Guest ready guides

Personalisation in hotels: embracing each guest’s needs

Catering for individual needs and tastes is the opposite of an inconvenience. Making guests feel as individual as they do at home is the route to loyalty, great reviews and maximum profit.

Meeting customers' dietary needs

The expectations of hotel guests have evolved fast, with individual dietary needs and preferences to the fore. Some are lifestyle choices, some religious, others a response to specific allergens. Meat free options are now mainstream, and we can support you with all your questions around catering for intolerances and allergens with our useful allergens page.

When we greet each request as an opportunity, all kinds of benefits follow. Guest satisfaction scores rise, and happy people tell other people – and often come back themselves.

Our key ingredient ‘Service Excellence’ is designed with this in mind. Our award winning tech platform, Bidfood Direct, has excellent guidance on managing allergens, and helps to make your life easier by making nutritional information easy to find.

Our Simple Solutions guide show just how accessible it is for any chef to adapt your offer to the expectation. Just bring imagination, and a clear focus on the customer. The rest will follow.

Health and wellness

Healthy means different things to different people from eating more fibre, to including more protein within meals however, it is clear health is becoming a significant influence for consumers.

Recent insights revealed that 42.2%* of consumers admitted that health is an important driver when choosing a food venue and healthy options are essential to attract customers and encourage frequent visits.

Our 2025 trends revealed that fibre, gut health, and digestion are increasingly front of mind for consumers, with 73%* agreeing that eating a wide variety of plant products is important for good health.

Incorporating more fibre within your dishes and showcasing this throughout your menu is a great way to highlight your health and wellness commitments to your customers. Learn more about fibre, it’s health benefits and how to easily implement it into your menus in our 2025 food trends.

*Lumina, UK Eating and Drinking Out Panel, August 2024

Unique experiences

Personalisation often comes down to creative repackaging. Simple menus can be presented as takeaways for day trips, and a picnic brings guaranteed social share-ability. To help add this flexibility to your menu, our food-to-go packaging range is full of inspiration.

  • Creative concepts

    Over three-quarters of holidaymakers say they “like to be immersed in local culture”*, creating endless opportunities for tailoring your offering. Maybe consider a wine tasting – or a whole themed evening. Pitched right, a good creative concept attracts customers well beyond the hotel’s residents.

  • Bring flexibility to your food offering

    Timing can be key. An ‘always on’ food option brings the ‘home from home’ feeling alive, so adding extra flexibility to your food offering makes sense. This can usually be run by limited skill operators, too – check out our support hub ‘Unlock your menu‘ for inspiration.

  • Embrace social media

    Getting it right brings all kinds of bonus benefits. Positive profile on your guests’ social media has a lasting ‘organic marketing’ effect, and innovation can do wonders for positive reviews – and, ultimately, profit.

    Read our blogs and get the most out of your social media channels; 5 ways to engage your audience on social media and how chefs can rock social media.

Alternative menus

Children and pets present a great opportunity to give every guest personal treatment. Once they’re confident the whole crew is properly looked after, families are more likely to eat in – meaning greater convenience for guests, many more positive reviews and endless upsell opportunities. Win-win!

We have all kinds of inspiration in this increasingly important area. Our Compete With The Street campaign was a huge success, creating enticing children’s menus inspired by High Street favourites, with powerful campaign messaging in support.

As for pets, a majority of owners (53%)* prefer to bring them along – and they expect a warm, waggy welcome. Creative catering for four-legged friends can provide both a unique experience and an upsell opportunity. If you’re not yet aware of our Barke Farm ice-cream range, it’s a great example of this in action.

When you get it right for kids and pets, you get it right for everyone – especially the bill payer.

*Source: Desk Research / https://www.savills.co.uk/insight-and-opinion/savills-news/350158-0/unleashing-the-power-of-personalisation–exploring-niche-markets-in-the-hotel-industry

Looking for a hotel food supplier

Serving a diverse range of hotels with an unbeatable food and drink offer. We love going the extra mile, working as a partner in your success.

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Additional support

  • All

All

  • Food and Drink Trends 2025

    With consumer optimism growing, the eating out market is set to restore back to full strength in 2025.
  • Unlock Your Menu

    Discover our Unlock Your Menu support hub to guide you through the challenges our industry is facing.
  • Bidfood podcast

    Discussing the latest hot topics with key voices form both inside and outside Bidfood
  • Event and celebration guide

    Supporting you with menu ideas and inspiration to cater for all kinds of events and celebrations.
  • Let's celebrate

    We understand organising university events can be overwhelming, but we are here to make your planning hassle-free.
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