Another way for a hotel’s boutiques to distinguish themselves from
the competition is to fully embrace a property’s history and location
through retail. A hotel’s history, architecture, location and other
unique features can become part of its retail offerings. This doesn’t
mean resort wear and hotel robes. Rather, quality mementos like
scarves, pens, paperweights and other goods serve as a reminder of
one’s stay at a property when they return home, becoming a memory
of a trip and a subtle reminder to book another stay at the hotel or
resort. If a hotel has a restaurant with a celebrated chef, cookbooks,
signature restaurant service items or something the restaurant or
chef is known for should be for sale on-property. Shoppers see those
items and can drive new restaurant reservations, thereby improving
the performance of another aspect of the property. The same holds
true for select spa items.
As national and international luxury brands have spread globally,
hotels should partner with known luxury brands for bathroom and spa
products. They help raise a hotel’s stature among their guests to that
brand, and offering a selection of those items in a boutique is another
way to reinforce a hotel’s luxury status and drive sales. In some cases
unique bathroom fixtures such as tissue boxes, soap dispensers and
trays appeal to guests who want to recreate the luxury experience
at home. Today’s brand-conscious consumer feels more satisfied
when surrounded by and using a known luxury brand. Bringing those
respected brands into your property helps reinforce your own brand
and can elevate it to where you want it to be.
Some hotel owners and managers want nothing to do with
overseeing retail shops. They feel it detracts them from their core
responsibilities of running a luxury hotel or resort. In those cases,
leasing retail space to outside retailers could be the perfect solution.
It provides a better retail offering at the resort/hotel, brings in rental
income and can drive traffic from non-guests to the property’s
restaurants and bars. Bringing a known luxury brand or retailer under
the hotel’s roof also reinforces a property’s luxury status and appeal.
Each luxury hotel and resort is unique. Each location is distinct.
Owners and managers strive to deliver the finest guest experience.
Hoteliers learned how spas could achieve unexpected returns
while also improving the guest experience. Then they turned their
attention to making their restaurants dramatically better. The last
step to rounding out the total guest experience is looking anew at a
property’s retail space. Are your guests spending everywhere except
your property? There are a range of options within any owner’s
budget from tweaking existing retail, to a complete retail overhaul
to leasing space to expert retailers, all of which will improve revenue,
enhance the retail experience and make your property stand out
from the rest.
66 ILHA
About the author
Brad Kornfeld is the Founder and
Managing Partner of The Kornfeld
Group Retail Consultants. A retail
expert with more than 25 years of
experience, Mr. Kornfeld’s consultancy
focuses on assisting luxury resorts and
hotels specifically on improving retail
performance. His firm was the first retail
consultants for The Leading Hotels of
the World, Ltd. and past clients include
Destination Hotels & Resorts; The City of
Aspen, Colorado; and numerous luxury
resort and city hotels. Mr. Kornfeld’s
retail experience includes retail
asset management; retail brokerage
including leasing; and retail design and
architectural work. A licensed real estate
broker and attorney, Mr. Kornfeld’s
practice is based in Denver. His firm
assists hoteliers in any market around
the world. He may be reached directly
at 1-303-981-1565 or at bkornfeld@
kornfeldgroup.com