Hotel and Airbnb Owners Are Sleeping on a Gold Mine. Here’s How to Cash Out.
Your guest is already paying you to stay in your building. Why should the money stop when they check out?
This is one of the biggest opportunities I think the hospitality industry is overlooking.
Hotels, boutique hotels, serviced apartments, resorts, lodges and Airbnb properties already have something most new product brands spend years trying to build:
A captive customer.
Someone who has chosen your space.
Someone who is already experiencing your brand.
Someone who is already using the products and amenities you provide.
So what if you could turn that experience into a product they could take home?
Think Beyond the Room
Most hospitality businesses think about what they can put inside the room.
Bath products.
Body lotion.
Shampoo.
Conditioner.
Hand wash.
Maybe a few complimentary toiletries.
But what if those products were more than amenities?
What if they became part of your signature guest experience?
Imagine checking into a beautiful hotel and finding a beautifully packaged collection of products made specifically for that property.
The scent is memorable.
The packaging carries the hotel’s identity.
The products are used throughout the guest’s stay.
And then, at reception, the guest sees the same products available to purchase.
Now the experience doesn’t have to end when they hand over their room key.
Build a Signature Self-Care Collection
This is where it gets interesting.
A hospitality business could develop its own signature collection around the guest experience.
For example:
In-room collection
- Shampoo
- Conditioner
- Body wash
- Body lotion
- Hand wash
- Hand cream
- Bath products
These can be offered in appropriate guest-sized formats for use during the stay.
Then you can create a larger retail collection.
Take-home collection
- Full-size body wash
- Body lotion
- Body oil
- Hand cream
- Hand wash
- Haircare products
- Candles or solid fragrance products, where appropriate
- Gift sets
Now your guest isn’t just staying at your property.
They’re experiencing a brand.
The Mini Version Is Your Secret Weapon
Here’s where the strategy becomes even more interesting.
Give your guests a smaller version of the product to use during their stay.
Let them experience it.
Let them smell it.
Let them feel the texture.
Let them associate that product with their stay.
Then make the full-size version available for purchase at reception.
That’s very different from putting a random product on a shelf and hoping somebody buys it.
The guest has already experienced the product.
They already know whether they like it.
And now they have a reason to take that experience home.
Turn It Into a Gift
This is where hospitality and retail can become even more powerful.
Imagine a guest who has just spent three nights at your property.
They loved the experience.
They want to take something home.
Instead of leaving with only photographs and memories, they can purchase a beautifully packaged signature self-care collection from the property.
It could be:
The Weekend Collection
or
The Signature Stay Collection
or
The [Hotel Name] Self-Care Ritual
Suddenly, your product becomes a souvenir.
But it is a souvenir that people can actually use.
And Think About the People Who Didn’t Stay With You
This is the part that gets really interesting.
Once you have a desirable product collection, your customer doesn’t have to be a hotel guest.
Someone could walk into your property simply to purchase:
- A gift set
- A body care collection
- A signature fragrance
- A self-care product
- A hotel-branded amenity set
Your hospitality brand has now created a retail arm.
You have expanded beyond selling rooms.
This Can Work for Airbnb Hosts Too
And you don’t need to own a 200-room hotel.
A premium Airbnb, serviced apartment or boutique property can create the same concept on a smaller scale.
Imagine a guest checking in and finding:
Your Signature Body Wash
Your Signature Body Lotion
Your Signature Hand Cream
They use them throughout their stay.
Then they see a small card:
Loved your stay? Take the experience home.
With a QR code or reception purchase option.
That’s a very different kind of upsell.
You’re not interrupting the guest experience.
You’re extending it.
The Psychology Behind It
There is something powerful about a product being attached to an experience.
People don’t always remember the exact room number.
They may not remember every detail of the breakfast.
But they remember how a place made them feel.
A particular scent can remind them of a holiday.
A body lotion can remind them of a honeymoon.
A bath product can remind them of a weekend away.
That emotional connection can make an ordinary product much more memorable.
And that is something hospitality brands can use very intentionally.
You’re Also Creating Another Revenue Stream
Let’s simplify the model.
Your existing business:
Room booking → Guest experience → Checkout
Now add:
Room booking → Guest experience → Product experience → Product purchase → Take-home experience → Potential repeat purchase
The room generates revenue.
The product generates additional revenue.
And the product may continue generating revenue even after the guest has left.
That’s the opportunity.
We Have Seen This Work in the Hospitality Space
At Lueur Cosmetics Lab, we have worked with businesses in the hospitality industry to develop products that fit into the guest experience.
And what makes this model interesting is that the product isn’t being introduced into a completely cold market.
It is connected to an existing experience.
The guest already knows the property.
They already trust the environment.
They have already interacted with the product.
That makes the transition from amenity to retail product much more natural.
And when executed well, the product can contribute both to the guest experience and to an additional revenue stream.
But Don’t Just Put Your Logo on a Bottle
This is where I would encourage hospitality businesses to think bigger.
Your collection should feel like it belongs to your property.
The scent.
The colours.
The packaging.
The names.
The textures.
The story.
Everything should feel intentional.
If your hotel is luxurious, the collection should feel luxurious.
If your property is minimalist and modern, the products should reflect that.
If you’re building around African hospitality, the product story can reflect that identity.
Your products should feel like another expression of your property.
Start Small
You don’t need 20 products.
You could start with:
Body Wash + Body Lotion + Hand Wash + Hand Cream
Then expand.
Or start with:
Shampoo + Conditioner + Body Wash + Body Lotion
Then create larger gift sets once you understand what guests actually want.
The goal isn’t to manufacture everything.
The goal is to identify the products that make the most sense for your guest experience.
Your Property Could Be More Than a Place to Stay
Think about what your guest currently leaves with.
A memory.
A photograph.
Maybe a bill.
Now imagine they leave with:
Your signature scent.
Your body lotion.
Your bath ritual.
Your self-care collection.
And every time they use it at home, they remember your property.
That is branding.
That is customer experience.
And potentially, that is another revenue stream.
Hospitality businesses, this is worth thinking about.
You already have the customer.
You already have the physical space.
You already have the experience.
You may simply need the right product strategy to connect all three.
At Lueur Cosmetics Lab, we help hospitality and other businesses develop private-label skincare, haircare and personal-care products that can become an extension of their brand.
We can help you take the idea from:
“I want my hotel to have its own products”
to a properly developed, beautifully packaged and market-ready collection.
Your guest shouldn’t have to leave your property empty-handed.
Give them something they can experience during their stay, take home, gift to someone else, and remember you by long after checkout.