9 Unusual Things You Can Order From Hotel Room Service

Overpriced or not, there are few things that make you feel more pampered during a hotel stay than ordering room service. While any old hotel can send up a plate of pancakes or a burger and fries under a silver domed lid, some hotels are taking the concept of “room service” to new heights by delivering everything from Fender guitars to an oversized Tom Selleck pillow. Here are nine of our favorites.

1. Celebrity Pillows for Cuddling

At Seattle’s Kimpton Palladian Hotel, pillow talk is all the rage. Guests looking to cuddle up with their favorite celebrities at the end of a long day of travel or sightseeing. Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, David Bowie, Elvis Presley and Bill Murray are among the A-listers you can ask to sleep with. (If you’re more into mustaches and a retro ‘80s vibe, Tom Selleck and Chuck Norris are on the menu, too.) And if you grow a little too attached, don’t worry — and definitely don’t try to stick the pillow in your suitcase: the hotel makes them available for purchase, too.

2. Guitars for Rocking Out

Rock stars and hotels have a long and contentious history, but the nhow Berlin is hoping to change that with its music-centric amenities, which include two professional recording studios, a monthly open mic night in the hotel bar (bring your A game if you want to participate), and iPod terminals in the guest rooms. While a half-dozen of the hotel’s junior suites come equipped with a Casio digital piano, there’s also a music room service menu that will let you order up guitars, keyboards, amplifiers, and headphones at no charge. (Don’t forget those headphones: your neighbors will thank you.)

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Hard Rock Hotels live up to their name with their “The Sound of Your Stay” program, which allows guests to turn their hotel rooms into personalized recording studios by simply reserving one of 20 Fender guitars, which will be delivered to your room with headphones and a floor amplifier. For newbies, in-room video tutorials will teach you how to move beyond simple strumming.

3. Complimentary Nightcaps

The Bedtime Butler might just be the most popular employee at Portland, Oregon’s Kimpton RiverPlace Hotel — and with good reason. Four to five nights each week, the butler (and his or her cart) surprises guests with a knock on the door and the opportunity to indulge in all sorts of p.m. treats, including complimentary nightcaps made with local bourbons, a selection of books to help lull you to sleep and hot cocoa and cookies for the kids (or the young at heart). But there’s a small catch: you can’t pick up the phone and ask for the service — you need to be in the right place, at the right time. Which is reason enough to say “cheers!”

4. Personal Bartenders for Custom Cocktails

Craving a cocktail? While it would be easy enough for guests of California’s Cavallo Point, overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge in Sausalito, to make their way over to the lodge’s Murray Circle restaurant or Farley Bar, why bother? A simple call down to room service can have a personal bartender in your room, ready to craft a cocktail to your very demanding specifications — shaken or stirred.

5. Weber Grills for Impromptu Barbecues

It’s the goal of most hotels to feel like a home away from home — particularly a hotel that specializes in extended-stay accommodations. TownePlace Suites, Marriott’s all-suite chain that caters to business travelers, understands this and knows that few things feel more “homey” than cooking up some burgers and dogs on the grill (even if it’s a borrowed one). That’s why Weber grills are just one of the many just-like-home items you'll find waiting for you to fire up — same goes for those ever-important grilling utensils (though you'll have to venture outside your room, to the official area where they're stationed, to get to 'em. Safety first!).

6. IV Infusion Therapies to Revive Your System

To call the HGU New York a wellness-focused hotel would be a major understatement — wellness-obsessed would be much more accurate. For proof, look no further than the property’s partnership with REVIV, one of the world’s leading wellness centers, which will deliver any one of its range of IV infusion therapies right to your room to fix what ails you, whether it’s jet lag or a hangover.

7. Make-You-Own Ice Cream Sundae Bar

If you’re traveling with kids, it’s important to keep them entertained. And that’s where the Four Seasons Chicago’s Ice Cream Man comes in. Kids (and, well, you) will hardly be able to contain themselves when the hotel’s Ice Cream Man arrives, with cart in tow, ready to let young guests concoct a sundae with all the toppings they can handle.

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8. 24-Scoop Sundae for You and 11 Friends

When it comes to ice cream, kids aren’t the only ones who get to have all the fun. At the Hotel Victor in South Beach, guests can order up a 24-scoop sundae, a.k.a. the King Kong Sundae, from the onsite (and pretty famous) outpost of Sugar Factory, a sweets-loving brasserie. Though it’s priced at a hefty $99, it easily serves 12 (or fewer — it’s your vacation, so it’s up to you) and is topped with hot fudge, caramel, strawberry sauce, bananas, toasted marshmallows, Reese’s Pieces, chocolate chip cookies, crushed waffle cones, gummi bears, white chocolate strawberry shavings, toasted walnuts, and whipped cream — all of that topped with a couple of gigantic lollipops and sparklers.

9. Traditional Luau — With Entertainment

Sure it may seem cliché, but a visit to Hawaii just isn’t quite complete without partaking in a luau. Fortunately for guests of the Four Seasons Resort Maui, they don’t even have to leave their room to experience one. For $180, you can order up a luau for two on the lanai, complete with a fresh Mai Tai, a selection of poke, poi, coconut haupia, and a bevy of local delicacies. Staying in a larger suite? If there’s enough room to fit some dancers and singers, you can order up some entertainment at the same time. (Just don’t expect any of those pyrotechnic tricks).

Photo by Colin Anderson/Getty Images