Cracking the Code
THE KEY INGREDIENTS TO CREATING MEMORABLE HOTEL EXPERIENCES.
By CHEKITAN DEV, CORNELL PETER AND STEPHANIE NOLAN, SCHOOL OF HOTEL ADMINISTRATION
T
he extent and variety of personal experience offerings is a rapidly accelerating trend in the hotel industry, especially in the luxury segment. It’ s something I have discussed with hotel owners and operators for more than 30 years.
When my girlfriend at the time, now wife, and I first visited China in 1992, we stayed at several renowned hotels in Shanghai, Beijing and Xi’ an. At each property, we asked our hosts to arrange three personal experiences for us: a calligraphy lesson to learn how to write our names in Hanzi, a traditional Chinese cooking class and a masterclass on the board game“ Go,” which I had recently been introduced to by a Korean graduate student. None of the hotels was able to accommodate these requests, with the lone exception of a visit to a Go school for children in Shanghai. As a result, I have no memory of the hotels where I stayed. Clearly, this represented an opportunity for hotels looking to create long-term relationships with their guests via personalized immersive experiences that would create memories for a lifetime. Since that trip, I have consistently encouraged hotel owners and operators, through my classes and seminars, to think more intentionally about this potential. Three primary forces are
38 hotelsmag. com May / June 2026