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Hotels keep up with changing dietary trends
EH Staff - Mumbai
For all that hotels have done to make their bedding more luxurious, their décor
more stylish and their lobbies smell better with a signature scent, one area
that hasn't gotten much of a makeover is the in-suite dining experience, otherwise
known as room service.
Certainly, hotels have tweaked their menus to keep up with changing dietary
trends, offering low-fat, low-cholesterol or Atkins-friendly options as the
weight-loss winds have shifted. And some high-end hotels deliver food from a
fancy restaurant on site, like the Trump International Hotel and Tower in New
York, which lets guests enjoy meals from Jean-Georges and will even send a chef
to cook in your in-suite kitchen (for an extra US$ 75 an hour).
But at the hotels where most business travelers stay, room service has not gotten
the kind of attention that has been lavished on fancy spas and high-thread-count
linens - at least not yet. That may be about to change, as more hotels focus
on their food and beverage services, with an eye toward keeping up with their
guests' increasingly sophisticated palates, nonstop work schedules and desire
for healthful meals.
For instance, Loews Hotels plans to eliminate artificial trans fats from its
restaurants, room service menus and minibars by June, replacing deep-fried snacks
with Baked Lay's potato chips and PowerBars. Westin Hotels and Resorts has been
testing a Travelers' Renewal Menu in 20 properties that includes a smoothie
to combat jet lag, oatmeal cookies and warm milk to ward off insomnia and a
"Havana treat plate" - bananas, rice, apple-sauce and toast - to calm
an upset stomach.
Marriott Hotels and Resorts, promises to "revolutionise" in-room dining
with menus that could include meals that are packaged to go, like a breakfast
that can be eaten on a plate.
"For many years, room service was looked at as, `Gee we have to do it,'
but now I think more hotels are looking at it as, `How can we solve our customers'
problems?" said Michael Beam, MD of HVS/American Hospitality Management,
which research travelers' room service preferences last year.
Among the findings: cravings are the No. 1 criteria - the research found hamburgers
to be among the top choices - followed by healthfulness. "It's a move away
from traditional `healthy' items to what I had call balanced," Beam said.
Gabriel Levy, a music executive, however notes such options are especialy scarce
on late-night menus. "You can get burgers and sandwiches but that's exactly
what I don't want to eat with it's late".
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