The first thing you need to know about me and the most important piece of context you could have reading this blog is that I'm the very proud father of two sons, the youngest of which is just shy of 8 months old.
Any of you out there who have experience raising a very young child can likely recall that nothing is quite at a premium like sleep. The sleep-deprived parent is a cliché for a reason.
And so my addled brain naturally drifts to how wonderful a full night of uninterrupted, truly restful sleep would actually be, and my poor wife who is more apt to get up than I am because of breast feeding and generally being slower to wake up could use just that even more.
It does make me think that in this era of hotel marketing where there's an endless flight to lifestyle and talk of unique experiences and generally a focus on everything other than the most obvious hotel "experience," it is key to not take your eye of the ball on what is truly most important to a guest during their stay.
There is certainly no successful hotel stay that doesn't revolve around a completely restful night in a comfortable bed. Sleep is what you're selling, literally, at the end of the day. This is as true at the more over-the-top luxurious resort as it is as the most meat-and-potatoes roadside economy hotel.
A good bed — a great one if you can manage — a quiet room and the comfort, safety and security of a locked door are a package that will never go out of style and will never be replaced by artificial intelligence.
A successful hotel room is an oasis — and this isn't just true for those business travelers in buzzing city centers, but it is especially true for them. As more travelers seek out adventures in their journeys, and more hotel companies seek to tailor their offerings to cater to that wanderlust, it's not just about having art on the wall that evokes those desires or a thriving public space with a bar they want to hang out in. It's about giving them the rest they need to feel energized to have those adventures. That's what you're selling.
And hopefully people like my wife and I will be buying sooner rather than later.
Let me know what you think on LinkedIn or via email.
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