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What guests want ... free bottled water, Wi-Fi Sandals Resorts safety roadshow kicks off in Westmoreland

David Jessop

The Business of Tourism

What guests want ... free bottled water, Wi-Fi

David Jessop, Contributor

In the course of a year, I stay in many hotels in North America, the Caribbean and Europe. I have been doing so for nearly 40 years for both business and pleasure. It was, therefore, particularly interesting to read a survey undertaken recently by hotels.com - the United States-based online booking service - about what guests most want.

The survey suggests that the most essential amenity for travellers when choosing a hotel is free Wi-Fi. Some 35 per cent of respondents saw in-room Wi-Fi as indispensable. This is because, for most business or leisure visitors being in constant contact with friends, family, colleagues and the wider world through their smartphones, laptops or tablets have become as necessary as travelling with a toothbrush.

Not only has this found accord entirely with a view I have held for some time, but I would go further and suggest that any hotel that does not provide this service or overcharges - such as an otherwise excellent Hilton in Brussels, which charges guests for Wi-Fi the equivalent one third of the room rate - has lost touch with the needs of their clientele.

After connectivity, hotel.com's survey suggests that guests are most pleased by happy hours, wine tastings or any other opportunity to access free food or drink. This is an 'amenity' that has spread rapidly across chain hotels in North America and Europe, especially when it comes to the executive lounges offered by many hotels to regular visitors.

I saw this recently at its most extreme in a major New York chain hotel. There, the free buffet breakfast and afternoon snacks were so substantial that, if I had wished, I need not have spent a penny in the hotel's restaurants. Not only did this seem madness on the part of the property concerned, but it resulted, quite literally, in an unseemly feeding frenzy at the start and end of each working day, negating any chance of relaxing in the business lounge.

FREE BOTTLED WATER

Free bottled water is, according to the survey, the next most-wanted amenity. According to the survey, 31 per cent of travellers expressed their wish to see this in their hotel rooms.

This is something that is long overdue. As with Wi-Fi, the markup on water is frequently outrageous (why should anyone pay US$6 for a small bottle of water imported into the Caribbean from Fiji). At worst, it is to be in the Dominican Republic, and to be informed by a sign in the hotel bathroom that the tap water is unsafe to drink, and then find that you to have to pay an extortionate sum for a bottle of water just to clean your teeth.

The survey also suggested that travellers felt that most other amenities such as a turndown service or bath menus were not important; that the bathroom telephone is the least-used hotel amenity; and that, at luxury hotels, women prefer designer toiletries while men prefer the fitness centre and spa.

Understandably, all hotels want to differentiate themselves from their rivals and, in so doing, achieve a marketing edge. They want also to be seen by guests to be giving something back; or, in the case of their most frequent visitors, to make them feel special.

As for me, the best amenity I have been given is a small - but classy - black plastic duck from a hotel in Holland who resides in my bathroom, silently reminding me every morning that I should revisit.

Email David Jessop at: hospitalityjamaica @gleanerjm.com