3 Ways to Maximize Hotel F&B Revenue Over Labor Day Weekend

Believe it or not, Labor Day is here, and an estimated 137 Americans say they will be traveling for the upcoming holiday weekend. With this influx of guests, there are many ways to ensure they can take full advantage of the last days of summer and safely celebrate Labor Day at your hotel, even if it might look and feel a bit different than years past. Whether guests are soaking up the sun in a cabana or enjoying a cold beverage poolside, it poses an important and unique opportunity to maximize your hotel’s F&B revenue and ensure a seamless experience for your guests. Read on for solutions to some of the most common challenges hotel operators are facing this holiday weekend.

Challenge: Managing Cabana Daybed Reservations

Considering over 25% of guests consider a swimming pool an essential amenity when traveling, it comes as no surprise that, historically, guests woke up early to claim pool chairs or request reserved cabanas via a hotel concierge. We’ve all been there. With new regulations in place around crowds, especially on busy holiday weekends like Labor Day, implementing an easy-to-use, custom-branded reservation widget on your website or via a QR code placed in hotel rooms is the perfect solution. This completely streamlines the daybed or chair reservation process, especially if your hotel has multiple pools on property, like the Sahara in Las Vegas. Based on your preset booking preferences like F&B minimums and reservation durations, guests can feel in control, all while opting in to the health and safety guidelines outlined by your property.

Reserving daybeds and cabanas at the Sahara’s multiple pools is seamless for guests

Challenge: Streamlining Pool Kitchen and Bar Volume

Solution: Contactless Order & Pay

As guest capacity begins to rise in hotels around the country, the restaurants and back of house staff at your property will have to adapt to the increase in order volume. Considering 42% of restaurant patrons are comfortable dining outside and with colder days ahead, guests will most likely spend as much time outdoors and at the pool as possible during their upcoming vacation. During peak times at the pool like lunch and happy hour, it’s easy for kitchen staff and bartenders to quickly get overwhelmed, especially when limited kitchen capacity rules are factored in. By allowing your guests to tap into a Contactless Order & Pay solution to place and pay for their own orders on their own timing and terms, it will free up pacing issues that typically bog down your kitchen, speed up turnover time and reduce contact between guests and hotel staff at the same time.

Challenge: Abiding by Your State’s Reduced Capacity Regulations

Solution: Strategic Table Management

As we continue to navigate through COVID, it’s never been more important to keep a pulse on your venue’s capacity restrictions to ensure you are creating the safest environment for your guests while abiding by the laws put in place by your state. Many states vary in occupancy capacity percentages depending on establishment type. What remains consistent is mandatory social distancing measures, requiring six feet spacing between tables. Requiring reservations and enforcing time limits on your reservations is a great way to ensure a safe environment and give your staff enough time to sanitize surfaces like tables and cabanas in between each reserved time.

Whether your hotel property has one pool or many, now is the time to maximize revenue through the last few weeks of warm weather. Leveraging a hotel restaurant software like SevenRooms, operators can ensure they’re capturing robust data on their guests now to help drive more profits through tailored marketing in the cooler months ahead. Plus, putting processes in place focused on a new and improved guest experience will have benefits that extend well past the pool season. For more information on suite of enterprise products, please visit www.sevenrooms.com.