Ah, the subtle magic of music for hotels, it is like that secret ingredient in grandma’s recipe, the sprig of basil which makes the tomato sauce sing. Now, imagine walking into a hotel lobby deep in winter and getting socked with “Summertime” by Ella Fitzgerald. It’s just wrong, right? It’s like sandals in the snowstorm. When creating the musical atmosphere of a hotel, there is great consideration for the time of year. Music can be that sneaky little vitamin which will make some meh times turn into a blizzard of moments my instore radio.
Hotels are a mixed bag: the businessman, always tethered to his laptop and warm coffee; the honeymoon couple, goo-goo eyes locked on each other. Each faction experiences music differently in their pursuits of relaxation, excitement, or something in between. For a winter soundtrack, brew some cinnamon sounds of holiday classics and jazz tunes. Then, once that calendar flips and spring showers bless us, flip that switch to a spring pastel symphony heaped with blooms and chirps. Summer rolls in on its surfboard. Tunes should feel like a sea breeze. Imagine those reggae beats clinking against ice cubes in a mojito glass. It has to be one of those days when the sun pecks your eyelids and the world melts in slow motion. Keep the rhythms buoyant and perfect for sipping piña coladas by the pool without those catchy tunes that, somehow, set the whole staff into choreographed awkwardness in the limbo.
And the minute the leaves crunch beneath your feet, enter the fall playlist, all rustic and woody, wrapping you in a plaid scarf. A continuation of folk and acoustic numbers, maybe a dash of indie rock-feels just right as pumpkin-spiced lattes do their thing. Hotel guests, swaddled up in oversized, chunky-knit sweaters, need tunes as warm as grandma’s apple pie. Sprinkle in a little something nostalgic, something that nudges that “remember when” button.