Hotel Chain Appealing to Guests on Special Diets

Hotels are sometimes challenged as to how to positively differentiate themselves from their competition when almost everyone is offering cheap travel options in the form of discount hotel rooms and/or cheap vacation packages. Fairmont Hotels and Resorts in January came up with a meaningful competitive advantage.

Fairmont has introduced a series of menus throughout its chain worldwide offering different dishes specially prepared for guests suffering from celiac disease, diabetes, heart disease, and guests on macrobiotic, raw and vegan diets.

Each of Fairmont’s 64 hotels are developing their menus locally using local ingredients. The hotels’ chefs are customizing dishes and menus based on guests’ caloric and nutritional needs.

Examples of their new dishes include Sonoma Mission Inn and Spa’s gluten free baked tofu with bean noodles and Mount Kenya Safari’s Club’s raw zucchini, carrot, portobello and cashew butter pave, and Seattle’s Olympic Hotel’s heart healthy free range chicken with quinoa.

Each Fairmont Hotel’s menu includes a minimum of one dish for each of the six special diets with different choices being offered for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. At dinner there is a unique appetizer, entrée, and dessert for each of the six diets. Menus will be updated quarterly to reflect available seasonal ingredients.

Guests with select food allergies or sensitivities are being encouraged to speak directly to their hotel’s chef so that appropriate food options can be planned during their visits.

The special diet choices are expected to be priced in line with Fairmont restaurants regular menus. Prices will be determined by the prices of the ingredients and the time taken to prepare the meals.

Members of Fairmont’s loyalty program participated in a recent survey where 83 percent said they are more interested now in eating healthy and well balanced meals. 91 percent indicated that they are on some type of diet. Almost 75 percent noted that other hotel chains did not meet their dietary expectations.