Food is a very important part of our life. You can surely win anybody’s heart by offering delicious food. People are very particular about their food especially when they are traveling. In fact their selection of hotel (to stay) greatly depends on their eating habits. So if you want to attract more visitors to your hotel then offering good food is a good idea. In fact offering good food can make a guest or casual diner come to your hotel again.

The current economy has affected every individual at the micro level. So, the hotel and travel industry is expecting to see tougher times for a while yet. In order to sustain these tougher conditions the hotel and travel industry players need to gear up and come up with new innovative business ideas. Here are some of the findings based on experts study on food trends for hotels and restaurants expected for the year 2009 that can help you in business decisions.

• Straight from the farm to the Table cuisine is now-a-days getting very popular. A customer might ask, and would be delighted to know about where the food comes from, and can be a great selling point for wait staff when taking orders. If it’s structure properly can be used to up sell.

• With market ups and downs and changing inflation rates, changing menus is an ideal thing to do.

• Customization and personalization sometimes can make your customer feel special. Considering a slight change in the menu or taste, to suit your customer needs is worth it. Strong Return Guest programs could record like and dislikes of particular guests.

• 2009 will be a year of cost cuttings, savings and restoring the economic health. Consider things like half glass wine, happy hours, offering several snacks type foods that are a better option for customers as compared to a fixed priced complete dinner.

• In today’s fast paced life people are unable to stick to the traditional timings of breakfast, lunch or dinner. You should be ready to serve them food according to their needs anytime.

• Restaurants that are open late night are very convenient for business travelers. In fact business travelers choose hotels (to stay) that have late night restaurant services.

• Dining in different areas of the hotel other than the traditional restaurant, bar can add uniqueness and a lasting memory. Creating a rainforest effect in the ballroom for a couple of sittings or out in the garden is fast getting popular. So, offering this kind of services can give guests and visitors an exciting and fun filled experience.

• Complimentary restaurant services like serving breakfast or tea/coffee round the clock is an important thing for luring visitors. According to a study 72% of vacation travelers and 71% of business travelers check this kind of services before choosing hotels to stay.

• With globalization the world has come closer. People travel to different places of the world and enjoy different type of food. So, prepare to serve any all kinds of food i.e. Chinese, African, Japanese etc.

• Herbs in particular Tarragon was not much used till recent times, is gaining popularity among chefs these days, probably through programs from Gordon Ramsey! Leading chefs around the world are now recommending including this ingredient in their menus.

• More and more people are becoming aware of the importance of being eco-friendly. So, stop supplying those water bottles and offer sparkling filtered tap water. If It tastes nice then less will need to be thrown out at the end of service.

The Kenson Team

So you want more business and you think that this Green stuff is a bit of a cook up? Guess again - Hotel guests are very savvy these days and with environmental groups getting more prominent by the day it seem the best thing a hotel can do is tell the guest what your green practices are. They’ll come back.

It’s a bit like the shopping story where the silent shopper never complains when they get bad service they just never come back.

Your guest does notice. Just Last month the author stayed in a hotel interstate where the showers were still operating at full flow, no regulators nothing and in another property on a different trip there was no less than 11 different globes of different colors , types ,energy usage and wattage in the one room.

Global warming looks like being a health hazard. Hotels in particular are required to put their best foot forward, however many stop short of a measurable approach and seem happy to just have a green tinge.

Listed below are some easy things your property may not have tried.

A great way to address your indirect emissions is to address your material suppliers. It could be good policy to ask your suppliers if they have programs in place to “Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle products. Using this type of approach can give a hotel significant cost savings.

Restaurants could use the organic produce to also minimize the hotels carbon footprint.

The Purchasing department might find that there are providers who use less packaging on or for their goods.

Guest room, bathroom amenities can be of the biodegradable type to minimize the impact of wastes entering the environment through the rubbish dumps. It’s a simple question and selection process with your suppliers.

More direct actions for hotels are things like having the Guestroom drapes closed to help retain the heat or cool air regardless of the room being occupied or not. Sure it’s up to the guest to do what they want when they occupy the room - rest of the time belongs to the hotel. Advertising has told us the heating and cooling costs lost through the windows is significant.

For those hotels that have variable thermostats in every guestroom, it would be a beneficial in terms of energy used if Housekeeping were to adjust the dial to a predetermined standard setting after they have finished servicing the room. Instead of having one room running on 20 degrees Celsius and the next at 23 degrees Celsius

Imagine the energy wasted everyday when thermostats are all over the place; it’s like a silent killer.

Do you have computers running 24 hours day because they’ve not been turned off in places like sales and marketing, housekeeping, finance, or admin departments?

It’s very noticeable the accommodation industry has not taken onboard advances made in lamps and lighting technology. Just Lookup in any reception area at the widespread use of incandescent lamps. With LED lamps 5 times more efficient than halogen or incandescent globes it pure common sense to change. Environmentally friendly LED is Mercury free unlike the fluorescent globes, guess that’s the reason hotels are hanging off changing over.

Lifetime on LED is significantly longer than any of the others out there meaning less replacement and maintenance costs. LEDs do not emit harmful infrared or ultraviolet radiation.

Think they are not bright enough - think again, check them out.

Till next time

The Kenson Team

There are many considerations to work through when selecting carpets for your property. Having a consultant does make the job easier when it comes to working out tricky choices like what’s the best investment for the owner, aesthetics of the whole thing, should it be wool, woven? What’s the floor traffic, how much do you need and many more considerations.

It’s a pretty exhausting process - here are a couple of things you need to keep an eye on to get the best value.

It’s sad to say along the way you will find that some of the information received was a little deceptive. Some points below will help you stay on track.

Misleading the weight or grade of carpet can catch the unwary buyer out.

Weight or grade of carpet used in a commercial application is 40 ounce as the standard requires. Substituting only a 20 oz weighted carpet means less cost to the supplier but means a dramatically shorter life for the hotel carpet.

Cheap nasty underlay can ruin any good carpet as it flattens out and is like concrete to walk on. It’s popular to substitute cheaper underlay.

Overstating metres required can catch you out very quickly and add extra unwanted dollars to the bottom line. The hotel generally relies on the carpet measurement of the supplier, consultant, and installer. Would you know if the corridor was 50 metres long or needed 50 metres of carpet? If the corridor was only 46metres then being charged for an extra 4 metres at $200 per metres adds up. If you were doing 25 floors that’s a very quick $20,000 you lost. It happens more often than you think.

You should ask what the measurement is and then have your own people check it.

Its not uncommon to find also a little surprise when those third party people who are helping you, handover the quote have added a couple of metres , after all it was a nice presentation you may not realize what’s going on.

Did you know you are suppose to receive from the supplier a certificate that identifies the carpet in terms of material, weight and fire rating?

You need to check that the carpet is fire rated and get the certificate - if you have a fire in the hotel you could faced with possible non payment of the insurance and possible a negligence charge for not checking by both the insurance company and the asset owner.

Many get bitten with a great price on that imported stuff but it could be underweight and not be fire certified.

Finally read the fine print on your proposal the GST is included on some quotes and sometimes in very small print and not included in others.

That means your purchase will vary by another 10%.

The Kenson Team