
Hotels Lure High-End Clients With In-Room Cocktail Service
By Elyse Moody
Hotels from New York to San Francisco now offer in-room cocktail programs that cater to refined jet-setters as well as the go-all-night party crowd. Though the services vary, they focus on many of the same ingredients: fresh, locally sourced liquors, mixers, and garnishes; artisanal preparation; and the kind of sensory gimmicks Portlandia sends up ("charred ice" isn't too far off the mark).
It's a prestige move, an amenity that ranks alongside personalized guided running tours and all-organic pet accommodations. But it's also a business gambit: A top-shelf in-house cocktail program could keep guests (and their credit cards) happily on-site for more of the evening. Whether the concept will sell outside the upper echelon is a legit question-would average tourists really choose to spend the night in their hotel room rather than bar-hop?-but for frequent-flying habitués with money to burn (and for boozy-toothed aspirational travelers), the prospect of settling in to a city-view suite with a fresh cocktail has a certain rarefied appeal.