Kaffi Asfew, a bartender at Marriott Marquis Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia, presents an example of the creative cocktail that more hotels are offering.

By SUSAN STELLIN


Hotel chains embrace
the trend of innovative
drinks to boost revenue.


Hotels are shaking things up behind the bar, pouring innovative drinks made with fresh fruit, herbs and top-shelf liquors.

Following the lead of restaurants and bars, hotels are coming up with more creative cocktails, beers from smaller brewers and exotic nonalcoholic drinks. While boutique and luxury hotels have long offered specialty cocktails and expensive spirits, now even the chains are embracing the trend. The shift seems especially well timed as hotels look for new sources of revenue and travelers seek solace from financial troubles.

The May Fair Bar at the May Fair Hotel in London introduced a selection of martini, Champagne and whiskey flights paired with exotic tapas this year. The Champagne flight, is paired with tapas featuring ingredients like pomegranate jelly, Champagne granite and haloumi cheese fritters.

“Guests are increasingly well traveled, so they’re very discerning,” said Matthew Von Ertfelda, vice president of restaurants and bars for Marriott International.“They’re familiar with the classic cocktails, and they want to experiment and experience new things.”

Last year, Marriott introduced a cocktail program at its Renaissance hotels featuring signature drinks like the “A Star Is Born” martini served at its Hollywood property - made with Grey Goose vodka, Cointreau, pineapple juice, cranberry juice and Champagne.

Meanwhile, the company’s Marriott chain is training bartenders to make cocktails with fresh juices, fruit and herbs, which means muddling raspberries and blueberries, or crushing mint leaves for the perfect mojito.

At both chains, nonalcoholic drinks are getting equal attention, with options like the “Dri Tai,” a variation on the Mai Tai made with nonalcoholic Triple Sec, almond syrup, fresh lemon, orange and pineapple juice, simple syrup and a splash of cola (to mimic the rum in the alcoholic version). It is served in a glass tiki mug and garnished with a pineapple wedge.

“If you have to have a clear head for that 8:30 a.m. meeting or conference call, it’s nice to have a nonalcoholic option that tastes just as good as its alcoholic twin,”Mr.Von Ertfelda said.

The new drink lineup also means more revenue for Marriott, which charges $5 to $8 for these fancy nonalcoholic drinks and $6 to $16 for alcoholic cocktails. Properties that have adopted the new programs have increased beverage revenue by more than 10 percent, which may help offset an overall slowdown in business.

Dale DeGroff, a cocktail specialist and author of “The Craft of the Cocktail,” worked with Marriott to develop its beverage program. “I’m a missionary for fresh juice,”he said. But he discovered that hotel chains have to deal with factors like union rules and purchasing procedures that favor bottled juices in bulk containers. So he held a taste test for some Marriott employees, offering them drinks made with fresh fruit alongside others made with bulk juices.
“They were astounded,”he said.“Who wants to drink artificial stuff when you can have the real deal?”


Mr.DeGroff maintains that drinks made with fresh fruit are not necessarily more expensive to serve because the flavor is so concentrated that less juice is needed than with a bottled liquid or mixer. That is an important factor for hotels, particularly since beverage revenue has declined to 5 percent of revenue over the past decade, compared with 8 to 10 percent in the 1980s.

“It tapered off in the ‘90s as people either became more health-conscious or drinking-and-driving-conscious, and it’s just sort of plateaued since then,” said Robert Mandelbaum, a director at PKF Hospitality Research.

Another chain that has refreshed its cocktail menu is Hilton Hotels & Resorts, which joined with the cocktail specialist Tony Abou-Ganim to design a new selection of drinks. Starwood’s trend-setting W brand, which introduced its first signature cocktail, an apple martini, 10 years ago, continues to update its drink menu every season. The theme this fall is “East meets West,” and will include cocktails like a litchi Manhattan and an Asian pear mojito.