How a Free Cookie Became This Hotel Brand’s Most Valuable Asset
DoubleTree’s 700-plus hotels hand out more than 20 million chocolate chip cookies a year. The cookie has even been baked in space.
Forty years ago, a DoubleTree by Hilton executive bit into a chocolate chip cookie from a small bakery in Laguna Beach, California, and decided his hotel chain needed to offer all guests one of its own — for free. That decision became one of the most successful pieces of marketing in hospitality history. DoubleTree’s 700-plus hotels now serve more than 20 million complimentary, freshly-baked cookies a year, according to the . The treat has become such a celebrity that it was sent to the International Space Station in 2019 as the first food ever baked in orbit.
DoubleTree’s global brand leader says the chocolate chip cookie is now something travelers expect, no matter where in the world they’re staying. Removing it would cost the company more in backlash from guests and employees than the cookies themselves cost to make. “It’s that important to them,” he told .
In the travel industry that has begun cutting free perks, DoubleTree has gone all in on one, and has no plans to ever charge for it.
Forty years ago, a DoubleTree by Hilton executive bit into a chocolate chip cookie from a small bakery in Laguna Beach, California, and decided his hotel chain needed to offer all guests one of its own — for free. That decision became one of the most successful pieces of marketing in hospitality history. DoubleTree’s 700-plus hotels now serve more than 20 million complimentary, freshly-baked cookies a year, according to the . The treat has become such a celebrity that it was sent to the International Space Station in 2019 as the first food ever baked in orbit.
DoubleTree’s global brand leader says the chocolate chip cookie is now something travelers expect, no matter where in the world they’re staying. Removing it would cost the company more in backlash from guests and employees than the cookies themselves cost to make. “It’s that important to them,” he told .
In the travel industry that has begun cutting free perks, DoubleTree has gone all in on one, and has no plans to ever charge for it.
