Hospitality in Words vs. Corporate Beige: What Hotel Newsletters Can Learn from La Rentrée
September in France is called La Rentrée. Schools restart, cafés refill, the city exhales, and there’s this crackle of new beginnings. For hotels, it’s also a fresh notebook moment — but too often their newsletters sound less like fresh ink and more like corporate beige paint drying.
9/19/2025
September in Paris carries that la rentrée energy — the end of summer, the new beginnings, the sharpened pencils and fresh notebooks of adulthood. Hotels feel it too, and their inboxes start to hum. Everyone has the same idea: talk about September. Same idea, very different results.
Okura = Corporate Beige
The Okura Amsterdam newsletter landed in my inbox just as I’d finished writing mine. Perfect timing, I thought. And then — beige. The kind of beige you hear in every lift: generic, forgettable, elevator music. Not terrible, not offensive. Just background noise.
Yes, they’ve got a newsletter. Yes, it probably gets a few “book now” clicks. But it reads like a brochure you could send in spring, summer, or winter with nothing but the date swapped. Swap the logo, and it could be any hotel, anywhere. That’s what I call beige: efficient, safe, invisible.
And here’s the rub: beige makes guests feel unseen. Like sitting at your great-aunt’s birthday table, surrounded by vaguely familiar faces, stuffing cake into your mouth just to feel something. Beige is walking into a spotless lobby that smells faintly of stale conference coffee. Forgettable. Disposable. And who in hospitality can afford to be that?
Hotel Dame des Arts = Cultural Glossy
Then came the Hotel Dame des Arts newsletter — the opposite of beige. So polished, so beautiful, I felt a pang of jealousy.
Dang it, they’re doing it: a glossy magazine straight to your inbox.
But here’s the thing with glossy magazines: you admire them, you flick through them, but you never quite belong to them. You’re an outsider looking in. Pay the price, you’re in for a while — and then you’re out again. Off you go, back to your own world.
And gloss fades. Like Café Costes lounge music — impossibly chic at first, then everywhere, then background noise. The charm doesn’t last.
The newsletters that endure aren’t glossy. They’re the ones you can read again and again, like a favorite book or song. They pull you into a vibe that goes deeper than “nice to have.” They make you feel like an insider, part of the story.
And no, not everyone will feel it. Nor should they. Even the biggest best-selling authors aren’t read by everyone — and they still sell out.
The point isn’t to please every set of eyes on the internet. The point is to please the right ones. Because your hotel isn’t big enough to host the whole world anyway.
La Rentrée = Inbox Hospitality
And then there’s mine. Not beige, not glossy — but something else: a voice. I call it inbox hospitality. Instead of talking at guests, it talks with them. Instead of perfection, it goes for presence. You can read it here.
The difference is emotional. Beige makes you invisible, glossy risks becoming wallpaper. A personal voice, on the other hand, makes guests feel seen. It’s not about writing for everyone — it’s about writing for the right ones.
The Choice
That’s the choice every hotel has. Beige, glossy, or human. Only one of those builds a relationship you’d want to come back to.
So — which one would you rather open in your inbox?
Practical Takeaways for Hotels
Lead with a scene, not a sale. (Start with what September feels like where you are.)
Write in first person. (A GM’s Note that actually feels like a person wrote it.)
Balance content and offers. (90% inspiration, 10% booking CTA.)
Be local, be now. (Your insider tip beats a TripAdvisor list every time.)
Hospitality isn’t about polished marble and hushed corridors; it’s about people, moments, and words that land in the heart. Inboxes don’t need more beige. They need more hospitality.