Hotel F&B experts predict that 2016 will see a growing preference among hotel guests for fewer, yet more exciting, dining options.
1. New market, new guests
Sometimes there really is such a problem as too much choice, with hotel F&B experts predicting that 2016 will see a growing preference among hotel guests for fewer, yet more exciting dining options, rather than being spoilt for choice. As Hilton Worldwide regional director of food & beverage Arabian Peninsula Marc Gicquel puts it: “The time when there were 12-15 outlets in a resort is gone.”
Continuing, he adds: “Ultimately the market dynamics have changed over the last couple of years. We strongly believe that ‘less is more’, and focus on the quality versus the quantity of our outlets.”
Taj Dubai F&B director Niki Robinson agrees, and also believes that hotels’ in-house concepts have “got to be up to muster” due to guests’ demands for quality. Robinson sees the advantage of bringing together a mix of global brands and local, independent concepts in hotels, asserting that this spurs hotels on to “re-think their in-house concepts”.
She explains: “It doesn’t suffice to have a boring all-day dining outlet, it doesn’t suffice to have just a Caesar salad on your pool bar menu. You’ve got to think beyond, especially in this market, there are so many co-existing cultures.” Robinson also makes the point that customers are savvier than ever: “The customer knows more about food and beverage and are more interested than they used to be.”
This is certainly something Gianluca Sparacino, corporate director food & beverage EMEA, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, has seen. “The customer profile has really changed. The local customers here have travelled the world. Emirates has opened the world up for everybody. We’re seeing that the people here are avid visitors to London, Paris, New York, and Washington. They’re seeing what is possible outside... and expecting the same to happen in places wherever we operate,” he notes.
Changing customer dynamics goes beyond people’s horizon being broadened though, with Adam Van Den Bussche, senior director of operations F&B, Middle East & Africa, Marriott International and Ritz-Carlton, commenting: “Millennials are the next generation; they are the next customers to bring all the money to us. The millennial mind-set influences the generation preceding them.”
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