Women Really Want ... From Room Service
We recently ran an independent survey amongst professional women around the world
into what women really want from room service. Of the 100 women surveyed,
53% stated that they felt hotel room service was generally tailored towards men
with menus of high carb, meaty dishes turning women off staying in to dine.
In fact 54% of respondents said that they rarely or never dine in their hotel rooms
with only 4% of women always staying in. Those ladies who dine alone in their
hotel rooms often do so because they are nervous about venturing out of a hotel
and into an unknown city alone.
When asked what dishes they would like to see on the room service menus, 43% of
women said that they would like to see more appetising salad options and many would
like to add lighter protein ingredients such as steamed fish and chicken.
Other popular suggestions were healthy soups, snacking plates, mezes and more adventurous
vegetarian dishes. The tone was overwhelmingly about lighter and healthier
dishes. Room service can deliver a significant revenue contribution to any
hotel that gets the menu and the service just right.
Henrik Muehle, Managing Director of the St James Hotel and Club in London agrees
that “All good hotels like to claim they are a ‘home from home’
for their guests, but fall down on this claim in their provision of room service,
which is where the real test lies. There are a few simple rules: speed, accuracy
and quality of food and service; get these right and the orders will flow in freeing
up your restaurant tables and encouraging guests who would otherwise go out to eat,
to stay with you”.
Martin Wilks of Purple Sage the Hospitality Consultancy adds that “Room service
is often the poor relation in a hotel's food and beverage operation. Often
dismissed as ‘nuisance value revenue’ and managed by more junior staff,
room service frequently fails to live up to the guest expectation of a luxury dining
experience in their bedroom.”
Gordon Jackson, General Manager of The Thorpe Park Hotel and Spa in Leeds says that
"Room service tends to be an experience that’s either fantastic or terrible
- and it’s usually determined by the menu choices on offer. If
you see an extensive menu on room service I’d avoid it - far better to
choose from a limited but well-planned menu, as this generally means the hotel has
thought about what works, how food travels, holds heat and looks appealing to the
guest. Some of our most popular dishes are Baked Beans on Toast and
Caesar Salads, Daily Specials, and comfort foods - simple things, done really well
and delivered with a smile."
Whether it’s breakfast or a light evening meal, too many hotels fail to deliver
the quality of service and food that is provided (without question) in the restaurant
downstairs in the same hotel. In fact once certain hotel restaurants
become busy, the first service to suffer is the room service operation, either due
to pressure on the kitchen or inadequate staffing levels in the restaurant to deliver
the food and drink.
When asked what hotels could do better to entice ladies to order room service, many
respondents reiterated their preference for healthier options and smaller portions
and for hot food to be delivered hot, not luke-warm. High service and delivery charges
and a lack of somewhere comfortable to be able to sit and dine whilst watching TV
were some of the other reasons why women steered clear of room service.
A number of women stated that they would like to see room service delivered by female
staff and that they would welcome a call from the kitchen to tell them that their
food was on its way and to have their trays taken away promptly. The option
to collect your own food from the kitchen would also be appreciated. Some
ladies said that they would like to see additional information on the room service
menus such as calorific and fat contents.
One of the hotels that understands the value of healthy room service is the Metropolitan
in Bangkok. Executive chef, Chris Miller said "we like to offer our guests
the choice of healthy cuisine for in room dining. Because we have Glow at
The Met, we are able to draw from the menu with a selection of dishes that are included
in the in-room directory and marked accordingly, so guests know the dishes they
order are healthy options”.
Sample dishes that would suit the health conscious female traveller might include
a wild rice, bean and seed salad with tahini tamari dressing followed by steamed
fish of the day with fragrant shiitake mushroom broth or lentil and 7 grain burger
with tomato salsa avocado and sprouts.
According to Wilks, “Many female guests who are frequent travellers also desire
a ‘little taste of home’ in their bedroom, so for all the luxury menu
items some simply prepared food can also deliver enormous guest satisfaction”.
Corporate Membership
We are delighted to announce that a number of large organisations are now using
maiden-voyage.com to meet with their colleagues whilst on business travel. The benefits
of building an organisational network from a social basis can be huge for when the
time comes to do business together. Frequently ladies from the same organisation
may be staying in the same city, unaware that their colleagues are staying close
by or even in the same hotel. Women from various public, private and academic sectors
can now use a unique code to identify themselves and other members of their own
organisation, or they can network in the large pool of members worldwide.
Corporate Travel Departments can also recommend our
certified female friendly hotels
and highlight these in their hotel booking systems to ensure female staff have somewhere
safe to stay.
If you would like us to talk to your organisation about all the FREE benefits of
corporate membership and how we can integrate with your Corporate Travel Systems
please email us at
corporate@maiden-voyage.org.