UA-NYC

Kind of surprised this hasn't been posted here, unless I missed it somehow:

https://onemileatatime.com/awful-mar...less-features/

Have at it...

dcstudent

Honestly, don't mind this at select service hotels. I don't need (or necessarily want) to interact with someone at the front desk. Since the mobile key/App is not reliable or even offered at many hotels, I'm happy to see them testing an option that should (if done right) be faster than dealing with a human.

Same with the self-check out at the marketplace. As for breakfast, meh. If they have yogurt an egg sandwich and coffee it's not any different than having it set out on a bar. I love how he makes a big deal about the coffee being from a machine, but coffee snobs aren't staying at Fairfield for the coffee whether it's in a carafe or machine. It's still cheap coffee.

Now if they were to move this out to full service hotels...then I'd have a much different opinion.

Edit: Frederick, MD is the closest town with chain hotels to where my sister/brother-in-law/nephews live. Usually when I visit I stay at the Courtyard or Hilton Garden Inn but maybe I'll try the Fairfield next time (June) I visit as it appears that is one of the two hotels trialing this system.

Antonio8069

I first encountered Grab'n'Go @ the Westin Grand Central five years ago. Contact less F&B has been widespread in Japan for even longer. So its only a matter of time before this becomes widespread in North America. Are we ready for this ? Time will tell............

Herb687

Just what the travel industry has been missing since 1970 - Southern Pacific automats!

Intl359Widget

You’re not kidding for sure ... it’s been interesting to experience these automats in certain parts of the world (very common in Asia and on the South Pacific atolls).

Jon Maiman

My initial impression, automated check-in kiosks should be fine as long as there is still a staff member at the Front Desk to handle non-standard check-in requests and any issues during your stay. So for a smaller FI where there is typically only one associate at the Front Desk, I don't see how this translates to labor savings. At a larger property, it might facilitate a reduction from two Front Desk Associates to one.

Automated vending for the marketplace, also is fine. Anything in the market is pre-packed process items anyway. As long as the machines are well maintained and reliable and have a way to charge to your room, might even be an improvement. Having a fallback process for when the machine inevitably breaks will be important.

Automated vending for breakfast, is a downgrade. While FI breakfast offerings are mainly prepackaged process items, at least some locations also offer real fresh fruit.

Next, real brewed coffee from a carafe (even cheap coffee) is still much better than individual brewed cheap coffee from machines. I doubt they will put in the high end machines (basically self serve version of the machines at coffee bars with an automated coffee bean grinder) at your typical FI. So FI coffee is likely to take a turn for the worse. I am also not a fan of Keurig coffee though I am probably in the minority on that. Even if they did put in a high end machine, with the brew time, it will become a major bottleneck for getting coffee in the morning. My wife, as a tea drinker, hates getting hot water from the coffee machines. She says it always has a residual coffee flavor spoiling the tea.

Other concern will be with rotation of stock and ensuring everything is still within recommended use by dates. Doing so properly will be labor intensive. Any vending machine is also likely to be slower than going through a traditional buffet line Furthermore you still need a staff member to clean tables. So between a table cleaner and an automated machine attendant (restocking, etc.), I don't really see any labor savings. Bottom line, I am very skeptical of an automated vending machine breakfast being a good offering that is at least on par with the current offerings nor do I see the cost savings. Time will tell.... Even better, hopefully the initial trials will fail and they won't roll it out.

--Jon

Often1

I have zero desire to deal with a human being when a machine can get the job done. So long as there is a help function, there does not even need to be a person physically present to help out in the odd case. That permits one overnight person to handle multiple properties.

As to food, it all comes down to quality. Cheap coffee is cheap coffee. Whether it is brewed in a carafe or from a single-serve machine. The same goes for food. Machines can produce decent stuff if that is what is desired. They can also produce items 24/7 and maintain proper hygeine.

I would separate quality from the method of delivery.

Points Scrounger

This sounds like a slight improvement, if anything, from regular Fairfield breakfast. Offerings seem similar to those at Hilton's Home2Suites. I'd be happy with folks opening the door, removing their item, and moving on vs. serving themselves while those behind wait.

Checkin via kiosk sounds faster than waiting for an agent; my latest Marriott stay (SpringHill) was entirely via app, with only "contact" calling down to confirm my late checkout in system. If you want an exercise in exercising patience, try being next after a guest who didn't realize hotels require deposits, so had to fish through her stuff to find cash to cover it.

Herb687

Spoken like someone who has never dealt with the real world. The real world in this case being a Hertz kiosk!

Can you give me one example of great food prepared by a machine?

khabah

As introverted and “eww, people” as I am, I go to hotels to deal with people who ultimately form an integral part of the hospitality experience. Seeing more and more stripped away for what is ultimately profit/the bottom line is disheartening and, dare I say it, dystopian.

I’m particularly put off by the giant vending machine excuse for breakfast - the idea of mass-produced, preservative-packed, artificially-flavored non-food “food” is straight up disgusting. I personally care about what I put in my body and will happily pay a premium for quality ingredients. I’m not saying every meal has to be Michelin-starred, but since when did fresh eggs, fresh veggies and clean eating become so shunned in favor of the $$$?

That Marriott is passing this nightmare off as “exciting” and building off “customer desire” is terrifying, and I hope all these changes turn around to bite them where it hurts.

khabah

Intl359Widget

How about the pancake machines in the Alaska Lounge?

Often1

Where did you see the word, "great"? I used "decent".

Travel in Japan and you will find "decent" vending machine food all over the place. Cheap, fast & "deecent".

Doppy

ParkMGM in Vegas has experimented with a couple different versions of kiosks, coupled with almost no opportunity to talk to a person.

The first version was lousy at reading my ID, creating several minutes of frustration every time. The second version combines some talking to a person with some doing manual entry of information on your own phone. The person checks your ID, but then you type in your credit card number and other details into a link they text you.

Both of these are very slow and annoying. Checking in on an app or at a kiosk is fine if you don't have any questions or special requests, and would be fine at a hotel where all the rooms are basically the same. If you want to ask about an upgrade, confirm whether or not what you're offered is a connecting room, or discuss any other details, you're out of luck. And the reality is, hotels will make it increasingly difficult to talk to a person to answer these kinds of questions so they can reduce staffing levels.