azepine00

same as the one that drove airline food evolution..

they believe they are in business of offering you a place to sleep - everything else is either auxiliary revenue or cost reduction opportunity...

sadly recent mergers led us to this depressing world of AA/UA/DL in the sky and marriott hilton and ICH on the ground...

SkiAdcock

This. The Marriott lounges are a lot better than the Sheraton lounges.

Well Marriotts in general. Besides lounges, MAR has been saying in analyst mtgs & industry interviews that the biggest thing they need to fix on the SPG side/bring up to standard are Sheratons.

The good news so far is that Fresh Bites isn't universal in the US, but it might be something as MAR properties renovate. Of course it also depends. I know a FS MAR next to a convention center that will go kicking & screaming before it implements FB, as its clientele demands room service.

Cheers.

bennos

I've seen Fresh Bites twice, in Chicago and SF, and for me the biggest issue is that the food options are simply not compelling. I don't care about the plates and silverware. Fortunately in both locations there are literally hundreds of better options a short distance away.

Marriott SFO continues to offer full room service, in spite of a full remodel and M Lounge conversion. Probably because there are so few other options nearby, and it seemed like almost a quarter of rooms had trays outside when I left early in the morning. (And in this particular hotel, I'd actually go so far as to say both food and value for price were quite good.)

Well the one thing MR has been good about is that their room service slips specifically say GRATUITY INCLUDED, though there's a line for additional gratuity.

There are two interesting changes that M lounges have introduced: 24 (or almost 24) hour access, and lobby adjacent locations. The expanded access hours are clearly a win. For people who take their bags to breakfast and want to leave directly for work, the lobby locations are a win (though I'd personally rather keep an upper floor location with a view). Other than that (and ignoring design) they are functionally the same as the old lounges. So I don't think that the Millennial ding is warranted here.

bennos

+1. There's a lot I like about SPG, but I can't think of a single market where the SPG equivalent lounge is superior to the MR equivalent lounge, at least for the non-luxury properties.

Oxon Flyer

lindafmeyer, apologies that your OP was pounced on and that everyone here seems to have been so consumed with rage by Fresh Bites that you haven’t yet been welcomed to the forum, and your first post after more than 10 of lurking. ^

BTW, Sheraton lounges, beyond the ‘domestic’ USA market, aren’t as bad as they’ve been made out, either.

CJKatl

First, although the OP was not welcomed, the OP wasn't "pounced on" either. Everyone agrees with the OP, save someone whose experience is mostly Asian who, it was pointed out and he agreed, has not experienced Fresh Bites.

Second, I've experienced a few Sheratons outside the US in the past year and yes, their CLs are as bad, if not worse, than they've been made out to be as compared to similar Marriott properties.

The Charles Bridge Sheraton Prague is a very nice hotel but the lounge is pathetic. There was a small fridge with a few warm sodas, beers and wine and a few snacks, including sandwiches. The CL's decor reminded me of a frat house basement. The Marriott across town has a phenomenal two story CL with quite the spread.

The Bangkok LM had a couple hours long artistic reception with a large sandwich that members could slice a hunk off, some sliced cheese, carrots, celery and two typed of cold cuts, but not much more food. It was very crowded and chintzy versus the FS Marriott properties in Bangkok which each have all day lounges serving breakfast, tea and evening appetizers.

The very nice Bali Kuta Sheraton had nothing, but it was akin to what Marriott calls a resort, so that was understandable.

At all three properties, the breakfast was quite nice, but nothing more than what you would expect at an Asian Marriott CL for breakfast. Someone used to staying at one chain would likely find breakfast comparable at both property families. As for CLs, there is is no comparison, Marriott is far better. If a CL is important to you, stay in a Marriott versus SPG property in most cities, IME.

itsaboutthejourney

The thread title and topic was Fresh Bites as a replacement for room service and apparently in some cases, a restaurant, so my general comments were in light of that. My point was the low-quality Marriott loves to put across the board (soaps, linens, tacky design, industrial processed food, etc.)

But if we want to pivot to lounges, I will say that is one bright spot about Marriott and agree that the ones I've so far seen (Marriott, JW and Renaissance) the F&B offerings and even decor are far better than almost all USA domestic Sheratons. I believe the Marriott people have said fixing Sheraton is a top priority so hopefully that means pushing Sheraton owners to do better with their domestic lounges.

Oxon Flyer

Okay ....

SkiAdcock

CJKatl made an error/typo. I believe he was referring to the Sheraton Prague Charles Square & comparing its lounge to the Marriott Prague.

"The Charles Bridge Marriott Prague (Sharon's note: Sheraton) is a very nice hotel but the lounge is pathetic. There was a small fridge with a few warm sodas, beers and wine and a few snacks, including sandwiches. The CL's decor reminded me of a frat house basement. The Marriott across town has a phenomenal two story CL with quite the spread. "

Cheers.

CJKatl

You are correct. I will change it. Sorry for the confusion. Ironically I wasn't sure if it was called the Charles Bridge or New City Sheraton so I looked up the hotel to make sure I had that right!

calguy77

This isn't coming soon, the hotel I manager already does this. It's a room delivery charge for anything requested for F&B.


F&B for the most part looses money at a hotel. It's not profitable when most hotels have a CBA they must adhere to and pay a server $24 an hour, staff a minimum of 3 per shift, 3 cooks at $29 an hour, 2 stewards at $25 an hour and DRA's at $21 an hour to clean up trays from room. Each staff member must be schedules for 8 hours. Plus pay their benefits on top of that.

It's also about demand. Not enough people order room service to keep it profitable. Our guests have told us they don't want room service. They want to find local places. They want to go to places they can tell their friends about when they return home. The trend of hanging at the hotel isn't what it used to be.

Sure, there are a vocal few every week that complain we don't have room service. But compare those 4 guest comments to the 30-50 guest comments that come back and say they like our grab and go concept.

Which would you choose if you're running a business?

rylan

At least we still have a desk or real workspace and not just a tiny table next to the sofa... at most hotels anyway

JBord

I've read several articles that echo what you've stated. With all due respect to those people who enjoy room service, I think it's time to start the grieving process, as it's a dying trend. Once you do that, and accept that you'll have to find another way to have food delivered to your room, you'll likely discover more options, higher quality food, and lower prices.

I'm not trying to be preachy or tell people how to feel about it, just stating my personal observations. And I've certainly been one of those people reluctant to give something up, only to eventually discover that the new way was much better.

Now, I don't like Fresh Bites, because I'd like it better if hotels provided a listing of recommended restaurants in the area with delivery, and phone numbers or websites. That would save me a little time in figuring out what I want and ordering. I would imagine if they could even work out some processes with those on the recommended list, such as swiping the elevator for them so the guest could stay in his room.

CJKatl

This is where I think the hotels have gotten it so wrong. It's as though they shifted to cold, stale bologna sandwiches and then claimed nobody wants the product. When I was a kid, hotels had the best restaurants. We would get dressed up to go to the Sheraton for special occasions. The HI had Gullifty's, which was a small upscale chain. It was the nicest mid-scale restaurant in town. In Pittsburgh, people would wait thirty minutes for a table. Hotels should bring their restaurants back up to those standards. Millennials, and some of us older folks, order in like never before. Marriott should have the types of restaurants that people want to visit and to order from when using GrubHub, UberEats, etc. Instead, of improving to get a relevant product for today, hotels seem to just be waiving the white flag and giving up. End of rant.

1973 Ford Pinto

This is 100% how I feel. When I'm traveling, the last thing I want to do is eat in a hotel restaurant that is indistinguishable from every other hotel restaurant in every other city I've been in.

On those (rare) occasions where I'm so wiped out that I just want to eat and go to sleep and not venture out, I just want a sandwich. Grab and go is fine. I appreciate fine dining, and I'm an adventurous eater, but I'm not such a snob that I can't eat a sandwich in a hotel room without a tablecloth and fine china.

When I want "room service" I want something purely functional.