Out: Bad Hotel-Room Coffee. In: Gourmet Joe.

Travel Blog  •  Terry Ward  •  06.05.07 | 4:37 PM ET

starbucksPhoto by depone via Flickr, (Creative Commons).

When checking in to my room at the Jury’s Inn in Limerick, Ireland recently, I noticed a coffee trolley labeled “Il Barista” in the lobby. It was adjacent to the reception desk and had a sleek espresso machine and mini-pastries. Mind you, there was no warm-blooded barista in sight. But my hotel, it seems, was latching on to an emerging trend. USA Today’s Roger Yu reports that access to quality coffee both inside guest rooms and in public hotel spaces is increasingly common.

Not only are hotels moving toward using higher quality beans—Holiday Inn will be all-Arabica by the end of June, Westin uses Starbucks beans and Starwood’s Four Points prefers Seattle’s Best Coffee—but many are also replacing the traditional glass carafe drip brewers in guests’ rooms with fancier versions that use coffee pods to deliver more flavorful coffee in single cup shots.

It’s clear that the motives are financially driven:

Coffee has some of highest profit margins among items sold in hotels. But by serving bland coffees and installing mediocre coffee makers in rooms, hotels have historically missed out on revenue as guests walked out of the hotel in the morning, scouring nearby cafes. A recent study by Starwood Hotels (HOT) showed that about half its coffee-drinking guests left its Four Points By Sheraton hotels to buy coffee.

The article quotes one Orlando man who says he’ll eschew hotel room coffee-makers until they can brew espresso.

I’m with my fellow Orlandoan there. I have yet to find a drip brew that can hold its own against a proper cappuccino fresh from a humming espresso machine.

But if ensuring the promotion of quality coffee culture in America means supporting this hotel trend, I’m more than happy to raise my mug in support.

 

Tags: Food, Hotels, Europe, Ireland, News and Briefs

Terry Ward

Terry Ward is a Florida-based writer and a long-time contributor to World Hum.


3 Comments for Out: Bad Hotel-Room Coffee. In: Gourmet Joe.

TambourineMan 06.05.07 | 10:04 PM ET

I’m no espresso elitist, but I feel your pain, Terry. All I want is STRONG, hangover-strength brew…and lots of it. I’m tired of bringing my own coffee and machine to hotels (domestic road trips only), so this is welcome news.

By the way, I recently stayed in a room with the new single-cup “coffee pods.” Intrigued, I gave it a try. Sorry to say, the java was a weak, lukewarm joke.

Terry Ward 06.06.07 | 9:20 AM ET

That’s awesome, TambourineMan - toting around your own coffee kit on road trips. I agree that those coffee pods aren’t necessarily all they’re cracked up to be. And I think it depends on the coffee brand as much as the machine itself. In France, I had a pod mad machine that looked like a regular espresso maker that produced some good crema…back in the States, I find my Senseo is really hit or miss. When I want a sure fire cup, I always go French press. Speaking of which, my AM cup is calling.

TambourineMan 06.06.07 | 12:41 PM ET

Crema, Senseo, French press…wow, you’re a connoisseur. “Me and Vincent woulda been satisfied with some freeze-dried Taster’s Coice. And Terry springs this serious gourmet s**t on us.”

Sorry about that. Couldn’t resist.

Yup, it all depends on the coffee brand and doseage.

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