You can “sense” a change in the style of in-room amenities among many hotels. Once merely the location for incremental convenience sales of snacks and beverages, the mini-bar is taking on a new role as an in-room opportunity for hotels to intrigue and excite guests’ five senses and extend sense-specific hotel branding. The mini-bar’s graduation to a “sensory experience enhancement center” comes as yet another step in the industry’s quest to engender a welcoming and memorable sense of place by stimulating all of the senses.

Geographically and architecturally, sense of place has always been a consideration for hotels, but only recently have larger numbers of hoteliers begun to design a total, more complete sense of place by including elements that target all of the senses. Taking cues from atmospheric relaxation elements regularly used in spa settings, designers and managers sought to discover ways of integrating unique, distinct sensory touches to their operations. The senses left the domain of the spa and began to roam freely throughout the building.

Hotels now work with designers to create the sensory elements they want guests to associate with their properties. The effectiveness of olfactory memory is an especially hot area, whether for individual properties like Starwood’s Princeville Resort on Kauai that uses the scent of the island’s maile vine as a theme throughout its facility, or the entire group of Omni Hotels that aromatizes lobbies with its signature lemongrass and green tea scent.

OMNI’S SENSORY ADVISORY BOARD
Omni Hotels has taken the lead on the sensory enhancement front, instituting a “Sensory Advisory Board” of specialists in various nonhospitality fields to hone the amenities offered to guests. Omni has assembled leading experts as consultants: Apple®, SIRIUS Satellite radio and the Julliard School for music; Whole Foods Market, Benziger Family Winery and Bon Appétit magazine for taste; Kimbell Art Museum and MB/FA Galleries for visual art; Elizabeth Arden Red Door Spas for scent and touch; and the National Cotton Council of America for touch. This board will help to set sensory initiatives to be implemented throughout operations.

One of the first initiatives is the “Take Five” promotion that is a bonus for guests who book online. Guests may select one of five complimentary, sensory-oriented gifts to enjoy on their stay. Gifts may be a signature Omni bathrobe, a lemongrass and green tea travel candle, a bottle of wine or other items corresponding and stirring the senses. To constantly extend sensory opportunities to guests, Omni has transformed the mini-bar into the “Sensation Bar.” While most standard popular items still remain available to guests, the inventory has been expanded to include sensory offerings like eucalyptus bath salts, pomegranate lip balm, mojito-flavored jellybeans, a sleep-inducing CD, a miniature Zen garden and Dean & DeLuca chocolates and pistachios.

While not all items are food or beverage, the F&B organization maintains the program. Omni Hotels corporate director of food & beverage operations, Fernando Salazar, wants the Sensation Bar to help “address all sensory experience” at their properties. He sees these in-room sensory outposts as a chance to further enhance guest experience, heighten the Omni brand’s esteem by association with quality branded items, learn guest preferences and, at times, to cross-market with the on-site restaurants through seductive specialty items.

Salazar also hopes to transfer lessons learned from the Sensory Advisory Board and the Sensation Bar program to the banquet and catering portion of operations. “We can learn many ways to incorporate ways of stimulating the senses into service for banquets or catering that can give those guests a greater experience.” Salazar asserts that Omni “leading the pack” in sensory innovation will translate to their further advantage in creating stand-out, sense-fulfilling meetings, functions and events.

In essence, appeal to the senses comes back to very personal experience, often in unexpected places, with surprises like amenities proffered in the privacy of the guestroom. While subtle, sensory items added to the mini-bar service can help guests to a more fulfilling hospitality experience. Whether they choose soporific aromatherapy oils, a soothing environmental soundtrack or luxurious bath salts, one more chance for guests to indulge their senses could be the difference between a good stay and a great one.

Denny Lewis is a frequent contributor to HOTEL F&B EXECUTIVE.