Grocery delivery at hotels

Forget room service, try delivery from a grocery store instead!

Forget room service, try delivery from a grocery store instead! Sounds different, but this may be the way of the future. A recent example is Denihan Hospitality's Affinia Hotels, a small luxury-boutique chain, who reached an agreement with FreshDirect to provide prepackaged meals for guests. The service was introduced at the 241-room Affinia Dumont and has since been added to the other four Affinia-branded hotels in Manhattan. According to Lisa Zandee, senior vice-president of brand management for Affinia Hotels, "It liberates guests from the limitations of room service and restaurant fare," We've seen grocery delivery in extended stay hotels before, but introducing it for regular guests might actually be a great option for hotels. According to PKF Hospitality Research, food-and-beverage sales as a percentage of total hotel revenue plunged to about 27% from 38% in 1980. And Bjorn Hanson, divisional dean at New York University's Preston Robert Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism and Sports Management told Travel Weekly that, "Most hotels achieve a loss on food and beverage,", so outsourcing makes financial sense. At The Lempert Report we see this as a great opportunity for grocery's to step up their packaged meals and really promote their delivery services and grab n go options.