(NewsNation) — For decades, the hallmark of a luxury hotel was room service: elegant meals beautifully presented on white tablecloth-covered carts delivered to your room any time of the day or night. But even the most upscale places have reduced room service hours and what they offer.
But a new trend born of the pandemic is taking hold: what might be called do-it-yourself room service. And companies that helped end traditional room service, food delivery apps, are leading the revival.
Grubhub, Door Dash and UberEATS have all shared their technologies with hotels to let guests order deliveries not just from nearby restaurants, but from those off the property.
A pioneer in the new cooperative order was Grubhub and Resorts World, the huge hotel/casino complex that opened in Las Vegas in 2021. The Grubhub-built app lets guests order food from any of the resort’s more than 40 restaurants. Hotel employees, not Grubhub gig workers, deliver the food.
“Why restrict yourself to the barriers of traditional room service when you can access the various dining and retail options around you,” Resorts World rhetorically asks guests on its website.
And it’s not just service to guests’ rooms. Resorts World will also deliver to its various pools and even the poker room.
Grubhub is actively pitching the concept to hotel companies, promising that it will streamline operations, reduce operating costs, and integrate with “guest folios” – business talk for the meal cost going directly to a guest’s hotel bill.
Hotels are making changes as the technology develops. Caesars Republic, a new property in Scottsdale, Arizona, offers food delivered from both its on-site restaurants and, after-hours, nearby restaurants.
And, inspired by the growing popularity of takeout, the hotel has installed bigger trash cans in its rooms.