utdated menu, unreliable temperature,
befuddled delivery
staff. The ongoing hurdles of
room service are never more
glaring than when one is trying
to get a glass of wine up the elevator. With so
many ways to go wrong, many hotels just
sweep it under the rug. Send up a house red
if they ask for it, but, otherwise, in-room
wine service is a headache. If a hotel is willing
to make a deliberate investment in training,
sales, menu, and delivery, however, the
effort cannot fail to make a distinctive
impression.
MAKING THE MENUScope and style are logistical issues as
much as sales concerns. Even the most
ambitious programs limit the number of
wines offered. For the Michelangelo Hotel
in New York, Sommelier and Partner Paul
Grieco assembled a relatively robust list of
six sparkling, fifteen whites, and fifteen
reds, a sampling from his cellar at related
restaurant Insieme. “I would love to offer
our whole menu, but the functionality is
overwhelming, at least at this point in
time,” says Grieco. “There is not someone
in the room service department with that
range of knowledge or access to the cellars.”
David Sturno is GM of Country, the
stand-alone Manhattan restaurant complex serving
guests of the nearby Carlton Hotel. “You have to
provide a certain amount of continuity because you
can’t change the wine list for 315 rooms very quickly
or easily.” Sturno has pared down the café’s list
of 450 wines to a manageable handful, but guests
familiar with the restaurant’s full list may select any
wine available in the restaurant for delivery.
Both programs spring from strong independent
restaurants serving upscale properties with
demanding Manhattan guests. And both men
pride themselves on their nuanced selections.
“We go for a European sensibility,” says Sturno.
“We avoid the standard big-box brands.”
“These wines don’t sell themselves,” Grieco
concurs. “There’s a Chardonnay, but not your
typical Woodbridge. It’s from a region or label
the guest won’t necessarily recognize—not just a
little off the beaten path.” Grieco is a passionate
advocate for his choices. “It’s not eclectic just
because you’re not familiar with it. For that little
village in Italy or France, this is what they drink.
I’m proud of every wine on there.”
The bread and butter of in-room demand is
not the romantic splurge but the brass-tacks
business traveler. “Champagne sales are high,
but most wine sales are one or two glasses
Monday through Friday to the business traveler,”
says Sturno. His single-glass prices range
between $12 and $20. “There is certainly a luxury
market in midtown Manhattan, but we’re also
a tourist mecca, so not every table is willing to
drop hundreds on a bottle. It’s not a high-end
list; my average bottle is about $75,” Greico says.
The other segment sporting a burgeoning inroom
wine trade is the smaller boutique property,
able to accommodate luxury requests from a
cozy klatch of guestrooms. In a program started
last year, Manager Deborah MacDonald has
preprinted wine menus with six whites, six reds,
and a couple of sparkling wines displayed in the
37 rooms at the Lord Camden Inn in Camden,
Maine. “It’s been very good for us,” says
MacDonald. “For our guests, it’s a convenience
option, and we make it an easy
choice at $14 to $37 per bottle. In the village,
things close early. They think about
it, and they don’t want to go out and buy
a bottle.” For the more romantically
inclined, guests can sip their wine on
wicker chairs overlooking the harbor.
TAKING THE ORDERIf the server is the road to wine sales
in the restaurant, then the person who
takes the room service call is the key to
in-room sales. “We train our room service
order takers,” says Sturno. “They are the
ones who can speak about the wine. They
can also get a sommelier off the floor to
talk directly to the guest,” Grieco says. “I
write out as much as I can for the people
who work on the phones so they can
inform the guests. We’re trying to put up
a system on the TV with menus and wine
list, then I can include all the descriptions
to make it even more user friendly.”
At the Lord Camden Inn, guests are
informed when they book their room
that in-room wine service is available.
GETTING IT THEREThe small inn may have the advantage
of quick service to a manageable number of
rooms, but any larger operation requires careful
planning. At 315 rooms, the Carlton Hotel has to
attend to the details. “Everything is done from a
smaller room service office,” says Sturno.
“Beverages come from the café, assembled in the
kitchen. Carts are outfitted with wine buckets and
chilled cylinders; if we anticipate longer term,
we’ll use an ice bucket. All red wines are in a temperature-
controlled room; whites come out nicely
chilled. The key point is the in-room dining experience
must mirror the café experience. Our speed
of delivery is thirty-five minutes or faster.”
Today’s luxury is tomorrow’s expectation.
Like the premium bedding and bath products of
yesterday, these examples of exceptional in-room
wine service may provide the earliest hints of
where guest expectations may develop along
with the American wine palate.
John Paul Boukis is a greqent contributor to Hotel F&B.
