People complain that room service is too expensive, sometimes takes too long, and isn’t always good. Many people think, do I really want a mediocre hotel’s mediocre food when I have the miracle of choice delivered at my fingertips? That’s the theory, anyway, but in practice people order french fries and burrito bowls from Uber Eats and GrubHub. And it, too, comes late.

And many hotels are eliminating room service, in a self-defeating cycle.

  • Hotels turn room service into Uber Eats from a bad restaurant
  • Everyone just DoorDashes from a better restaurant
  • Low sales cause the hotel to drop room service entirely. See? Nobody wants it!

When they’re just providing an interior experience to a delivery app, you might as well order from the delivery app. And when the hotel isn’t providing an experience that’s differentiated from Airbnb, there goes their competitive advantage.

This is just like when a hotel makes housekeeping tough to get, because you have to request it and maybe even fill out a form, and the hotel concludes nobody wants housekeeping but then wonders why a no frills ‘full service’ hotel can’t compete with short-term rentals.

Room service isn’t fast food. It’s indulgent when properly executed, romantic even. Those that do it well can really earn outsized guest loyalty by creating an emotional connection. What more powerful way is there to do that than food?

Room service isn’t for everyone, especially those who find it too expensive but there are plenty of situations where it can be worth paying a premium for even outside of a resort context.

  • I’ve had many room service meals where it was super convenient to just have food brought to the room when my daughter was less than 14 months old.
  • And I’ve ordered breakfast in the morning when I wanted to work, rather than go down to the hotel’s restaurant or to my conference. I’m not ready to run into anyone and get stuck in a conversation. Food comes to my room, and I can eat it while going through documents and while getting dressed.

You’re paying a premium to have the food ‘just show up’ and where you can be dressed more casually than going down to pick it up yourself. I just wish more hotels made it clear whether the service charge covered a tip.

Now, delivery from the best restaurants in town, well-packed, promptly delivered will be more enjoyable than a mediocre meal delivered soggy on a tray from a mediocre hotel kitchen, but that’s a straw man. I’ve had some amazing room service meals. Of course there’s breakfast at the Park Hyatt Paris – with fabulous fruit and french pastries, eggs to order, and great cheeses. The pho I had from the Sheraton Saigon was pretty unbeatable, too.

Take a lesson from airlines, most plane food isn’t very good but soups perform exceptionally well when they’re reheated. Stick to easy items that don’t have to be eaten the moment they come off the cook top, and that don’t take a lot of precision in preparation. One of the really great joys I think is ordering nasi goreng in the middle of the night!

I have to say my absolute favorite thing about some Hyatt hotels is where they provide top tier elite breakfast benefits complimentary through room service. At the Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi last month they did not even bring a bill for food ordered during breakfast hours.

Room service is a true value add. It’s also expensive to offer. It needs to be priced appropriately, which is why it’s often “too expensive.” But if it’s too expensive, it needs to be good. The answer here is to do the hard work, not to shy away from it, because that’s the road to a downward spiral in margins.