Thursday, October 18, 2012

Playing to the pets - for real.


Check this out, proudly displayed in the lobby of The Curtis Hotel in Denver. This is an amazing and fun example of a hotel brand embracing the oft-forgotten four-legged members of the family. They don't just "accept" dogs. They celebrate them.

Even the in-room directory says they take pets and sure, there's a 40 pound limit, but they are flexible.

Judging by the subtle but irreverant cues throughout the hotel and the rooms, someone spent some brain cells envisioning the customer experience they wanted to deliver.

From the sticky note on the bathroom mirror in memo format, offering me a free drink at The Corner Office (the on-site bar and restaurant) after a long day, to the room service menu that includes a hidden page of items under a bold round sticker that claims, "not your average room service menu" with choices like "the hangover" (bloody mary fixings), "show time" (bucket of popcorn, jones sodas and red vines licorice) to the door hanger that offers $5 off food in the restaurant if you hang it to stake your claim you're making a green choice to help the environment, and don't need your bed and towels changed every day - this place is full of memory points.

Hotels are a commodity really. A bed to sleep in. A shower in the morning. And maybe a cup of coffee and quick breakfast to go, or food late at night after a flight delay.

These guys have given me a great experience and reminded me, yet again, that no matter how same same same your industry is - there are a million memory points to be created that will elevate your customer experience clear above the bext guy's. It just means burning a few brain cells to do it.