HOTELS


Tough new allergen regulations could bring digital menus


PETER DUCKER is chief executive of the Institure of Hospitality


Hotel union criticises Starwood robot plans


Starwood’s plans to add robot butlers to its workforce has been branded a “gimmick” by a UK workers’ union, which says the hotel chain should instead focus on taking bet- ter care of its existing staff. Te US-based hospitality


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date you are (or should be) very aware of is 13 December 2014. It’s the day new EU laws come into effect requiring food businesses


to provide allergy information on any food sold unpackaged, e.g. in leisure centre cafes and diners, catering outlets and deli counters. Evidence suggests that most food


allergy incidents can be traced back to non pre-packed food, therefore informa- tion on potential allergens should always be provided to the consumer and as such, businesses now need to comply with the regulation changes by December 2014. To comply with the new EU FIR 1169/2011


legislation, food business must declare to the consumer if there is a food product which contains or uses an ingredient or processing aid derived from one of the 14 substances or products listed below, regardless of the level of use, unless the ingredient or process- ing aid is no longer present in the food in neither its original or altered form. They are: Cereals containing gluten;


Crustaceans; Peanut; Egg; Fish; Lupin; Milk; Molluscs; Nuts; Soybean; Sesame; Celery; Mustard; Sulphur dioxide. All information about ingredients from


the list above must be emphasised in a con- trasting font to other ingredients to clearly distinguish them from other ingredients. It is not acceptable to simply specify ‘all of our may contain traces of allergens’, you must list every allergen for each menu item. In a fast-paced environment it can be very


difficult to ensure this information will be communicated effectively and remain lawful. One possible aid is the use of digital menu boards and signage. Te new allergen regu- lations require a potentially large amount of information to be declared to the customer. By using digital menu boards, it is possible to re-write menus an unlimited number of times to incorporate this information. Research in the US highlighted a num-


ber of benefits of using digital menu boards. Tese include better pricing flexibility, cen- tralised control of menu content, improved order accuracy and increased sales of pro- motional items. Te average time taken to recoup the investment was 7-18 months.


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giant is currently testing out the machines and has indi- cated that the robot butlers could be used across as many as 100 hotels worldwide. The machine in question


– named Botlr – is capa- ble of shuttling items such as towels, razors and phone chargers from the lobby to guests’ rooms, before returning to its charg- ing station to await further orders. Starwood says the labour saving device – developed by Silicon Valley-based start-up Savioke – would free up human staff to spend more time on other activities. But Hugh O’Shea, spokesper- son for workers’ union Unite, said the hotel giant should focus on other priorities. “With a night at one of Starwood’s luxury London hotels costing around £290, the


Te robots slightly resemble Star Wars’ R2-D2 in a butler’s collar


global hotel chain would do better ditch- ing the gimmicks and investing in better pay and training programmes for its worldwide workforce,” O’Shea told the BBC. “Starwood Hotels’ ‘butler robots’ are a niſty little gim- mick but can’t ever replace the human touch expected by discerning hotel guests.” The robots are currently being tested by Starwood at its Aloft Hotel in Cupertino, California. Details: http://lei.sr?a=E7w9D


Glasgow Games sparks a record Hot e l o cc up ancy in


Glasgow soared during the Commonwealth Games, with July posting the highest fig- ures on record, new figures from LJ Research show. Presented by the tourism


sector specialists, the fig- ures revealed that occupancy rates during the nine days of the Games stood at 97.3 per cent, representing an 11.2 per cent increase in absolute terms when compared with the same period last July. Te impact of the Games


Hoteliers in Glasgow had a large influx of guests for the 2014 Games


seemed to have a lasting effect on the whole of July, with the month posting occupancy rates reaching up to as high as 88.5 per cent. Tis figure is now the highest the city has on


record and a 6.5 per cent a year-on-year rise. Te figures also highlight a strong decade


of growth for the Glasgow hotels sector, with the latest findings jumping from the 77 per cent recorded in 2004. As well as the Games, the city also hosted a number of key events that were considered as probable drivers for growth, including the Glasgow Grand Prix athletics and the Merchant City Festival.


Read Leisure Opportunities online: www.leisureopportunities.co.uk/digital “Te scale of growth recorded by Glasgow


hotels in July was unprecedented as room reve- nue performance was an average of 65 per cent above last year, based on our LJ Forecaster fig- ures,” said Sean Morgan, MD at LJ Research. “There is an opportunity for Glasgow


hotels to capitalise on the success of the Commonwealth Games and a heightened appeal to visit Scotland’s largest city.” Hotel guests flocked to the city for the


Games, despite a 158 per cent spike in hotel room rates during the sporting event. Details: http://lei.sr?a=F8G7G


Twitter: @leisureopps © CYBERTREK 2014


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