News

Hotel retail ditches the towels in favor of oddities

December 4, 2012

Hotel retail helps create an experience, according to an article on usatoday.com. While retail doesn't play a major role in revenue for hotels, unique retail increasingly plays into the formula to build a successful, upscale hotel.

From charitable buys like Toms at the James Royal Palm hotel's store Give, to antique furniture found at Hotel Terra Jackson Hole's gift shop Made Jackson Hotel, traditional hotel gift shops seem archaic.

"Hotel retail isn't just convenience oriented anymore," says Ann Natunewicz, who runs U.S. retail research for Colliers International and travels frequently for her work, in the article. "It's an amenity because hotels have to differentiate themselves from competitors. At first they were doing it by improving the quality of the rooms and improving the quality of the loyalty program. But you want to give people multiple reasons to come. Shopping is the next extension of that."

Read more about specialty stores.