The $14.95 prime rib special has long been a big draw at Siegel’s 1941, the restaurant at El Cortez Hotel & Casino off the Strip in downtown Las Vegas. “We typically sell 100 a day,” said GM Adam Wiesberg.
But when pandemic restrictions forced the hotel to close, then limit capacity, Siegel’s 1941 upgraded its digital ordering platform to ramp up takeout. “We never had a huge to-go business, but the new procedure has made it more efficient and more profitable than dine-in,” said Wiesberg. Plans are now in the works to expand it, he added.
The COVID crisis devastated the hotel industry, as travel, meetings and events came to a standstill. Leisure and hospitality lost 2.8 million jobs during the pandemic and nearly half of U.S. hotel rooms are projected to remain empty through 2021, according to the American Hotel and Lodging Association (AHLA).
While business travel isn’t projected to improve until the second half of the year, vacation travel has picked up, hotels are reopening and the future looks brighter. But as these properties forge ahead, they are not abandoning the pandemic pivots that helped them survive.
To get its to-go ordering up to speed, El Cortez created QR coded menus and engaged restaurant reservation platform Open Table for guests to arrange a pickup time. The dining room now has three-foot spacing between tables.
“Since we’re having labor challenges and can’t find enough servers, an 80% capacity dining room works for us now,” said Wiesberg. But that $14.95 prime rib dinner is still a draw—albeit a loss leader.
The casino’s slots floor was also reconfigured to create a safer environment and the redesign is proving to be a win.
“Before COVID we had 1,200 slot machines, and during three months of shutdown, we reduced that number to 700,” Wiesberg said. “We separated all the slots so people didn’t overlap and installed acrylic dividers on the gaming tables. The redesign is working well for us.”
A popup becomes permanent
Kimpton’s Everly Hotel in Los Angeles is a very different kind of property. But when the boutique hotel reopened last month, food and beverage service had taken a few pivots.
Everly Hotel rooftop; photo by Laure Joliet
During the pandemic when indoor dining was restricted, the Everly created a popup on the rooftop pool deck and built an outdoor kitchen. They pulled furniture from Jane Q, the hotel’s onsite restaurant, and served tapas-like plates.
“We’ve now made the Yaki Q popup a permanent full-service outdoor restaurant,” said Charlotte O’Donahue, GM of Food & Beverage at the hotel. The Japanese-inspired concept serves themed weekend brunches and dinner from Thursday through Saturday evenings
“We discovered that the guest palate has changed,” said O’Donahue. “People are now looking at dishes they can’t make at home.”
Yaki Q’s menu includes a selection of grilled skewers made with ingredients such as pork belly, scallops and octopus, customized with a choice of glazes. There’s also an assortment of small plates, including Hamachi with truffle ponzu ($18), a Wagyu Beef Sando on brioche ($35), Crispy Half Duck ($30) and Kimchi Fried Rice ($12-$15). A brunch signature is Wasabi Benedict.
Yaki Q also offers a selection of Asian-accented cocktails, such as a Yuzu Fizz and a highball made with Japanese whiskey.
The Ever Bar inside the hotel, which just reopened on Memorial Day weekend, also saw some changes.
Cocktails at Ever Bar; photo by Kristin Teig
“We scaled back the drink list to 10 or 15 of the top cocktails,” said O’Donahue. “Pre-COVID, we offered 35 to 40 selections. And before, we served a house wine and beer in Jane Q, the indoor restaurant, but now we’re looking at adding more varietals.”
Reservations are picking up for parties and events, she said, and here again, the service is different.
“We can’t do cocktail service or passed food, and buffets must be chef-attended with shields between the server and guest,” said O’Donahue. In place of buffets, Kimpton is doing more family-style meals presented on platters for tables of guests to share. “People are appreciating the interaction,” she said.
Kimpton is also partnering with different organizations to provide unique experiences and create food memories. "That's our strength," said O'Donahue.
Going local
Hyatt Hotels is also focusing on creating unique culinary experiences post-pandemic. Feedback has revealed that “our guests value quality food and beverage experiences that are local, authentic and immersive,” said Frank Giacomini, VP of Restaurants, Bars & Events at Hyatt Hotels Corporation.
The company’s Hyatt Loves Local initiative, which launched in 2020, is designed to reimagine culinary experiences with local flavor while helping to revitalize community food businesses recovering from the pandemic. The hotels’ 2021 mission is focused on collaborating with 40% more minority- and female-owned entrepreneurs.
Hyatt Place Eugene/Oakway Center in Oregon, for example, is offering Iris Vineyards, a local female-owned winery, complimentary space in its lobby and sky deck to host popup tasting events. Holston House in Nashville is collaborating with High Garden Tea, a local retailer of heirloom teas, to highlight its products during the hotel’s rooftop tea service. The teas are also available for sale in the hotel’s marketplace, said Giacomini.
Photo courtesy of Hyatt Hotels
“At Motif Seattle, we carved out kitchen space at Frolik Kitchen+Cocktails for a local, female-owned fresh pasta company, Mixtape Pasta, to make her product fresh onsite and then sell it to guests and locals weekly from a designated location in the lobby,” he added.
Similar collaborations are happening in over 100 other Hyatt Hotels, offering small female and minority entrepreneurs free space to set up virtual concepts, bakeries and catering operations out of hotel kitchens.
Chloe, a Lebanese restaurant headed by Chef Haidar Karoum, teamed up with the Thompson Washington D.C. to provide room service to guests while both his restaurant and the hotel’s two food and beverage outlets were closed during COVID. Chef Karoum prepped the meals and hand delivered them to the hotel’s concierge.
“Now that Washington, D.C. is reopened, the Thompson will look to continue its collaboration with Chloe in a new capacity, potentially via events and activations at the hotel,” said Giacomini.
Through guest feedback, Hyatt discovered that guests are looking for more intimate, exclusive dining experiences. Some properties are carving out space to meet this demand in new and different ways.
Giacomini cites two favorite examples, The Hyatt Centric Las Olas Fort Lauderdale converted a guest room into a secret speakeasy featuring a rotating bartender-in-residence program so the program ties into the community. Dubbed 901, the speakeasy evokes classic Prohibition vibes with bites and libations to match. And Hotel Lincoln’s Sushi Suite 202 offers diners an intimate 17-course Omakase experience in an unmarked hotel suite turned sushi speakeasy.
As travel resumes in the short term, no doubt new food and beverage programs and experiences like these will play a part in attracting hotel guests.