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Chocolates On Your Hotel Pillow? Thank Cary.

The tradition of placing chocolates on hotel pillows started, according to a well-verified urban legend recounted by blogger Gordon Javna, when actor Cary Grant was meeting a female friend in St. Louis at the Mayfair Hotel.

Grant put out a trail of chocolates for his friend, leading from the suite’s sitting room to the pillow in the bedroom. The manager, thinking it a charming gesture, decided to place a chocolate on the pillow for all guests.

The practice was widely copied and today the Mayfair itself, now under the name Magnolia Hotel St. Louis, still places chocolates on all pillows, especially in the 18th floor’s “Cary Grant Suite” where it started.

Hundreds of hotels around the world do the same. Guests appreciate the gesture, even if they don’t eat the chocolate all the time. It’s a fun amenity, it’s not expensive and it’s still something many guests look forward to.

Today the tradition has branched out. Hotels are getting creative with amenities they leave in rooms for guests. They leave anything from famous sleep-themed quotes, at Mandarin Oriental in Bangkok, Thailand, to astronomical charts and a high-powered telescope in each room at the Four Seasons in Scottsdale, Arizona, where the pitch-black night sky allows for stunning stargazing.

You don’t have to be quite that elaborate but you may want to consider some thoughtful, ‘no reason, just because’ amenity to leave in guests’ rooms.

Maybe there are local products that can be offered as in-room gifts. Local producers may often be willing to provide sample-sized amenities at a reasonable price in exchange for branding and maybe a bit of promotion on your property.

But of course, chocolates on the pillow are always a safe and popular choice.