Adding a Special Touch to Meeting & Guest Rooms

One of the most popular hotel amenities is the private coffee maker awaiting guests in their rooms. Make a wonderful impression with your guests by adding some extra touches that might include single-cup brewers or flavored creamers. When you're setting up coffee service in a meeting room, you can also create an attractive and inviting coffee station that lets your guests know you're taking good care of them.

High End Coffee Amenities

Since studies show that 84 percent of hotel guests treasure a cup of coffee in their rooms in the morning, providing delicious coffee that's easy to make should be a priority when you're remodeling or re-equipping rooms in your hotel or inn. However, if the coffee tastes like metal or is watery, you're going to end up with unhappy guests.

Increasing numbers of high-end hotels are replacing the old hotel coffee maker with simple one-cup versions that let hotel guests make exactly the type of coffee they want with no muss or fuss. As a result, hotel guests also don't have to feel guilty about leaving the cleanup behind for housekeeping, which in turn makes them feel more comfortable in your hotel. This also means potential cost savings because housekeeping doesn't have to spend time washing carafes, and you don't have to replace carafes when they break.

If you do choose a multi-cup coffee maker for your hotel rooms, make the coffee-brewing process easy for your guests. Provide clear instructions, including how much water to use and an indication of how many cups each packet of coffee makes.

The Extra Touch

Many hotels, even top-of-the-line resorts, don't have wonderful drinking water flowing from their bathroom taps. It makes more sense to provide bottled water to accompany the coffee, so it's always fresh. Display the water next to the coffee maker with a note suggesting the guests use it to make their coffee or tea.

Having a wide variety of coffee and tea available for brewing makes guests happy. Provide a standard amount of caffeinated and decaf coffee packets and single-cup pods in each room, along with basic black tea, but make sure your guests know that they can call housekeeping or room service to have other choices delivered. Flavored coffee pods and green tea are likely to meet with a great response from your guests.

Meeting Room Coffee Service

Everyone expects the standard urn of coffee in a hotel meeting room, but you can let your guests and event attendees know they're special by providing a little something extra. If your venue allows it, set up coffee on a veranda or in a garden right outside the meeting room to give the guests a little break from their routine.

While most of your guests are likely to head straight for the coffee, keep in mind those who have other preferences. Set up hot water and a variety of teabags; keep your hot water carafes and urns dedicated to tea so they don't develop a residual coffee taste over time. Add hot cocoa mix in the winter time, and don't forget to set out a variety of beverages, including bottled water, soda and juice.

To complement your coffee service, add some flavored syrups to make that morning cup a bit more special. Flavored creamers are also popular. It's a nice touch to add cookies or other snacks as well. 

If you're setting up coffee service in a meeting room, whether it's an intimate conference room or a banquet hall, make it easy to keep the coffee flowing. Your service staff should have quick access to cups, stirrers, creamer, sweeteners, napkins and anything else that your guests might need in a hurry. Keep cleaning supplies on hand as well, either under your coffee table and neatly hidden by the tablecloth or on a cart right outside the room, for immediate response in case of a spill or accident.

Whether you're taking care of a guest struggling to get past jet lag or a roomful of conference attendees who need a little mid afternoon boost, a wonderful coffee service is one of the most important amenities you can offer. Pay attention to fine details, and offer choices to show your guests how much you appreciate them.