Tag Archives for room service.
Proper room service is dying and that’s horrible. Many hotels dropped it entirely. Twelve years ago the Hilton New York eliminated it, the largest hotel at the time to do so. That saved them 55 positions (!) and they argued they had a grab and go market so you could still easily get food on property. Transferring the burden to the guest to go for the food, wait for it, and return to their room is not the same thing.
People complain that room service is too expensive, sometimes takes too long, and isn’t always good. Many people think, do I really want a mediocre hotel’s mediocre food when I have the miracle of choice delivered at my fingertips?
But when the hotel isn’t providing an experience that’s differentiated from Airbnb, there goes their competitive advantage.
In an environment where every guest matters, with rooms that are empty, the high cost of room service is going to be an expense that fills rooms at the margin. Each property will have to figure out how many extra rooms they fill this way, because they’re looking to lose some business to hotels that still make room service available.
And for really premium hotels, understand that room service is a tremendous indulgence. Those that do it well can really earn outsized guest loyalty by creating an emotional connection. What more power way is there to do that than food?
As hotels look to cut costs, some cut back on daily housekeeping while others eschew room service carts and trays for brown paper sacks.
It turns out though that room service for dogs and cats is on the upswing.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
