Life Done Right™

If Willy Wonka checked into the Peninsula Hotel on a Friday or Saturday night and visited the lobby, he’d probably be overwhelmed by all the guests standing in line at the decadent Chocolate Bar. None, I suspect, would allow him to cut the line, though. Chocolate will do that to the mind.

Apparently serving up chocolate in hotel lobbies is all the rage. Give an acccountant dead retail space, and trust me, they’ll figure out some way to monetize it. I have a theory: Since 50% of jobs are now held by women, maybe that old fuddy duddy MALE accountant is now a FEMALE, and if there’s anybody that knows what a woman wants, by god, it’s another woman!

Even as hotels post record occupancies, some are looking for other ways to make money. In many cases, they have turned to their public spaces, seeing them as more than simply passageways to somewhere else. Instead, the hotels have come up with ways to entice their guests to linger in those spaces, and perhaps, spend more money.

“If you add a chocolate bar, that’s a space that was not revenue-producing, and now it creates revenue,” said Reneta McCarthy, lecturer at the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration.

To Loiter, Perchance to Spend
By DREW LIMSKY
New York Times, March 7, 2006