Hotel Grocery Delivery May Just Be the Next Big Thing

Wyndham Hotel Group estimates that consumers spent an estimated $42 billion in online grocery orders in 2016.

That’s a 160% increase in revenue for the online grocery industry from 2015. And 2020’s forecast is well over $200 million. 

A new partnership with both Peapod and Instacart (depending on where the hotel is located) allows guests staying at Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham in eight locations in Chicago, Philadelphia, Charlotte and Orlando can have grocery items delivered directly to their rooms. 

Guests can do so by going to hawthorn.com/homemade.  “We launched grocery delivery service as a pilot program (for this summer) so we can understand how guests respond to and use the service, what works and what might need tweaking,” Larry Hambro spokesperson for the chain said. Hambro said that feedback on the program from both guests and the participating hotels has been “positive,” which does not surprise him. 

The company’s press release also said there is no additional charge levied by the hotel but that as the program rolls out, if successful, will be revenue generating for the chain. 

Maybe I’m missing something here, but why couldn’t a guest just log on to either Instacart or Peapod and just order their groceries direct??