Attracting Local Guests to Resort Food and Beverage Operations: The Case of the Orlando Resort and Spa

Abstract

Restaurants housed inside lodging operations are often subjected to occupancy fluctuations that minimize revenues during nonpeak periods. Attracting local diners to a hotel's food and beverage outlets will mitigate this impact while elevating profit margins. This case study synthesizes marketing and operational practices of a pioneering convention destination for the purpose of demonstrating a real world approach for driving local traffic at hotel restaurants. Primary interviews with the property's executive team provided in-depth insights. It was determined that differentiating product offerings, community involvement, localized advertising, clientele-specific marketing and effective social media coupled with transformational promotion strategies propelled restaurant profits during low occupancy, but that failure to measure promotional strategies was a important weakness.

The embedded feelings in local gastronomy: a sentiment analysis of online reviews

“…The present study investigates the feelings embedded in online reviews on the local restaurants and examines whether the performance of the restaurants was affected by different seasons. Effects of seasonality have been addressed in disciplines such as human health, stock market and economic conditions; however, even though marketers do understand this cyclical nature (Karson and Murphy, 2013), little attention has been paid in the hospitality field. Overall, the findings reinforce that customers’ feelings towards different aspects of the restaurant performance did not remain constant throughout the year.…”

Análise do posicionamento dos restaurantes de São Paulo estrelados pelo guia Michelin com base nas On-line Travel Reviews (OTRS)

“…This finding is in line with Class 4 of this work that presents, in a class apart from the others, food as an important variable for restaurant positioning in the competitive fine-dining segment. The study by Karson and Murphy (2013) of hotels in Orlando, USA sought to understand what features could attract local diners to food and beverage outlets housed in hotels as a way of mitigating non-peak periods. One of the factors described in the study is offering food options that arouse the desire and interest of diners to consume, acting as a marketing promotion strategy to expand brand awareness in the community.…”

Importance of F&B operation in luxury hotels: the case of Asia versus the US

“…Consequently, luxury hotel restaurants in Asia are frequently considered the best places for special events, including weddings, birthday celebrations, business meetings and other important moments in life. Therefore, prospective investments in F&B offerings in Asian luxury hotels will attract more hotel guests, locals and non-hotel travelers to dine in their properties (Karson and Murphy, 2013; Lee et al , 2019). Creating a buzz among locals can also help capture the attention of gastronomy tourists who are searching for unique dining experiences, increasing the occupancy of hotels.…”

“…Particularly in Asia, a distinctive F&B offering should be considered one of the major products and services of a luxury hotel rather than a supplementary service (Yeh et al , 2012). Attracting and bringing in local guests in a hotel restaurant have become an important strategic direction for luxury hotel managers, even though the competition is fiercer than ever (Han and Hyun, 2017; Karson and Murphy, 2013; Lee et al , 2019).…”