How to build an attractive & successful Hotel Restaurant

Your Hotel Restaurants are one of the most important departments that can support your property’s overall sales and popularity. This is the hotel facility that all guests are expected to visit (during their breakfast) and it is the one that can further support the guests’ satisfaction — provided that you have developed your restaurants correctly, focusing on providing the best possible dining experience.

That said, it is a fact that Hoteliers tend to make numerous mistakes, even before beginning to build or renovate their restaurants! In order to help you develop the best restaurant for your property, our Hotel Experts have made a research and present below a list of useful tips that will transform your restaurant to a ‘hot-spot’ of your hotel:

1. Make a research about what the visitors of your hotel like (or expect) to eat, focusing on what your area has to offer

Before deciding the concept and the cuisine that your hotel restaurant will offer, it is always necessary to make a thorough research regarding what the potential visitors of your hotel would like (or expect) to eat during their stay. Compare the results with the various dining options offered in the broader area, and determine a competitive concept for your hotel restaurant.

Example: If your hotel is located in Rome, one thing is for sure: your guests will want to eat pizza! However, this is something that is very easy to be found everywhere in the city, at low prices. In order to upgrade your guests’ experience, offer in your restaurant a unique kind of pizza, using even secret recipes, that will trigger the travellers’ interest and curiosity and make them want to stay inside your hotel and try your restaurant’s unique cuisine.

2. Give to your hotel restaurant a differentiated character, compared to the general design of your hotel

Pick the right location within your hotel grounds and create a restaurant that is welcoming and offers a complete and pleasant experience. Try to differentiate the hotel restaurant design from the rest of your hotel, in order to give to your guests a new place to discover that will refresh their experience and highlight a different aspect of your property.

Example: If you have a beach resort, try to set your restaurant as far as possible from your main building, in order to give to the travellers the feeling that they completely change environment during their meals. Make sure that the interior design of the restaurant showcases the most distinctive aspects of your destination — ideally, build a seafront restaurant, highlighting the beach experience.

3. Introduce the local cuisine and familiarize your guests with local food habits

Food (and, particularly, good food), is extremely important for shaping your guests’ staying experience and gives a strong identity to your destination. The first thing that your guests expect to try during their stay at your hotel, is the local cuisine and recipes. Ask your Chef to create a menu that will offer to your guests at least a basic local dining experience. Make sure to offer a local touch not only to your a la carte menus but to your breakfast as well. Avoid introducing other cuisines, unless you are sure that you have satisfied the local destination experience first.

Example: If your hotel is based in Greece, make sure to always feature a ‘Greek corner’ in your breakfast buffet, offering traditional Greek products & recipes like feta cheese, honey and olive oil. Also, include in your main restaurant’s menu at least some popular Greek recipes, such as the famous Greek salad, homemade pies and even more traditional and ‘humble’ dishes like the soup of beans, which has been a major food habit for decades. It might not look attractive to you, but your guests will surely adore it!

4. Avoid serving your breakfast at the same place where your guests have their lunch or dinner

Place identity is one of the most important factors that influences your guests’ experience. Breakfast is included in most of your hotel reservations and your guests expect to receive the best! As the breakfast room is where almost all of your guests will begin their day, make sure to choose a spacious, naturally lit and pleasant location. However, as beautiful as your breakfast room might be, you should keep in mind that nobody likes to eat dinner where they have had breakfast since they always prefer to live a different and unique experience. So, build your main restaurant at a different spot, even if this will make it a bit smaller. It is always better to have a small & successful restaurant than a big, empty dining hall without identity.

Example: Your breakfast room has left just a small place of 50 sqm to use for your main hotel restaurant. Ask you architect to design it in a completely different way than your other hotel spaces, making it look more elegant and exclusive. If your breakfast room is bright and white, make your restaurant dark and atmospheric, ideal for romantic and intimate dinners! It will definitely be extremely successful to curious guests, who will want to live the unique experience it offers.

5. Build an individual identity for your main hotel restaurant, making it look like a completely different project

When visiting a new destination, travellers want to explore the surrounding area and its local culture as much as possible. Making your hotel restaurant look like a true hot-spot of the city (even if it only welcomes hotel guests), would make it even more attractive and successful. Therefore, build a separate brand identity for your restaurant and make your guests feel like they are going somewhere else for dinner, even if it is just by the swimming pool!

Example: Make a special photo shoot and build a unique website for your restaurant. Begin a new, parallel promotion of your restaurant and enforce both your restaurant as well as your overall hotel sales.