NEW RESEARCH
FROM HEGM’S
LATEST CONSUMER
SURVEY REVEALS
THAT 66% OF HOTEL
GUESTS HAVE USED
A DELIVERY SERVICE
TO ORDER FOOD TO
THEIR ROOM”At a glance
The business forum held by HGEM and EP Business in Hospitality
brought some interesting talking points to the fore.- Could delivery brand potentially create their own kitchen
space within a hotel’s premises? - Hotels are taking the deliveries but how can they create
personalised service levels for their customers? - Hotels are creating space in their bar areas for Deliveroo menus
that are serving to increase both bar spend and dwell times. - Will hotels create space in their restaurants for guests to eat
delivered in food products? - Will hotels outsource their restaurants to delivered-in models?
- Hotels can increase their profit lines and reduce cost through
good partnerships with delivery companies. - There was note that with the rise of the gig economy, the
increase in technology and the rise in costs, that alliances with
delivered in food options could be a win-win for all. - The average delivered in service takes 30 minutes and is often
at a better price than room service can offer.
made between 8pm-9pm. Only in the
West End was it after 11pm.
HEGM’s research shows that 71% of
guests aged between 26 and 35 order-
in food while staying in a hotel. This
is due to a combination of personal
preferences, quality and cost, with 48%
of consumers saying they find hotel
food unappealing and 35% arguing that
hotel food is too expensive.
One hotelier already making strides
in this market to embrace the change
in demand is Olivia Byrne, owner of
Eccleston Square Hotel in London.
We caught up with her to discover how
she has cut back on a traditional F&B
service, saving money on recruitment
and time on operations whilst still
delivering a high quality experience.
How does your F&B operation
work?
Eccleston Square Hotel has an in-house
breakfast chef who makes breakfast
dishes daily from 7.30am to 11am and
until 12pm on weekends. We offer a la
carte options as well as a continental
buffet. We are located in Central
London, so there are many incredible
restaurants on our doorstep, we’re very
proud to work with a local restaurant
for lunch, afternoons and evenings –
guests can order from the menu and
dishes are then delivered to our hotel.
During the evenings we also work
with a night service app called Night
Room Service. It delivers great
restaurant food from 5pm until 7am in
the morning, which means we can offer
24/7 room service and lots of options.When did you stop providing a
full-service restaurant?
Recruiting a full time kitchen team is
difficult at the best of times. After Brexit
was announced we noticed it was even
harder to find a chef who would provide
high quality food and with consistency.
One of the advantages of Eccleston Square
Hotel is its Central London location, with
almost endless first-rate dining options in
our neighbourhood – many of our guestswere excited to explore the restaurants
in the city - so we decided that rather
than try to compete against professional
restauranteurs, we would instead keep
our efforts concentrated on being a
great hotel, specifically being mindful of
exacting extremely high levels of service
and room standards.Do you use the likes of Deliveroo
and Uber Eats?
We use a very hotel-friendly service
called Night Room Service; it delivers
great restaurant food during the
evenings. We particularly like it
because guests can choose from very
well-known London restaurants and
some brilliant local restaurants, from
the comfort of their bedroom.Do you miss out on F&B revenue?
We do not miss out on F&B revenue.
By not hiring an expensive, full-time
dedicated kitchen and restaurant team
we have made considerable wage-
savings. There is also a commission
with the food delivery options, enabling
us to cover service costs.Eccleston Square Hotel no longer
offers a traditional F&B service.August 2019 | BOUTIQUE HOTELIER 29KITCHENS INSIGHT