LAS VEGAS— Adding a retail component to a hotel can boost the bottom line, as long as its done right, said panelists from two different seminars at the recent HD 2002 here. The emphasis of each session varied slightly, but the message was clear: retail needs to capture not only the fancy of guests, it also has to capture the hearts and minds of guests— and a hotel offers up a perfect captive audience, for as long as guests are kept inside a hotel, the more likely they will buy something. At one panel on retails expanded role in hospitality, Thomas Horwitz, svp, FRCH Design Worldwide, listed several reasons hotels should “embrace” retail, including: — Retail can can help define the guest experience. — Its an easy way to embellish a brand. — It creates a bottom-line contribution. — It extends guests time spent on the property. Meanwhile, at a seminar on retail partnerships, panelists agreed that retail in hotels can range from catalogs and simple tagging and pricing items in guestrooms to creating whole merchandising concepts a la The Venetians Grand Canal Shoppes. But whatever the concept, it can serve to strengthen a hotels brand. Ralph Mendoza, principal, Idea Brand Management, advised hoteliers to look at not only merchandising a product, but also merchandising an experience and an emotion— and be consistent about it. “When you merchandise an emotion/experience, it becomes personal, and everyone gets involved from the employees to the guests,” he said, pointing to the Westin Heavenly Bed as an example. “Westin is merchandising the most obvious experience: the bed and everything about it. And its reinforcing their brand.” According to Steve Higgins, CEO, Higgins Purchasing Group, even putting a logo on a towel that guests can buy, and setting up a system where guests can buy that towel, can reinforce a hotels brand thousands of miles away when guests are at home. Meanwhile, Jill Cole, president, Cole Martinez Curtis & Associates, advised that if hoteliers proceed with a retail concept, they should be careful not to merchandise something that may have a copyright. If thats not the case, then, she said, hoteliers need to think through the concept, and make sure guests have an easy way to pay for it.
