More than chocolates & champagne in a hotel room – what truly makes Valentine’s Day special?

Valentine’s Day is big business for hotels and restaurants. But what really makes the day for guests looking for a romantic break?

Luxury apartment collection The Chester Residence has just been named Tripadvisor’s ‘No1 UK Small Hotel’. Here the team shares some of the more creative experiences they’ve created for their guests:

Valentines Day

• In 2012, all guests staying on Valentine’s Day received a personal poem written by Chester Residence staff
• More than flower petals strewn on the bed, Chester staff wrote ‘Will you marry me’ in rose petals on a guest’s bed, helping the groom-to-be make an impression
• For another proposal, staff sourced  a white navy officer’s uniform at short notice to help recreate the classic scene from Richard Gere movie ‘An Officer and a Gentleman’
• Speaking of re-creation, staff brought a little bit of Paris to Edinburgh for a couple who didn’t have time to fly to France, placing a mini Eiffel Tower and a bicycle in their apartment and also welcoming them with violin music
• When a guest’s favourite restaurant was fully booked, the Chester Residence arranged for a private chef to re-create that restaurant’s dinner menu for the guests in their own apartment giving them the special occasion experience they wanted
• Staff also arranged for a personal Valentine’s Day message to be read out on Radio 2
• For a couple’s wedding, Chester staff arranged for a horse drawn carriage to pick them up when the antique wedding car they had originally booked broke down
• To welcome a couple who had recently been married, staff hired a brass band as a surprise

• To top it all off, The Chester Residence became a wedding venue one day, when staff arranged for a priest  to conduct an impromptu wedding ceremony in the hotel’s garden after the church the couple had planned to be married in caught fire.

This year, the Chester team is looking forward to live up to expectations, especially following their recent Tripadvisor award, making them the UK’s Top Small Hotel 2013.

And whilst the team is focussed on making individual dreams come true, they are offering a Winter Warmer mid-week deal with rooms available from £140 per night, Sunday to Thursday.