Today’s travellers are not just looking for a place to stay when they look for hotels. They are also looking for a place with excellent cuisine. The total spending by consumers within hotels, which includes restaurants, bars and lounges, room service and in-room minibars, totalled $48.7 billion in 2018. These facts show that modern guests consider food and beverage (F&B) as an important aspect of their vacations.

Table Management

Usually, hotel F&B staff log on to different devices, reservation accounts, and check several emails to consolidate reservations from various platforms into the hotel’s table management system. However, with smart technology, the staff will only need to log-in to one table management system, integrated with various dining reservation platforms, to view all reservations.

Usually, the F&B staff must walk around and search for available tables, flag them for cleaning, and manually indicate that they are ready in the table management system before another staff member brings in a guest. However, with mobile applications like IDS’ FX Dine, the staff will be able to view available tables in real-time across the outlet on a single screen. This will minimise delays in service and assist the staff in responding to guests through effective table management.

Ordering

Payment

Generally, during the payment process, the F&B staff must input all food orders made into the POS and print a bill for the guests to pay or charge to the room. The staff will then manually tally closing figures at the end of each shift. With an integrated F&B system, the POS will create the bill with a simple click of a button. IDS’ FX POS is one such system that provides real-time updates of accurate information. This will eliminate the need to manually update information, preventing the staff from wasting time and energy on tasks that do not add value. It is also integrated with a secure payment gateway that facilitates quick transactions helping the hotel staff provide a speedy service to the guests.

Food Inventory Management

Hotel food inventory management is a tricky process for hoteliers. Failing to account for internal orders and transfers, ineffective staff training, and disorganised storerooms, refrigerators and freezers are some of the common challenges that hoteliers face. Another concern for hoteliers is the lack of accurate reporting facilities, making all the data collected in-actionable. These issues make it difficult for hoteliers to have proper control over their inventory, costing, and purchasing. The inability to access actionable data can lead to spiralling of food costs.

Inventory management through tools like IDS’ FortuneNext 7.0 will help overcome these challenges. Its ability to view the average consumption per day will help hoteliers avoid food wastage. By using instant updates on kitchen stocks and sales, hoteliers will be able to eliminate overstocking, understocking, and theft. FortuneNext 7.0 provides costing methodologies with facilities to define sales and cost budgets. This will help make inventory management simpler for hoteliers.

Technology is changing the way hotels deliver services to guests. The bar is raised in guest expectations from the F&B sector. Incorporating optimal technology will help hoteliers deliver the best service to their guests while moving ahead successfully in the industry.