Hotels now becoming latest places to shop
“Shoppable” hotel rooms offer items from cosmetics and toiletries to art and furniture that guests can buy, essentially turning a piece of your vacation into everyday reality.
“Hotels are doing everything they can to increase awareness and appeal of their online stores and grow their sales of their branded merchandise,” said Henry Harteveldt, a travel industry analyst and founder of the Atmosphere Research Group.
For some properties, this means making standard room amenities such as soaps, shampoos or room art available for public purchase. And at the extreme, an entire accommodation can be turned into an entirely shoppable showroom, offering guests an intimate test drive that most traditional buying experiences lack.
Some established hotel groups have long been offering in-room amenities for purchase. Guests at Westin properties, a Marriott International brand since the group’s Starwood acquisition in 2016, have for years had the ability to recreate their entire night’s sleep at home by purchasing the brand’s exclusive “Heavenly Bed” mattresses, pillows and sets of sheets. Today, 13 of Marriott International’s 30 brands offer everything from mattresses to vanity mirrors for sale on their websites.
“I think people — even in today’s online shopping-obsessed world — still like the idea of truly sleeping on a mattress for a full night to see if they like it instead of buying one after trying it in a store for 5 minutes,” said Michael Weiss, senior director of online retail for Marriott International.
But Marriott’s merchandise menu doesn’t end at beds. The company has responded to concierge inquiries about in-room products by expanding its inventory. Customers at Courtyard hotels can take the brand’s bistro experience home by way of wineglasses and dishware, for example. And at the Marriott proper, a good experience with the in-room alarm clock, shower curtain or bedside lamp is completely reproducible at home.
Where Marriott helps you replicate your stay at home, some boutique properties are curating aspirational design lifestyles that are easily transported home — for a price.
Shinola, a Detroit luxury design retailer that launched in 2011, opened an entire hotel in downtown Detroit this January in order to offer customers a more immersive experience than was possible in its retail stores. Guests at the Shinola Hotel have the opportunity to live with — and, later, purchase — the brand’s high-end products, including the hotel’s limited-edition desk clock, an alpaca throw blanket, a turntable and a set of Bluetooth speakers.
And from the EDITION, a global group of nine luxury properties, you can purchase extravagant room furnishings as mementos, including the “bowling bowl” art and marble-print accent pouf ottomans featured in the brand’s Miami Beach location. They even offer three different faux fur throws designed for locations in Barcelona, Spain; London; New York; and Shanghai.
Even apartment rentals are treating their spaces as short-term live-in showrooms. Domio, a vacationrental company with serviced apartments and “apart-hotels” in seven cities across the United States, allows guests to purchase custom-designed wallpaper and art featured in the brand’s new New Orleans apartment hotel. Shoppable signature toiletries, an extra-wide full length mirror (designed for large groups getting ready to go out) and a sofa bed are all options, too.
Even independent Airbnb hosts are taking the opportunity to make a sale. At the Mckinley Bungalow in Montauk, New York, every item within the home is up for grabs. Some of the pieces are vintage finds, and others are designed by the property’s hosts.