Ahh, hotels, always trying to part you from your cash with little upsells. It’s good business practice to get guests to spend as much money as possible, but some hotel add-ons are pushing the envelope a bit.
From breakfasts to late check-out, there are a myriad of options to “enhance your stay”. Let’s have a look at an e-mail I received for an upcoming stay in Amsterdam.
Hotel Add-Ons
My favourite verbiage, designed to appeal to your inner snob, is “handpicked offers and experiences”. If you believe that someone in the hotel looks you up, checks out your social media and then selects what offers to make you based on that, well, you’re dreaming!
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- XO Hotels are offering these.
As you can see above, the first two options are pretty standard, being breakfast and a late check-out. Did you spot the error? Breakfast is shown as being offered at a discount from €17.50 to €15 and it notes, “price after check-in is €15 per person per day”. Not much of a discount then, is it? The real fun is in the other “handpicked” options.
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- Three more fun things for me!
Rose petals scattered on the bed for €10! Be still my beating heart… nothing says environmentally friendly than killing some plants and throwing the pieces on a bed. The Helium Balloons for €10 would have been a fun surprise for the people I’m sharing with, but you will note it is for five balloons and the price is “per piece”, meaning it will be €50! No thanks! Don’t even get me started on them offering the newsletter as a perk… luckily it’s free!
Overall Thoughts
My other favourite word in the travel industry is the liberal use of the word “enhance” as in “enhance your stay”. It should have the words, “for a price!” appended to the end of the sentence. (In the frequent flyer world, “enhance” is a dirty word, as it usually means something is being taken away but is presented as a good thing, so perhaps I am slightly biased there!)
You can tell I’m not really one for rose petals or balloons in the room (though I imagine the Helium could provide some entertainment!). I also wouldn’t be buying Champagne, chocolates and other things I have seen in the hotel upsell offers.
What say you? Do you go for the hotel add-ons when you are travelling? What are the most unusual things you have seen offered? What have you bought in the past? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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Paid room upgrade, if it makes sense, yes!
I’ve usually don’t bother with other add-ons, especially with things like early check-in or late check-out. I figured those are either available on request or …not, and built into the room rate and availability.
The rose petals could be a nice touch for a romantic date, but that offer would be more enticing if it included some chocolates too.
I agree, I’ll do a paid room upgrade if the price is right. I’ve done late and early check-out a handful of times, but usually not. It’s interesting all the things a hotel can do for you, if you know whom to ask.