“What Marketers Need to Grow Future Generations of Loyal Customers”

Kommersant FM columnist Anna Minakova talks about how large hotels organize children’s life and leisure in their rooms.

My kids and I recently spent a couple of days glamping at the Kachonghills Tented Resort in the Thai province of Trang. It turned out that the owners of the resort also own the famous plant of wooden toys, Plantoys, wildly fashionable in Thailand. The hotel gave both of my sons limited edition wooden tuk-tuks made especially for the hotel. And here it should be noted that tuk-tuks in Trang differ in their appearance from those used in other parts of Thailand. So the gift is memorable. What marketers need to grow future generations of loyal customers.

Networks are especially trying, of course. I would give the Four Seasons an award for organizing children’s life and leisure activities in the room. In addition to gifts and a set of children’s cosmetics, the chain’s hotels always offer little travelers something original. So, in Bahrain they installed a wigwam in our suite for games, and in Prague they didn’t forget to install such an irreplaceable thing as a diaper disposal.

I would give the prize for the most spectacular gift to Raffles Istanbul. My two-year-old son was simply overwhelmed with souvenirs and cosmetics, and all the gifts, as well as the crib, were also decorated with balloons. The child was delighted.

The most given gift, of course, is plush toys, especially good when they are associated with a place. Like St. Turtles Regis Miami Beach or the seagulls of Istanbul Intercontinental. But the champions among plush hotel gifts are, of course, bears. Some of the nicest ones are at Acqualina in Miami Beach, and the original ones are at Kowloon Shangri-La in Hong Kong. Their bears, or rather pandas, are dressed in receptionist uniforms. They come with another useful gift – a case for the Octopus Card – the local “United” ticket. The case has the same branded panda.