Photo: HomeGoods
HomeGoods is booking showroom weekend getaways for $29.99 a night
HomeGoods last week introduced House of HomeGoods, offering customers a chance to book a weekend stay at a two-bedroom Hudson Valley, NY, home for $29.99 a night.
The home will be available to rent over four weekends in October and November, with each weekend featuring an “unexpected and unique” home décor theme.
The weekend themes and descriptions include:
- Find Creativity (October 21–23): “Imaginations will run wild in this boldly colorful oasis with exciting finds to discover behind every door, sparking endless inspiration.”
- Find Festivity (October 28 – 30): “An autumnal affair enveloped in crisp colors, reminiscent of beloved foliage and cozy fall comforts to awaken senses and spark festivity.”
- Find Adventure (November 4 – 6): “Nature-inspired haven overflowing with layers of warm patterns and textures that embrace the outdoors, wanderlust, and its Hudson Valley, NY location.”
- Find Charm (November 11– 13): “Charming countryside escape like a rural European town, ready to explore somewhere new and far away.”
Guests are also able to “take home a selection of their favorite finds to reimagine their own spaces.”
The retailer made the four weekend stays available to book at HomeGoods.com/HouseofHomeGoods from Wednesday through Saturday last week at noon EDT, and all slots were quickly taken.
HomeGoods, owned by TJX Cos., likened the different theme each weekend to the chain’s in-store treasure hunt experience. “We’re excited to offer consumers this bookable getaway that transforms with each stay to create a truly unique experience for guests, just like shopping at HomeGoods,” Sarah Ajamian, manager of marketing, HomeGoods, said in a statement.
Visitors to The House of HomeGoods microsite can “shop the looks” and click through to view the items displayed in each of the four themed weekend stays.
Many upper-end hotels offer options to purchase their mattresses, bedding, bath robes and towels. Danish housewares brand Vipp has opened five hotels to give consumers “a chance to experience Vipp products in locations out of the ordinary,” but hotels acting as showrooms for brands haven’t become as common as hyped.
In the U.S., West Elm’s bold plans announced in 2016 to open a chain of shoppable boutique hotels never came to fruition, but it has a sales arrangement with Westin Hotels.
- HomeGoods Unveils ‘House of HomeGoods,’ a Unique Bookable Getaway That Completely Transforms for Each Guest Stay – HomeGoods/PRNewswire
- HomeGoods.com/HouseofHomeGoods
- You Can Stay at the ‘House of HomeGoods’ in New York’s Hudson Valley This Fall — but You Have to Book ASAP – Travel + Leisure
- Love Your Hotel Room? Take a Piece of It Home – The New York Times
- Sleep here — then buy our furniture? Why home brands are getting into the hotel business – Business Of Home
- Vipp Hotel
- West Elm to Launch Its Own Boutique Hotels – The Wall Street Journal
- In Copenhagen, Hotel Rooms Worth Traveling For – The New York Times
- ‘Shoppable’ hotels are the design showrooms of the future – Financial Times
- West Elm/Westin Hotels & Resorts
- Gary Friedman on building big, ignoring social media, and RH’s future – Business of Home
Discussion Questions
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: What do you think of HomeGoods’ House of HomeGoods campaign? Why haven’t hotels used as showrooms for brands or retailers become a bigger trend?
Poll
Loading …BrainTrust
Karen S. Herman
CEO and Disruptive Retail Specialist, Gustie Creative LLC
Cathy Hotka
Principal, Cathy Hotka & Associates
The brilliance of House of HomeGoods isn’t just the house and what’s in it, it’s the $29.99 a night. Talk about staying on brand!
What a genius way to generate publicity. Sign me up!
This is such a fun example of experiential retail for consumers. I can certainly understand why all the weekends booked up. I just wonder what the conversion data will look like. Will this actually drive sales on products?
This is a great initiative to drive publicity and draw attention to HomeGoods. The $29.99 per night charge is beyond great value and it chimes with HomeGoods’ price position. However given the low fee this is clearly a one-off marketing initiative and not a serious and sustainable business proposition. There are other retailers that have created permanent holiday rental spaces. Marine Layer is one of them and it has branded spaces in New Orleans, Chicago and Portland which are available on Airbnb.
I absolutely love this idea, and would only suggest they expand it into unique locations that will spur greater viral energy. Brilliant brand marketing!
Wow — so cool, so on-brand, so fun. Who wouldn’t want to partake in this brilliant campaign? I think you’ll see a whole new iteration of these programs take flight.
This is very clever and will be a hit, even if they don’t sell a single piece of furniture. This will earn HomeGoods a lot of positive attention on social media and in the press.
I’d prefer a traveling “House of HomeGoods” experience that upcycles a shipping container and offers greater reach for customers across the U.S. A weekend stay in Hudson Valley is exclusive, but very limited. This experience showcases what HomeGoods wants to promote and not exactly what the guests may want or like. Our research shows that personal discovery, reward, self gifting, value, and want, are the value propositions for the shopper of HomeGoods. A weekend fully immersed in all of HomeGoods’ products may be overwhelming for the guests. It will be interesting to see if this sticks or is a one-off seasonal experiment.
Almost can’t go wrong! Great idea. Great price. And, it’s fun. As to why hotels and retailers haven’t meshed so far, I’d say it’s a problem of clashing cultures and business models.
Everything in a hotel room is interchangeable. Very few rooms are unique. That being said, I am sure if the retailer were to offer the products to the hotels at little or no cost, they would be interested.
On a recent vacation, at a major chain hotel, there was a stand-up sign on the desk that promoted the name-brand sheets and towels and gave information on how they could be bought online. Effective? I don’t know. I don’t remember the brand.
How many homes are available? I don’t see the number of renters changing the value or bottom line of HomeGoods. On the other hand, they will surely increase the number of shoppers who might not otherwise consider HomeGoods an alternative because they are a lower quality retailer.
The photo in the article is appealing and not what I imagine HomeGoods to be.
I love the idea but not many people will have the opportunity to experience it. Yes the publicity is great, but perhaps expanding it to more homes and over more weeks will be the way to generate greater exposure and, ultimately, sales!
This is a clever idea. For it to have significant value, though, they have to broadcast something beyond merely renting to a handful of parties. Can they use this approach to promote in a bigger way? I hope so but believe it will be tricky to find a way which delivers much significance.
“Scalability” is today’s word … or more really the complete lack thereof. A two-bedroom home? As in a single home? Presumably they hope the buzz of this will interest people, but I think the pointlessness of an offer with such a limited reach will quickly become apparent.
There is good intent behind this, but it’s hard to call it much more than fabulous stunt marketing. Consumers are getting an extraordinary getaway and yes, a good experience with HomeGoods merchandise. However, consumers are not going to see this as a shopping excursion vs a rare opportunity experience. And that may end up costing HomeGoods more than this effort is worth.
This reminds me of the “never been done before” campaigns that came from Target in the late ’90s to early 2000s. For example their Bullseye Inn in the Hamptons which also had a “give back to the community” dimension. These clever, experiential ideas expand the “brand-width” and offer lots of social media buzz.
HomeGoods has devised a brilliant idea. The cost of $29.99 a night, though, seems too modest. Therefore, I think they are testing this idea with a pilot. The aesthetics used in the home stay appear really vibrant, this will undoubtedly contribute to making an engaging experience for visitors.