One of my favorite travel indulgences is hotel room service.  Landing in a new city, arriving at the hotel and perusing their room service menu gives me a sense of the hotel, the food culture and a bit of sticker shock (burgers are quite expensive!) I anticipate the knock at the door to announce the arrival of my food. It’s exciting each time as the setup differs, the experience created varies and I still love when they remove the covers for each part of my order.

With the current covid-19 pandemic affecting the world, travel has been essentially shuttered for all but essential travel. Hotels, used to seeing 60-80% capacity, are now operating at 10% if opened or have decided to close altogether.  It’s a massive industry employing people of all skills and backgrounds. How the hotel industry comes back to serve travelers is still an unknown – obviously cleaning will be the top priority.  But what about food service at the hotel and specifically room service? Is covid-19 the death of room service as we knew it? Will contactless delivery become normal?  Will outside delivery services (UberEats, Caviar Food Delivery, DoorDash, Deliveroo, etc.) be allowed to deliver food and if so, will they delivery to the front desk for guest pickup or be allowed to access your guest floor (I’m thinking the former rather than the latter which is security risk).  Hotels will likely limit the number of staff in guest rooms going forward for safety reasons and this will likely include hotel room service.

Hotel Room Service Pre-Covid 19

From the perspective of costs, room service is often a big expense for hotels and often loses money – they need to have a large inventory of equipment (cart, linens, salt/pepper, utensils, glass wear, etc.) to deliver room service meals. Hotels and/or restaurants also need to staff the room service department 24/7 for that crazy person ordering a burger at 1 a.m. (ok me after a night at the pub).  All of the parts needed to create the room service are many as seen in the photos below – smaller condiments, butter containers, bread baskets, etc.  My breakfast platea alone has 20+ pieces of supplies before the food is added.

I am already starting to mourn room service as I knew it, as I enjoyed it, as it wowed me!  I want to set expectations for the future room service experience now (I can already imagine becoming one of those “I remember when….” travelers).  I want to envision how it can still retain the allure of indulgence, the high touch artistry of delivery all while continuing to honor the hotel brand of service and keeping everyone safe in the process.

Best Room Service Experience – The Soho Hotel London

The best room service experiences have often lead me to become more loyal to the hotel.  I still remember my first room service order at The Soho Hotel in London.  I ordered sorbet for dessert and was asked if I wanted it with my food.  I was surprised by the question – don’t they deliver all the food at once?  They explained that my appetizer and main meal would be delivered and then I would call room service to return and pick up the plates when I was ready for dessert.  At that time, they would deliver the sorbet.  If they delivered all at once, they feared the sorbet would melt and not be the right experience (I’m sure many of us have eaten melted ice cream/sorbet).  I really never thought about this and they allowed me to rethink the room service experience while offering a high touch service. Staying at other Firmdale Hotels, like Charlotte Street Hotel London, they also emulated high touch room service so I never had melted dessert again.

New Hotel Room Service Takeout Delivery Model

Years ago, in Philadelphia, I was invited to experience the new Curio collection property,  The Logan Hotel, for the weekend.  I ordered room service from Urban Farmer, the onsite restaurant concept owned by Sage Hospitality.  When the food arrived at my room, I was a bit taken aback.  There was no rolling cart, no table setting with linens, condiments, flowers, no presentation.  I was handed a brown bag with my “takeout” order.  My food was wrapped in takeout containers along with plastic utensils and packets of condiments.  For someone who loves room service and boutique hotels, I was disappointed. The food was fantastic as always but it wasn’t the experience I love.

The big question is how to replicate the fine dining, steakhouse or hotel restaurant experience in a takeout container?  I’d rather eat at the restaurant but now will I want to eat in a large hotel restaurant with social distancing and possibly a mask while not eating?  Probably not right now – I’m going to have to embrace the new room service and contactless brown bag, plastic containers and utensils.  Little did I know that Urban Farmer at The Logan were years ahead of the room service food curve.

 

Hotel Room Service Memories

So in the spirit of any trip down memory lane,  enjoy my photos of great room service memories – the food, the plating and set-up, the experience, the desserts and the many special touches (plants, flowers, personal notes).

London Rosewood Hotel – dessert was divine!  The panna cotta with fresh strawberries, shortbread biscuits (cookies) and fresh flowers.

Melbourne (Australia) Sofitel – the club sandwich with chips (fries).  Room Service tray with linen cloth and a personal note included.  I was exhausted when I arrived at the Sofitel from a long journey and just needed to eat, shower and get sorted to explore the city.

London Hyatt Andaz hotel club sandwich is not a normal “London” food so I often order room service to get a bit of American comfort food.  With thick chips (fries) in the center accompanied by three dips, it was a wonderful way to have a taste of home.

Hotel Room Service New Normal

So many facets to reimagine room service.  Hotels are working hard with government and health agency directions on the state, local and country level.  Each hotel brand may have a global standard or could have a bespoke model for that city.  Will delivery robots be used in hotels to deliver your food/drink?  (robots are expensive!).  Will the room service experience include touchless paper bags outside the door?  My quiet anticipation of the knock at the door could be deflated as I remember when…