Jon Maiman

The majority of my stays are at limited service properties. When I do stay at FS on business travel, I'd say between 1/3 and 1/2 the time I do order room service. Usually it is when I am already very wiped out and still have work to do. Having a decent dinner in my room that I don't have to think about is great in those situations and helps me reduce stress. Fresh Bites won't cut it for me. I tried the CY Bistro dinner offerings a few times and they didn't cut it for me either. Sounds like Fresh Bites is similar. I don't want highly processed food in general. My two cents....


--Jon

DJ_Iceman

Agreed. 100%.

In fact, I did some snooping on the internet to try to validate the "hotels lose money on room service" theory. All articles on the topic seem to originate from one Hilton in NYC claiming that they couldn't make money on room service because of all the staff they had to have on hand just in case a bunch of orders swarmed in.

That logic sounds more like a single mismanaged hotel than a systemic problem to me. And the other explanation given, that Millennials don't care for room service, is weak at best. I think a more likely and simpler explanation is that these hotels are lazy--they don't want to interact with guests any more than they have to, which is taking the hospitality right out of the hospitality business.

SkiAdcock

The other question is why FS hotels worldwide can offer it, JWs in the US can offer it, yet it's only Marriott/Renns in the US that are losing money.

Cheers.

bmwe92fan

There are many good reasons - and as someone who works in the industry here are just a few:

- significant investment in infrastructure (carts, plates, silverware, glasses, food, and inventory)
- significant incremental labor cost - which recently went up a lot due to new health care laws
- many cities / areas food service workers are unionized - increasing costs
- incremental food prep workers - chefs, prepers, etc... and the extra pay for odd hours
- breakage and replacements of equipment (typically 20-30 percent per year)
- and finally, the realization that all of these fixed costs are the same across properties, but the local regular Marriott can't get the same revenue as a JW or Renaissance per room night - and at regular properties the utilization of room service is much lower than at high end locations.

The proof of all of this is fairly obvious - if a property was actually making money at it why would they choose to stop? The owners of these properties know exactly where money is made and not - and room service is a loser plain and simple. The SF Marriott Marquis recently stopped room service and I know the GM personally - they were losing money - even with high occupancy.

SkiAdcock

If Marriott HQ doesn't force them to go to fresh bites, my prediction will be there will still be some Marriotts/Renns in the US that will still offer proper room service. As some have noted, if they can make $$ on it, they shouldn't have to go the McD's route. I know some GMs kept their exec lounges open on the weekends even when Marriott was trying to force them to close. And some are still keeping desks in their rooms even though Marriott wants them to go the deskless route.

Given the SF Marriott Marquis is in the middle of a big food city/next to a convention center, doesn't totally surprise me that more folk eat out there than do room service.

In most cities I travel to, the Renn/Marriott pricing is usually similar, so I wouldn't say a Renn necessarily has a higher room rate. JWs often do.

If I have an option between properties & one offers proper room service & the other doesn't & prices are the same/close, I'll choose a property w/ room service. Similar to I'll choose a property w/ a desk over a property w/o one.

Cheers.

markzz2

However there are customers like me who will now choose other properties because these no longer meet my needs.

How will they ever know how much they will lose because of this. I am a Platinum Lifetime with 1300 nights, and probably had room service on more than half of them....... I will now ask before I make a booking whether Full Service room service is available, and will for sure choose another property some of the time based on this.

I doubt whether many hotels make much money on alot of facilities they offer, but they offer them as part of the total package of a full service property. I imagine Laundry and Dry cleaning may be the next thing to be "enhanced". Bell staff, never use them, lets get rid of them, and valet parking guys...... get rid of all of them and I won't miss them at all but some people will, and they will all influence the choice of property some will choose.

It will be interesting what the "full service" hotel of the future will look like

SkiAdcock

1. They won't, unless the customer lets them know (similar to guests choosing other properties because of the 'no desk' situation). I'll probably start doing the same - contacting a property in advance: a) do you have a desk; b) do you offer proper room service. If they don't, time to look at other properties.

2. Agree.

3. Well the 'full service' hotels may be next for the moniker of 'limited service' properties, since that's all they'll offer. While there are certainly examples of some FS properties that don't have high rates (often on weekends), a lot of them do have high rates & yet they're chipping away at what they offer - similar to airlines going to the lowest common denominator.

It's also going to be interesting to see what happens when the SPG merger is complete. Right now 'fresh bites' is targeted towards Marriott/Rens in the US. Are they going to expand that to some of the SPG brands?

Cheers.

VickiSoCal

How does this affect AAA and similar ratings? Does this still qualify as room service?

SkiAdcock

Interesting question(s).

On a dif note....

The fresh bites issue will bite some properties (pun intended!). I did a google & a guest at the Philly Airport Marriott did a post on TripAdvisor w/ the title "Epic Fail" & complaining about the Fresh Bites program, stating one of the reasons she stays at a full service property is the ability to get (proper) room service, including being able to make substitutions in case of allergies. She gave the property a 1-star review.

There's another general review of the Fresh Bites program (not property specific) in a site called "rip-off review", which again mentions that when one is staying at a full service property with expensive rates they expect proper room service, not a limited menu at still inflated prices delivered in a bag w/ plastic utensils & a delivery person who expects a tip to deliver a paper bag vs. the traditional set-up & said they've suggested to their CEO that they switch hotel chains.

BTW - another article that comes up that has a conversation w/ the exec chef of the Irvine Marriott says that Marriott is going to Fresh Bites to be 'environmentally friendly'.

Since it's going to be a while before this eventually gets rolled out across the US, I'm beginning to think we need to do a 'roll-call' thread of current properties that only offer the Fresh Bite option, so FTers will know which properties to avoid (or which to stay in if FB is what they prefer).

Cheers.

VickiSoCal

FYI to qualify as a AAA four or five diamond the requirement states room service must be available for breakfast, lunch and dinner and the inspector orders room service and evaluates them on the following criteria:

bmwe92fan

Believe me Marriott HQ is aware of that - they just dont care any more and neither do the property owners! tripadvisor, booking.com, etc... ratings have largely made all of those artificial puffed up rating agencies essentially useless.

Personally I won't be staying with Marriott nearly as much - and I have close to 2,000 nights and I'm also LP. Room service is one of thise things I look forward too after a 15 hour trip and get to hotel at 11pm. Thats when I pay $57 for a chicken sandwich and glass of wine

joshua362

That was my immediate thought...

OU812

I am not sure how environmentally friendly the, "Fresh Bites," program really is. Stryofoam food containers are more costly to recycle because they must be cleaned. Once the hotel owner finds out how much more the recycling of stryofoam food containers costs, they will probably take the cheap way out and send them to the land fill. Because styrofoam food containers are difficult to recycle and are not biodegradable, several larger cities have banned their use. The cardboard or plastic containers offered as an alternative do not have the same insulating properties as stryofoam. Wonder how Marriott in these cities will handle the, "Fresh Bites," program.

In reality, how environmentally friendly is the, "Fresh Bites," program when Marriott continues to offer full service restaurants and bars at these same properties. The incremental cost of washing room service dishes, glasses and utensils is more likely cheaper than the additional cost of recycling (if that is truly was is happening) the stryofoam. Unless Marriott is going to eliminate real glasses, dishes, and silverware from its restaurants and bars, I am not buying the argument. The "Fresh Bites," program is simply a cost cutting move by Marriott, but those cost savings will not be passed on to the hotel guest, they will just pad Marriott's pockets! What will Marriott do next, charge us a fee to use the elevator to get to our rooms!


Regards,

RIP...

rylan

'Environmentally Friendly' is just marketing bs to try to make some people feel good about themselves, while in reality it is actually just going to all get thrown away. I'd put money down that those plastic bags, styrofoam containers and plastic utensils are all going in the trash and will not be recycled by the hotel.

So how does this effect things like deserts or apps also? Are those gone from the 'fresh bites' menu? While I normally don't utilize the room service for meals, if I am on vacation we might decide to get a cheese and fruit plate for an appetizer or order a desert. I don't want that delivered in a to-go box.

SkiAdcock

The 'fresh bites' menu is a limited one.

Cheers.