While travel broadens the mind and exposes us to other cultures, it’s food that truly connects us. As famed American chef James Beard said: "Food is our common ground, a universal experience”.
So, it’s no surprise that we’re increasingly looking to cuisine to enrich our travel experiences.
From luxury hotels with restaurants that win awards through to starry ‘restaurants with rooms’, chef-led market tours to foraging adventures, today’s travellers want gastronomic travel experiences to better immerse themselves in the destinations they visit. It is a trend you see reflected when analysing digital marketing in the hotel industry - in Google Trends, the past five years show a significant uptick in searches for foodie holidays and culinary stays.
With more competition in the travel industry than ever before, offering authentic food experiences can be a great differentiator for hotels. You don’t have to have a Michelin-star restaurant on your property to embrace the trend. Even the simplicity of cosy wine-tasting sessions or guest chefs invited for pop-ups, workshops, or talks can introduce a culinary element to stays.
Here’s how hotels are embracing the trend for foodie stays and differentiating themselves from the competition…
Hotels owned by restaurateurs
Restaurants used to be a sad afterthought in hotels. But now the two cornerstones of the hospitality industry are coming together in a much more dynamic way.
One of the key hospitality industry trends du jour is the rise of restaurateurs who are launching their own hotels - starting with the food and developing the experience into a unique stay.
In the US, 12-time James Beard award nominee Sam Fox has opened The Global Ambassador - a client of ours. This elegant Arizona hotel has five unique dining venues - from colourful poolside style to sunset rooftops - offering an array of international cuisine, from French, Italian, and Spanish to Mexican and Peruvian. The desire to embrace world cuisine translates to the overall ethos of the hotel, one of international luxury where everyone can find their home.
In Santa Barbara, the successful Good Lion Hospitality group has put down roots in California's sun-kissed Santa Ynez Wine Country, with the independent boutique hotel Petit Soleil, offering an enchanting fork-to-table food and grape-to-glass wine experience.
In Slovenia, the son of legendary chef Svetozar Raspopović-Pope, Sebastijan Raspopović, has opened a luxurious AS Boutique Hotel with a focus on food in the heart of Ljubljana, the nation’s capital. In the foodie haven of St. Gallen, Switzerland, two long-term culinary staples, Mammertsberg and Gasthaus Traube, have added hotels to complement their restaurants.
Then, of course, there’s celebrity chef Nobu Matisuhisa’s Nobu, the famous restaurant collection that was ahead of the trend, branching out with glamorous hotels way back in 2013. It now has a total of 36 hotels and resorts dotted around the world, from Los Cabos to Bangkok, Ibiza Bay to Miami Beach.
The rise of Michelin-star hotels
The days of dingy hotel restaurants serving uninspiring food to worn-out business travellers are long gone. In this food-focused era, hotels are making their restaurants destinations in themselves, maximising revenues and offering an immersive culinary experience to guests and locals alike.
In destinations all over the world, more and more luxury hotels with restaurants are drawing culinary clientele. Hotels with fine dining experiences in Spain include the Canfranc Express at Canfranc Estación, a Royal Hideaway Hotel, in Huesca. The historic hotel offers a unique dining experience, with exquisite Aragonese cuisine served within a restored vintage train carriage, decorated in the style of a luxury dining car from the 1920s.
In Sardinia, Gusto by Sadler is a Michelin-star restaurant at the Baglioni Resort that serves traditional Sardinian cuisine with a contemporary twist, together with a spectacular seven-course tasting menu. Awarded a Michelin star within six months of opening, Le Royal at the Royal Champagne Hotel & Spa in Champillon, France, offers gourmet delights from the Champagne terroir courtesy of executive chef Paolo Boscaro, served beneath a stunning gold ceiling.
And finally, nestled within the bucolic splendour of Coworth Park in Ascot, England, Woven by Adam Smith offers a dazzling dining experience, with a menu that blends classic flavour with contemporary techniques.
Hotels with celebrity chef menus
It’s not just hotels with Michelin-star restaurants that are buying into the concept of food as an experience. Another key hospitality industry trend involves inviting Michelin-star or celebrity chefs to craft bespoke menus for their venues. It enables hotels to latch on to a big name and offer a unique, high-end culinary experience for their guests, often at a more accessible price.
Our client Ikos Resorts offers à la carte menus crafted by Michelin-star chefs across its range of restaurants in each resort as part of its all-inclusive offering. This offering of high-end cuisine at no extra cost is a major draw for today’s culinary travellers and has put Ikos on the map as a leading provider of luxury all-inclusive experiences.
It’s about more than offering luxury hotels with restaurants, the brand also includes local food experiences. The Dine Out experience offers guests an immersive taste of local cuisine, from traditional Greek tavernas in Corfu and Kos to beachfront restaurants in Marbella and tapas bars in Andalucia.
Another client of ours, One&Only Resorts, has enlisted the talents of celebrity chef Enrique Olvera, who draws inspiration from the lush surroundings of the luxury hotelier’s Mandarina resort in Mexico to create a menu bursting with colour and flavour.
At the Atlantis Paradise Island Bahamas, a slew of celebrity chefs have crafted menus for the resort’s restaurants. Fish by José Andrés, Nobu by Chef Nobu Matsuhisa, Paranza by Michael White and Silan by Alon Shaya all offer guests an unforgettable dining experience complemented by idyllic surroundings.
And on Sicily’s sublime west coast, Zagara restaurant enchants guests at Rocco Forte’s Verdura Resort. It serves exquisite dishes in a candle-lit setting, with menus created by celebrity Italian chef, Fulvio Pierangelini, who brings his distinctive flair to classic Mediterranean dishes.
The luxury foodie experience
In the age of gastronomic travel, in a world where guests value experiences above all else, hotels and travel brands can leverage exceptional cuisine to create unique moments for their audience.
Modern travellers are looking for a blend of authenticity and indulgence. They want the opportunity to better understand their destination, to immerse themselves in culinary customs and traditional local dishes. But they don’t want to compromise on a feeling of luxury.
It might be savouring a dish that’s been lovingly crafted from seasonal, locally sourced ingredients by a Michelin-starred master. Or fully immersing themselves in the romance of a private dining experience courtesy of a professional chef. Perhaps, for some, luxury means picking your own produce and learning to cook like a local, via a hands-on cooking class.
There’s a food journey to suit every palette. Travel brands just have to get the ingredients right.
When it comes to elevating the guest experience through gastronomic experiences, communication is key. Having well-crafted content and exceptional hospitality industry marketing not only reaches the right audience but engages them to take action.
At Peregryn, we specialise in creating original, compelling content for hotel brands and luxury travel operators. We are a hotel digital marketing agency with decades of experience building brand recognition and expanding customer bases.
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