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You've just opened Hotel Nuggets, a not-boring newsletter for hoteliers.
Every other week, we're dropping 4 hospitality tips right in your inbox.
Today's edition:
- 🇨🇳 Room service is dead in China
- ☂️ Self-service umbrellas
- 📈 Increase your rooftop bar revenue
- 📸 Your hotel photos x AI
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#1 Room service is dead in China 🇨🇳
In China, hotels aren’t bothering to revive the dead room service scene. Instead, they’re evolving past it.
John Lin recently shared how his go-to hotel in Shanghai has quietly phased out the old model. Instead of overpriced menu items, guests order from Meituan (which delivers 60 million meals a day).
The hotel then provides either a secure locker or a pick-up table for drivers to drop off food.
No awkward lobby handoffs. No small fortune transactions. Just dinner, sorted.
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It’s a brilliant case of meeting guests where they already are. Why maintain an in-house kitchen when the guest has the entire city’s food scene in their pocket?
Hotels in other countries might want to take notes, especially those still clinging to QR code menus and $25 burgers.
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#2 Self-service umbrellas ☂️
Hotel Casa has a smart little system for umbrellas: rent one for €2, and if it’s not returned, it’s a €20 charge.
Fully self-service and all powered by DripDrop.
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Of course, some might accuse them of squeezing extra revenue, and while €20 for a single umbrella would bring back a gain, the real reason is offering convenience and protecting your inventory at the same time.
If a guest loses it, breaks it, or accidentally turns it into modern art in a gust of wind, you’re covered.
Paired with their mini-markets and other hybrid hospitality moves, Casa’s showing how little details can quietly shape the guest experience.
Makes you wonder how many other forgotten items could be turned into moments like this.
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#3 Increase your rooftop bar revenue 📈
Pointed out by Antonio Tubito on Linkedin, one premium rooftop bar in London was seeing guests bail early once the temperature dropped.
Even with blankets and heat lamps, it wasn’t enough to keep people comfy or keep revenue steady through the cooler months.
So they installed high-performance outdoor heaters.
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These aren’t your average café-style heat posts; they’re sleeker, wall-mounted, and evenly heat a wide area without blasting guests with hot spots.
The results showed a:
- 30% increase in usable outdoor space
- 40% rise in overall revenue
- Noticeable boost in guest satisfaction and dwell time
It’s a good reminder: you can design the perfect rooftop vibe, but if guests are shivering by the second drink, they’re not hanging around.
When the climate doesn’t cooperate, smart heating becomes less of a utility and more of a sales tool.
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Hotel upsells simplified
Pingotel is a free, simple tool we built to help hotels manage bike rentals, day passes, meeting room reservations, daily parking, and coworking hot desks.
No more Excel sheets and sticky notes.
Check out Pingotel here 👈
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#4 Your hotel photos x AI 📸
If your hotel gallery still has dim lobby shots or crooked bedside angles, it’s time to have a word… with ChatGPT.
Look at this prompt example from one Facebook group from Airbnb hosts:
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Martin Soler’s Linkedin post shows how easy it is to get started, and how easy it is to make sure your visuals match the level of care you put into the guest experience.
Fix a dull sky. Brighten a lobby without repainting it. Visualise what a suite might look like post-reno to test different styles or show future plans to investors.
You can even swap out that oddly placed plastic plant in the corner if it’s throwing off the vibe.
Lets face it, if your rooms feel five-star but look two-star online, that disconnect costs bookings.
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That's all for now, have a fantastic rest of the week!
Cheers,
Peter from Hotel Nuggets
How did you find this edition?
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😑 MEH - Average
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