Hotel Welcome Amenities: When & What To Expect?

I wanted to address the question more broadly since it is not something I have written about before. What are hotel welcome amenities, under what circumstances should you expect them, and what do I think of them?

What are hotel welcome amenities?

On the first day of your stay, most hotels place a hotel welcome amenity in your room. It is worth not putting up your "do not disturb" sign if you find a welcome amenity in your room when you arrive, or if it is delivered on your first day. You can be given a gift bag upon check-in at some properties.

It is common for a welcome amenity to be advertised as a perk of a stay, even if it is not published.

These are usually provided to guests by luxury hotels. The quality can change a lot. It could be a small amount of fruit at some hotels.

It could be a bottle of champagne and some homemade sweets at other hotels.

More often than not a food and beverage offering is offered as a welcome amenity. A cheese plate, sweets, and/or wine is what it is.

I am not referring to hotel welcome amenities offered by hotel loyalty programs, where you may receive some bonus points as a welcome amenity. Hotels provide in-room gifts that are proactive.

What impacts whether you get a hotel welcome amenity?

Most of the time, a welcome amenity is offered by most true luxury hotels. Many upscale hotels offer welcome amenities.

The quality of the welcome amenity and what impacts it will have on you. There are potential factors.

• The type of hotel you’re staying at
• Your elite status, if you’re staying at a hotel with a loyalty program
• Whether you’re a repeat guest at that specific hotel
• If you’re celebrating anything special, like an anniversary or birthday
• If you booked through a travel agent program that offers a welcome amenity as a published perk, including Hyatt Privé, Mandarin Oriental Fan Club, Marriott STARS, etc.

If you stay at a hotel that doesn't have a welcome amenity, don't be upset. If you stay at the same hotel more than once, you might be offered a welcome amenity, but not the other time. A variety of factors can affect whether or not you are offered one on a particular stay, including how busy the hotel is that day, what staffing is like, and so on.

My take on hotel welcome amenities

I thought I would share a few thoughts on hotel welcome amenities, acknowledging that they are not the most important part of a hotel stay. I would like to pose a question to OMA AT readers.

I see it in a different way.

• Personally I’m a bit surprised when I don’t receive some sort of a welcome amenity at a luxury hotel, while otherwise I don’t expect one, and am pleasantly surprised when I receive one
• I admit that hotels are in a tough spot when it comes to welcome amenities, especially with alcohol; it’s nice when a bottle of wine is offered, but if it’s a $6 bottle of sparkling wine, it may leave a bad taste in some peoples’ mouth (figuratively, and maybe even literally), especially if they’re paying a lot for a stay
• While it’s always nice to receive a welcome amenity, as a frequent traveler it can be hard to “maximize” these — I hate wasting, but when I’m given a plate with about 4,000 calories of chocolate…

Do you let the hotel know that you don't like what's being offered? My take is here.

• Unless it’s a published benefit of what I booked (like for booking through a certain program with a travel agent, or at certain luxury hotels that market a welcome amenity as a feature), I would feel weird requesting a different gift; I think the exception would be if I didn’t drink alcohol, and the amenity consisted of alcohol, or if allergies came into play
• At the same time, if you are offered a nice bottle of wine, it doesn’t seem unreasonable to request a swap to a different similarly priced bottle (for example, if you like white wine, but are offered red wine)

Even if a welcome amenity isn't an official perk, some people will email hotels and request a specific type of welcome amenity. I wouldn't do that but to each of them...

Bottom line

A welcome amenity is always a treat. It could be anything from a few bottles of water to a bottle of champagne and a cheese plate. Most of the time, welcome amenities are found at luxury hotels, hotel groups, and hotels that you frequent.

Hotel welcome amenities, what do you think? What do you expect when you meet them?