Have hotels stopped doing real room service? \ stacker news ~Travel

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Have hotels stopped doing real room service?

1061 sats \ 13 comments \ @k00b 22h Travel

Back in the day, room service entailed a tray and/or cart with real plates and silverware, condiments, and an awkward, but cheery, situation where a human would deliver you the food. At the last few hotels I've stayed in, it's effectively been a doordash order from the ground floor. That is, the only difference between a doordash order and room service is that the food is maybe a little more warm and they actually bring it up to the room.

When I was younger, my upper middle class friend's mom would take me along on trips (and pay my way) to entertain her son. She did event planning for HP, so she was very keen on luxury and I developed an appreciation for it. I like hotels. I like how impersonal they are. I like how purpose-built they are. I like a building full of partitioned, transient strangers. I like elevators. I like that everything I need or people that can help me get everything I need are nearby. I like hotels. I don't want to "live like a local." I'm a mfing tourist.

Part of how I psyche myself into flying is imagining the room service order I'll place shortly after I arrive, which I usually eat on the bed and regret but never enough to not do it again. I'm beginning to think I can't rely on that fantasy anymore.

Also, I'm shocked at how poorly literal doordashes are handled in hotels given how much they imitate them. The dasher isn't allowed to go to the room, yet the hotels won't send the orders up either. You'd think they'd either fully embrace togo ordering and make it work well, or keep it classy with real room service. Instead, we're left with a purgatory of half-renovated, half-demolished room service that no one wants except for maybe the hotels.

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135 sats \ 5 replies \ @Undisciplined 20h

Have you ever been on a cruise? These sentiments apply 10x to a cruise ship.

84 sats \ 4 replies \ @k00b OP 20h

I've only been once and haven't been in a long time. We also never ordered to the room.

10 sats \ 3 replies \ @Undisciplined 20h

We didn't order to our room either. I was talking about all the things you described liking about hotels.

21 sats \ 2 replies \ @k00b OP 20h

I do like those things about a cruise, and also resorts, but I feel trapped/limited in comparison to the few great hotels I once stayed in. Maybe I'm just being too cheap when I travel on my own dime.

10 sats \ 1 reply \ @Undisciplined 20h

Our favorite cruises had stops on most days with various shore excursions that are organized through the cruise. Or, we can just walk around and go to the beach.

We had one with four straight days at sea, which was a bit much.

30 sats \ 0 replies \ @k00b OP 20h

We did 10 days to Alaska from SF. We also did 10 days at a resort in Cancun. It was a bit much in both cases, but such a hassle to start and stop that anything less felt like too much.

I suspect I could spend a month in the right hotel in the right city and never get the same feeling.

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100 sats \ 0 replies \ @BlokchainB 20h

“Room service kills the bottom line by cutting it we can increase our margins by 1.35% which should increase our stock price by 7%”

hotel CEO at board meeting

And this is why service is dead in the modern world.

I also related this to the airlines used to serve meals on the plane especially if you few during a meal time. Now you can be on 5+ hour flight that may span two meal times and only get a bag of pretzels

50 sats \ 1 reply \ @SimpleStacker 21h

I enjoy having room service, but I usually look at the prices and feel like I can't justify the payment. The food usually isn't that good compared to what you could get outside.

I do find it annoying that I have to walk down to the lobby to pick up a doordash. But I imagine it's mostly a liability thing.

83 sats \ 0 replies \ @k00b OP 21h

If doordash existed 50 years ago, a bell hop would bring it up to the room and they would continue that tradition today. Service quality and creativity in hotels is just waning imo.

50 sats \ 1 reply \ @WeAreAllSatoshi 22h

I have rarely ordered any food from a hotel. I just imagine it’s overpriced and not anything to write home about. If I’m gonna get something meh, I might as well go get it from a fast food and/or chain place or something. Or I can go find a real restaurant nearby.

I imagine some upscale hotels still do what you subscribed, but they’re out of my budget for sure

100 sats \ 0 replies \ @k00b OP 22h

I just imagine it’s overpriced and not anything to write home about.

It is, usually, depending on the restaurants on prem, which is why the presentation/convenience degrading makes no sense to me. It was most of the value.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Signal312 14h

This is what I do - DIY hotel cooking kit - how to eat healthier when traveling

I don't know that I've ever had room service at all. It sounds like I've missed the chance to have decent room service.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @rootmachine 21h

This might be common practice outside EU and UAE. As far as I traveled, things are still normal and room service feels like an experience - at least it still does in top tier hotels. Probably below 4 stars, where people who spend less appear, you might see some budgeting in matters of room service and not only. As for the hotel not letting every delivery go to the room, I find that smart and safer for me as a tourist. In the end, I will always say that if people don't value their money, time and bodies nobody else will do it for them.