Your hotel experience is typically defined by time spent away. But increasingly, hotels and vacation rentals are eager to insert themselves into your regular routine back home.
“Shoppable” hotel rooms offer items from cosmetics and toiletries to art and furniture that guests can buy, essentially turning a piece of your vacation into everyday reality.
“Hotels are doing everything they can to increase awareness and appeal of their online stores and grow their sales of their branded merchandise,” said Henry Harteveldt, a travel industry analyst and founder of the Atmosphere Research Group. “Online stores are getting as much attention as the hotel website where you plan and book your room reservations.”
For some properties, this means making standard room amenities like soaps, shampoos, or room art available for public purchase. And at the extreme, an entire accommodation can be turned into an entirely shoppable showroom, offering guests an intimate test drive that most traditional buying experiences lack.
When you buy something you loved on vacation from a hotel’s retail site, you send a powerful message to the hotel. “It basically implies that they want to take their hotel experience ‘home’ with them,” said Michael Weiss, senior director of online retail for Marriott International. “I’d say that’s an incredible endorsement.”