Hotels Embrace Role as Curators of Niche Products

Photo Credit: At Hotel Saint Cecilia in Austin, Texas, the lobby also serves as retail store for unique items like its limited-edition Roux St. James fragrances, made with flowers culled from the hotel garden. Nick Simonite
Skift Take
As brands struggle to break through with consumers, they need to consider introducing themselves within the environs of hotels. It's a means to create a new relationship in a contextual way. And hospitality brands have a huge opportunity to introduce tastemakers to up-and-coming products.

On Experience
Colin Nagy is a marketing strategist and writes on customer-centric experiences and innovation across the luxury sector, hotels, aviation, and beyond. You can read all of his writing here.Come see Away Co-Founder and Chief Brand Officer Jen Rubio speak at Skift Global Forum Sept. 18 in NYC. Get Tickets Now
One of the most interesting opportunities for hospitality brands, then, is to be a new and intimate discovery channel for consumers. This idea is nothing new, of course. Brands have been placing themselves in hotel rooms for ages: Aesop likely owes some of its initial rise to being placed in the rooms at Park Hyatt Tokyo before anyone knew the brand. The tastemaking audience who stays there helped with global pollination at an early stage. It was old-school seeding. Right people, right