL DINING CONTINUES TO TREND as foodies want more than a standard menu served in a restaurant dining room. MEETINGS NOW MUST BE INSTAGRAMMABLE — in addition to taking place at great locations with interesting agendas and good food. DESTINATIONS ARE BEGINNING TO INCENTIVIZE VISITORS to help clean up the mess brought by tourists. And the lastest MUST HAVE HOTEL AMENITY is…. Check it all out in our three-minute read below.
Fashion Brands Check In At Luxury Hotels
Brand collaborations are seriously HOT right now and in an effort to stem the tide of the decline in retail foot traffic, many renowned fashion houses have opted to target fashion-savvy jet-setters by reaching them at hotels. Hospitality partnerships open new avenues for exposure and brand loyalty, thereby creating a unique way to engage with the affluent customers. And for brand-sensitive travelers, it also offers a key differentiator between 5-star hideaways. Read more in The Robb Report here.
Experiential Dining Continues To Heat Up
For the foodie who has seen and done it all, eating in a restaurant dining room just doesn’t cut it anymore. Sure we’ve seen the blindfolded dinners, but nowadays hotels and restaurants are being asked to create next level experiences for diners to brag about to their friends and followers. Enter the private Viking-themed dinner in Iceland held inside the mysterious Caves of Hella — complete with wooden plates, sheepskin throws, and plenty of lopapeysas (patterned wool sweaters) to keep everyone warm in the roughly 32-degree subterranean chamber. We’re just sharing it as inspiration to get you thinking of what you can create in your city or region to attract the adventurous diner. Read more in Fodors here.
Instagrammable Meetings
Meeting planners are being tasked with another challenge these days beyond the requisite appealing destination, good food, and captivating agenda. Now the charge is to give employees "unique and memorable" meetings they'll want to post on social media or in other words, “something that is Instagrammable.” At a recent hotel conference, many participants were saying independent hotels often have much more flexibility to go above and beyond and create something truly extraordinary in a quicker timeframe versus the big brands. Read more in CoStar here.
Incentivizing Visitors To Get Involved
When you run a lodge near one of the world’s most famous national parks (Yosemite), you definitely have an opportunity to do good and promote environmental awareness— particularly for a public who is ever more aware of their negative impact on a travel destination. The “Trade Trash For Spa Treatments” promotion incentivizes volunteers to help in park cleanup because they can trade in the trash they collect and their time served for complimentary spa services at the lodge. How can you leverage a similar idea for your property or business? Read more in Thrillist here.
Outdoors Is Where It’s At
The latest “must have” hotel amenity is outdoor adventures. Definitely a holdover from COVID explorations when people rediscovered nature, hotels across the country are embracing the Great Outdoors with bespoke foraging programs, on-staff naturalists, and hiking concierges. It is part of a trend among hospitality properties which are not necessarily focused on the outdoors, but interested in connecting guests with destinations beyond admiring the view outside their suite’s window. Read more in Thrillist here.