Hotel room service is most definitely in the midst of a major change. In fact, what was traditionally thought of as “hotel room service” (read: hotel restaurant offered a dedicated menu, where you could buy items for an inflated price, with a service charge), may be in the midst of death throes (this is why).
That being said, traditional room service isn’t dead yet. Despite many hotel brands that no longer offer room service (heck, they don’t even have kitchens!), there are still plenty around the world, mostly higher end, that do.
In April of this year, online travel agency Hotels.com surveyed nearly 500 hotels around the world, to get an idea of what’s “in” when dining in, in 2023. It turned into the OTA’s inaugural Room Service Report.
Their methodology
The survey was conducted online from April 5-23, 2023, among 473 hotels in the U.S., U.K., France, Canada, Mexico, South Korea, Japan, Norway, Sweden and Denmark, amongst hotels currently offering in-room dining.
The 10 most unusual room service requests:
- Diet water
- Melted ice cream
- Blowfish
- Boiled bottled water
- A cooked fish that the guest brought with them
- Cockle (an edible bivalve mollusc) popcorn
- No-egg-white omelet
- Rice bowl for a dog
- Bison
- Eggless eggs in hell (shakshuka – a North African and Middle Eastern meal of poached eggs in a simmering tomato sauce with spices. So they wanted an egg-heavy food to be made without eggs.)
A few other “interesting” tidbits that Hotels.com mentioned from the survey:
- Burgers are the most popular room service order, and not just in the U.S. throughout the globe, it beat out pizza, tacos, fries and club sandwiches.
- Some properties are expanding the meaning of room service to things way beyond food, with options of in-room concerts (Milestone Hotel), canoe delivery (InterContinental Bora Bora) and a personal Lego butler (Ashford Castle).
- 27% of the US hotels that responded to the survey reported guests pay an average of over $100 for room service
- Champagne and steak rank as the priciest room service menu items.
The last three of these would again suggest it’s just higher-end restaurants that still offer room service. The Best Western isn’t going to have in-room concerts, a Lego butler, champagne or steak available.
“Room service holds a special place in the hearts of hotel guests,” said Melanie Fish, spokesperson for Hotels.com. “Whether it’s a treat-yourself moment or must-have after a long day of sightseeing.”
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