What Music Is Best For Hotel Lobbies

When it comes to a hotel lobby set-up, the right ambiance is everything. From furniture placement to lighting and even music, every element in a hotel lobby will determine a customer’s experience the moment they walk in the door.

Although every component of a hotel lobby plays a significant role in the “mood”, music undoubtedly remains one of the most critical determinant factors.

The music you play in your hotel lobby can make or break the feeling the environment evolves. To ensure your environment resonates with your guests, you must choose the best type of music. Don't know where to begin? We have highlighted the best types of music to play in a hotel lobby.

Setting The Mood In The Lobby

The hotel lobby is the epicenter of any hotel establishment. It is the first place a hotel guest’s experience begins as they check into a room in your hotel and the last place they come in contact with your services as they check out of the building.

The hotel lobby, for many hotels, is where a guest’s check-in processes begin, where guests of clients are welcome to wait before they are ushered to the corresponding rooms, where staff and concierge engage guests as a part of their duties.

Essentially, the hotel lobby is the location of a guest’s genuine first impression and experience of that hotel. In the hospitality business, the first impression is a crucial factor that either tips the scale in favor or against your services.

The first impression often determines a guest’s customer satisfaction, telling them what they need to know about your hotel before they even sample your other services. For this reason, a hotel’s lobby needs to offer maximum comfort and satisfaction that sets them apart from the competition.

The hotel lobby should be both functional and aesthetic, clean, orderly, and, of course, extremely comfortable. A hotel lobby doesn’t have to be sophisticated with state-of-the-art furniture and ornate antique items (although that works wonders for the ambiance in deluxe luxury hotels).

What you need your hotel to do is an appeal to your clients while also clearly communicating your brand image. Sometimes, not even the most expensive furniture can do this.

So, what do you use instead? Music.

It is no news that music exerts a powerful influence on our thoughts, actions, and mood. Music can make us feel rejuvenated, change how we feel or act, and even release core memories from the deepest parts of our minds.

For years, businesses worldwide have been taking advantage of music's powerful influence over people. A lot of research proved that music in a business establishment, when used correctly, can positively affect shoppers’ purchasing decisions, making the shop more, or in some cases, shop faster.

The impact of music on a customer’s behavior remains evident, and many industries, one of which is the hospitality industry, are integrating this powerful tool into their operations. One such implementation is background music in the hotel lobby.

Although music is now widely used in hotel lobbies, does it belong there? And if it does, what benefit does it yield other than being background noise?

Benefits of Music In A Hotel Lobby

Have you ever walked into a silent lobby, one that lacked the welcoming embrace of soft music that made you feel instantly at ease? Although this is highly unlikely because hotels have since integrated music in their lobby, it is still an uncomfortable scene to imagine.

Background music in a hotel lobby is crucial for many reasons besides the fact that it serves as excellent background noise. Discussing in a hotel lobby without music to act as a buffering system will sound like you are talking right into a megaphone, and every other guest and staff can hear you.

However, soundproofing is not the only reason you should play music in your hotel lobby. There are many benefits your hotel establishment gains when you choose to play music in the lobby. Some of these include:

1. Communicate Brand Identity

Are you a laid-back hotel, or are you a hip and fun one? Although there are various elements you can use to communicate your brand identity to your customers, music is undoubtedly a critical element that will communicate your brand image to your guests.

Your hotel’s brand identity is how you portray your establishment to guests who visit. This is usually depicted with trademarks, but the right song enhances your brand image.

This not only captures your viewers’ attention but also encourages brand differentiation, ensuring that your guests associate those types of music in your lobby with your brand image.

2. Control Emotions

How do you want your guests to feel walking into your hotel lobby? Do you want them to feel welcomed and at ease? Do you want them to feel euphoric? Or will you rather they feel sophisticated?

Years of research have repeatedly proven that music evokes emotions. Playing music in your hotel lobby doesn't mean you own a remote control with which you can press a button to shift your guests’ moods.

The changes in a person’s mood in a hotel lobby that plays music might be subtle, but this change can make every difference in the average customer experience and satisfaction.

If you want to offer the ultimate customer experience starting from your lobby, playing the correct type of music is an excellent way to begin.

3. Welcome Guests

Good music is an excellent way to roll out the welcome mat to your guests. It is the cherry on top of an already great ambiance that will help your guests feel safe, secure, and seen. If you want your guests to feel at home the moment they step into your hotel lobby, you must have the right music to welcome them and make them feel doted on.

4. Offer An Excellent Guest Experience

It doesn't matter how excellent the quality of your services is, without good music in your hotel lobby, your hotel is incomplete and offers a terrible customer experience.

Excellent guest experience means you end up with clients that are more than happy to be loyal to your establishment. These guests have tasted a quality hotel experience right from the lobby, and there is no leaving your hotel for another hotel because you provided just what they needed.

Types of Music For Hotel Lobbies

The right type of music relays your brand identity and differentiates you from other brands while engaging your clientele and helping them feel welcome. Music adds value to any customer experience, but it remains essential to choose the right type of music.

There are different types of music genres, and each genre communicates different emotions. These emotions determine the customer experience and affect their satisfaction with your hotel. This is why choosing the wrong genre for the wrong ambiance and hotel theme can lead to an unsatisfactory customer experience.

It is important to note that there is no right or wrong music. However, your chosen music should fit your hotel ambiance like a glove. Music and style compatibility is essential and should remain a vital factor when selecting hotel lobby music. First impressions matter, and the right song might be what determines your client rating.

Some music genres you can play in your hotel lobby include:

1. Jazz

Jazz music is and always has been a hotel lobby favorite. This is unsurprising, especially because smooth jazz music plays a mellow and relaxing ambiance. However, several variations of jazz music also offer a more upbeat and livelier mood that your hotel guests will undoubtedly enjoy.

Jazz is a music genre for all age groups. Although younger guests may be familiar with the more contemporary kind of music, jazz is one of those music genres that everyone loves because it never goes out of style.

Other than its mood-lifting properties and the classic style ambiance, listening to jazz music also offers excellent mental relief benefits that will help your guests feel good.

In a report following the study of the effects of jazz on postoperative pain and stress in patients undergoing elective hysterectomy, scientists found that playing jazz promoted relaxation and improved patient satisfaction.

Jazz music positively stimulates the brain for increased creativity, improved memory, and a better mood. It isn't just an instant mood lifter but has also been proven to affect blood pressure positively.

Jazz music should be a top choice if you want music for slow times and mornings in the lobby of a classic hotel.

2. Classical

Nothing says opulence and luxury like classical music. As a result, classical music is a favorite among expensive and luxurious hotels. Classical music can instantly make any ambiance seem more luxurious than it already is.

This is probably because classical music was reserved for the wealthy in the past, thereby laying a foundation that attributed the genre to anything luxurious.

A study by Areni and Kim in 1993 showed that playing classical music versus Top 40 music at a wine store increases sales and leads customers to buy more expensive merchandise. This, amongst others, was instant proof that classical music can create an ambiance of affluence.

Classical music offers a relaxed and calming mood, rid of nervousness or jitters. Many studies attribute this calming effect to the release of the body’s natural chemical called dopamine in the listeners.

Classical music is simple yet harmonious and embellished with melodies. It is a music genre that emphasizes beauty, elegance, and emotions. These features make it a perfect match for lobbies of expensive and deluxe hotels. After all, extravagant music is fit for a grand location.

From Mozart to Beethoven, Bach, and Chopin, the correct type of classical music makes great hotel lobby music when played in the right place with a suitable theme and ambiance.

3. Pop

Pop music is an excellent genre for resort and lively hotels that attract many young guests. The upbeat tempo offers an instant mood boost that reduces stress and induces happiness.

As with other genres, there are different types of pop music. From soft pop to dream pop, sophisti-pop, and bubblegum pop, you can have fun finding a rhythm in pop genres to discover which type of pop works for your ambiance.

4. Reggae

Reggae is the sound of a tropical vacation. A perfect blend of elements from other genres like R&B, jazz, and Latin American music, Reggae is a music genre that is both light and intense.

Reggae music is both uplifting and mellow. It communicates a wide range of emotions ranging from happiness to calmness, a willingness to move to the rhythm, and an exotic feeling that lasts as long as the music plays.

Reggae can make listeners feel calm, outgoing, creative, and at ease. It is indeed versatile music of the soul. Although any hotel lobby can enjoy reggae music, it is an instant bonus point if you are a resort or vacation hotel.

5. Nature Music

If your hotel is a modern get-away location that focuses on sustainability, among many other factors, your lobby will benefit from playing nature music.

Nature music combines environmental sounds like the wind whistling, raindrops falling, birds singing, or waves crashing. These sounds are relaxing and help listeners remain grounded in nature.

Tips When Playing Hotel Lobby Music

Choosing the right music can be tricky. To help you navigate this problem, we have offered a few tips for you to work with. Ensure the music you choose works with your ambiance and style. Not doing so will cause a clash that will leave a bad taste in your guests’ mouths.

Select music for the rhythm and part of the day. Minor adjustments in the type of music played at various times of the day can make all the difference in setting the right ambiance in the lobby.

Don't stick to one genre just because it seems like a perfect match for your hotel lobby’s aesthetics. Explore equally excellent options. Match your music to the heartbeat of the lobby.

A great way to do this is to choose a mellower song for slow hours and a more upbeat sound for when the lobby seems more awake. Whatever you do, don't choose silence. Invest in a high-quality sound system.

Explore Sounds With Loop TV

Choosing the right music for your hotel lobby is important but choosing the right source is just as essential

Loop TV offers hotels an extensive library of well-curated music to help them set the mood. From rock to pop, country, classic, and rock, Loop TV provides hundreds of musical channels to keep your guests entertained.

And they do it all for free!

Take advantage of Loop TV’s free music channels and customize your very own hotel lobby playlists. You can also use the scheduling feature to automatically cycle your preferred playlists at different times of the day.

Loop TV is a free business entertainment and digital signage TV that offers more than 145 entertainment channels to help businesses keep clients engaged.

This business TV also provides free digital signage features to enable hotels to customize digital signs to communicate with guests and increase the average guest experience.

With Loop TV, you do not have to worry about not having the right music. With Loop TV, you can enjoy a world of musical opportunities.