You may find this a bit awkward, but every time I book a hotel, I always call to confirm if they provide towels, toiletries (Body wash and moisturizer), and TCM (Tea coffee maker) in the room.
I’m a light traveller and avoid carrying essentials that are mostly available in hotels.
However, it does happen that hoteliers avoid certain amenities due to budget constraints, availability, or low importance, and this affects the guest experience.
So, how to know which hotel amenities are important?
Don’t worry, I’ll help you to choose amenities for the hotel.
Table of Content
What are the amenities in hotels?
Hotel amenities are facilities that any property provides to its guests for enriching their experience during the stay.
For instance, a standard room is loaded with:
- Cupboard with hangers
- Safety box
- Study table and chair
- Coffee table
- Stationeries
- Towels
- Toiletries
- Smart TV
- Minibar
If you see, some amenities are consumable by guests (minibar items, toiletries, stationery), whilst the others can be used by them but cannot be taken.
That’s like two different types of amenities in hotels. They are bifurcated as complementary and paid.
Talking about the former one, it can be further divided into consumable and non-consumable amenities. The latter ones are mostly tangibles since they are services such as a bar, cafe shops, and vending machines.
Apart from that, there are various other categories such as luxuries (spa, theatre room, or private pool in suites), essentials, and creative amenities (welcome/departure gifts, fruit basket in room, lawn setup in balcony, books to read in room).
How to choose amenities for your hotel business?
While we are talking about different amenities for hotels, you should look into the factors before choosing the right ones for your property. Let’s take a look at them.
1. Understand the guest segment
The first and foremost thing to do before you choose amenities for a hotel is to understand your guest segments. For instance, if your hotel caters mainly to business travelers, the amenities required would be different from family vacationers.
A business traveler would look out for a hotel with laundry services, Wi-Fi access, meeting rooms, a travel desk for pick and drop facilities, and so on. On the other hand, a family would opt for a hotel that has amenities catering to kids or old people such as 24*7 restaurants/coffee shops, recreational activities (swimming pool, outdoor games, or open lawns), or rooms with kitchenettes.
So whilst planning which amenities are most important for your hotel, invest time in analyzing your guests, so you can list out the most sought ones by each group of travelers.
Once you have the list, sort them out on the basis of which guests visit your property the most and the amenities they look for.
2. Know your property’s type
Another factor that you cannot overlook is the type of property. I’ve written multiple blogs on hospitality businesses, and one common point in all of them was investing in appropriate amenities for guests. If your property is a business hotel, your focus would be majorly on corporate guests.
So investing in amenities and facilities like kitchenettes in rooms or exclusion trips for families, might be futile for you. That’s why you should choose amenities for hotels that match the theme/category of your property.
3. Research about guest preferences
While choosing amenities for hotels, don’t forget to consider guest preference. This can be done using reviews and feedback analysis.
To make this easier, you can opt for reputation management software that will provide you with a detailed report about what guests are looking for and what can be done to make their stay better.
Apart from that, you need to look out for trends adapted by other hoteliers as well. I would suggest researching the most sought after hotel amenities by guests and updating them in your list for reference.
4. Analyse your budget
Once you have made the list of all the hotel amenities you need for your property, it’s time to check one of the biggest hurdles faced by hoteliers–budget.
As we all know, the ongoing pandemic has affected the travel and hospitality industry adversely. In fact, many hotels closed down, or are working in stealth mode.
Although revenge tourism is a trend, guests are travelling cautiously. So, don’t rush to buy every new amenity that guests are looking for. Check if it’s feasible to invest in it as per your budget.
If the answer is no, avoid those amenities for the time being, but don’t compromise on a low-quality product.
5. Check for the availability of amenities
One of the common problems that hotels usually face is availability of amenities. Let me explain with an example.
Many properties these days are adapting sustainable ways to become eco-friendly. However, the problem is the availability of organic and eco-friendly products.
First of all, they are expensive. And second, most of them either need to be imported, or directly purchased from manufacturers.
In fact, a majority of times, the product is unavailable due to low production, inaccessible delivery area, or the company unable to match the desired quality.
Moreover, hotels need to maintain a standard quality of service, which means that you cannot keep changing the brand of amenities every now and then. As I said earlier, this discrepancy can hamper your guests’ experience, and mostly of regular ones.
What amenities are most important in a hotel?
Now that you are aware of the factors that you need to consider when you choose amenities for a hotel, let me give you some of the mandate ones:
- Basic amenities every hotel room SHOULD have:
- Towels (Pair of 2 bath towel, 1 face towel)
- TCM
- Hangers in cupboard
- Mirror in bathroom
- Toiletries
- Hair dryer (preferably on request)
- Mineral water (2 bottles per room)
- Notepad and pen/pencil
- TV with either dish connection or Smart TV
- Coffee table (Can opt for a study table also)
- Lounge chair
- Tissue box
- Other guest amenities in hotel
- A dining facility
- Luggage room
- Free Breakfast (CP Plan)
- Wi-fi
- Public Restroom
- Elevators (If your property is more than 2 storeyed)
- Free parking
Conclusion
Amenities in hotels play a vital role in enhancing guest experience. It is one of the main factors that guests look at before booking any property.
You might fill your hotel with a plethora of amenities but you have to identify which among them are actually beneficial.
Take a cue from this blog, check amenities at your hotel, and take necessary steps to add the important ones at your property. In case, I have missed out on any other amenities, do let me know in the comments.
