A next-level event doesn't have to break your budget

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Hi there!

This past week, I’ve been having a lot of conversations with clients that need help with creating VIP experiences on tighter budgets. Sound familiar? 


Lucky for you, I’m going to share some strategies for “smart luxury” with you in this week’s gems so you can create more of those win-win premium experiences while keeping you on-budget and driving the results you want! 

But first…I love this quote:


“Luxury means just giving more; hospitality means being more thoughtful”.

Take a minute to let that sink in. 

What does that mean? 

Example #1:

  • Rather than spending $100 more on caviar for every attendee (p.s. Not everyone even likes caviar), investing in an “event concierge” who will sending a personalized email to every attendee before a special dinner to ask them if they have any special requests, dietary restrictions and also share with them who they can expect to meet at the event, what the format is, and how much you’re looking forward to making personalized intros to them. 

  • Why does this work? If you take the time to invest in getting to know your attendees and showing you’re invested in their personal experience, they are

    1) more likely to show up
    2) be engaged
    3) remember you
    4) take the action you want them to take after the event…especially if you follow up with a personalized note afterwards!

Example 2:

  • Rather than providing fancy but generic gifts for VIP attendees, do a little time “researching” them and their hobbies, families, passions, and personalize a welcome amenity to set the tone for the event.

    For example: I once bought out the W Hotel in San Francisco for an event at Google, and they sent up a “blind tasting” wine experience to my room when I arrived since I had recently passed the Court Master Sommelier exam.

    They had researched that about me. It was so fun to not feel rushed/stressed when I checked in before the big event, but to have a playful moment where I got to taste wine and guess what they had selected for me (it was a Robert Sinsky pinot gris and yes, I still remember 10 years later because it was so personalized and unique!)

  • Why does this work? That bottle of wine cost them roughly $30, but the thoughtfulness that they put into covering the bottle, printing out a blind tasting test from the Court master sommelier site, and delivering it with some nuts/olives and a fun note made such an impact on me, I’ve shared this story so many times!

    They could have instead sent up a $150 bottle of champagne, but I probably wouldn’t have opened it and also probably wouldn’t have remembered it from all the other bottles of champagne I’ve received. Fancier isn’t always better and thoughtfulness counts!

Example 3:

  • Invest in people and training vs “stuff”.

    When you go to a fine dining restaurant, they will sometimes research every guest in advance so they can address you by name as you enter the restaurant, have some knowledge about you, and customize the menu to meet your needs.

    At Eleven Madison Park restaurant, the staff was trained to listen in to their guests and if they mentioned something like “gosh, I have had such a great experience in New York, but I never got a chance to try a hot dog”, they had a staff on hand who would go buy a hot dog and present it (plated up nicely) as a surprise and delight to the guests.

    This hot dog only costs them $5 but you can be sure they felt it was magical and special because the restaurant was listening and cared about hospitality and providing the most top notch service.

    Similarly, I was once managing a Google Executive event where we weren’t serving soda in cans to be more sustainable, but I noticed in our event app’s chat one attendee was complaining that he was really craving his afternoon Diet Coke fix. So I went to the nearest vending machine on campus, and bought a diet coke to hand deliver to him with some help from ID’ing him from my Sales leads.

  • Why this works: People want to be seen and heard from the time we are children through adulthood.

    That Google client was so surprised and delighted that we had seen his message and then delivered exactly what he was craving in the moment, that he booked a meeting with our SVP afterwards and ended up closing a major deal! Now the coke didn’t cause the deal to close, but it sure made him stick around the event and had we not gotten him that coke, who knows, he might have left, or at least not have been a happy guest. 

So you see…hospitality is about making your guests comfortable, it’s about anticipating their needs, or listening to them and then delivering a personalized and delightful experience.

It can involve luxurious treats, but doesn’t need to.
All it takes is time, intentionality and good old fashioned hospitality.


If you need more ideas or help with personalized outreach and “event concierge” service, reach out and I’ll help you make some magic happen: calendly.com/gianna-gaudini.