W is for Welcome Bags!
We ❤️ welcome bags. Although it’s often skipped, we think giving a little gift to each room booked in your hotel block truly elevates the guest experience, and it’s not too much extra work to make it happen. Consider it the first dose of wedding festivities that the guests experience. It sets the stage for what you’ve planned and gets them excited about attending!
Don’t lose sleep over the contents of your welcome goodies. This does not need to be rocket science. Put yourself in the shoes of your guests who are booking rooms. They’re likely coming from out of town and are probably making the trip a mini vacation. Toss in something local and significant to you and include a map of the city. Or better yet, have a nice graphic drawn up matching the style of your printed goods that outlines some of your favorite activities and restaurants around. If you’re not sure what local items to include, you could instead (or also) go with the hangover kit route. Toss in mini bottles of water, individual packets of aspirin, and a couple of kcups. Most hotels have mini keurigs in the rooms these days. No matter what you include in your welcome basket, your guests will love receiving it!
When making your baskets, be sure to assemble a few extra for any last minute bookings. You can deliver them to the hotel a day or two before check-in. Before delivering, ask your hotel how they handle distribution of these. There are two methods that we commonly see. Hotels will either hold the gift baskets at the reception desk and administer to the guests when they check in. Or they will deliver to the rooms prior to guest check in. When the guests arrive at the hotel, they walk into their room and see the thoughtful gift on display for them. In most hotels, both delivery methods will cost a small fee. It’s usually a per-basket rate and varies from hotel to hotel. Don’t forget to factor this rate in when you’re considering how much you want to spend per gift.