TO HOME LIFESTYLING



Trays: a conduit to luxury living





1.13.23



Trays are a luxury hotel staple! One just needs to reminisce on their latest luxury hotel stay to remember the myriad of ways a tray is utilized to improve the guest experience – across hotel areas. Room service trays deliver fabulous food on-demand. Spa trays offer refreshing cucumber-infused face towels. Poolside trays relieve the heat with icy smoothie shots and slope-side resorts often present hot chocolate and warm cookie trays at the bottom of the ski lift. The use of trays is found across luxury hotel life to increase the guest’s ease, wellbeing, and overall luxury experience. Let’s learn from hotels, add a little personal creativity, and discover how we can utilize the tray as a luxury conduit and elevate homelife.





Room Service



Think beyond traditional at-home room service instances that are highlighted in the Hotels to Home lifestyle. Room service can be depended upon to increase convenience and ease across more impromptu living habits too.


“Trays of food quietly delivered before dawn because one needs to eat prior to a flight or bountiful trays laden with goodies to get through late-night study sessions . . . “ – Hotels Home page 79



Remote office



Working from home? Tight on space? Create a mobile desk that keeps you organized (with necessary work items at your fingertips) and helps compartmentalize working hours because the work tray is put away at day’s end.




Tricky Trays



Trays can add frivolity as well as being a practical tool. Have some fun and leave a tray for an unexpecting guest or deserving family member. Refreshing drinks in the shower or a bath salt “buffet” in the bath area make for a nice surprise. Trays laden with festive birthday treats for an on-the-go celebration to an outdoor picnic area, pool deck, or dock.


“Create a theme, add a prize, or deliver a celebratory meal with sparklers.” - Hotels to Home Page 81

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Amuse guests with a parlor trick! Entertain family and friends by placing a hodgepodge of items on the tray, give everyone a quick glance, then quickly cover the tray and see who has the best memory in recalling the random items!


Sleepovers



Parents will appreciate the convenience of staging a tray for sleepover guests. Create the tray in advance and pull it out at any hour. Especially helpful when hosting children that crave munchies in the wee small hours of the night!



Teatime & Cocktails



Why not fashion a tea or cocktail tray and store it for future use? Load these trays with travel favorites and preferred concoctions so you have an elegant presentation within arm’s reach. This type tray’s functionality has dual benefits. It can be easily stored without taking up floorspace or adding an extra housekeeping chore – especially important if living in a smaller space or wanting to limit the upkeep required to display a tidy bar cart.



Interior design



Let’s think beyond the tray’s traditional purpose of storing or carrying items. Beautiful trays can be used in interior design! Create an art installation by mounting one or multiple trays on a wall or across a mantle. Get crafty by decorating less ornate trays in collage fashion and then affix them on a door to personalize bedroom entryways. Change these custom creations out as the years pass (from toddler to young adulthood) or by season and you’ve got keepsakes that can be cherished well into the future.



Gift bag



Move over ordinary gift bag, hello extraordinary gift tray! One fellow traveler shared how they enjoyed finding trays across holiday journeys and then using them to create a gift presentation vessel. This idea gives a unique purpose to souvenir shopping along with providing an elegant means to transport gifts. The lucky recipient receives gifts while the tray also acts as present that can be enjoyed for years to come.



Dorm life



Save on space, declutter shared spaces, and enhance daily rituals. Trays can be stored with bath items enabling counters and showers to be clear after each use. Especially important with multiple users. Load a tray with late night snacks and keep your favorites tucked under the bed for quick retrieval when hunger strikes. Use the tray to frame a message board and hang it on the dorm room or apartment door.



As you review all these tray use suggestions, remember two key points to further appreciate this lifestyle concept. The first is the tray itself. Be on the lookout for a tray you adore to make the moment more pleasing. In true Hotels to Home style, scour markets across your travels or hotel stays and curate trays that are sure to bring happy memories along with providing instant visual gratification. If you cohabitate, personalize trays by household member to celebrate individual preferences.



The second, and perhaps even more important point when using trays at home, remember that they offer mobility! You can roam your home to your favorite area as well as enjoying them both inside and outdoors – much like luxury hotels use trays to extend guest hospitality in varying locations – you choose where to extend your at-home hospitality spirit. Mobility also offers a new layer of homelife wellness! One can further insulate a private moment by landing in a secluded spot or add a dash of allure by moving to, and relishing in, the most beautiful area of the house. Pure at-home joy!



The fun in developing a tray lifestyle within your home is the customization opportunity. The tray itself and how it is utilized can be tailored to your household’s distinct lifestyle desires. Use trays to develop one unique moment in your daily living rituals or define a set of tray traditions that can populate most of your days (and be enjoyed for years to come). Who knew a flat, shallow container with a slightly raised rim could be so meaningful?



Trays, not just for room service anymore!


The Concierge