Four hotel trends are bubbling up
Some guests prefer unopened soaps and shampoos to dispensers. Credit: Newsday File / Viorel Florescu
Pump bottle on the shower wall or individual shampoos and lotions you can take home? Luxurious tub for a self-indulgent bath or no tub at all?
Here are four hotel trends bubbling up in the industry:
LOBBIES AS SOCIAL HUBS Colorful seating, free Internet service and trendy cocktail and coffee bars are helping turn once-sterile hotel lobbies into social hubs for. While baby boomers might see the lobby as a place to meet at 6 p.m. sharp before heading out to a prearranged spot for dinner, younger travelers may prefer to gather more informally in the lobby and figure out plans from there, says Bjorn Hanson, dean of New York University's Preston Robert Tisch Center for Hospitality and Sports Management. Hilton's new Home2 Suites brand has tables and couches that offer inviting space for informal meetings as well as areas where anyone can plop down with a laptop and a beverage rather than sitting alone in a room watching TV.
DISAPPEARING TUBS Unless you're booking a suite, your next stay in a hotel may not offer the luxury of a bath. Marriott, for example, is "advising our newly built hotels to put showers in 75 percent of the rooms and bathtubs in 25 percent of the rooms," according to spokeswoman Laurie Goldstein. So, if you're traveling with a child who's going to need a bath, call ahead to make sure your room has a tub.
PUMP DISPENSERS The advent of pump dispensers in hotel bathrooms is mixed news for those obsessed with the tiny bottles of shampoo and individual soaps that have been a beloved amenity for decades. On one hand, you can pump as much product as you want from the dispenser. But what if you simply love those little bottles? Some guests think dispensers are unsanitary and prefer to use unopened individual soaps or shampoos.
CHECKING IN ELECTRONICALLY Why wait on line at the front desk? Some of Starwood's Aloft hotels offer Smart Check-In to their preferred guest program members. Members are sent a key card with radio-frequency identification technology, and on the day of a planned stay, a text message is sent to the guest's mobile device with a room number. Upon arrival, the guest proceeds to that room, and the key card opens the door.
