Rewriting the Hotel F&B Playbook : From Coping to Competing

In the battle for guest spend, food and beverage (F&B) has long been a staple revenue driver for hotels. But in today’s hyperlocal, hyper-competitive dining landscape, hotel restaurants face a critical question: are they simply coping or truly competing?

Evolving consumer expectations, rising operating costs, and intensifying pressure to optimise every square metre are prompting a strategic re-evaluation. In Southeast Asia for example, F&B expenses per available room have increased by 3.1% Y-o-Y in 2024, according to HotStats.

In the meantime, travellers now seek distinctive, destination-worthy dining experiences. Owners are demanding stronger revenue performance. And many traditional hotel F&B models, especially all-day dining (ADD), are struggling to stay relevant.

The ADD format, with its large footprint and continuous meal service, remains a fixture in most hotels. Outside of breakfast, however, traffic can be thin. Lunch is often driven by in-house meetings, while dinner, is typically a matter of necessity rather than guest preference. While buffets may fill seats during peak periods, they often struggle to fulfill margin expectations. High guest volume can make hotel buffets profitable, but mediocre food quality and limited variety make it difficult to consistently attract diners.

Today’s diners are much more discerning. They seek culinary discovery. Travellers increasingly rely on social media and digital recommendations to explore the local dining scene while residents are likely to favour independent venues with clear culinary identities. According to JLL’s Hotel Operators Sentiment Survey 2025/2026[1], 59% of hotels in Asia Pacific have reported a declining covers trend, and 51% of them have observed a generally declining average check size.

In this environment, hotel restaurants must earn their place at the table. Yet many international brands continue to enforce rigid F&B frameworks that limit local responsiveness. Global standards around menu design, supplier sourcing, and concept uniformity may be well-intentioned but they leave little room for adaptation. Even operators who want to innovate often find themselves constrained by what their brand permits, rather than what their market desires.

Meanwhile, owners are paying closer attention. Underutilised outlets, growing operating costs and softening top-line performance are driving a reassessment of the role and returns of F&B in the broader asset strategy. Focusing on upselling and/or incremental revenues becomes then a priority for 31% of hotels in Asia Pacific that are experiencing F&B margin compression according to JLL’s Hotel Operators’ Sentiment Survey 2025/2026, followed by optimising labour efficiency for 29% of them.

To remain competitive, hotels must rethink their entire approach to F&B: from concept to operations and guest engagement. Below are four strategies worth considering.

1. Shrink the footprint, sharpen the offer & quality
Hotels can reduce the number of F&B outlets to focus on fewer but more distinctive and well-executed venues. A leaner footprint helps keep costs under control and allows teams to concentrate their talent and energy where it matters most.

Flexible layouts, like spaces that morph from café to lounge to event venue, for example, can also maximise utility throughout the day.

2. Partner with proven local operators
Rather than going at it alone, hotels could seek out partnerships with local restaurants or niche F&B brands. Through such collaborations, hotels can tap into partners’ operational expertise, market insights and local credibility to deliver experiences that not only delight in-house guests but also attract non-guest diners, often with lower execution risk.

3. Embrace seasonal activations
Short-term or seasonal F&B concepts, from pop-ups, guest chef residency, food trucks and festive menus to weekend brunch staycations, can inject novelty and give both guests and locals a reason to return. These activations also allow hotels to test new formats, tap into trends, and avoid concept fatigue, especially in competitive dining markets.

4. Streamline and supplement menus
Slimmer, more curated menus allow kitchens to operate more efficiently and focus on high-margin, high-demand items. In many Asia Pacific markets where food delivery is deeply embedded into local culture, hotels could explore integrations with food delivery platforms to supplement their in-room dining offerings or offer broader menu access without additional operational complexity. This not only enhances the guest experience, but also aligns with expectations for convenience and local flavour.

Too many hotel restaurants still operate in ‘coping’ mode: reducing service hours, cutting menus, and running lean teams just to get by. While these measures may contain losses in the short term, they are rarely a long-term solution.

Others, however, are choosing to compete, intentionally and creatively. They are investing in distinctive concept that appeal to guests and locals alike. They are rethinking operations, embracing flexibility, and treating F&B not as a sideline, but as a brand signature.

The future likely belongs to this second group.

Hotels that regard F&B as a strategic differentiator — one that shapes guest perception, drives local engagement, and strengthens the asset narrative — will be better positioned to compete, and win, in today’s fast-changing landscape.

JLL’s Hotel Operators Sentiment Survey 2025/2026 report will be available online in September 2025.