Put yourself in a guest’s shoes whose coming back to the guestroom after a long day. All you want to do is relax. One of the most rewarding ways to do that is to curl up in bed and read a good book.
Bedside Reading, founded by former movie and TV producer Jane Ubell-Meyer, has brought books to the guestroom nightstand of luxury hotels with a digital platform that provides access to e-books, audiobooks and podcasts at guests’ fingertips.
The Bedside Reading story began in 2017 when Ubell-Meyer visited a New York hotel with her husband, who was doing business at the property. “We started placing books at the hotel, and it snowballed from there,” she said.
Initially, the company placed physical books in the guestrooms, but that has evolved into a digital platform that can be accessed on mobile devices.
“In 2020, when COVID hit and hotels were closing, we created a digital platform, and we now have almost 80 books from every genre—from thrillers and wellness to memoirs and children’s books—in our clients’ hotels,” she explained. “It seemed to me the hotels really don’t want to burden the housekeepers with books, and it goes along with their initiatives on taking care of the planet.”
Hotels are charged $299 a month for the service, and Bedside Reading provides the properties with elegantly designed bookmarks containing a QR code guests can scan to view the platform. The books are available on property, and guests will still have access to them when they leave the hotel.
So, what do the hotels get out of it? She explained, “We have found that when you read a book, you remember where you read it. So when the guests take home the bookmark, it serves as a reminder of their great experience at the hotel.” That could lead to positive reviews.
They also get PR through Ubell-Meyer’s contributions to several magazines.
“When I contribute, I write, ‘Here’s what they’re reading at the Kimpton Rowan in Palm Springs’ or ‘Here’s what they’re reading at the Waldorf Astoria Monarch Beach,’” she said. “They also get to gift about $500 worth of e-books and audiobooks to every guest, and it’s not costing them $500 per person.”
Physical books are still available at some of Beside Reading’s client hotels—at their pool area or VIP suites.
“We’re also doing events with authors at the pools and at the hotels,” she said. “Every year at the Kimpton Rowan Palm Springs, we have three authors do a cocktail event. We also bring in a local bookseller, so it becomes more of a community event. A lot of hotels offer a wellness program, so we also offer meditations for sleeping and relaxing.”
The books come from traditional and hybrid publishers, as well as indie publishers and the authors themselves.
“I had a call recently with a very well-known author named J.D. Barker, who is with Simon & Schuster,” noted Ubell-Meyer. “We’re putting two of his books in all of the hotels in the Hamptons and 10-plus properties with our hotel partners.”
Authors who wish to be on the platform can apply on the Bedside Reading website, but their books go through a vetting process.
“I’m really strict about the book cover and about the content,” she said. “We do not allow highly sexual content, religious content or political content because we don’t want to offend anybody.”
The Bedside Reading platform serves more than two million rooms annually. Besides the aforementioned Kimpton Rowan and Waldorf Astoria Monarch Beach, bookmarks can be found at The Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC; the Conrad New York Downtown; the Kimpton Hotel Palomar Philadelphia; The Benjamin in New York; the Bardessono Hotel and Spa in Yountville, CA; and the Acqualina Resort in Sunny Isles Beach, FL, among others.
“We just started working with The Marker Union Square San Francisco, and we just signed the Andaz Miami Beach,” she said.
