Reclaiming hotel F&B revenue from delivery apps: Are your guests ordering from DoorDash & Deliveroo instead of from you?
Every Uber Eats order delivered to your hotel is revenue walking out the door. Here IRIS showcases how hotels can capture more in-room dining spend and compete with third-party delivery apps with mobile ordering.
Every time a guest opens a food delivery app instead of ordering hotel room service, it's a missed revenue opportunity.
Third-party delivery platforms have transformed the way people order food, making it quick, convenient and accessible at the touch of a button. As such, hotels risk losing a valuable share of their guests' F&B spend to external restaurants.
However, all is not lost. Hotels already have many of the ingredients needed to compete: quality food, professional kitchens, experienced service teams and the convenience of on-site dining.
What's often missing is the digital ordering experience to match.
Here, IRIS, the global market leader in digital F&B ordering and guest experience solutions for hotels, explores how mobile ordering can help hoteliers win back guest spend, increase F&B revenue and deliver the convenience today's travellers expect.
Convenience is king - and delivery apps know it
The success of Uber Eats, Deliveroo and DoorDash isn't just about the food. It's about making ordering effortless.
Guests can browse tempting menus, view images, customise dishes, add extras and pay in seconds, all without speaking to anyone.
Now compare that with traditional hotel room service: printed menus, outdated information, busy phone lines and waiting on hold to place an order.
It's little wonder that some guests choose the path of least resistance, even when there's a perfectly good restaurant just a few floors below.
The challenge for hotels isn't necessarily the quality of their F&B offering. It's making it just as easy to discover, order and enjoy.
Hotels have a better product. Now make it easier to order.
Hotels have a significant competitive advantage over third-party delivery services: their kitchens, chefs and service teams are already on-site.
There's no need to wait for a driver to collect food from across town, navigate traffic or find the hotel entrance.
With the right processes in place, hotels can deliver freshly prepared meals direct to guestrooms, often with greater control over food quality, presentation and service.
Hotels just need to remove the barriers that discourage guests from ordering in-house and that's where mobile ordering comes in.
Mobile Ordering can offer guests the same familiar, frictionless digital experience they enjoy with delivery apps, while keeping the ordering journey firmly within the hotel's own brand.
Guests simply scan a QR code, click a link or access the service through the hotel's app or loyalty programme to browse menus and place an order directly from their own device.
On a hotel digital ordering platform, guests can:
Explore visually appealing menus with images and descriptions.
Personalise dishes and select their preferences.
Discover recommended extras, drinks and upgrades.
Order and pay securely in just a few taps.
Pre-order breakfast or schedule delivery for later.
Order from their guestroom, poolside, lobby or other hotel outlets.
No app downloads. No paper menus. No waiting on hold.
And with orders flowing directly into the hotel's integrated POS system, there's no need for staff to manually re-enter orders or manage unnecessary paperwork.
Manual administration is reduced, printing costs are minimised and there’s fewer order errors. It's a win for guests, hotel teams and the bottom line.
The hidden cost of losing orders to delivery apps
When a guest orders externally, it’s also a missed opportunity to upsell drinks, sides, desserts and premium menu items, encourage guests to explore other hotel outlets and gain valuable insights into their dining preferences.
And there's another cost that's harder to quantify: the loss of control over the guest experience.
Hotels invest heavily in delivering exceptional hospitality, yet an external delivery driver, restaurant or platform can become part of the guest's stay without the hotel having any influence over the quality of that experience.
Every order placed outside the hotel is potential revenue, guest engagement and loyalty that could have stayed within the property.
Turning convenience into measurable F&B revenue
Mobile ordering doesn't just help hotels compete with delivery apps. It drives more revenue from existing guests while making operations more efficient.
Hotels using digital ordering have achieved impressive results, demonstrating the commercial potential of making F&B easier to access.
1. Increase F&B revenue by 30%+
Digital menus encourage guests to browse, discover and spend. With tempting imagery, suggested extras and upsells built into the ordering journey, hotels can increase average transaction values without adding pressure to service teams.
2. Capture orders that might otherwise go elsewhere
When room service is as easy to access as a delivery app, guests have fewer reasons to look outside the hotel.
And by extending mobile ordering beyond guestrooms to pools, terraces, bars, lobbies and other outlets, hotels can drive more F&B spend and give guests a convenient ordering platform, irrespective of location.
3. Reduce manual processes and free up staff
Direct POS integration means orders reach the relevant teams without lengthy phone calls, manual order entry or unnecessary administration.
This helps reduce errors, streamline fulfilment and free up staff to focus on preparing, delivering and enhancing the guest experience.
4. Deliver a better guest experience
Guests can order at their own pace, browse the full menu and customise their choices without feeling rushed.
They enjoy the convenience and control of digital ordering, combined with the quality and personal service of the hotel's own F&B team.
5. Strengthen guest engagement and loyalty
By keeping the dining experience within the hotel's own digital environment, hotels retain greater control over branding, guest interactions and ordering insights.
And when guests enjoy an effortless dining experience, there's every reason for them to choose the hotel's F&B offering again.
Real-world results: InterContinental New Orleans
The 484-room InterContinental New Orleans demonstrates how digital ordering can transform the room service experience and helps them compete against third-party delivery apps.
By introducing IRIS Mobile Ordering, guests can browse menus and order directly from their own devices, with orders flowing into the hotel's existing operational systems.
“Guests appreciate the convenience, speed, and ease of digital ordering and it helps us compete with Uber Eats and DoorDash by offering a seamless, in-house room service experience.
This helps retain F&B revenue within the hotel (and provide guests with a fresher, quicker culinary experience), even in a highly competitive local dining market”
It's a compelling example of how hotels can modernise room service and provide guests with more efficient ordering.
Don't let delivery apps own your guest relationship
As hoteliers look to maximise F&B profitability, the opportunity is clear: make ordering directly from the hotel just as convenient, appealing and accessible as ordering from a third-party app.
Hotels already have the kitchens, the menus, the teams and the guest relationships. With Mobile Ordering, they can connect these strengths through a seamless digital ordering experience that helps capture more revenue, improve efficiency and keep guests engaged.
The question is no longer whether your guests want digital ordering. It's whether they'll order from you - or someone else.
Ready to reclaim your F&B revenue?
Discover how IRIS Mobile Ordering can help your hotel compete with delivery apps, increase guest spend and turn more dining opportunities into revenue.
Schedule a free mobile ordering strategy call - www.iris.net/demo
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