One of Kansas City’s newest luxury hotels is ringing the service bell on a mid-pandemic professional getaway option, unpacking a plan to fill empty rooms with remote workers looking for a break in their COVID-19-restricted routines.
And maybe a sip or two of a “resurrected” Kansas City bourbon blend.
Hyatt-owned Hotel Kansas City has unveiled its “Work from HKC” initiative — a $99 a day package that includes use of a room and the hotel’s gym, complimentary WiFi, coffee, and access to front desk staff standing in for assistants.
Click here to book a temporary office at Hotel Kansas City.
“People aren’t traveling, people aren’t having meetings and the hotel industry in and of itself has just been kind of dead,” Sarah Beck, director of sales and marketing, said of the problem that inspired the hotel’s attempt to lure in new customers who might be eager to get out of their home office — but still want to play it COVID-safe.
“I know there’s been times where I have multiple conference calls and then my husband has had multiple conference calls — and then we have two kids who think that they should get in a plastic container and try and run down the staircase during those calls,” she laughed.
“We thought it’d be fun to get away and pretend like you’re going to an office — but you don’t have to sign a months-long lease. It’s just there when you need it.”
Click here to learn more about the hotel’s COVID protocols and commitment to guest safety.
Additional amenities awaiting guests at Hotel Kansas City include discounted cocktails and snack plates when the day ends, a nod to the hotel’s former life as the famed Kansas City Club.
“As part of that we’ve created our own bourbon,” she said, noting a partnership with J. Rieger & Co. that saw the collaborators revisit a pre-Prohibition mix of the distillery and the Kansas City Club.
“This is kind of a resurrection of that blend. … We have our own Kansas City Club bourbon that you cannot buy or get anywhere else.”
Guests can have bottles of the bourbon delivered to their room for $30. The same price will allow them to pull an all-nighter and extend their stay.
Beck is eager the effort will increase awareness for the hotel which opened to little fanfare in October.
“We want people to come in and see how beautiful everything is. We’ve all worked very hard to create this luxury, one-of-a-kind hotel and we want our friends, family, and neighbors to be able to come and experience it,” she said.
Hotel Kansas City previously snagged Kansas Citians’ attention with its rooftop snow globe bar earlier this winter.
The hotel plans to do something similar this spring, expected to offer an Easter brunch at its Town Company restaurant — part of a pilot for a larger brunch program, Beck told Startland News.
Click here to make a reservation for Hotel Kansas City’s Easter brunch or at the Town Company restaurant.
“During the week, we’re not very busy at all. But then on the weekends, we are busy. The restaurant is full, the hotel is full, the lobby bar is full,” she said, encouraged by what a world post-pandemic might look like for the historic hotel.
“As hospitality workers, we want to be full. We want people to come and experience our product and this hotel is truly one of a kind for the city.”