High-end hotels have been placing welcome bottles in guest rooms for years. The bottle is usually a quarter-bottle of sparkling, branded with the hotel's logo on a small tag, often with a small accompanying card. We have seen increasing demand from independent hotels and high-end short-term rental operators for custom-label still wine programs, in which the welcome bottle is a full 750ml bottle in the hotel's own label.
Format
Full 750ml is the right format for two-night and longer stays; half-bottles work for single-night stays. We support both formats in the program. The label is the hotel's brand line, RESERVE appended in foil, on the standard cream paper. The hotel's logo appears as a small foil crest at the top of the label.
Cost structure
The hotel orders quarterly, in volumes calibrated to the property's occupancy and the percentage of rooms that receive a welcome bottle. A 50-room property with a 70 percent welcome-bottle ratio runs through approximately one hundred bottles per month. The custom-label program covers this at roughly fifty dollars per bottle, all in, which is comparable to a wholesale wine cost plus a custom labeling fee for the hotel that wants to differentiate.
Brand effect
The guest enters the room and finds a 750ml bottle with the hotel's name in foil, on a cream label, with a hand-tied tag from the general manager. The first impression of the property is the bottle. The bottle is the brand. The cost per bottle is recovered in the guest's review of the property.