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something costs, placing an order in a few clicks and having it arrive relatively quickly.
Hotels, however, have one built-in advantage: Their restaurant is already in the building. But that advantage can be undermined by high delivery fees.“ If a guest can order from a restaurant down the street for a $ 5 or $ 7 delivery fee, it becomes difficult to justify charging them a 25 % room service delivery fee simply because the restaurant happens to be downstairs,” Beck commented. The challenge, he says, is to make hotel dining“ the easiest choice: great food, reasonable pricing, quick delivery and no surprises when the check arrives.”
At Rosewood, Bonner says third-party delivery has had less impact among shorterstay guests, while longer-stay guests are more likely to turn to outside platforms when they want greater variety.
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Kevin Bidner, president and CEO of The Hotel Communication Network, sees an opportunity in bringing outside restaurants into the hotel’ s own delivery ecosystem. Hotel Communication Network
Café Riggs uses a system called Tray Away to track tray deliveries and retrievals and therefore spot trends, staff smarter and keep service consistent.
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Addison Hall, director of food & beverage, Riggs Washington DC.
previously piloted Dine Inn, a service through which outside restaurants deliver directly to hotel rooms and guests could have the charges billed like room service.“ We contracted six restaurants to deliver food to our hotels, and the delivery was right up to the room. We were also able to bill the food like a room service order,” he said.
LESS LABOR, MORE FLEXIBILITY Crowne Plaza HY36 has simplified the lengthy process
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through packaging and a streamlined delivery model, allowing its restaurant team to handle in-room orders without maintaining a separate room service operation.“ If a guest orders a burger and fries, they will generally rather have a great burger delivered hot in 20 or 25 minutes than wait 45 minutes because we are trying to recreate a formal restaurant table inside their guestroom,” Beck says.
At Riggs, Hall says crosstraining and flexibility have become central to managing the operation.“ Room service is a study of coordination and communication between the kitchen, service teams and front-of-the-house, all moving in sync,” she said.
The goal is not simply to reduce labor, but to remove unnecessary steps while maintaining the elements guests value.
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Oct / Nov 2026 hotelsmag. com 73 |