Hospitality

This is a hospitality solution: a problem that we solved not by sneakily chipping away at the service we were offering but by blowing it out in the opposite direction—by giving more, not less.

I hear this a lot: “Well, of course you could afford to pull those tricks at an expensive restaurant.” And I always think: Are you sure you can afford not to? It’s true—these gifts cost money, in labor if nothing else. But I’m my dad’s son, and I reviewed the Dreamweaver line item in the P&L every month with an eagle eye. There was never any... See more

If you’re selling an apartment to a couple having a baby, get a pack of those protective plastic outlet covers and leave them in a drawer with a little note: “You’ve got big adventures coming up, so I took this off your to-do list.” And because so many people move when they find out they’re expecting, keep a case of those outlet covers in your... See more

And while dropping off a full bottle of expensive booze at every table seemed like an unreasonably extravagant gesture, it was actually cost-effective. After an elaborate multicourse dinner (and usually plenty of wine), few people were interested in drinking more than a sip of that cognac. Yet the feeling of abundance was there.