Post-Covid hotel F&B trends

The Covid impacts on the global lodging industry have been innumerable.

From reopening with understaffed hotels to rising F&B and energy costs, few hotels has been immune.

Companies have been forced to reign in costs and try new creative ways to attract workers.

New F&B trends since the Covid recovery period include reductions in in-room dining and more streamlined menus. It has also led to cutting all-day dining service. What has increased is informal grab-and-go venues.

These and more findings are detailed in CBRE’s Trends in the Hotel Industry study in 2021 and 2022.

The 2,500 properties studied averaged 64.7% occupancy with an ADR of $225.60.

Revenue Trends

Based on a dollar-per-occupied room (POR) basis, F&B revenues for the hotels increased over 50.2%.

In comparison, total hotel revenue for these hotels increased 24%.

There were notable increases in profitability percentages across operations, with beverage venue revenues, public-room rentals, audiovisual all seeing strong performances.

The uptick in bars and lounges, can be attributed to the growing popularity of specialty cocktails or craft beer selections plus utilising rooftop spaces into bars.

Meanwhile, public-room rentals saw substantial growth too.

Still, the report found declines in earnings from in-room dining and minibars in 2022.

This is partly down to social distancing measure and less staff-guest interaction.  This was replaced by grab-and-go options.

Many hotels have chosen to remove minibars from guestrooms altogether.

Overall from 2021 to 2022, the biggest F&B revenue gains were by full-service, convention, and upper-upscale hotels.

These hotels were able to benefit from the initial recovery phase of group and corporate travel demand.

Luxury hotels struggled most to boost F&B revenue in 2023, which aligns with their inability to significantly raise room rates. The continued double-digit growth in 2021 and 2022 proved unsustainable in 2023.

From 2021 to 2022, total F&B expenses at the studied hotels increased by a huge 82.3%.

This is driven by increased salaries, wages, and employee benefits.

Between 2021 and 2022, total labour costs surged by 85.9%.

To compound this, operating efficiencies have dropped so far in 2023 on average.

At June year-to-date, F&B profit margins have fallen slightly, while department profit margins have declined for all property types.