PARIS—The rivalry is heating up in the kitchens of Europe’s saturated budget hotel market, and guests are reaping the rewards.
Louvre Hotels Group fired the first blow when it announced catering would be a key component of its €300-million (US$392-million) modernization of 80% of its Campanile portfolio.
“We are working a lot on the quality of food and on creating a convivial experience in our restaurants,” said Louvre President Pierre-Frédéric Roulot, adding that its competitors are more inclined to outsource restaurants or put in vending machines.
The company has hired Michelin star-rated chef Pierre Gagnaire to revamp the chain’s restaurant menu, which will change every two months. Designer Patrick Jouin was brought on to design the “new generation” restaurants and lounges that combine natural materials such as glass and wood, minimalist architecture, fresh bright colors and eco-lighting. At the Campanile Paris La Villette for example, the redesign has produced a more intimate space between the reception, bar, small lounge room and restaurant. Dark, wooden partitions create cozy corners and a sense of warmth, while the walls and décor mix chic olive green, grey and burgundy tones.
“When you go to a hotel, you are going to spend eight hours there, so we want to create a living space—an experience—and we are now focused on that,” Roulot said.
Accor is less revealing with its evolving restaurant strategy, though Chairman and CEO Denis Hennequin said a redesign of the eateries and food offerings is a focal point of the group’s rebranding and modernization of its ibis brand.
Grégoire Champetier, Accor’s chief marketing officer, said an overhaul of food and beverage “is part of the strategy of revitalizing ibis. … A new concept is shaping up, which will help strengthen the identity of the ibis styles hotels and renew the ibis brand.”
For both companies, a revived F&B program will become as much a part of the brands’ DNA as their lobbies and guestrooms.
F&B already accounts for between 35% and 40% of Campanile’s total turnover, said Benjamin Lacoste, Louvre’s F&B director.
“We consider the restaurant as a real profit center for Campanile. More than 40% of the restaurant turnover is generated by customers who are not hotel guests,” he said.
It’s not only a profit center, but also a key differentiator, Lacoste said.
“We want to use catering as a real competitive advantage,” he said. “Campanile is the only economy brand in France offering a dedicated restaurant. … The presence of a restaurant is a decisive factor for more than 60% of customers in our market.”
A new dining culture
As competition and customer expectations mount, so is the need to offer greater built-in dining flexibility, first-rate menus and décor.
Campanile is leading the way with its dining culture, boasting restaurants in 100% of its hotels that attract diners whether or not they are staying in house.
Only 65% of ibis hotels have restaurants in France, and the dining contribution to turnover plays a lesser role.
“It’s a different philosophy and a different strategy,” Louvre’s Roulot said. “We decided the restaurant would be at the center of the hotel’s social life so guests do not have to stay in their room.”
What Campanile offers in constancy, ibis matches with variety. Twenty different restaurant concepts including “old-style bistro” L'Estaminet, modern Wok and Co, La Table buffets and Oopen Pasta & Grill are flagged, together with menus and chefs suggestions, on the brand’s website.
Ibis not only guarantees “high-quality” cuisine but also “restaurants to change your universe at every meal.” With a typical French slant, the brand says, “it’s all about taste.”
The French and food
The French fixation with food has great export potential in emerging markets such as Eastern Europe, Roulot said.
“We have 12 hotels in the Ukraine who chose us for the ‘French touch.’ French service is a big advantage,” he said.
Ibis and Campanile are not alone in the culinary competition. In 2011, Logis Hotels, the leading independent hotel group in Europe, added 55 new “Hotel-Restaurants” in Spain and the Netherlands, to its 2,766 properties.
Marie Xavière Hocquemiller, marketing manager at Logis, said “restaurant valorization” and development is a key to the groups’ mid-market positioning as “pleasure hotels.”
“Every Logis restaurant has a specific culinary identity, which immediately indicates the restaurant category and savoir-faire,” she said. More than 90% of Logis properties have restaurants and are rated either as a “Distinguished Table,” or with one to three casseroles in place of stars.
In the luxury sector, novel dining concepts and “a large palette of choice” are the trend, as hotels seek to set themselves apart, said Stéphane Botz, senior manager at tourism and hotel consultants, KPMG.
“The new Shangri-La Paris, for example, has developed several kinds of restaurants to satisfy the Asian and French clientele, plus it has a gastronomic restaurant, a restaurant lounge and a bar with evening tapas,” he said.
Budget battle wages on
Many in France are waiting with baited breath to see what surprises ibis dishes up on the foodie scene—particularly its main rival.
The changes, says Accor’s Champetier, will concretize “over coming months.”
“I feel they are seeking a paradigm to enter the war,” Louvre’s Roulot said mischievously. “It’s the battle of food in the country of food.”