Spot-on Gifting | Gifting Advice for Wedding Venues

As the season of gifting is most definitely upon us, I thought I’d set down some tips which your venues and properties could find useful in planning how to win and wow your clients and customers in 2017.  This post was prompted with a great deal of inspiration from the amazing team who head up The Engage Luxury Wedding Business Summit where I was fortunate enough to be spoiled with live examples of thoughtful gifting at its best as I enjoyed this 4-day feast of learning and personal development in Puglia, Italy earlier this year.

So, as you plan how to endear your clients, whether they be hotel guests, diners or couples planning their wedding or special event, keep these gifting tips in mind:

Be ahead of the game – don’t always wait for the obvious timing. You have a hotel, so naturally, gifting would begin when guests arrive at your property. But have you thought about surprising them with a pre-travel gift? The Engage Summits team sent us this amazing travel kit complete with lip balm, sleep mask, snuggly socks and weighing scales for our luggage – the luggage scales were a definite hint and tip that we’d be bringing back a lot of extra kilos!

Be local  – with every gift that was given to us at Borgo Egnazia, there was a sense of local.  Most of the items were made in Puglia by craftspeople & printed items were designed using materials which were reflective of the fabrics, stonemasonry, art and more used in the build and décor of this unique property.  Naturally, the olive oil, the pasta, the biscotti, were all locally sourced and of the highest quality. What’s local to you? And what’s utterly unique about your venue which you can quite literally bottle and gift?

Be on trend – I’m not a fan of every latest trend but adopting stylish new products into your venue can be a smart move of course – the Engage team treated us to our own white ‘O-Bag’ –  whilst the options are endless with an ‘O’ Bag, the colour (white) and the use of handles (nautical rope) was very ‘Engage’ and very on-brand.

Be aware of your audience – we tend to like a party in the wedding industry so arriving back to your room with some time before dinner, it was totally fitting to receive our very own ‘mix your aperitivo’ – by way of an Aperol spritz, complete with stylish straw, & a slice of orange. Cheers!

Be personal  – we all love a gift with our name on it. These simple but delicious bottles of wine were just so much more impactful because they each had the guest name on it – something to remember as a talking point when back home and remember the exact provenance of that wine and when I was given it.  Memorable is what you are seeking with gifting and you want the moment of receiving the gift to live on.

Be cute  – the ‘Kiss Goodnight’ sweeties that sat on our pillows were simple and just a little touch but a real reminder of the theme that is far more important than our day to day to working lives – a reminder of love and of caring and that’s quite a gift!

Be aware of the seasons  – the pashminas we were given were a perfectly stylish accessory to our event wardrobe particularly as the seasons were changing in October and pashminas were an incredibly useful outdoor evening wardrobe addition.  Think snuggly slippers, stylish umbrellas, mini sunscreen bottles? Can you use the season to show your thoughtfulness?

Be useful  – the notebook and clipboard  (stylishly white for Engage of course) but very useful for the audience who are intending to learn and will naturally want to take copious notes. What do your guests need during their stay with you?

Be practical  – we were certainly spoiled with gifts at Engage, but gifts don’t have to have a big price tag.  I’m a fan of thinking practically – the screen wipes are an example of that – we all use Ipads & laptops for our work, so the screen wipe is a very handy addition to our travel kit. Not every gift has to last and items like the screen wipe are just great at building your name for being the kind of hotel or venue who just has it all covered during that magical time when guests are your captive audience!

And now it’s time to wrap-up (no pun intended) this post – I do hope the family have planned well for my Christmas presents – they do have a tough act to follow with the Engage inspiration I gained this year but I am confident they will do me proud and, cliché as it sounds, it is the thought that truly counts!

Credits:
Engage Summit // Photography: Betsi Ewing Studio // Location: Borgo Egnazia