Hotel Pacai in Vilinus gave me some wooden scent spheres in its signature scent that made my luggage evoke some nice memories next time I traveled (and smelled great too!) Scent is totally one of those small, but overlooked ways of remembering a place.
Great piece, Emma! I love hotel merch that reminds me of being in a place. My velvet smoking slippers from FS Hampshire are something I wear on leisurely mornings with a cup of coffee. The mornings in the British countryside are so peaceful. I also like brand-adjacent merch, like Estelle Manor’s Lingua Franca sweaters. They don’t say “Estelle Manor” on them, but rather “Lady of the Manor.” You can only get them on property, they are sold out online. It’s a kind of if you know, you know nod to a stay without feeling like I’m a walking advertisement.
This was such an interesting and insightful read! I've noticed more hotels offering experiential classes for guests (mostly cooking/cocktails), so I can absolutely see this turning into accessory-making (shell necklaces, etc.) as a way to remember a location. My fave hotel + fashion brand collab is hands down Le Sirenuse x Tombolo ...helps that they have such a good logo too!
Thank you so much Liz! So true, and i would personally love to leave with something I've crafted myself (with the hotel's twist on it). And Le Sirenuse NEVER misses
More and more beauty brands have understood the opportunity of a merchandising partnership with hotels. This is the case with the partnership between Merit and The Ritz-Carlton: the 'Getaway' beauty bag serves to position the brand, and it allows consumers to display the key like a charm—as if they were a frequent guest. The question is: is this useful for The Ritz-Carlton to attract new consumers?
Absolutely, and this is happening with fashion brands as well! Merit x Ritz-Carlton is a great example. I am also wondering to what extent hotel brands benefit from this, as they have a tendency to undersell themselves when it comes to their own brand value. So many brand activations happening in hospitality now - interesting times!
I will take a scented bar any day! Beautiful and practical. But you're so right in this piece: it's crucial to go beyond the obvious. There are only so many tote bags I can collect. I'd rather have something I can display in the home, I guess.
There’s something about when an object becomes part of your everyday life… it’s like a testament to its value! Tote bags are indeed flooding in from every door and window… I want the jewelry trays that were mentioned in the comments!!!
Every time we publish, its like we’re at dinner at Halo in Paris hahaha. Colette was like the king of experience for shopping, before they shut down. And every freaking week, they’d redesign the whole store because
and they were the opposite of
*New drop.*
*New collaboration.*
*Limited edition.*
*Available now.*
Lol.
The visit to the store itself was the product. It was hospitality and the experience itself generated desire before the product even had to explain why it mattered.
they cashed in on experience before everyone realized that, oh my gosh, the best way to appeal more to an audience is by leveling up the experience. And I think that most merch are very bland, but also the people who are portable billboards are bland, and it's just AI so you can look at every single release usually in collaboration as just bland and stale. And you have to actually understand that usually, if it's good…you won't even need to advertise it. And there's a lot of advertisement, well, there's more failed advertisement these days than there is successful acquisitions. What is that telling us about today's culture and the noise that has literally turned into smoke in a building of merchandising now?
If I have to tell you 47 times that this is culturally relevant, is it culturally relevant?
We are surrounded by so much commercial smoke that brands are confusing visibility with heat. Rarity is gonna forever gonna be the, forever intimate driver of desire to actually incentivize someone to get something. And it usually is quaint when concepting.
Anyway, this is a long winded way to ask who’s gonna hire me to make their merch cooler 🤭
I appreciate when hotels sell pieces of their decor that happen to be lightly branded. For example the little shop at São Lourenço do Barrocal (I just wrote about it last week so it's top of mind) sells little leather goods (catch-all trays for personal items, keychains etc) that you would have been using during your stay, or some of the linens used in the room etc. It's all very on-brand (artisanal, local, farm chic) and very lightly branded (just their crest, IYKYK). It can be a conversation starter - "oh, where did you get those lovely cushion covers?" "Barrocal, where else"
Regular wealth and identity signifiers arent working anymore. The line I keep coming back to is the club versus the support distinction, wearing something to signal membership versus wearing something because you actually loved the place. That gap is basically the whole merch category collapsing in on itself right now. Once every boulangerie has a tote, the tote stops proving you were anywhere specific. It just proves you own a tote.
Hotel Pacai in Vilinus gave me some wooden scent spheres in its signature scent that made my luggage evoke some nice memories next time I traveled (and smelled great too!) Scent is totally one of those small, but overlooked ways of remembering a place.
Now this is a good example of merch done well! Thank you for sharing Lindsey 💌
Great piece, Emma! I love hotel merch that reminds me of being in a place. My velvet smoking slippers from FS Hampshire are something I wear on leisurely mornings with a cup of coffee. The mornings in the British countryside are so peaceful. I also like brand-adjacent merch, like Estelle Manor’s Lingua Franca sweaters. They don’t say “Estelle Manor” on them, but rather “Lady of the Manor.” You can only get them on property, they are sold out online. It’s a kind of if you know, you know nod to a stay without feeling like I’m a walking advertisement.
I also love this a lot. Like yes I AM the lady of the manor!
Absolutely my thought process when I wear that sweater! I coveted it for a year before I returned to the hotel to buy it
This was such an interesting and insightful read! I've noticed more hotels offering experiential classes for guests (mostly cooking/cocktails), so I can absolutely see this turning into accessory-making (shell necklaces, etc.) as a way to remember a location. My fave hotel + fashion brand collab is hands down Le Sirenuse x Tombolo ...helps that they have such a good logo too!
Thank you so much Liz! So true, and i would personally love to leave with something I've crafted myself (with the hotel's twist on it). And Le Sirenuse NEVER misses
They really never miss!
I hadn't really thought about this, but I loved this piece!! Genius <3
🩵🩵🩵!!!!! So happy u enjoyed!
More and more beauty brands have understood the opportunity of a merchandising partnership with hotels. This is the case with the partnership between Merit and The Ritz-Carlton: the 'Getaway' beauty bag serves to position the brand, and it allows consumers to display the key like a charm—as if they were a frequent guest. The question is: is this useful for The Ritz-Carlton to attract new consumers?
Absolutely, and this is happening with fashion brands as well! Merit x Ritz-Carlton is a great example. I am also wondering to what extent hotel brands benefit from this, as they have a tendency to undersell themselves when it comes to their own brand value. So many brand activations happening in hospitality now - interesting times!
I've been thinking more and more about truly custom merch; not just for the hotel - but for the guest. More to come ;)
Oooohh looking forward to it Emily!!
I will take a scented bar any day! Beautiful and practical. But you're so right in this piece: it's crucial to go beyond the obvious. There are only so many tote bags I can collect. I'd rather have something I can display in the home, I guess.
There’s something about when an object becomes part of your everyday life… it’s like a testament to its value! Tote bags are indeed flooding in from every door and window… I want the jewelry trays that were mentioned in the comments!!!
Jewellery trays would be perfect! Or any sort of small ceramic dish that could spotlight and support local talent.
A truly iconic collab!! Loved this
Many iconic collabs in the air recently!
Every time we publish, its like we’re at dinner at Halo in Paris hahaha. Colette was like the king of experience for shopping, before they shut down. And every freaking week, they’d redesign the whole store because
and they were the opposite of
*New drop.*
*New collaboration.*
*Limited edition.*
*Available now.*
Lol.
The visit to the store itself was the product. It was hospitality and the experience itself generated desire before the product even had to explain why it mattered.
they cashed in on experience before everyone realized that, oh my gosh, the best way to appeal more to an audience is by leveling up the experience. And I think that most merch are very bland, but also the people who are portable billboards are bland, and it's just AI so you can look at every single release usually in collaboration as just bland and stale. And you have to actually understand that usually, if it's good…you won't even need to advertise it. And there's a lot of advertisement, well, there's more failed advertisement these days than there is successful acquisitions. What is that telling us about today's culture and the noise that has literally turned into smoke in a building of merchandising now?
If I have to tell you 47 times that this is culturally relevant, is it culturally relevant?
We are surrounded by so much commercial smoke that brands are confusing visibility with heat. Rarity is gonna forever gonna be the, forever intimate driver of desire to actually incentivize someone to get something. And it usually is quaint when concepting.
Anyway, this is a long winded way to ask who’s gonna hire me to make their merch cooler 🤭
This is so good I want to frame it!!!!!!!!!!! 😭😭😭😭😭
I appreciate when hotels sell pieces of their decor that happen to be lightly branded. For example the little shop at São Lourenço do Barrocal (I just wrote about it last week so it's top of mind) sells little leather goods (catch-all trays for personal items, keychains etc) that you would have been using during your stay, or some of the linens used in the room etc. It's all very on-brand (artisanal, local, farm chic) and very lightly branded (just their crest, IYKYK). It can be a conversation starter - "oh, where did you get those lovely cushion covers?" "Barrocal, where else"
I would eat up a cushion cover or catch-all tray! Artisanal is such a good pull in this context as well. IYKYK = merch success
I think Holiday Magazine makes makes tasteful merch
Yes because holiday also means holiday 🤗🤗 so cute luvs it
https://youtu.be/iejBJwBS_xE?is=8FgTsY5JdlnHYkE9
This will be my morning watch!!!
Regular wealth and identity signifiers arent working anymore. The line I keep coming back to is the club versus the support distinction, wearing something to signal membership versus wearing something because you actually loved the place. That gap is basically the whole merch category collapsing in on itself right now. Once every boulangerie has a tote, the tote stops proving you were anywhere specific. It just proves you own a tote.