How many French people think to reserve a table in a hotel restaurant without being a guest of the hotel? Very few. This is a real problem for these restaurateurs.
However, hotel restaurants are still restaurants, with a kitchen, products, a dining room, and staff. We explain the specific challenges and actions taken by restaurateurs to address them.
A nearly unanimous observation: hotel restaurants are not operating at full capacity
Hotel restaurants struggle to attract outside customers
At first glance, it may seem that hotel restaurants have an advantage over other restaurants because they already have resident customers. A hotel with 63% of its rooms occupied could provide 1/3 of the covers for its restaurant with these same customers. However, there are still 2/3 of the restaurant to fill by attracting outside customers.
Credits: Dandy Kitchen
Here lies the difficulty: having lunch or dinner in a hotel restaurant is not really part of French customs because they do not perceive the restaurant as an independent establishment from the hotel.
The lack of distinct identity penalizes hotel restaurants
A restaurant that bears the same name as the hotel brand only exists as a “part of the hotel.” Today, many establishments distinguish themselves from the hotel by adding a descriptive term dedicated to the restaurant to the brand name.
Credits M Bistro
This is the case with the M Bistro restaurant, whose name stands out from the Marriott Champs Elysées hotel while retaining the “M.” The hotel restaurant offers a brunch menu every Sunday, an opportunity to attract a new clientele who might not have otherwise considered this type of establishment. Similarly, the hotel client Dandy, from the Elegancia group, differentiates its restaurant by calling it Dandy Kitchen. Others go even further and turn the hotel restaurant into a separate brand in its own right.
Creating and operating a strong brand offers great prospects for profitability
Some hotels have taken this logic further and have successfully turned their restaurants into genuine profit centers.
Credits Philippe Lopez
This is the case with the Barrière Group, which has developed the Fouquet’s brand. The majority of customers come exclusively to dine at Fouquet’s – no longer “in the Barrière hotel restaurant.” “The Fouquet’s brand was created with the aim of strengthening the image of our restaurants to attract more non-hotel customers,” explains Pierre-Louis Renou, Manager for the Cannes establishments. The Group has thus succeeded in building a strong restaurant brand, so strong that people no longer automatically associate it with hotels.
Credits Nick Solares
Other hotels offer exclusive restaurant offers to attract customers. In New York, the Thompson Central Park NY hotel houses the only Burger Joint restaurant in the chain. The Burger Joint is hidden behind a curtain within the hotel, with a unique decor that sets it apart from the rest of the establishment, its own website, and social media presence. The concept is showcased both on-site and online and it works: there is an average wait time of one hour to taste their burgers!
Credits Akira Back
Our client, Prince de Galles, a luxury hotel in Paris, also puts its restaurant in the spotlight. With a chef who is already globally recognized, the hotel offers a unique experience within its Akira Back restaurant. A place that invites both guests and non-guests to experience Japanese gastronomy in Paris. Already at the helm of 21 restaurants around the world, the chef’s reputation brings in a curious clientele who can finally experience his cuisine with this first restaurant in Europe.
Hotel restaurants have their own specificities compared to traditional restaurants
Depending on their location and range, hotels attract outside customers during certain time slots. Hotels near business districts host numerous business lunches but struggle with weekend services. The Melia Paris La Defense relies on its rooftop, now the Skyline Bar, to attract a new clientele on weekends.
The OFF Paris Seine hotel, the first hotel entirely built on the Seine, offers a unique dining experience. Enjoy the chef’s dishes with not only a view of the Seine but also a view of the hotel’s pool! A restaurant and bar highlighted within the OFF Paris Seine, attracting a clientele enthusiastic and curious for new experiences, as well as tourist clientele.
So, what are the good initiatives to take to attract customers to a hotel restaurant for the services that need it the most?
Implement both local and digital initiatives for hotel restaurants
Giving an identity to the restaurant appears as the first way to give it a chance
A name, distinct from that of the hotel, a sign, a chef, a website: it must become physically visible and online as a separate establishment.
This is the case with Limon, the restaurant of the Marignan Champs Elysées hotel. The restaurant offers its own experience. A beautiful location, a stylish setting, a menu and cuisine orchestrated by Chef Adrien Milliand. The restaurant now has its website, with a description that does not directly mention Marignan, as well as its social media accounts. It appears as a separate restaurant.
Once its identity is established, the restaurant must make itself known and use the right digital tools for effective and profitable management of its digital marketing.
Communicating online as a restaurant and not as part of the hotel strengthens the establishment’s presence
90% of French people choose their restaurant online. It is necessary to exist on the Internet independently of the hotel. Good referencing, optimized digital communication, with a website, a Facebook page, and Instagram dedicated to the restaurant. These are essential elements today to maximize the establishment’s visibility.
Our client, Les Caryatides restaurant, at the Alfred Sommier hotel in Paris, uses social media effectively. Its own Instagram account serves as a real visibility lever and distinguishes it from the hotel.
Using social media properly allows reaching a wider audience. We also recommend reinforcing local ties to maximize restaurant filling.
Local ties allow discovering one’s offer to those who are most likely to become loyal customers
Consumers trust products whose origins they know. Working with local producers means getting closer to one’s customers.
Some go even further and grow their own vegetables, fruits, and herbs within the hotel itself. The restaurant at Brach, with chef Adam Bentalha at the helm, harvests its produce from the rooftop garden of the hotel in the heart of Paris. There is even a chicken coop that provides eggs!
Local anchoring can also take the form of clever diversification to strengthen specific offerings and improve the restaurant’s reputation.
Intelligently diversifying offerings makes hotel restaurants a profitable living space
Offering new activities attracts a broader clientele
Diversification allows hotel restaurants to capitalize on their strengths, such as location or facilities. Organizing events, such as artist exhibitions or short-term collaborations with other brands or restaurants, helps reach a new target audience.
Chouchou Hotel invites restaurants to settle into its living space rather than creating a new restaurant attached to the hotel. In the form of a “food market,” our client previously collaborated with La Mer à Boire and La Grande Bouffe. This is a great way to attract an outside clientele who are already familiar with the collaborating restaurants. On Thursday and Sunday evenings, there are performances on the venue’s stage. Young talents perform in front of the dining room.
Another excellent example of diversification is our clients at Edgar Hotel & Restaurant. They take advantage of their incredible terrace in the heart of Paris to host events such as jazz concerts, live cooking, and “terroir Tuesdays.” They even collaborated with the luxury brand Prada during fashion week and advertised it using the hashtag #feelslikeprada! Numerous influential people were in attendance. To preserve these moments of notoriety, the hotel’s Instagram page keeps the stories in highlights.
By taking advantage of the hotel’s existing structures, the restaurant can develop a new offer for an outside clientele
Hotels naturally serve breakfasts that resemble brunches (eggs, cheeses, cold cuts, etc.).
Therefore, starting with their existing assets, the Marriott Champ Elysée formulated a brunch offering to attract outside customers. One of the ways they communicated this diversification was through collaborations with influencers. The influencer lesparisdelaura was invited to try their brunch and shared her experience on social media and her blog. Her urban, young audience, for whom brunch is part of their daily routine, could discover the Marriott’s offering.
Afternoon tea is an opportunity seized by hotels to fill the lull in the afternoon and generate new revenue opportunities. The Shangri La, the Westminster hotel, and the Crillon have all developed a tea time offering.
Another example of clever diversification is Olivier Thomas, director of the Pullman in Blagnac near Toulouse, who suffers from the proximity of company canteens at lunchtime. He has developed an offer that brings real value and a competitive advantage: “packages,” lunch packages to which he adds access to the pool, a massage, or a sports class within the hotel.
Going further by welcoming a strong concept offers the hotel restaurant a new attraction
Still within the Grape Hospitality group: the Mercure in Sophia Antipolis welcomed a restaurant with a strong concept: “Dans le noir.” Dinners are served in complete darkness by visually impaired people. The experience goes beyond just the meal; senses are challenged: deprived of sight, customers can completely re-evaluate their perception of taste. This initiative has allowed the establishment to become known and attract a new clientele. The success is such that this beautiful short-term collaboration has been extended.
