New eCommerce platform announces globally renowned bed manufacturer as first exclusive brand partner
A new eCommerce platform that enables guests to buy the products they encounter while staying in UK hotels and resorts has announced its first exclusive brand partner – a British heritage, family-owned bed manufacturer.
‘LiBi’, which stands for ‘Love it, Buy It’, is marking a travel industry first by partnering consumer lifestyle brands with a network of hospitality venues to allow guests to buy products they encounter at the click of a button – with Hypnos Contract Beds being announced as its first brand partner.
Through QR code access, guests who have had a great night’s sleep on one of the sustainable brand’s beds will be able to purchase it by simply scanning the corresponding code – allowing hotels to earn incremental income with every transaction.
The new partnership marks a major milestone for LiBi, which launched last month, and serves to add extra value for hotels and their guests who use Hypnos Contract Beds by blending rich and immersive product experiences with instant retail reality – tapping into the holiday mindset in an environment where guests have the ‘me time’ space to embrace a new shopping occasion.
A globally renowned brand with over 100 years’ experience in designing and manufacturing beds, Hypnos Contract Beds prides itself on knowing how to provide a good night’s sleep. Holding a Royal Warrant, the family-run company is passionate about working with the finest natural and sustainable materials to handcraft stylish beds and comfortable mattresses that help enhance people’s health and wellbeing.
Hypnos Contract Beds is the first UK bed manufacturer to become carbon neutral, an accolade achieved over a decade ago. The company, which holds a Queen’s Award for both Enterprise for Sustainable Development (2020) and Enterprise for International
Trade (2017), recently launched its new Hospitality Origins Collection, presenting a new era in delivering sustainable sleep solutions for the hospitality sector.
Commenting on the new partnership, LiBi co-founder, Suzanne Mahoney, said: “Bringing Hypnos Contract Beds on board as a headline partner is the perfect start, as all hotel experiences that deliver a great night’s sleep get you wondering the next morning about your own bed, and why it isn’t as good! My experience is absolutely like that for beds, but for so many other parts of a hotel stay too, which is why our business springs from that customer journey curiosity of what runs through the mind during almost each and every stay. It’s exciting that we can now solve that problem for guests in the sleep space with this winning partnership.”
Carolyn Mitchell, Sales and Marketing Director at Hypnos Contract Beds, said: “We wanted to make it easy and convenient for hotel guests to take their bed and sleep experience home with them and were impressed by LiBi’s vision, passion and energy.
“A digital-first route is the way forward, providing quick and easy access to information and products. Therefore, the partnership is a great opportunity to open a new channel to the consumer market, capitalising on thousands of hotel bedrooms that are ‘showrooms’, where comfort and sleep testing can be experienced in private. Ultimately, guests will be able to take a part of the hotel experience home, reinforcing memories and loyalty. This plays to our values, as being a family-owned business, we believe it is essential to leave a lasting legacy for future generations – inspiring people to sleep sustainably, creating comfort with integrity.”
LiBi’s eCommerce platform will allow every hotel partner to benefit from its own bespoke page that functions as a virtual boutique for all shoppable items. The commercial transactions flow through LiBi’s drop-ship home delivery model, meaning hotels and resorts won’t need to hold any inventory – the items will be delivered directly to the guests’ home without any requirements from the hospitality venue.
The company’s ambition is to collaborate with a range of boutique hotels and holiday resorts in early 2022 to bring a wide range of categories and luxury brands to guests.
Suzanne concluded: “We see the future retail differently, where quality purchases and brand relationships of choice are forged with thought and meaning behind them. Hotel partners will gain incremental revenue through commission on every sale, with no additional workloads for staff and teams. Furthermore, LiBi data, gathered across our partner estate, will provide regular insight into how, where and when guests like to buy, across a range of national brands, local brands and brands with purpose – such as Hypnos Contract Beds.”