I was recently in the Denver, Colorado, area for a week, and I stayed two nights at a Comfort Inn.  When I first arrived and checked in, I was impressed by a basket filled with warm cookies, including the chocolate-chip variety.  That makes a great first impression!  Sadly, the cookies had limited availability at other times, sometimes with no basket there whatsoever.  It appears you just had to be lucky to be there when there were cookies.

I realize having a cookie buffet will result in some customers taking multiple cookies, some even hoarding some for later, but surely the value of positive word-of-mouth (such as this) would be much greater than the cost of a few cookies!  So why don’t more places do this?

Imagine how great the world would be if more places offered warm cookies for free…