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OUTSOURCING
REVISITED BY MARTIN KUBLER, CHIEF SLOTH AT THE GLUTTONOUS SLOTH, HORECA CONSULTING WITH ATTITUDE
A
little while ago, I visited an old friend in Abu Dhabi, who was staying in a hotel apartment run by one of the better-known chains, in the centre of the city. We had much to catch up on and the heat and traffic outside didn’t really entice us to venture outside for dinner, so we thought about ordering in. Room service menus have come a long way in the past decade, but I think we all agree that, even if the offerings look good, we usually have a sneaky feeling that we’re being overcharged. Oh, and of course, some hotel apartments don’t even have room service operations, so you end up having to order from an outside delivery service, go down to reception, and generally feel somewhat inconvenienced. The hotel apartment in question did have a room service 28
AUGUST 2022 | HOTELNEWSME.COM
menu, though, so we scanned the QR code and took a look. Surprise, the website that opened was very slick and looked more like Deliveroo or Talabat than a traditional room service menu. We could choose from several kitchens and the offerings ran from burgers to Arabic food and even a healthy eating menu. Ordering, too, was super easy and just like using a food delivery app. We selected to pay by card on delivery and got an immediate order confirmation and an estimated delivery time. A little while later, a smartly dressed delivery person showed up at the apartment door with our order and a credit
card machine, we paid, tipped, and started eating. Altogether, a seamless, easy-to-use, and enjoyable experience compared to many other hotels. How did the hotel apartment in question manage to offer something so slick? Easy, they outsourced it. Instead of placing the order with the hotel apartment itself, guests place the order with a third-party cloud kitchen, which takes care of the cooking and delivery. Orders are placed on a white-labelled platform and delivered by staff wearing the hotel apartment’s uniform. I’m sure that, behind the scenes, a suitable revenue split is involved and, possibly,