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Hey 👋
You’ve just opened Hotel Nuggets, a not-boring newsletter for hoteliers.
Every other week, we’re dropping 4 hospitality tips right in your inbox.
Today’s edition:
- 🤭 Book Now, Shmuck Now
- 🎣 Spend $2.20, gain a customer for life
- 🧹 A little app to fix your big mess
- 🚪 The ‘Three-door rule’
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#1 Book Now, Shmuck Now 🤭
Ever seen a hotel site with “Book Now & Save $54.05” next to the room rate?
Neither has Alessandro Crotti.
He states how Amazon shows you exactly what you’re saving. Netflix offers a free trial. Spotify spells out the deal. Their CTAs are built to trigger… well… action.
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Hotel booking engines, on the other hand, are still stuck with the same “Book Now” button for every rate and guest.
Why? Because booking engine providers build what hoteliers ask for, not what actually converts.
That’s why OTAs keep winning. They follow data. Hotels follow preferences.
And in conversion science, preferences don’t stand a chance.
Pssst: Want to hear more about how simple changes can maximize bookings?
Check out our blog on
‘check availability’ and the ‘maybe later’ button for more solid tips!
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#2 Spend $2, gain a customer for life 🎣
I recently saw a LinkedIn post from Daniel Kazini, who shared how a hotel won his lifelong loyalty with one simple gesture: handing him a CHF 2 (about $2.20) bottle of water at checkout.
Daniel admitted everything else about the hotel was top-notch, but it was that inexpensive water bottle that locked him in as a lifetime customer, and honestly, I get it. We all want to feel looked after.
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Other hotels have gone even further. Kaylie Boogaerts from Checkly mentioned a hotel gave pre-packed brekkie bags to retreat guests with 2-hour shuttle rides to the airport. No one likes boarding a flight hangry, and this hotel clearly knew it.
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Hotels spend fortunes on loyalty schemes and upsells, but sometimes all it takes is a sandwich or a bottle of water.
Thoughtfulness travels further than a discount coupon.
(or it’s just a great way to make you feel guilty for stealing the complimentary toiletries…)
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#3 A little app to fix your big mess 🧹
The folks behind this newsletter (👋) have launched something new: Pingotel
An app originally built for small hospitality businesses, but surprisingly perfect for larger hotels too.
If you’re juggling bike rentals, daily parking, meeting room bookings, or coworking desks with sticky notes and a prayer… this gets it all under control in a couple of minutes.
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It’s free to use, takes barely any time to set up, and might save your front desk a few grey hairs.
It takes 2 minutes from the setup to this booking form:
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This Hotel Nuggets newsletter is brought to by Surf Office.
Surf Office helps hotels bring group bookings in low/mid season and achieve TRevPAR, which is hard to beat.
Learn how to be part of Surf Office Partners Network.
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#4 The ‘Three-door rule’ 🚪
James M. Martin shared a brilliant framework he called the ‘three-door rule’ from his time working in hotels.
When a guest is fuming about something small (no lounge chair or no room in the snorkelling lesson) it’s rarely about just that.
- 🚪 Door 1: the immediate complaint.
- 🚪 Door 2: the earlier disruption (flight delays, lost luggage).
- 🚪 Door 3: the real reason: stress, pressure, unmet expectations.
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Guests don’t always come with context, but they often come with baggage (and not just the rolling kind).
The magic happens when hotel staff slow down, listen, and try to unpack the full story.
If you can defuse doors 2 and 3, door 1 tends to take care of itself.
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That’s all for now, have a fantastic rest of the week!
Cheers,
Peter from Hotel Nuggets
How did you find this edition?
👍 YES – I liked it
😑 MEH – Average
👎 NO – Almost no value
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