4. Balancing act
Whether they go down the route of outsourcing to independents, attracting big name brands, bringing in celebrity chefs or cultivating in-house concepts, hotels — above all — need to make the business successful and provide the ROI that owners are looking for.
Discussing the ongoing challenges of this balancing act and of managing the expectations of hotel owners, Elias Chakhtoura, F&B relay for the Middle East & Egypt, Accor Hotels Luxury & Upscale brands, says there is pressure from owners to maximise space, going against customers’ increasing preference for fewer, and better quality, dining options.
“It doesn’t make sense to have 15 restaurants, but when you have an owner who wants to maximise every space in the hotel, then we look to outsource — but then you need to find the right partner,” he shares.
Agreeing, Hilton Worldwide’s Gicquel comments: “Sometimes owners will say they want 10 restaurants and you come back and say, ‘no we want to have only five restaurants’. That’s an open discussion on figuring out what setup it is.
“We also want to be driving the decisions based on market dynamics, otherwise you will end up with concepts that are empty — not because they are not good concepts, but because they are not the right concepts for that location.”
Sparacino says hoteliers try to provide a great experience for increasingly discerning guests in terms of their F&B offerings, either through third-party operators or in-house, while balancing owner requirements. “It’s easy to get caught up in, ‘oh we saw this great concept, why don’t you bring it here?’ [but] there’s a huge economy involved in bringing these guys [brands and celebrities] in.”
There are challenges in agreeing on price points with the owners for the F&B outlets. Van Den Bussche reports: “There’s always the mind-set here that you’re either the cheapest or the most expensive,; the thing in the middle is what I still struggle to convey to our business partners and owners, mainly that a good value offer which is maybe above average is what will fit the market.”
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