People stay at hotels for all kinds of reasons. For leisure guests, it’s common to travel for some sort of a special occasion, like a birthday, anniversary, or honeymoon. Many travelers will let hotels know of those special occasions in advance, in hopes of scoring something extra.
Continue reading: What Should Hotels Realistically Offer Guests For Birthdays & Anniversaries?
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I’ve had some great things from hotels for birthdays.
I only stayed a single night at the Myconian Kyma at the end of a trip to Greece on the day of my birthday, and they sent up a cake, truffles, and a bottle of champagne. I had no status or anything, it was just a nice gesture.
I’ve had similar during a longer stay at the Lindos Mare in Rhodes, a cake , a card and a bottle of sparkling wine.
None of this was at any cost, just an email from my partner to the hotel reception before we went. It really makes for good memories when travelling.
Sometimes they give you + companion a voucher for a free glass of bubbly at the bar.
At a high end property better soft treatment
Not birthday nor anniversary but one of the most amazing experiences I ever had at a hotel with my kids. I had booked 2 regular rooms using points at the Hotel Arts in Barcelona for a 5 night stay with my family of four. I had had a few email exchanges with the hotel staff regarding restaurant recommendations and other things to do in Barcelona but never made any social request or expected anything. All I expected was the two regular rooms I had booked. When we arrived at the hotel we were welcomed by the staff in a different way that I was not expecting. They were literally excited to welcome us with many staff members coming to introduce themselves to us including the hotel manager. I noticed that while I was checking in, the staff were interacting with my boys (at that time 14 and 10yo) and asking them several questions but I did not think about anything special. Well, during the check in, the hotel manager told me they had upgraded us to the penthouse suite since we would be more comfortable than having two regular rooms. Ok!! We were escorted to a special elevator and had to go through a second elevator to get tour our suite. There was a special concierge just for a few special suites and the penthouse and when they opened the door we were in shock. It was by fart the most amazing room we had ever seen. It was a two floor apartment with a 360 view of Barcelona, full size kith, dining room, 3 bathrooms, two bedrooms etc.... It was unbelievable for someone that had booked 2 rooms with points. During the 5 nights we stayed there they treated us like royalty. We had chilled sparkling wine left in our room, special treats for the kids, fruits, juices, etc... They were amazing until they really delivered a home run at the last night. We got to our room to put the kids to bed and when we opened the door the kids started to scream. They had decorated the entire room with balloons with the names of my kids and very large pictures of their favorite sport players and they favorite teams, there we balls for them to take, bottles of chocolate milk and a full size cake that could serve 12 people. They had signed cards by the staff saying it was a pleasure to get to know my kids. I was in total disbelief. I asked my kids how they knew their favorite players and sports teams and they remembered they asked them during the check in 5 days earlier. We have had amazing stays at very upscale hotels but none beats this special one.
Nothing different than a usual stay, except if you are staying at a very expensive hotel like Four Seasons, or are a regular frequent guest.
The Guest Relations manager of our most frequently visited property sends us a text or calls every year on our wedding anniversary. After 25 years, we are good friends, so it has little to do with the hotel at this point.
About the cake photo : Why would you use a corkscrew on a cake ? What are those round marbles on top ?
I'm an extrovert and I think that hotels shouldn't take any interest in my birthdays and get themselves into hot water for GDPR (or equivalent) violations.
To clarify, only what the special person pays for - nothing more nothing less.
Nothing asked for or expected. But, if you are a regular, the CRM system should cue the guest relations manager. And, a simple birthday card would be a nice touch.
i will cop to the anniversary trick, but it's more of an inside joke with my partner and we don't expect to get anything of any real value for any personal celebration (real or otherwise). it's funny because we never tell each other but she or i have to clock it and play along on the fly. but at the end of the day, i don't think properties or restaurants "should" do anything beyond just some small token acknowledgment.
We often travel on birthdays and anniversaries and I usually tell the hotel, especially when it is a big number (like our 40th anniversary). I find hotels will leave a bottle or wine or champagne and maybe a dessert or fruit and a nice note, similar to some welcome amenities from a Virtuoso booking for example. We often don't even drink the wine because if we have wine with dinner, that's enough for me. Still, I really appreciate the gesture, much more than when they offer paid amenities.
funny story on the topic, though - during our honeymoon, we had a stay at Alila Ventana and my concierge flagged that it was our honeymoon for the property, which then upgraded us to the Coast House Suite... but by the time we arrived at like 8pm, they had reassigned it to someone else. every room there is great, but it woulda been cool to experience the Coast House Suite.
I have no issue with people telling hotels it’s a special occasion (although stretching the truth just ruins it for everyone). But don’t be upset if you don’t get something. Lose the entitlement
I am always grateful. If something was recorded in a profile. Well thank you. I am in am in the if the hotel goes an extra step, just be thankful . Nothing should be expected.
They're in business to sell goods & services for profit. They owe you nothing for your birthday or anniversary. You wannit, you buy it.
I appreciate recognition but never expect it. As for asking proof, sometimes it’s not possible to celebrate a birthday or anniversary on the exact day, week or month. I’ve taken birthday and anniversary trips weeks or months after the actual date.
Maybe not quite apples to apples but how different are hotels and cruise ships. If you go on a cruise they put it on the website they offer special occasion items (cake, flowers, sparkling wine etc) and they list the price. I wouldn't be surprised if hotels started doing the same thing.
I’d be happy with a gator like Miles’
I often travel on my birthday usually staying as an Ambassador @ IC. So often a small cake perhaps bubbly. We’ll see in a few days at IC Sydney 😉
I do like the idea of offering a preorder for most
BTW Toby @FBT hooked me up royally at the Shard a few BDays back.
Happy Pride!!
No offense Ben but we need to stop calling lies “hacks.” It’s not a social media “hack” - when people lie about celebrating an occasion, it’s just that: a lie. And these social media influencer liars just ruin a ton for those of us who are honest about things. Call a spade a spade.
We should get an option, a cake or a bottle of booze. And the bottle of booze could be half a bottle as long as it's half way decent.
No one had a bad birthday, celebrating it with their friend, Mr. Jack Daniels.
Just leave me alone. Seriously, nothing special about a birthday, I'd rather party or meet friends when I want than on a schedule, but even the schedule is not business to a hotel/airline/etc.
At least home in the EU I also seriously doubt that they even are allowed to use personal data for anything inappropriate like this.
I want the hotel to meet the energy I'm putting into the event.
and that means, usually, carrying on as usual.
As with many things, hope for the best, expect the worst, and take what you get. Even if it is nothing.
I don't understand how is this even a question. In any case, the answer is obvious: Whatever the guest pays for. There should be no expectation of the hotel providing freebies just because it's a special day for you. I mean, it's nice if they do, I occasionally get some nice amenity in the room for my birthday, but it should never be an expectation.
Of course they are allowed. They already have and process the data anyway. There's nothing illegal about throwing some gift in your room (I got a few on my birthday in various hotels across Europe), although I agree that it's unnecessary.
I recall reading a post from some hotel worker who said they're doing exactly that. Whenever someone entitled reaches out "letting the hotel know" about their special occasion, the person would reply with something along the lines of "congratulations, we can offer you a bottle of champagne for 75€, etc etc".
It was probably 12-14 years ago, my wife and I stayed at a local Residence Inn several towns over for our anniversary. My folks watched our 2 year old. It was just a one night getaway. I received a welcome email from the manager (haven't gotten those in years) so I a said it was our anniversary and would she recommend a local restaurant, she emailed back 3 or so options.
At check-in we got a congratulations with our welcome. Nice, sweet, I thought that was it. Ten minutes later when we were unpacking in our room, knock on the door. It's the check-in person with a handful of candy bars and a pint of ice cream from their store. He also gave us 2 coupons for a glass of wine at the Courtyard across the parking lot.
Not expected, nothing exciting but a happy memory my wife and I will always have
I typically dont expect anything, and like you, Ben, will just pay for add ons if the event is something special. However, our honeymoon was at the Mango House LXR in the Seychelles, and we noted it was our honeymoon when making the reservation, and while communicating with the hotel before hand (to arrange transfer, tours and spa treatments). I thought they might try to make it special for us, but really spending 5 nights at such a small resort was treat enough.
When we arrived there was no mention of our honeymoon at check-in. There was a standard welcome gift waiting in our room (fruit and a bottle of wine) with a card from the manager, but no mention of the honeymoon. On our last night we mentioned to the waitress at dinner, who we had got to know on a first name basis by that point, that it was our honeymoon, and she seemed surprised. She got us a big dessert at the end of the dinner with sparklers and a "Happy Honeymoon" chocolate sign. We were very happy with that. After a nightcap at the bar, we returned to our room for the night, and the entire room was made up with rose petals, flowers, and a huge cake and fruit platter and two bottles of what ended up being a very nice South African sparkling wine. There was a handwritten card from all of the bartenders, waiters and waitresses we got to know over the week staying there, which we kept and still have. I'm fairly certain the waitress tipped off the manager, and they went over board to make us feel special. To me that was more touching than a card and bottle of champagne at check-in.
Sometimes the limited service properties end up doing more than a full service property. We stayed at the Hampton Inn and Suites Lake Placid (which is actually a beautiful property for the brand), and they brought us a cake and bottle of sparkling wine after we mentioned it was our anniversary at check-in. I didn't expect anything and only mentioned it because the person at the front desk asked why we were in town. We were really there for someone else's wedding, but it did happen to be on our anniversary weekend.
I read a ton of complaints from cruise passengers on this topic. Complaining that the cruise line didn't do enough to celebrate (insert special occasion) even though they told them. On a 5,000 person 7-night cruise, the law of averages tells us ~96 passengers will celebrate a birthday. Obviously that number is even higher on a cruise since so many people plan trips specifically for their birthday. Add in all of the honeymooners, retirement celebrations, anniversaries, etc. and there are now thousands of "special days." Is it feasible to recognize or do something special for this many people? I like the idea of paid add-ons as an option. Perhaps businesses can recognize their top guests, or guests staying in the most expensive suites.