What metrics do you track for IRD today? Is time still a factor?

We track various metrics to determine the trend for In-Room Dining as below 

• Time taken for delivery

• Revenue per Room

• Revenue per Order

• Revenue per Guest

• Busiest time slots during meal period

• Upsell by the order taker

• In-room Upsell

• Occupancy Pattern

• Guest In House details i.e. groups, FIT's, airline crew, social etc.

Over the period of time, one of the most prominent metrics to gauge the efficiency of In-Room Dining has been the "TIME" factor. Though it varies from the hotel type as the time taken to deliver food may be longer in the resorts or leisure destinations than city hotels, it certainly has been and continues to be the key factor to drive efficiency and guest experience. 

2.With all the new tech, tell us anything that you use for your IRD.

During the current pandemic, the world being contactless has been the key focus and we switched the physical menu with a QR Code menu which gives liberty to get away with that traditional bi-annual menu change to save on the stationary cost. Now we prudently curate our menu based on the seasonal availability, guest in house pattern and giving a personalised dining experience to the guests.

3.What is so special about your IRD?

The outbreak of pandemic has changed the way IRD was looked at, now due to social distancing and in quest of avoiding public space, diners are opting for In-Room Dining more than ever before. At Hotel Marriott Surat we anticipated that change and transformed the IRD meal into a more restaurant-like feeling, of course sensing the guest mood set. The usual IRD orders "Meal on Tray" turn into a trolley table with a restaurant-like set up with botanicals, overlooking the beautiful Tapi river. A perfect setup for a romantic cosy dining experience.

4.What do you think IRD will look like in the coming years? (drone service, auto-delivery, food printing?)

As they say "The only constant in life is change" IRD is no different than it. In the coming time, IRD will certainly evolve with time. As I see in the near future below upgradations are most likely in hotels -

• Web-based Room Service App - it will cut the additional process of a guest calling to order and guests would have the luxury to order online while taking assistance with a talk bot.

• Wine On-demand - Hotels where the local law permits, will soon look to install a wine on-demand feature where guests can avail wine by the glass from an electronic dispenser without being disturbed in their privacy and wait time for order delivery.

• Service Bots - Very soon we will start seeing basic orders being delivered by robots.

• Automatic Minibars - Automatic minibars are another option for hoteliers to consider. According to Bartech, one out of three hotel guests will consume from the guestroom minibar. When hotels use an automatic minibar solution, sensors can determine which items have been removed and automatically post the purchase of the item to a guest’s folio. With automatic posting, hotel staff experience fewer guest disputes and losses due to consumption inaccuracies.