Hospitality

Hospitality industry analysts predict an up-and-down year in 2026. Luxury hotel segments are thriving; the budget segment is slowing. AI is becoming essential to operations, and ESG (environmental, social, and governance) metrics are mandatory.

Globally, food and beverage accounts for around 27 percent of total revenue for a hotel, on average. But hotel operators are wondering if they can nudge this number higher by diversifying their offerings.

Hospitality management pros are recommending that operators move away from the traditional RevPAR (Revenue Per Available Room) metric and focus instead on Revenue Per Available Guest (RevPAG). “By focusing on RevPAG, hotels can shift their F&B strategy from simply serving meals to maximizing the value of each guest's dining experiences throughout their stay,” noted Tim Hansen, VP Sales Hotels and Resorts at Agilysys. This holistic approach not only increases hotel food and beverage revenue, but boosts guest satisfaction as well.

Even if your property isn’t branded as a wellness hotel or resort, you can’t afford to ignore the trends.  Wellness travel is a $1 trillion market worldwide, and is only projected to grow.

Which single word best describes what wellness travelers are looking for now?

What do guests want in a hotel lobby? Not as much as you’d think. They just want great food, an inviting place to work, and a cocktail (or mocktail) at the end of the day. Let’s take a closer look at how to incorporate these three essentials into hotel lobby design: food, work, and drinks.

You’ve optimized room rates. You’ve improved your F&B program. What else can you do to increase your hotel’s revenue?

Get social. We’re not talking about social media, but rather using social events to encourage guests to spend more and attract more revenue-generating customers from the community. Here are just a few types of events that hotels around the world have embraced.

Come for work. Stay for fun.

Bleisure—combining business and leisure travel—is an increasingly popular way to see the world. Experts predict the bleisure travel market will grow substantially in the years ahead, reaching $731.4 billion by 2032.

From a guest’s perspective, it’s great to have your company pay for your airfare and then tack on a little vacation at your own expense. From an employer’s perspective, people work harder: 59% of employees said traveling and exploring new places inspired them to be more productive with their work, according to a global survey by Booking.com. And from hospitality pros’ perspective, bleisure travelers are a desirable and profitable customer segment. Here’s how to attract them.

Creating a successful hotel F&B (food and beverage) program is hard.

It’s labor-intensive. It requires skill, vision, and market savvy. Volatile food pricing eats into profits. F&B brings in less revenue than rooms do.

And yet, it’s essential. A hotel’s culinary reputation is the magic ingredient that attracts guests and keeps them coming back. How can you elevate your dining and make that magic happen?

Here are three ways to experience Sri Lanka:

1. Join a tour that packs in as many temples and ruins as possible. Be sure to ride the famous Kandy-Ella train, pushing other tourists out of the way so you can get cute Instagram pics.
2. Spend three weeks walking the newly created Pekoe Trail, a 186-mile (300 km) trail through the central highlands that visits tea plantations, wild parks, and remote villages.
3. Check into a beach resort in Unawatuna. Wake up, surf, hang with the locals. Repeat.

More and more people are choosing options like B or C for their vacations — opportunities to step out of life’s hectic current and live in the moment. It’s all part of the slow travel trend.

Less single-use plastic? Energy-saving guestroom appliances? On-site composting? 

“I think if you asked 100 different travelers to define what they mean by sustainable, they would probably give 100 different answers,” Jeremy Sampson, CEO of the global nonprofit The Travel Foundation, told HotelDive. 

Not only that, but hotel guests don’t necessarily believe the sustainability hype. While 74% of travelers surveyed for Booking.com’s Sustainable Travel Report 2023 said they wanted more sustainable choices, 39% didn’t trust that travel options labeled  “sustainable” really are better for the environment.  

Hotel sustainability certification programs are one way to build trust and make it easier for travelers to choose greener options. But which of these certifications is the right choice for your business — and what must a hotel do to earn one?

Hotel dining is having a moment.

Hotel restaurants used to have a stodgy, old-school reputation as “a three-meal-a-day café where you just get a club sandwich and a burger,” Ewart Wardhaugh, executive chef at the Epicurean Hotel Atlanta, tells FSR magazine. “But now, the food and beverage within a lot of hotels is just as good as a freestanding restaurant, if not better because they have better support.”

While many hotels’ F&B profits have struggled to rebound post-pandemic, the industry is seeing increases in F&B revenue per occupied room. The drivers: more in-room dining, menu price increases, and event revenue.

Working to boost your F&B in 2023? Look to these trends.