Upscale hotels add amenities to lure wealthy travelers

Whimsical touches, such as gumball machines, are showing up in hotel rooms along with high-speed Internet access, fax machines and other conveniences.

From Laura Rowley
CNNfn Correspondent

NEW YORK (CNN) -- If you're digging deep into your pocket for a luxury hotel, you're likely to find a few more comforts of home these days.

With offerings ranging from a variety of VCRs to a plethora of plush pillows, hotels are waging a battle for the hearts of the wealthiest travelers. One even has a gumball machine.

"We want to be warm, we want to be witty, we want to be whimsical," said Jeff Darnell, general manager of The Court and The Tuscany hotels in New York.

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No amenity is too quirky in the quest for the upscale traveler, hoteliers say.

"There's a highly competitive market for this level of guest," said Bjorn Hanson of PricewaterhouseCoopers. "So there's a tremendous amount of consumer research being done to what will appeal to these guests."

Some hotels woo travelers with technology, offering high-speed Internet access from the bed.

Others offer the human touch, providing butlers to cater to your every need.

The comforts of home extend to the bathroom at New York's W Hotel, where a rubber ducky greets the weary traveler

"This is actually going into the distant history of the lodging industry when wealthy families would spend a summer at a resort and not bring their traditional butlers and maids with them, but expect for them to be provided," Hanson said.

As for the comforts of home? The bed at the W hotel in New York is furnished with a goose-down duvet, chenille blankets and 200-thread-count sheets. And don't forget the CD player by the bed -- with a free library of discs if you forgot to bring your own, of course.

The whimsical touches also extend to the bathroom.

"I've stayed in three hotels where when I arrived there was a yellow rubber duck on the corner of the bathtub," Hanson said. "I probably ended up feeling better about the stay there than I would have if there hadn't been a rubber duck."

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W Hotels
PricewaterhouseCoopers

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