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Hey 👋
You’ve just opened Hotel Nuggets, a not-boring newsletter for hoteliers.
Today’s edition:
- 🗺️ Beautiful hotel maps
- 🥐 Busy breakfast
- 👀 Google pushes WhatsApp
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#1 Make your hotel map in a few minutes
A nicely designed property map is one of those small branding touches guests actually notice.
It helps them explore the hotel, find facilities, and quietly reminds them how much there is to enjoy.
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Illustrated maps work especially well. Guests love them. They screenshot them, share them, and sometimes stare at them longer than the minibar menu.
The problem? Creating one has always been a pain: finding the right illustrator, explaining your style, endless back and forth about where the palm tree should go…
Nano Banana from Gemini now turns map creation into a five-minute job. And yes, it is free:
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How itworks:
- ✍️ Draw a rough map of your property on paper. No art degree require
- 🤳 Take a photo of it.
- ✨ Upload it to Nano Banana together with an illustrated map style you like.
That’s it. You get a clean, custom-illustrated hotel map that actually looks good.
You can use it on your website, booking confirmations, socials, welcome emails, or even print it for the front desk. Guests feel oriented. Your brand looks polished. And you saved hours of work.
Not bad for a banana 🍌
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#2 Busy breakfast
I was in Guangzhou🇨🇳 last month, and during hotel check-in, I noticed this screen:
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It shows when to go to breakfast based on how busy it is. Because of the clear visualization, you get this information in one second.
This is something I have noticed about China in general. They are very good at showing complex information in a simplified way, with a strong focus on details.
Another example on the door of one bank in Guangzhou:
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A European mindset might question why you should bother with such “unimportant” information, especially when, as a hotel, you do not make additional money from it, and the guest can always ask the receptionist 🤷♂️
But I see it as an example of a fantastic user experience that also helps hotels distribute guests more evenly during the morning hours.
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#2.5 More MICE booking in 2026
This Hotel Nuggets newsletter is brought to you 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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#3 Google pushes WhatsApp
Open Google on your phone and search for a hotel. Just like your guests do.
Now look closely.
Google has begun prioritizing WhatsApp when users search for hotels. It is not hidden at the bottom.
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A few reasons why this matters:
- WhatsApp has more than 2 billion users worldwide. Your guests already use it daily.
- Open rates are insanely high compared to email.
- With WhatsApp Business automation, you can answer FAQs, share rates, and push guests straight to your booking engine.
- The whole conversation is direct, instant, and personal. And yes, zero commission.
If Google gives you free prime real estate, you probably should not ignore it.
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I’ve just returned from a 1-month road trip in New Zealand 🇳🇿 and have plenty of hotel notes in my Apple Notes app. Will share them in the next newsletter.
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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