The latest amenity at the newly-renovated Newbury hotel is a wood-burning fireplace in selected rooms. Not only do they supply the wood, but you also receive the services of a “fireplace butler,” presumably someone who can build the fire for you and prevent you from burning down the hotel! While this ambiance-creating service sounds delightful on a cold Boston night, its price tag will give you a chill: a starting rack rate of $1187/night for a single room (up to $1804 for a suite).
The fireplace phenomenon reminds me of the rock-climbing wall craze that swept college campuses a few years ago. In the quest to outshine competitors and make themselves more appealing, colleges kept adding new amenities — free laundry, fitness centers, swimming pools, technology commons, and apartments. The rock-climbing wall became the symbol of excessive expenditures that needlessly drove up the price of an education.
There was a day when a hotel offering color television, air conditioning, internet access, or breakfast was a selling point. Now, they are standard features even at the budget chains. Would a fireplace in your hotel room be nice? Absolutely. Is a rock-climbing wall fun? Probably for some. But before you add features just because another organization has them, consider whether the race to offer “more” or “new” outweighs its cost. Good old-fashioned customer service might be the most valuable option you provide.
