By Adam and Larry Mogelonsky
A common expression is ‘you are what you eat’, but an asterisk here is ‘you are what you drink’. Besides only the narrowcast view of this as an alcohol-related issue, there’s an increasing focus on water quality and how contaminants affect health over long periods of time. With our own guiding adage that ‘as one does at home, one will expect at hotels’, heightened awareness for water quality will soon come to affect how guests perceive your in-room tap water, your restaurant’s water, your showerheads and whichever bottle supplier you’ve sourced.
First, we need some background on the problem and the growing awareness for it. The rationale for wanting ever-cleaner water comes down to what biologists and physicians call hormone or endocrine disruptors. Even if contaminants are in ‘trace’ amounts, over time and chronic consumption they still accumulate in the body to hinder optimal functionality.
As of the start of 2024, we have completed enough longitudinal population studies to draw statistical causality between the long-term exposure from such substances like heavy metals, pesticides, herbicides, bisphenols in canned goods, phthalates in cosmetics, solvents in sunscreens and even prescription medications leftover in our water supplies that all have detrimental health effects like mood disorders, chronic inflammation, obesity and low testosterone levels.
This is what human longevity pundits would codify as a ‘death by a thousand cuts’ problem. The acute exposure to something hazardous like glyphosate or atrazine (both are herbicides sprayed on non-organic crops that leech into our foods and animal feed) won’t register a noticeable effect, any yet chronic, decades-long ingestion will accelerate other negative health conditions by jumbling the proper ratio of our bodily chemicals and preoccupying the immune system.
Excising these chemicals from our lives is a huge, existential challenge made even worse by the fact that the unnatural stuff we humans produce also affects other species, potentially leading to bioaccumulation up the food chain, mutations or environmental degradation. For instance, some compounds in non-mineral sunscreens (often in addition to being hormone disruptors) have been shown to bleach coral reefs, helping propel the movement for ‘reef safe’ products.
This increasing awareness will be reflected at home with the purchasing of advanced filtration units like a kitchen reverse osmosis system, a hard water filter for the showerhead or something more mobile like a filtered water pitcher. There may soon be a time when your guests will grimace at the server’s mere mention of unfiltered tap water, the presence of only soft, single-use plastic bottled water in the room (which often contains leeched phthalates and other nano plastics), or the lack of any additional hard water filtration for the shower or bathroom faucet.
Hardly a glass-half-empty situation where your hotel will inevitably have to absorb the mandated capex, this is the perfect application of the blue ocean strategic thinking (both puns intended). An example we love is the 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge where each room comes with a filter water tap, reinforcing the property’s nightly rates through this amenity as well as the mission-driven luxury brand’s overall equity.
From this and others, we argue that deploying advanced water filtration systems within the guestrooms can become a visible and marketable room feature so that you can lure in the growing wellness-minded crowd or possibly command a higher nightly rate. Then in the restaurant, with the right explanation guests will be more than willing to pay a reasonable fee for having bottles of filtered still or sparkling, or by procuring a trusted supplier in this space. At the very least, it will enhance the meal experience.
For in-room upgrades, the two of us have long ragged on hotels that overcharge for bottled water. One thing we are entirely sure of: single-use plastic bottles are a dinosaur and they simply must go, both for the hormone disruption reason as well as to appease climatarians.
Now let’s say you instead source a high-end bottled water supplier that uses either hard plastic or aluminum in a graphically pleasing manner; this can help to justify the price tag of what we would consider overcharging the guest. Moreover, a mineral water selection could be part of the new minibar stock as you rethink this oft-staid amenity.
And while thinking about water bottles, you can also consider these as a branded souvenir – a nice gesture for guest satisfaction but also one that will help with ‘social proofing’ due to its utility outside of the household. Common on cruise ships nowadays is to provide each cabin with a metal refillable water bottle then have pure water pump stations all over the boat (caveat: this may not be as practical for hotels that deal with a much more transient guest).
Such initiatives are obviously not for every hotel organization, but we are witnessing a continual climb in wellness-driven guests for which these sorts of health-boosting amenities are meaningful, both in their brand selection and for generating ancillary spend.
So, perhaps you test the waters (apologies, these water puns just flow) by carving out a new ‘wellness room’ category after renovating a single floor, installing vitamin C shower filters and a reverse osmosis tap with an aluminum bottle next to it for refilling, alongside other upgrades like smart lighting, HEPA air filters and exercise equipment.
Then taking the long view on ESG, we know that environmentalism will become increasingly important for guests (especially from the younger generations) while governments will simultaneously be ramping up bylaws. Together, this means there is a clear and present case for conducting a study on the cost and breakeven point of installing new water-saving or water-recycling systems. Much like how you can market purified water to guests, we would argue that right now sustainability can also be leveraged as a marketing tool to garner the advocacy of these customer mindsets and to drive rate.
The overall message here is that water is no longer just water. It can be ‘amenitized’ for marketing cachet and added perceived value.
To end, here are some near-future types of water to Wikipedia if you feel so inclined to get a physics lesson with a potential ROI for your hotel:
- Piezoelectric (EZ) or structured water
- Deuterium-depleted water (DDW) or light water
- Hydrogen gas-infused water (hydrogen water)
