Hotels are leveraging partnerships with a new crop of delivery services to provide guests with expansive dining and services options. In January, Choice Hotels International announced a partnership with delivery.com in which Choice Hotels loyalty program members can accrue points from their delivery orders.
“Within the first two weeks of the activation, nearly 100,000 guests explored the delivery experience in the Choice Hotels mobile app,” Jamie Russo, vice president of loyalty and customer engagement at Choice Hotels told SmartBrief. “Further, 24 hours after the deployment of the promotional delivery email to members, mobile app downloads increased by 20%.”
Choice Hotels is not alone in pursuing the partnership strategy. Hyatt Hotels has entered into a partnership with restaurant delivery service Grubhub. The program was tested in 2016, followed by a rollout to nine US properties as an addition to Hyatt Centric’s Restaurant To Go program.
“Hyatt is continuously looking for new ways to improve F&B offerings and what we hear most is that travelers simply want more options,” Sandra Micek, SVP of global brands for Hyatt, said in a Hotel News Now article. “This includes the freedom to choose from a variety of different cuisines at times convenient for them.”
Some brands are expanding dining options while adding unique guest experiences. Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham has combined an in-room cooking program with grocery delivery, an experiential take on the F&B partnership trend.
The Homemade @ Hawthorn in-room cooking program follows recipes in an e-book created by “Top Chef” competitor James Rigato and New York Chef Hari Nayak. Grocery deliveries are available via Instacart and Peapod, USA Today reported.
“Our millennial travelers are really excited about cooking and they like to cook in their normal lives,” said Diane Mayer, vice president and global brand leader of Residence Inn in the USA Today article. “Growing up, they’ve been watching cooking competitions and they are into celebrity chefs. They view cooking as a form of relaxation and a form of entertainment.”
Choice Hotels guests at approximately 1,000 US properties now have access to deliveries from some 12,000-plus businesses.
“As we look ahead, we’ll be expanding our delivery offerings to more restaurants, wine and spirits shops, grocery stores and even laundry and dry cleaning,” Russo told SmartBrief.
Data from delivery orders is captured by Choice Hotels, enabling the company to identify guest preferences and deliver customized suggestions for F&B when guests return. The company is also exploring the potential for CP point redemption through delivery.com, Russo said.
“All of these enhancements are a part of our expanding efforts to make every stay more rewarding through technology and services that benefit guests when they stay at our hotels.”
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