National Post (National Edition)
Hotels put focus on dining rooms
Hotel dining rooms were once places to see and be seen doing business. When the RitzCarlton opened in Montreal in 1912, it boasted a menu designed by famed chef Auguste Escoffier. And in 1969, Walter Chell invented the Bloody Caesar at the Owl’s Nest in Calgary’s Westin Hotel.
But the ’80s marked the beginning of a slow decline. As foodie culture began to take hold among standalone restaurants, hotels began to lean toward the bland and beige. “I think hotel dining rooms often tried to do something that would appeal to everyone,” says Morgan Wilson, executive chef for the Fairmont Empress Hotel in Victoria. “They ended up diluting the experience.”
In recent years, though, hotels have begun to battle back in a variety of ways. They’re luring travellers at different price points with an array of offerings that include everything from food-forward restos on par with the best standalone eateries, to order-out and even microwaveable options that reduce costs for the hotel and still allow road warriors 24-hour service. Here are six trends revolutionizing hotel dining options:
Food is no afterthought
When the Fairmont Empress underwent a $60-million renovation (completed last year), its owners envisioned its Q (for Queen) bar and adjoining restaurant as a place that would attract guests from both inside and outside the hotel.
The cheeky design pays homage to the past (the coffered ceilings and expansive veranda overlooking the harbour remain), but it incorporates a hipper, more modern vibe with a sleek quartzite bar, funky lighting and oversized Warholesque portraits of the original “empress,” Queen Victoria, at various stages of life.
“Victoria has a lot of great dining and it’s a very walkable city,” says chef Wilson. “We didn’t want this to be a ‘beige’ experience. We had to create something special that was going to keep guests in-house, but also attract offsite diners.”
To that end, the menu takes a laser-sharp focus on the best of Pacific Northwest produce, with a farmto-table focus and a tasting menu that changes monthly (on average) to reflect what’s in season. The strategy has worked. Wilson guesstimates some 60 per cent of all dinner guests come from off-site.
A hotel wrapped around a restaurant
Nobu Hotels (the first is due to open in Toronto in 2019) spawned from the realization that Nobu restaurants located in hotels tended to boost those hotels’ business. So why not wrap a hotel around an eatery?
“We are defined by the restaurant, in a way,” CEO of Nobu Hospitality Trevor Horwell told online travel industry publication Skift recently.
“If you look at the hotel business today, the majority of hotels are suffering because they ... don’t have strong food-and-beverage concepts. Today, we play to our strengths because that is one area that we do very, very well.”
Take-out on site
Hotels such as the Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac in Quebec City maintain a stellar hotel dining room, but also offer a take-out option for guests. You can enjoy a great meal at Champlain Restaurant or Bistro Le Sam (where chef Stéphane Modat reigns supreme). But you can also grab a coffee and muffin to go from the on-site Starbucks.
The Starbucks brand is easily recognizable to international guests, says Le Chateau Frontenac spokesperson Maxime Aubin. “And the hotel hosts many conferences a year. People travelling on business seem to like a quick coffee before, during or after a meeting.”
Self-serve room service
For hotels such as the Holiday Inn Saskatoon Downtown, the investment it takes to create and maintain room service 24/7 simply isn’t in the cards. Although the hotel has a dining room on site, “we start service at 6:30 a.m. and end at 11 p.m., or later depending on the activities we are catering to,” says the hotel’s general manager Adam Peterson.
Guests aren’t left high and dry though. Any time of the day or night, you can buy a range of foods from veggies and dip to yogurt parfaits and microwaveable meals (prepared by executive chef Tony Nguyen) in the lobby and then use your in-room fridge and microwave.
Outsourcing room service
Hyatt Centric (a brand popular with millennials) and at least 1,000 Holiday Inn Express, Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites hotels (all IHG brands) have contracted with food delivery service Grubhub to essentially “outsource” room service.
You can order from a curated range of nearby restaurants. And at IHG you’ll even get rewards points for either reserving a table with Opentable or ordering in from its website or mobile channel.
Speeding up room service
Hotel brands such as Hyatt and the Omni allow you to order online, so you can schedule meals in advance and eliminate the wait time. That can be a boon to business travellers who want to scarf down a quick meal while getting dressed.