Hotels face growing demand for delivered takeaway

Two thirds (67%) of millennials are more likely to make reservations with hotels that accept third party food deliveries ‘in-room’.

The research by HGEM also reveals that although 80% of consumers expect hotels to have an on-site restaurant, just 72% will use it, and only for breakfast. Even though many hotels offer a room service menu, which also spans ‘out of hours’, a resounding 81% of guests say they would never use it. Yet the appearance of external delivery drivers turning up at luxury hotels to deliver food ordered by guests directly from their rooms, is becoming far more commonplace today. In fact, external in-room deliveries are predicted to rise by 83% in the future.

This trend is forcing many operators to re-evaluate their guest service options and work with third-party food operators to include a ‘delivered-in’ model.

Chris Sheppardson, CEO at market insight company EP Business in Hospitality, comments: “It’s a fascinating topic for our industry, interestingly the initial thinking was that hoteliers would be resistant to third-party food services delivering food to their guests, but that wasn’t the case. Many believe it is now a guest expectation to be able to have food ‘delivered in’ from outside providers and that refusal could alienate future generations of customers. Boutique hotels in particular, believe that this can actually work to their advantage in terms of add-on sales for beverages to accompany the deliveries and also building relationships with local restaurants, which can be effective and authentic.”