I am Virgin Atlantic Gold and get recognized in many of my interactions on the ground and on board. I used to get that recognition at United too as 1K though not as frequent. What happens at the margins at Virgin is what makes me loyal: They always talk to me with a smile, the cabin manager comes right next to my seat regardless of which cabin I'm in, kneels down so they are at my eye height, thanks me for my loyalty and to feel free to use the business class snack bar and they hand me a thank you card.
Then there's the surprise and delight. I recently flew in Premium across the Atlantic and the cabin manager walked up to me as I was boarding. After the usual thanks, he asked me if I wanted to sleep laying down. I said yes and he led me to an empty business class seat and asked the FA in charge of the aisle to take care of me. I will always remember this. I don't remember many smiles and genuine hospitality at UA.
This is spot on but it’s also notable how basically all the mainstream hotel groups put their efforts in all the wrong places.
The kind of service being mentioned in the comments isn’t “brand touch points” or some BS script that marketing came up with, it’s a person who honestly cares.
The problem is, most hotels are more concerned with paying as few people as little as possible, basically precluding this from happening unless you get a truly exceptional worker who does it because it’s who they are.
If hotels took all the money and effort they are putting into “figuring out AI” and design gimmicks and raised everyone’s wages, I would enjoy hotels so much more.
Back in the day, when my company had a regional office in Bangkok, I would visit at least three times a year. My favorite hotel was The Sukhothai - a 5-star beauty near my office - that also fell within my company's per diem. Of course, it had many, many amenities that made it noteworthy, but one baffled me and still made the hotel stand out.
My reservation would indicate what day I was arriving, but never confirmed what flight I was on or what time I would arrive. I always took a taxi from the airport to the hotel - never booking transportation in advance.
And yet, when my taxi would arrive at the front entrance, the doorman would open my door and say words to the effect of, "Welcome back, Mr. Lester! So good to see you again. How was your flight?"
How the doorman knew it was me, I'll never know. Perhaps they had a picture of me from a previous visit, but the doorman would need to be pretty quick to check out all the pictures of arriving guests that day, figure out who I was, and get to my taxi door before I even opened it. This gesture definitely falls under the category of "Memorable Hospitality."
My best experience was actually at a golf course. I played Shadow Creek in Las Vegas (legendary course w prices and access restrictions to match) paid for by a vendor. Our fore caddy (all groups have one) was the assistant pro. Great time.
Well I came back again the next year (again I disrupt the bill) and when we got out of the limo (only way there for most people) the caddy from the year ago (who was now the head pro) shook my hand and said “welcome back to Shadow Creek Mr ……”. Typical old school Vegas hospitality because, even though I had only played once, he acted like I was a regular in front of the other guests in my group. Never forgot that.
My first memory of a boutique hotel is from when I was 12 years old at a hotel in Sarajevo where they saw I had a can of a local soda and the next day with breakfast brought a 1L bottle of it to the table. My parents were horrified by the amount of soda being offered and I had a foundational memory!