Are more hotels turning to restaurant companies to supply their food and beverage service?
Travelers are becoming more selective in their eating habits. When you think of special-occasion destination restaurants, very rarely do you think of a hotel restaurant. Having an AquaKnox, a Ruth’s Chris, a P.F. Chang’s or a Morton’s steak house as the all-day dining option in the hotel is becoming more and more popular. The profit margin on the room side is greater than on the food and beverage. It’s an amenity. You’re required by the (hotel) brand to have a restaurant. The 80-20 rule applies — they’re 80 percent of the effort and only 20 percent of the profit. How much room inventory do you sell through online travel agencies like Travelocity, Priceline and Expedia? Four percent is a pretty safe number to go with. We limit third-party inventory during the week. But on weekends, that’s where everybody plays. And it’s a buyer’s market. Do you shop those sites for your own travel? I don’t, especially the ones where you have to buy in advance. You just don’t know if your plans are going
