Hotel F&B to grow as hoteliers 'wake up' to opportunities

14-Nov-2016 - Last updated on 27-Apr-2021 at 12:50 GMT

Three quarters of hoteliers predict growth in the hotel F&B space in the next three years, according to the report by MCA Insight

Related tags Restaurant Food Hotel

Food and beverage (F&B) offerings in the UK's hotels are set to improve and grow over the next few years as hoteliers 'finally wake up to the opportunities available to them' according to a new report by MCA Insight.

Eating out in hotels was worth £8.5bn in 2016 and hotel restaurant turnover is expected to outpace growth in the total eating out market in 2018/2019 as hotels improve their F&B and business travel picks up, MCA’s inaugural UK Hotel Restaurants Market Report 2016 found.

The survey of hotel executives found that 75 per cent believe catering in hotels will improve in the next three years with improved atmosphere, value for money and convenience identified as the key factors behind sales growth.

Opportunities

A mixture of increasing grab-and-go options and more relaxed dining venues in hotels are expected to be seen as hotels widen their horizons in the F&B space with greater opportunities for restaurant operators to partner with hoteliers looking to improve their food and drink offer, the report found.

“Hotels have historically done a better job on room sales than F&B, but are finally waking up to the opportunities that are available to them with the right focus and resources applied to the discipline," said one hotelier.

Many hoteliers said they could see more outsourcing of F&B, following the likes of ME London which outsources all F&B to The ONE Group and The Hoxton Hotel which outsources to Soho House.

Others are looking more closely at the more adaptable high street restaurants for inspiration.

Perception

MCA found there was a consistently higher spend in hotel restaurants than the wider eating out market, but that there was weak consumer perceptions of food quality in hotel restaurants, with better quality needed to justify the higher prices.

Offers such as afternoon tea were found to be the biggest single contributor to F&B growth, followed by dinner for non-residents and weekend special occasions.

Steve Gotham, director of insight at MCA, said: ”Our research reinforces how many hotels have valuable strengths in terms of the more aspirational environments they offer, and while these align well with burgeoning growth in the experiential economy, they still need to deliver on rising expectations around food taste and quality-led value for money.

"This has been an area of some neglect, but needs to be better prioritised.”

To find out more about MCA’s UK Hotel Restaurants Market Report 2016 contact sophie.barber@mcainsight.com 