The wakeup call is getting more personal for some hotel guests. Instead of having the phone ring, some hotels will send an actual person to wake guests up.
Hotel guests can rely on their cellphone alarms or arrange for a wakeup call by phone, but some hotels will send a staff member to knock on the door, USA Today reports.
"The hotel team finds the service to be a bit nostalgic and a romantic throwback to a simpler time," Paul McKenzie, general manager of The Wolcott Hotel in New York told USA Today. The Wolcott hotel send employees to a guest's door if they don't answer their wake-up phone call.
According to USA Today, some other hotels include the Westin Resort and Casino in Aruba, an employee goes to your room and makes sure you actually get up after you answer a telephone wake-up call. The Las Ventanas al Paraiso in Los Cabos sends a butler to your room with complimentary coffee, tea and breakfast breads.
The Mandarin Oriental and The Four Seasons, an actual person makes the wake-up call rather than a machine and if you don't answer, an employee knocks on the door. Don't think about oversleeping at The Adolphus in Dallas. If you miss three wake-up calls, a security guard comes to the door.
Hotels have always taken the wake-up call seriously. IHG's Crowne Plaza, for instance, has a wake-up call guarantee. If you don't get your call within five minutes of the requested time, you won't have to pay for your room.
Chekitan Dev, an associate professor of marketing and branding at Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration, noted that the wake-up call has become less personal over the years. Many hotels started using automated messages in the 1980's or just a ring.
Some hotels have gotten creative with the wake-up call though and even have celebrity messages.
According to Dev, the wake-up call is an "opportunity to make that one additional brand impression." To recapture that opportunity, I expect that more hotels will go back to the old in-person system of wake up calls."
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
