High-end hotel restaurants and bars are having a renaissance moment, as hoteliers increasingly view their food-and-beverage offerings as demand drivers for guests and locals.

Variety and options are the key to keep repeat business flowing, and hoteliers are finding new ways to navigate labor and logistics challenges so higher-end food-and-beverage outlets can thrive.

Hari Yoon, vice president of strategic planning at Trinity Investments, said the company views food and beverage not as just another amenity, but as a big driver for attracting guests.

"It's been a huge focus of ours; we understand it's a big differentiator," she said. "It's a huge driver of the final decision. It might not be the first thing that [potential guests] are looking at, but when they're comparing and overall looking at the experience holistically, I think it tips the [scale] in our favor."

Charlotte O’Donahue, director of food and beverage at the Emery, Autograph Collection in Minneapolis, said in an email interview that her property’s food-and-beverage offerings set it apart from other hotels in the surrounding area.

“Dynamic F&B operations infuse energy into the hotel, making it a vibrant and attractive destination,” she said. “They not only enhance the guest experience but also serve as a key differentiator in a competitive market, highlighting our unique offerings and drawing in both locals and travelers.”

Many of Trinity's properties are brand-managed, which brings advantages to the food-and-beverage side of things, Yoon said. Having brands such as Marriott International, Hilton and Hyatt Hotels Corp. attached to a property brings a certain prestige that can attract celebrity chefs to collaborate.

Partnering with outside chefs can also help push brands outside the box to provide a unique food-and-beverage offering.

"It's not a one-size-fits-all approach. Every asset, every location, every hotel is different and unique. The more support we can get, we'll solicit it," Yoon said.

While the restaurants are open to the public and get a great deal of demand outside of hotel guests, the goal is to keep those guests on-property for their meals. In order to do that, hotels must provide many options, Yoon said.

An example of this is Trinity's JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge Resort & Spa, which has two main outlets led by chef Angelo Sosa: Tia Carmen, which features Southwestern cuisine; and Kembara, which features Southeast Asian cuisine. Those are just two out of five food-and-beverage outlets on the property.

Options also must abound for grab-and-go offerings, especially for breakfast items, Yoon said.

"If [guests] stay two to three days, they don't want to go to the same restaurant over and over again," she said.

Jamel Taggart, director of food and beverage at The Crescent Hotel, Fort Worth, said providing guests with flexibility and options is the standard at luxury hotels.

"For us, our guests expect it. They expect to be waited on hand and foot, they expect a great experience and expect to get what they want. They can be adventurous, but on the flip side, if they want us to have that flexibility, we gotta be able to do it," he said.

Guests also expect some level of local flavor to give a sense of place, Taggart said. In some cases, they'll pay even more just to get that experience.

"That huge, high-end product is pricey, but people don't care because it's got a Texas star stamped into the top of the bottle," he said.

The Crescent Hotel, Fort Worth has three food-and-beverage outlets on-site, along with in-room dining.

"It's cool to have these different experiences, because it gives our local community a place to come and come back multiple times in a week and get a different experience every time they come," he said. "It's very rare that somebody would hit all of these in one day, so it gives them an opportunity to come back and try something new."

Trinity has been experimenting with "eatertainment," which is a social entertainment venue with a bar and food service. The company's Westin Maui Resort & Spa, Ka'anapali is opening one of these spaces with arcade games, duckpin bowling and Topgolf Swing Suites.

Yoon called eatertainment "more of a family-friendly, fun environment," where guests can have a casual activity-style experience along with "a great meal and drink."

It's all an effort "to make sure you're hitting the notes for every type of guest and every experience that they might be looking for while they're on property," she said.

The food-and-beverage industry still faces the same two major challenges it's been dealing with since the pandemic: food prices and labor costs. But hoteliers have some new tricks up their sleeves to come out ahead.

"Costs have increased significantly over the years, so we're just trying to be more strategic about how do we better operate and working with our operating partners to figure out how to improve those challenges," Yoon said.

Dealing with rising food costs turns into a balancing act between the hotel restaurant taking the hit on these increases or raising the prices for guests in turn, Taggart said.

"Food cost is always tough to manage. Also being luxury, in all things we try to go local, so you tend to get a little bit more pricey ingredients sometimes," he said. "It's tough sometimes. You have to find this balance between being a good steward to our business, run a good business, but then also create this high level of service."

O'Donahue said the Hotel Emery is dealing with similar issues as the property aims to keep its food-and-beverage quality high amid rising prices.

"Commodity pricing is a continuous concern, particularly as we strive to source ingredients of the highest quality," she said. "This requires careful management to maintain our standards while adapting to market fluctuations."

On the staffing side, Taggart said the issue for his property isn't necessarily finding capable servers and bartenders, it's finding the requisite hours for each employee to feel satisfied with their job.

"I have the people, which means they've now learned, they've went through that effort to learn the menu and every ingredient and everything, but also, can I give them enough hours to keep them? Because I still have to make sure I am good to the business," he said.

Given the current challenges the food-and-beverage industry is facing, creating efficiencies without harming the quality is the name of the game.

Yoon said she could see hotel restaurants in urban areas lean into less of a traditional restaurant setup and instead push for full-service, casual offerings.

Technology will serve as a piece of the puzzle, Taggart said. While luxury properties inherently call for more staffing and human interactions, technology — in particular operating systems — can serve as an aid for behind-the-scenes operations such as managing reservations and running numbers.

It’s already starting to play a role in guest-facing service, too. Yoon said servers have been using handheld devices that send orders in as soon as guests order, thus increasing efficiency.

“It improves the guest experience because you’re not sitting around waiting for your food. If the server has their handheld device, they can literally put in your drink order while they’re still talking to you about the menu and you’re getting your drink while you’re still talking to your server versus the old way of they’re writing it down on a pad,” she said.

Taggart said food-and-beverage offerings could become more precise given the current high cost of food. But again, finding the balance between saving costs and providing guests with the optionality they covet is difficult.

“I think the biggest change in luxury is probably going to be … a more focused menu that’s got to hit that variety that guests will complain about if it’s not there. But on the flip side, you can’t waste as much as you could before because the cost of that item is so expensive,” he said.

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