Hotels are trying to win customers by providing superior services, and these services range from the small to the ridiculous, according to ABC News.
The range of amenities goes from free pajamas by lingerie designer Arielle Shapiro in the VIP Suites at the W South Beach Hotel to a 24-carat gold iPad at the Burj Al Arab in Dubai. However, the iPad is just for use, not to take home. Whether that makes it a less ridiculously extravagant amenity remains open to debate.
The Kitano Hotel in Manhattan has Toto toilets. For those unfamiliar with them, a Toto toilet is a combination of a bidet and a toilet. There is one in every room in the 149-room hotel.
"They cost $1500," Clement Carey, the General Manager of the hotel, said. "It's quite an amenity."
The toilets come equipped with a wash feature, which has the option of pulsating, as well as a blow dry feature.
"It's a warm wind of air that dries you off," Carey said.
If you go uptown to the Surrey Hotel, located on the Upper East Side, there is an in-room mixology program that sends a bartender to your room to mix drinks to your specifications. The program only costs the price of the bottle.
"The mixologist will come to your room and create a drink for you based on the flavors you like," Patrick Chiapetta, the director of operations, said. "The bartender will make the first four or five for you, teach you how to do it and if you want to have them come back, they will or you can make them on your own."
Another unique amenity is available at the Ritz-Carlton Abu Dhabi, where locally sourced camel milk, combined with ingredients like strawberry and mint were introduced for Ramadan. However, the camel milk mixologist will make the drinks anytime.
"Camel milk has only recently been introduced to the main-stream consumer," Hasan Al Masri, the manager of Mijana, the hotel's restaurant where the drinks are served, said. "Our guests are always looking for new experiences and this would be an interesting and authentic opportunity for anyone visiting Abu Dhabi."
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
