Hotel Luxury: Why the Smallest Details Deserve a Place in the Design Conversation After more than 20 years working in hotels, across revenue management, reservations, front office, sales and events, I've learnt that very few decisions in hospitality are ever as simple as they look on paper. Something that seems like a small operational purchase can have a much wider impact on the guest experience. Equally, something that looks wonderful in a design presentation doesn't always work quite so well when housekeeping has to turn 50 rooms around in two hours. That balance between guest experience, operational reality and commercial sense is at the heart of good hospitality. It's also something I think about a lot in my role at ARRAN, particularly when it comes to hotel amenities. Toiletries can easily become a line on a procurement spreadsheet: product, price, quantity, delivery and done. But I think we're missing an opportunity when we look at them that way. Myth 1: Hotel toiletries are an operational decision, not a design decision We say: "They should be considered as part of the overall guest experience." When a hotel is being designed or refurbished, enormous thought goes into the details guests will see. The flooring, the lighting, the fabrics, the bathroom fittings, the artwork and the colour palette. But, also the things that are perhaps less obvious, yet make such a difference to how a room feels: the thoughtful placement of a plug socket exactly where you need it, a really good hairdryer, the weight and style of the glasses beside the bed, the quality of the coffee waiting in the room, and the small sense of pleasure that comes from climbing into a perfectly made bed, with soft, crisp white linen. These are the details that can turn a beautiful room into somewhere you genuinely want to be. They may not all make it onto the design brief, but they are part of the experience - the little moments of comfort, consideration and luxury that tell a guest someone has thought about how they will feel in the space and how they will use it. And then there is what you see, touch and smell in the bathroom... These are things the guest physically interacts with. They are part of the visual environment and, importantly, part of the sensory experience. I've seen plenty of hotels where the room design is beautifully considered, only for the bathroom amenities to feel like they've been added as an afterthought. That doesn't necessarily mean spending more. It means involving the amenity decision earlier in the process and asking whether the products genuinely fit the hotel's design and positioning. If you're creating a relaxed coastal hotel, a country house retreat or a contemporary city property, the details should feel as though they belong. The amenity doesn't have to match the wallpaper. But it should make sense in the room. And, from an operational perspective, it also needs to work. Housekeeping needs to be able to manage it efficiently, the product needs to be practical, and procurement needs to understand the cost implications. Good design in hotels has always been about marrying the beautiful with the workable. Myth 2: Guests don't really notice what toiletries you provide We say: "They absolutely do, and increasingly, they expect them to feel as considered as the rest of the hotel." Having spent many years on the operational side of hotels, I think it's easy to underestimate just how much guests notice the details around them. Of course, not every guest will inspect every bottle or remember the name of the shampoo. But a large proportion of today's hotel guests absolutely notice the amenities provided, particularly when they are staying in a boutique, luxury or design-led property. And what they're looking for isn't necessarily the most expensive product. They want something that looks good, feels good and leaves them feeling good. They want products that feel as though someone has thought about them. That matters because guests don't experience a hotel in isolation. They have chosen it because they are drawn to its style, personality, location, design or reputation. They have expectations before they even arrive. If the hotel has a beautiful, carefully considered aesthetic, the bathroom should feel like part of that same story. The packaging, colours, textures, fragrance and quality of the products all contribute. A beautifully designed room paired with generic-looking amenities can feel like a missed opportunity. Equally, thoughtfully selected products can reinforce the sense that every part of the guest experience has been considered. And there is an emotional element to this too. A hotel stay is often about how we want to feel: relaxed, looked after, indulged, restored, excited or perhaps simply a little bit removed from everyday life. The products we use can contribute to that feeling. For me, that's the real opportunity with hotel amenities. They shouldn't just answer the practical question of “What does the guest need?” They should also answer: “How do we want the guest to feel?” That is where toiletries move from being a functional requirement to becoming part of the hotel's wider guest experience — and part of the design, rather than something added to it afterwards. Myth 3: Fragrance is simply about making somewhere smell nice We say: "Scent can help create a sense of place." This is where I think the conversation around hotel amenities becomes particularly interesting. Hotels have become increasingly sophisticated at creating a visual identity. But there is another layer to that identity which is harder to see: scent. We're hearing more about scent-scape - essentially thinking about fragrance as part of the overall environment, in the same way that designers think about lighting, sound, texture and colour. It doesn't mean every hotel needs a signature scent pumped through every corridor. In fact, restraint is probably more important. But there is an opportunity to think about where fragrance appears and what role it plays. A carefully chosen bathroom amenity can become one part of that scent-scape. It might complement the hotel's location, its interiors or simply the mood the property is trying to create. And scent has something particularly powerful going for it: it can evoke memories. We all have smells that take us somewhere else. A particular holiday. A childhood home. A favourite restaurant. A summer garden. For a hotel, that can be incredibly interesting. The aim isn't to manufacture a memory. It's to create an environment where the different sensory details of the stay work together strongly enough that, later, a familiar fragrance might remind someone of that place. That is a very different proposition from simply asking whether the shampoo smells nice. For us at ARRAN, fragrance is at the heart of what we do. Inspired by the natural beauty of the Isle of Arran, our fragrances and bathing rituals are designed to bring a sense of the island's character into everyday moments. That connection to place is something we believe has real relevance for hotels. A well-chosen amenity can be another way of connecting a guest with the destination and reinforcing the personality of the property. Myth 4: Sustainable choices mean compromising on the luxury experience We say: "Responsible choices can be part of good design." This is another area where I think the hotel industry has moved on considerably. When I first started working in hotels, sustainability was definitely not part of every procurement conversation. Today, it is increasingly difficult to separate a hotel's guest proposition from the environmental choices behind it. But there is still a very practical question for anyone working in hotel operations: How do we make more responsible choices without creating additional work or complexity for the operations team, or compromising the guest experience? The conversation around sustainability has also moved on. A few years ago, switching from single-use miniatures to refillable amenities felt like a significant step. Today, for many hotels, that's simply part of the standard operating model. The next question is much broader: Are we looking at the whole lifecycle of what we're buying? For a hotel, sustainability isn't just about whether the bottle can be recycled. It's about the materials used, the amount of packaging, how much product is being transported, how it is stored, how efficiently it is used and what happens to it at the end of its life. And, as anyone who has worked in hotel operations knows, sustainability has to make commercial sense too. A product that looks like the most sustainable option on paper isn't necessarily the best choice if it creates additional deliveries, takes up valuable storage space, has a high wastage rate or requires more time from an already stretched housekeeping team. Equally, a product that reduces packaging, simplifies logistics, reduces waste or uses resources more efficiently can potentially deliver savings as well as environmental benefits. That's where I think the next stage of sustainable procurement gets interesting. We're moving away from simply asking “Is this sustainable?” and towards asking: “What is the overall impact of this decision — environmentally, operationally and financially?” That feels much closer to the reality of running a hotel. At ARRAN, sustainability is an important part of our own journey, and it's something we're continuing to develop rather than treating as a finished destination. In 2026, we were proud to receive Silver level National Award for Environmental Excellence® accreditation from Keep Scotland Beautiful. The accreditation recognised work including reducing plastic consumption, responsible waste management, the use of locally derived natural ingredients and renewable energy practices. For us, recognition like this is important, but it's not the end of the conversation. We know hotels are under increasing pressure to make more responsible purchasing decisions, but those decisions still have to work for the people on the ground and make commercial sense for the business. That's why, when we talk to our hotel partners about sustainability, we think about both sides of the equation: the environmental impact and the operational reality. Because ultimately, responsible luxury isn't about choosing the option that sounds the most sustainable. It's about making better-informed choices that work for the planet, the guest, the team and the bottom line. Myth 5: The cheapest amenity is the most commercially sensible We say: "Look at the value, not just the unit cost." Anyone who has worked in hotel operations knows that cost matters. When you're managing hundreds or thousands of room nights, seemingly small differences in cost per occupied room can quickly become significant. So I'm certainly not suggesting that hotels should simply spend more on amenities. But I do think we need to look at the bigger picture: What does the product contribute to the guest experience? Does it support the positioning of the hotel? Does it work operationally? Does it reduce waste? Does it create a point of difference? Could it support ancillary revenue, retail or guest engagement? And importantly, does the guest perceive the difference? This is where revenue management thinking can be useful. We're used to asking whether the additional cost of acquiring a booking is justified by the value of that booking. We look at channel cost, commission, room type, length of stay and total guest value. Perhaps we should apply some of the same thinking to the guest experience. Not everything needs to have a directly attributable ROI. But we should understand what we're trying to achieve. If a better amenity costs more, what are we expecting it to deliver? A stronger perception of quality? Better alignment with the hotel's positioning? A more memorable guest experience? A sustainability benefit? An opportunity to introduce a retail product? Those are much more useful questions than simply asking whether the bottle costs a few pence more. Myth 6: Every hotel needs to have a signature scent We say: "Start with the sense of place, not the trend." Scent-scape is an interesting concept, but it shouldn't become another box that hotels feel they need to tick. The best hotel experiences usually feel authentic. If a property has a strong connection to its location, that should come through in the choices it makes. For a Scottish hotel, for example, there may be an opportunity to draw on the landscape, botanicals, coastline or heritage of the destination. For a city hotel, the story might be completely different. The point is not to impose a fragrance on the guest. It is to consider whether scent can help reinforce the story the hotel is already telling. That's something we think about a lot at ARRAN. Our connection to the Isle of Arran is fundamental to the brand. The island's landscapes, coastline and natural character have shaped our fragrances and products, and that sense of place is something we can bring into our hotel partnerships. It's also why we were particularly proud to be recognised at the 2026 Boutique Hotelier Awards, where ARRAN Sense of Scotland received the award for Best Amenities Brand/Supplier (under 100 employees). Of course, an award is only part of the story. From a hotelier's perspective, the more important question is whether the product works for your guests, your property and your operation. Creating a sense of place through every detail The most memorable hotels tend to have something difficult to define but easy to feel: a strong sense of place. It might come from the architecture, the landscape, the materials, the food, the artwork or the stories behind the property. Fragrance can play a role too. A carefully chosen scent can complement those visual and tactile elements, creating another layer of the hotel's identity. For us at ARRAN, that connection to place is fundamental. The island of Arran is not simply part of our name. Its landscapes, coastline and natural character are an ongoing source of inspiration for the fragrances and products we create. That gives us an opportunity to work with hotels that want to bring a stronger sense of place into the guest experience — whether that means connecting guests with Scotland or simply creating a distinctive sensory identity of their own. The real secret to hotel luxury? There isn't one magic ingredient. Luxury is created through the combination of thoughtful choices — the things guests see, touch, smell and experience throughout their stay. Increasingly, it is also about the choices guests don't immediately see: how products are made, what materials are used, how packaging is managed and what happens after a product has been used. For me, this is where the hotelier's perspective matters. The guest experience and the operation aren't two separate things. The best decisions sit somewhere in the middle. A product can be beautiful, but if housekeeping hates it, it isn't a good hotel product. It can be sustainable, but if the solution creates more waste or additional operational headaches, the idea needs revisiting. It can be inexpensive, but if it feels completely disconnected from the hotel, you have potentially missed an opportunity. And it can be luxurious, but if the guest doesn't understand why it is there, the value may be lost. The opportunity is to bring these things together. Design. Guest experience. Scent. Sustainability. Operations. Commercial sense. Toiletries might be a relatively small part of the overall hotel budget, but they are one of the few things a guest takes into their hands, uses on their body and experiences through their senses. Perhaps they deserve a little more consideration than a line on a spreadsheet. Because sometimes the smallest details are the ones that help a guest remember where they've been. If you would like to talk through how ARRAN could work within your property our team would love to hear from you.
