Today we’d like to introduce you to Heather Bryan.
Heather, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
My journey has always centered around creating meaningful experiences. Early in my career, I spent years traveling the world as an on site engraver for professional sporting events, including PGA Tour tournaments, where I learned that personalization has the power to turn an ordinary item into something people genuinely treasure. That experience shaped the way I think about products, hospitality, and lasting memories.
I founded Jupiter & Company to bring that same philosophy to luxury hospitality. We began by helping hotels, clubs, and resorts create personalized gifts and engraving programs that elevated the guest experience. As we worked with more properties around the world, I kept noticing the same missed opportunity. Every guest received a single-use, disposable plastic keycard, even though it was one of the very first touchpoints of their stay. It seemed completely at odds with the thoughtful experiences hotels were working so hard to create.
That realization led to the development of KeyGift, a reusable leather RFID room key that works with existing hotel lock systems. Instead of handing guests something designed to be discarded, hotels can now offer a beautifully branded keepsake that guests actually want to keep. It enhances the arrival experience, strengthens brand loyalty, and supports sustainability without requiring hotels to change their existing operations.
Today, Jupiter & Company has grown into three complementary solutions: KeyGift, Gifting by Jupiter, and Engraving by Jupiter. Together, we help hospitality brands create memorable guest experiences while simplifying operations and reducing unnecessary waste. We are also proud to be a signatory of the Global Tourism Plastics Initiative under the United Nations Environment Programme, which aligns with our mission to help the hospitality industry transition away from single use plastics through practical, guest focused innovation.
Looking back, every step of my journey has built toward the same purpose. I believe the smallest details often leave the biggest impressions, and when you combine thoughtful design with genuine hospitality, you create experiences that guests remember long after they check out.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Absolutely not, but I’ve learned that challenges are simply part of creating something new. When you’re introducing an industry change instead of another product, you’re asking people to think differently, and that takes time.
There have been technical hurdles, manufacturing refinements, moments when we needed to rethink our approach, and times when the market wasn’t quite ready for the vision. What I’ve found is that every rough patch eventually became smooth. As soon as one challenge was solved, another opportunity to improve appeared. Rather than seeing those moments as setbacks, I’ve come to expect them. They have made KeyGift and Jupiter & Company stronger, more practical, and better aligned with what the hospitality industry truly needs.
I often say we’ve been “secretly successful.” Much of our biggest work has happened behind the scenes through years of testing, listening, refining, and building relationships before sharing it with the broader market. That foundation has given us the confidence that we’re not just launching a product. We’re helping lead a meaningful shift in how hospitality thinks about guest experience and sustainability.
Innovation isn’t a straight road. It’s a series of adjustments, learning moments, and improvements. If you’re truly changing an industry, there will always be another speed bump. The important part is continuing to move forward with purpose.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
For more than 25 years, I’ve worked alongside the hospitality industry creating personalized guest experiences through gifting and engraving. That journey gave me a unique perspective because I wasn’t just supplying products. I was watching how guests interacted with them and what truly created lasting memories.
Everything changed when I learned that billions of plastic hotel keycards are discarded every year, many ending up in landfills and our oceans. My first thought wasn’t just about the plastic keycard. It was also about the disposable paper room ID sleeve that accompanies it. I realized there wasn’t just a product to redesign. There was an opportunity to rethink an entire industry standard.
That realization became KeyGift.
I designed KeyGift as a reusable leather RFID room key that works with a hotel’s existing lock system, paired with a reusable room ID pouch. Together, they provide a practical solution that enhances the guest experience while helping properties transition away from single use plastics without changing their front desk operations.
From the beginning, my vision was never to build another hospitality product. My goal was to create a program that could inspire a global industry shift. Real change doesn’t happen because one company has a good idea. It happens when hotels, travelers, suppliers, and industry organizations come together with a shared purpose.
That is why our partnerships mean so much. As a proud signatory of the Global Tourism Plastics Initiative under the United Nations Environment Programme, an official supplier with Forbes Travel Guide’s Astria platform, and a Beyond Green Alliance Partner, we’re collaborating with organizations that believe luxury hospitality and sustainability should move forward together.
My hope is simple. One day, travelers will arrive at their favorite hotel carrying their own KeyGift, have it coded for their stay, and continue using it throughout their travels and life. If we can make that the new standard, we’ve not only improved the guest journey, we’ve helped create one of the hospitality industry’s most meaningful sustainability movements.
Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
I’ve never thought of myself as someone who takes risks just for the sake of taking them. I believe in taking calculated risks when you genuinely believe you can make something better.
Early in my career, I invented the Jupiter Engraving Station because I saw a need for a cleaner, quieter, and more efficient way to personalize products in front of guests. No one asked me to make it more sustainable, and there were certainly easier and less expensive ways to build it. But we chose better materials, better engineering, and designed it to last because that aligned with our values. We made those choices because it was the right thing to do, not because anyone required it.
The biggest risk, however, has been KeyGift.
Changing a product is one thing. Changing a habit that has existed in hospitality for more than 50 years is something entirely different. When you’re asking an industry to rethink something as common as a hotel room key, you have to be patient, resilient, and willing to adapt. There have been countless moments where we’ve refined the design, adjusted the program, listened to hotel partners, and continued improving the solution. I don’t see those moments as setbacks. They’re part of building something that can truly scale.
For me, risk isn’t about betting on an idea. It’s about believing in a purpose strongly enough to keep moving forward while remaining open to learning, pivoting, and improving along the way.
If we’re going to solve global challenges like reducing single use plastics in hospitality, we have to be brave enough to challenge long standing traditions. Real industry change doesn’t happen overnight. It happens because people are willing to ask better questions, make better choices, and keep moving forward even when the path isn’t fully defined.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.keygift.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heather-bryan-jupiterandcompany/
