We Need to Talk About Hotel F&B

In an expected but, some would say, welcome departure from my usual incoherent ramblings, I shall get straight to the point. Almost. But first, I want to stress the issue at hand, our industry’s embarrassing secret, is almost too big to solve and therefore utterly idiotic to cover in one article. So here goes: Hotel F&B doesn’t perform as well as it should. There, I’ve said it out loud. I know you’re going to point to examples of great bars and restaurants in hotels, packing in delighted guests and making huge revenue. I’ve seen them too, some of my best meals have been in hotels. Although, I could point out that most of these aren’t actually run by the hotel (another point for another day?). Either way, I agree there are some truly standout examples globally, but let’s be honest, most hotel F&B just doesn’t cut it. Stuck with the wrong concepts that cost way too much to build in the first place, and are a nightmare to operate once open, they fail to attract enough guests or deliver a return. This is, to put it diplomatically, frustrating for the owner, disappointing for guests, and harmful to the brand. Given the mistakes repeated and the opportunity wasted, it is also, to put it less diplomatically, fucking stupid.

There are, of course, and always have been, plenty of mitigating circumstances to ease our collective conscience. As I was reminded by the President of a global hotel brand who said, “The only thing more complicated than a hotel is an aircraft carrier.” While this is possibly an overstatement, hotels are undoubtedly way more complicated than the free-standing restaurants their F&B is so often compared to. And it's not as if F&B is even the main focus. Anyone in a corporate F&B office struggling through another week of being simultaneously overworked and under-resourced will tell you, if they had the time, that the point is to sell rooms. My friends in the Gulf or China will be clamouring to remind me F&B is 40%, 50%, or more of the revenue in some of their properties, and it’s true, sometimes it is. But for most of us, in many markets, the primary function is to sell rooms. Then there’s the multi-function madness of hotel F&B itself: numerous outlets, meetings, events, room service, team facilities, the spectre of breakfast, and more. Just try to explain that complexity to a restaurateur, no really, go on, try. On top of that, there’s the precarious juggling act the GM and senior team must perfect, accommodating the conflicting commercial needs of the owner, asset manager, and of course, the brand. It's no wonder the F&B ball gets dropped. And yet?

You have to admit that hotels often boast some of the best locations in their markets. Not perfect, of course, and the old, rusted-in-place hotel mentality prevails, but locations that could in the hands of a proven restauranteur do more covers in a day than the hotel does in a month. Like, for example, the notorious case in an European capital where a hotel dining room sat empty while, literally on the other side of the wall, a local upscale restaurant was happily doing 300+ covers a night. Our spaces are also often simply better, bigger, easier to operate, with larger kitchens and back-of-house facilities. Speaking of spaces, we seem to have developed an awkward habit of hiding incredible assets in plain sight, unused spaces with huge untapped potential. Take, for instance, the conversion of the empty roof of a famed Middle Eastern hotel’s banqueting hall into a destination restaurant that now does €20m a year, a story that's legendary and true. The proof of local market demand is often evident in embarrassingly successful local restaurants and bars in close proximity, happily serving, unlike you, your local community and your guests. Most of all, however, the F&B spaces in hotels don’t pay rent for being there! Let me say that again, just in case you missed it: unlike the free-standing restaurant next door, or anywhere for that matter, the restaurants, bars, and cafés within hotels don’t pay rent. Some would say that’s an unfair advantage—I say it’s your opportunity.

Why should you care? Why, in a world of “let's open more hotels than our competitors,” does F&B even matter? There are compelling sociological, operational, and commercial reasons why it does, which we’ll explore. But before we do, indulge me in a small emotional rant. F&B is so much more than food and drink. It turns buildings into sensory, human spaces; it’s the hotel’s emotional soul. It creates stories, builds connections, and drives loyalty, satisfying the elemental human needs we all crave: comfort, excitement, and indulgence. It’s personal and shared, wonderfully chaotic, deeply sensory, utterly glorious, and the reason I’ve loved the hotel industry for 40+ years. In getting it wrong, we’re failing our guests, communities, brands, and owners—and most of all, ourselves. It's embarrassing that an industry so wonderfully diverse, complex, energetic, and innovative as ours has conspired to so consistently fail at F&B. Emotional rant over. For now. A more measured commercially robust argument might go more like this: F&B simply has to perform, because when its not its killing:

Revenue: Of course, you know this already, but just for the avoidance of doubt, let’s be clear. Underperforming F&B is not just a missed opportunity, it’s revenue flowing out faster than the free drinks in your club lounge. Every empty seat is an uncomfortable reminder that your guests are spending their F&B budget elsewhere, often to the tune of €50, €80, or much more. To put it another way, that means hundreds of Euros, Dollars, or Dirhams per room, per night, lost. On top of that, local diners who could be filling your tables don’t even know you exist—or worse, they do and avoid you like the hotel gym. And it doesn’t stop there: you’re still paying to heat, cool, and light those spaces, with staff standing around trying to look busy. The ingredients you stocked up on? They end up in the bin, sad staff meals, or as chef’s specials (which aren’t), wasting thousands more. You’re not just losing out on direct revenue; you’re haemorrhaging money on wasted resources and missed opportunities. It’s like spending €2 million on a restaurant build-out only to watch it generate less income than the food truck parked down the street. I could go on, but we all know this, right?

Loyalty: When F&B fails to fire, as it so often does, it’s not just the revenue that takes a hit. Guests don’t just forget a bland burger or another tragically underwhelming steak, they’ll associate that disappointment with the entire hotel. And let’s face it, no one’s rushing to TripAdvisor to rave about your 300-thread-count sheets or the carefully curated light fixtures. But they’ll go on for days about the dreadful dinner, crappy café or souless bar staffed by bored ghosts. The fallout from which is instant and brutal: the online reviews start rolling in, and it’s not long before you’re reading the phrase “wouldn’t stay again” all in caps. But the long-term damage is sneakier. As an award-winning SVP confided to me recently, “It’s a complete nightmare to stop.” Bad F&B doesn’t just kill a single meal, it drags down guest satisfaction scores, lowers overall occupancy, room rates, and makes it significantly harder to build long-term loyalty. Before you know it, you’re stuck forever chasing guests with one-off offers and desperate loyalty programmes, wondering why they’re not coming back. Spoiler alert: It’s because of that sad, soggy club sandwich.

Brand: When a hotel’s crappy F&B starts dragging things down, it doesn’t just dent the hotel, it chips away at the brand itself. And when that happens, you’re in a whole hill of trouble. Suddenly, the brand isn’t just seen as a bit careless; it’s perceived as failing at the one thing it’s supposed to be good at: hospitality. Which, I’m told, is both awkward and expensive. And no, it’s not something that can be magically fixed by rolling out a shiny new mission statement or a logo update in “seafoam tranquility.” No amount of strategic rebranding, no matter how much the brand team loves burning other people’s money, can mask the stench of bad F&B. It doesn’t just erode the brand’s value to guests; it weakens the brand’s value, full stop. And in today’s world, where brands are swapped and acquired faster than Netflix recommendations, that’s not exactly ideal. Think I’m overstating the F&B impact? Just take a look at the herculean effort (and obscene investment) it takes to restore a brand once it’s been knocked off course. Which often fails miserably, leaving you with nothing but a sad, rebranded menu and some very expensive regrets.

Community: While we’ve touched on this before, F&B that fails to engage the local community is like leaving a ripe harvest to rot on the vine. It’s nothing short of bizarre that we, as an industry, still haven’t figured out how to tap into local markets more effectively. I mean, who wouldn’t want to be the local hotspot for brunch, the go-to for after-work drinks, or the place to be seen on a Friday night? Yet, so many hotels keep their F&B so cloistered, so out of sync with the community, that they might as well hang a ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign outside. A buzzing F&B scene that resonates with the locals doesn’t just drive revenue, it stitches the hotel into the very fabric of the community. And here’s the kicker: when locals are packing your restaurant, guests notice. They feel that energy, they soak up the vibe, and suddenly your hotel doesn’t just look like a place to sleep, it looks like the place to be.

Team Morale: When your F&B’s tanking, it’s not just the numbers that nosedive, the people do too. The lack of buzz spreads like a bad flu, infecting everyone with that special kind of despair that comes from faking enthusiasm for yet another night with a crowd smaller than your last team briefing. One of our industry’s eternal mysteries is that the only thing harder to run than a packed restaurant is an empty one. In no time, you’re dealing with a revolving door of staff turnover, a noticeable drop in service quality, and that unique brand of cynicism that grows from watching... well, nothing. It’s not just bad for business, it’s soul-sucking. And when your team’s spirit is shattered, it shows: smiles turn into grimaces, service gets sloppy, and your “passionate hospitality” feels more like “oh no, a guest, how annoying.” Let’s be real: a demoralised team doesn’t just impact guest experience; it creates a toxic cycle that drags everyone down, from the floor and bar team to the chefs, most of whom are already scrolling through job ads, desperately looking for an escape hatch. Soon enough you will be too.

Owner Relations: There’s a special place in hotel hell for GMs left holding the underperforming F&B baby—terrible metaphor, but stick with it. While there’s a long line of designers, consultants, and corporate teams eager to take credit for any successes, it’s funny how the GM suddenly finds themselves very alone when things go south. Left to defend the indefensible under the scornful glare of the owner’s Asset Manager, at least they can count on the support of their regional VP... oh wait, he’s scarpered too. Owners may invest for many reasons; return, vanity, boredom, or “undisclosed,” but I doubt any of them are thinking, “You know what I really want? A beautifully designed room full of empty seats.” Nothing erodes an owner’s confidence faster than the flashing neon sign of pathetically lame concepts.? When the F&B flounders, it’s not just the restaurant in trouble—it’s the entire hotel, the management company, and by unfortunate association the future investment pipeline. Good luck reporting that to the board.

As many of you already know I’m prone to taking a longtime to say not very much, and certainly don't expect you to agree with all of my somewhat laboured points. I never claimed to be impartial, and with a declared love for hotels in general and F&B in particular, neither am I’m the most reliable witness. But here’s the thing: F&B is woven into the very fabric of the hotels. Owners invest, often heavily with the potential to connect to local communities, animate public spaces, breathe life into buildings, create memories, satisfy our most basic human needs, and deliver healthy returns. That’s got to worth taking more seriously right??

So why do we keep getting it so wrong?We have the spaces, the resources, and the opportunities right in front of us. What we lack is the willingness to break free from the stale, outdated mentality that’s holding hotel F&B back. The truth is, every time we settle for ‘good enough’ or let another opportunity pass, we’re not just losing revenue, we’re losing relevance. It’s time to stop treating F&B as an afterthought and start realising that when it’s done right, it’s not just an amenity, it’s a game-changer. So ask yourself: Is your F&B driving guests away, or pulling them in? Because in today’s market, you can’t afford to be on the wrong side of that question.