The importance of food and beverage offerings when choosing a hotel

Adding to what is already an incredibly competitive market, a multitude of new hotel brands enter the food and beverage (F&B) game each year. As well as new lifestyle-focused collections and sub-brands under the umbrella of major hotel groups like Hilton or Jumeirah, competitors include young, urban concepts like The Hoxton, Northcote and The Shard, emphasising contemporary style and community.

As this puts pressure on hotel operators to deliver exemplary and highly personalised experiences that match the taste and mood of discerning travellers, we’re seeing independent restaurants within hotel venues stand out as a means, and a necessity to drive bookings, establish value and carve out share of voice in an industry that is becoming ever more reliant on F&B.

Nearly 70% of travellers consider the quality of food and beverage offerings when choosing a hotel today, according to a survey by Skift (Skift: Travel News, Airline News and Hotel News). This underscores the importance of F&B offerings as a major decision-making factor for travellers when booking holidays abroad or staycations.

Moving away from in-house F&B brands and concepts, many hotel operators have strategically partnered with third parties to bring more diverse and high-quality dining experiences into their ecosystems. A hotel located in York within the M&T portfolio has done this by developing an entirely new hero concept; Yorkshire Bar & Grill to add value to the hotel’s profile and compete with the local F&B market.

Notable examples outside of the M&T portfolio who have gone down the route of exciting collaborations with high-profile chefs include Gordon Ramsey’s collaboration with The Savoy London on Kaspar, and Mauro Colagreco, of the three-Michelin-starred Mirazur in France’s Menton, has developed culinary concepts in partnership with Raffles London at The OWO.

The takeaway is that by partnering with renowned chefs and making F&B a central part of their strategies, many hotel brands have been able to deliver exclusive dining experiences that give people a stronger reason to visit.

It is widely known among hoteliers that F&b shapes brand identity and market awareness. F&B offerings are essential not only to a hotel's brand but also to its ability to drive engagement and intrigue through PR and marketing, both for pre-opening campaigns and seasonal activations.

According to TripAdvisor, 64% of travellers are influenced by food-related content when choosing a destination, and 43% have specifically chosen a destination to experience its food and drink.

Successful hotels often integrate multiple independent restaurants to create vibrant dining hubs that attract people and foster a social environment, giving a dining resort vibe, this can been seen within the M&T portfolio on the South Coast in Bournemouth where one of our branded hotels offers a fine dining experience, a community-led Jamaican food experience, a rooftop bar with amazing views of the sea as well as a bar in the lounge. By offering a variety of dining options in one place, properties can cater to different tastes and preferences, creating a space that guests and locals alike view as a dining destination.

The shift to experiential dining destinations has led to significant evolution in how hotels approach their F&B offerings. Hotels must now offer dining options that deliver breadth and depth, catering to diverse customer tastes and the demand for experiences that are nothing less than exceptional.

In our experience, F&B should be at the core of a hotel's guest strategy—not just offering convenience and accessibility, but driving the reputation of a property and shaping its identity among guests. Our Restaurant & Bar Director, Steven Burgess states;

"I firmly believe that exceptional food and beverage offerings are the heart and soul of a memorable hotel experience. We are in the business of providing comfort, safety, and assurance of quality for travellers, weary from long distance or just stopping by on their way.

From a dining perspective, the stalwart of any great hotel is the quality of its breakfast, the first port of call when waking up needs to be a brilliant and efficient experience. From that point hotels have many different avenues to enhance guests’ stays with memory evoking home from home dishes and unique dining experiences, knockout welcoming and approachable wine lists, a cocktail programme to go long into the evenings and finally room service should be a high priority of delivery for all guests’ needs and wants.

These are the moments that enhance our guests' stay, create lasting impactful impressions and create friends out of guests which is what our end goal should be.’’