For some time now I’ve been analyzing, researching and testing why some hotels work and some don’t.
There is no short answer.
But what is becoming abundantly clear, especially for the larger groups, is that a strong dining experience will draw in the neighborhood, local businesses, foodies and hotel guests alike.
So many hotels I’ve stayed in from Brazil to Budapest and beyond do not have any remarkable points of difference. Nothing stands out. “Yes, it’s a fine four-, five-star hotel”... “Would you stay there again?”... ”Probably not.”
I have heard hoteliers say it is too hard to make money out of food and beverage in a hotel, and that is because they are trying to make money from food and beverage when instead they actually need to change their mindset. Food and beverage is the pure art of hospitality; if you focus on just being hospitable, the money will come not just through food and beverage but through all other aspects.
How you make money from food and beverage is giving guests and customers an experience they won’t forget. Here are some examples.
One hotel group I’m sure you’ll agree that understands this viewpoint is the Ace Hotel. Their Flatiron Hotel had Chase, a beautiful fish restaurant and the interiors were great; you felt like you were in a fishbowl. It’s now been replaced with a French restaurant with a Viennese twist; the concept is strong and the interiors match. It goes almost without saying that having a strong food and beverage means demanding a higher room rate from guests. We know from looking at the famous Soho Farmhouse that if you build it right, they will come. Try booking a weekend there some time this year — you can’t.
If you’re a hotel owner or manager; here’s our five-point plan on how to turn around your food and beverage.
- Conduct in-depth research. Where are your hotel guests dining? What’s available in the area? What’s the most popular cuisine and why?
- Analyze your brand, your food and your environment.
- Ideate a new concept or refine your existing one.
- Test out your concept in your kitchen and with your staff, perhaps a pop-up kitchen or food market style to see how your guests respond.
- Hire the right specialists; whether it's food and beverage consultants, graphic designers, or interior designers. Landing the right concept for your target demographic is worth doing right.
Recently, we worked with The Prince Akatoki hotel in London’s Marylebone. We fully repositioned the hotel's food and beverage and raised room rates by around 40%. There’s also the Ritz-Carlton in Geneva, and its restaurant Fiskebar is rated fourth best in Geneva. In the studio, we admire The Roko ristorante in The Ivens Hotel, an Autograph Collection by Marriott. It’s a simply stunning space with a crisp concept that’s always busy. And finally, The Telegraphenamt in Berlin, a restaurant destination that has rooms attached.
In terms of location, a hotel chooses its site remarkably well, whether that's on main roads or in bustling neighborhoods. Most restaurants would give their right arm — or at least their chef’s right arm — to be in the locations hotels are. Hotels have a proven history to require a certain budget for refurbishment and opening, but the restaurant fit-out budgets get mistakenly cut down.
If you can't get the food and beverage right, you are not really a hotel, you are just a series of rooms. Food and beverage is what compliments your guest’s stay in the hotel. The food and beverage really enables you to tell your story, take control of how you want to treat your guests, swoon them, spoil them, impress them, but most-of-all give them a memorable experience.
I think there’s a huge opportunity for hotel restaurants to compete head on with the best restaurants in their market, but instead they’re mostly missing out.
Mark Bithrey founded B3 Designers in 2002, offering strategy, brand and interior design to clients in the hospitality industry. Through B3 Designers, his vision is to design spaces that have a positive impact on people and places.
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