The other day I ordered a coffee at a restaurant.
Nothing special. A long shot of black coffee. But when it arrived, something made me stop: a small wrapped cookie, placed next to the cup. The wrapper covered in the word “Thank You” in dozens of languages — Romanian, Swahili, Japanese, Spanish. And when I unwrapped it, the cookie itself had "THANK YOU" pressed into the dough.
Nobody asked for this. Nobody charged extra for it. It was a €0.03 cookie.
And yet, I photographed it. I'm writing about it now. And I will remember that coffee
The details nobody notices…until they do
Will Guidara, former co-owner of Eleven Madison Park (once ranked the world's best restaurant), built his entire philosophy around what he calls Unreasonable Hospitality: the deliberate act of giving people more than they expected, in ways they couldn't have anticipated.
In his book of the same name, Guidara describes sending a runner outside to buy a hot dog from a street cart, because a table of tourists mentioned in passing that they hadn't had a New York street hot dog yet. The hot dog cost $2. The memory it created? Priceless. The loyalty it built? Measurable.
The principle transfers directly to hotels. But most revenue strategies ignore it entirely.
Why this matters for Ancillary Revenue
The dominant model in hotel ancillary is still transactional: push an upsell offer, convert it, count the euros. Early check-in, room upgrade, late checkout… bundled into an automated email sent 48 hours before arrival.
It works. That's real money. But it leaves a larger opportunity untouched.
Because the cookie wasn't an upsell. It was a signal: we see you, we appreciate you, and we thought about you (dear customer, not me Pablo, I know you get it) before you arrived. That signal is what makes a guest say yes to the upgrade next time; not because they were offered a discount, but because they already trust the hotel's judgment.
Emotional micro-moments drive willingness to pay. A 2023 study by Cornell's Center for Hospitality Research found that perceived personalization (even when objectively minor) notably increases spend propensity. The cookie is personalization made tangible.
Three things your hotel can do this week
1. Audit your “zero-cost touches.” What do guests encounter that signals care without being on any P&L line? Handwritten welcome notes. The way the turn-down is done. A seasonal item on the coffee tray. Map these moments, you probably have fewer than you think.
2. Connect emotion to offer. The moment a guest feels something (a compliment from the front desk, a surprise treat, a view they didn't expect) is the ideal moment to introduce an upsell. Not via automation. Via human.
3. Train your team on the sequence. Unreasonable Hospitality → trust → commercial conversation. Most FDU training skips step one. It goes straight to the offer. That's why conversion rates plateau.
The uncomfortable truth
Hotels spend thousands optimizing the upsell funnel. They test subject lines, tweak offer windows, A/B test room categories.
And they send those emails from a no-reply address.
A cookie that costs €0.03 can do more for your RevPAR than a sophisticated pre-arrival campaign if it's delivered at the right moment, by the right person, with the right intent.
The revenue opportunity in hospitality was never just about the offer. It was always about whether the guest wanted to give you more of their money.
Make them want to.
Want to explore how emotional touchpoints can improve your hotel's ancillary revenue strategy? Visit torreshospitalityconsulting.com or connect directly on LinkedIn.
