"There are above average opportunities within the lodging segment…Having a stronger, more targeted program to reach specific hotel customers is critical for [foodservice marketers] to continue to see above average growth."
— Understanding the Hotel/Lodging Foodservice Segment, June 2008, Technomic, Inc.
Hotel F&B, for Hotel, Resort, and Casino Food and Beverage Professionals, is the voice of the $36.7 billion North American hotel foodservice industry. Hotel F&B, both in print and online, covers profitable and effective strategies in the development, operation, and marketing of hotel foodservice.
High-Volume Sales Opportunities
Hotel foodservice is larger than any non-restaurant or non-commercial foodservice segment. Hotels create hundreds of menu items annually for their foodservice outlets, such as restaurants, room service and bars. Additionally, banquet and catering service in full-service hotels often represents 50% or more of food and beverage operating revenues and is a high-volume business with dynamic menu creation, serving conventions, conferences, and meetings as well as corporate and social bookings. Hotel F&B regularly features the following foodservice outlets in hotels, resorts, and casinos:
Food Courts & Snack Bars
White Tablecloth Restaurants
Lobby Pantries and Markets
In-Room Guest Amenities
Cafés & Coffee Bars
Casual & Family Restaurants
Minibars
Coffee Service, In-room & Lobby
Room Service and In-Room Dining
Concierge & Club Floors
Corporate Conferences, Conventions, Symposiums
Social Banquets, Weddings, Parties, Galas
Complimentary Breakfast Buffets
Meeting Rooms & Executive Suites
Gift Shops
Bars & Lounges
Employee Cafeterias
Offsite Catering
Poolside Dining
Refreshment Breaks
Print Audience and Reader Purchasing Power
Hotel F&B magazine, published six times annually, is BPA audited, circulating to nearly 60,000 hoteliers and more than 17,000 hotels, resorts, casinos, conference centers, luxury inns, cruise lines, spas, purchasing companies, management companies, and corporate headquarters locations in the U.S. and Canada. The personal and corporate requested circulation continues to rise steadily—an impressive 21.5% increase from two years ago:
Hotel F&B BPA Reporting Period
Requested Circulation
% of Circulation
June 2008
33,543
56.8%
June 2007
31,145
54.2%
June 2006
27,605
47.0%
96% of Hotel F&B’s circulation is directed at key hotel F&B buyers and influencers (BPA 6/08):
The 2008 total print ad pages in Hotel F&B magazine increased an impressive 24.7% over 2007, in what was considered a poor year for most B2B magazines. Vendors are seeing and responding to the high-volume sales opportunities in hotels.
Hotel F&B Online
Hotel F&B Online, at www.hotelfandb.com, attracts over 100,000 unique visitors annually and is a global resource for hoteliers, offering unique content, tools, resources, and interactive community opportunities, including the Hotel F&B Observer Industry Blog. Hotel F&B also publishes quarterly Emailed Special Reports on topics of interest to hoteliers: Hotel Banquet & Catering Trends and Hotel Cuisine & Menus. Hotel F&B also introduced its digital magazine in 2007 in order to efficiently serve its growing base of subscribers worldwide.
In 2008, Hotel F&B Online site visitors were up significantly, +39.8% from the previous year, and the number of opt-in subscribers for Hotel F&B Emailed Special Reports has tripled since March of 2007.
Leadership: Hotel F&B Corporate Editorial Advisory Board
Hotel F&B’s Advisory Board is comprised of many of the brightest, highest ranking F&B authorities at leading hotel companies, giving Hotel F&B solid relationships with industry experts and an inside view of the trends from leading hotel foodservice programs. This keeps Hotel F&B’s editorial sharp and on target, which means the print and online content is read and your advertising message is seen. Current board members include:
Martie Sparks, VP Catering & Convention Services, Mandalay Bay Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas
Roger Taylor, VP F&B, Columbia Sussex Corporation
Frederick M. Tibbitts, Jr., President, Fred Tibbitts & Associates
Rob Underwood, Corporate Executive Chef, Great Wolf Resorts
Ellen Burke Van Slyke, Corporate Creative Director F&B, Loews Hotels
Matthew Von Ertfelda, VP Restaurants & Bars, Marriott International Inc.
Brian Yost, VP, Harrah's Entertainment
Bob Zappatelli, VP F&B, Benchmark Hospitality
Doug Zeif, VP F&B, LXR Luxury Resorts
Research
In 2008, Hotel F&B partnered with Technomic Inc. to assist in the most comprehensive research on the hotel foodservice market ever published. The result was Understanding the Hotel/Lodging Foodservice Segment, published by Technomic in June 2008. Ask your sales representative for more details.
