I’ve stayed in lots hotels across Europe this year. Different countries. Different brands. Different price points. One thing followed me into almost every room.
A Nespresso machine.
It makes sense.
Nespresso is clean, compact and easy to use. It requires very little explanation, creates minimal mess and delivers a reasonably consistent cup of coffee. For a hotel trying to provide hundreds of guests with an in-room coffee option, it solves a lot of practical problems.
The question that always seems to linger is: what comes next? Has hotel coffee peaked? How do we improve this process to satisfy the real coffee lovers and also just want something easy & quick (or who just love George Clooney)?
A nice advancement has been that some hotels have started working with local or specialist roasters to produce their own capsules, a good example being The Newt in Somerset who work with Extract Coffee Roasters to create specialty coffee pods for their Nespresso Machine.
This feels like it’s asking the right questions, and introduces a better product that also creates a connection to the destination. But it still leaves the basic experience largely unchanged:
Insert capsule. Press button. Coffee.
Perhaps that’s all most guests want, and this is certainly not a criticism of Nespresso. Hotels are not coffee laboratories, and we cannot reasonably expect all hotel guests to want to operate a La Marzocco Mini before they have even opened the curtains.
Still, coffee is such an important part of the morning ritual that I can’t help but feel like there might be more room for imagination here.
What if coffee became something guests could personalize?
Probably not for everyone. Just for us coffee nerds.
For some, that might be a V60, a small grinder and locally roasted beans. For others, it could simply mean ordering an excellent coffee to be delivered at a selected time each morning by a coffee concierge (a la Four Seasons, Seattle)
Hotels already allow guests to personalize their pillows, breakfast, minibar and arrival experience (or a signature scent for your room… shoutout to our client Waldorf Astoria Amsterdam). It doesn’t feel impossible that coffee preferences could eventually become part of that conversation too.
If the offering was unique, I would maybe pay to have a great filter coffee delivered to my room in the morning. I might even add a proper espresso machine or a V60 brew kit to the booking if the option were available.
That certainly wouldn’t appeal to everyone — but that is part of the point.
Not every guest wants the same coffee experience, just as not every guest wants the same breakfast, pillow or room temperature.
But honestly, the biggest opportunity is probably still in the lobby.
Wine has: Sommelier.
Cocktails have: Bartender.
Restaurants have: Chef.
Coffee has... Nobody?
That’s insane! Coffee is arguably the first hospitality experience of the day.
To be fair, it’s clear that more and more hotels want to take coffee seriously. Many are investing in excellent equipment, partnering with recognized roasters and providing their teams with solid levels of training. This is obviously a great step — good beans and a capable espresso machine are quickly becoming part of the expected offer, particularly within luxury and lifestyle hotels.
But, as always, what once felt elevated is quickly becoming the baseline.
Installing a beautiful machine and putting the name of a respected roaster on the menu signals an intention to serve good coffee, but it does not necessarily guarantee that good coffee reaches the guest.
Hotels have spent years investing in coffee. They just haven’t invested in anyone to care about it.
Often, all the ingredients are there:
The machine has been bought.
The beans have been selected.
The cups have been designed.
But the experience still varies depending on who is working that morning, how recently they were trained, and whether anyone has continued to pay attention since the hotel opened.
Technology and investment can pay off. Grinders with built-in scales, programmable espresso machines, automated milk systems and brewers such as the Marco SP9 can remove some of the variables that make coffee difficult to deliver consistently across a large hospitality team.
Hotel restaurants and bars already recognize the value of specialist concepts and staff. They regularly collaborate with chefs, restaurateurs and bartenders to create concepts with their own names, teams, menus and audiences.
So why do we not think about baristas in the same way?
This does not mean every property needs a competition-winning barista making every cup. But at the same time there is no shortage of experienced baristas, coffee entrepreneurs and roasters who could help hotels create more thoughtful programs.
What would happen if a hotel partnered with an ambitious coffee entrepreneur, roaster or competition-winning barista and treated them as a genuine creative partner?
Not simply asking them to supply the beans, but involving them in the design of the space, equipment, menu, service style and wider guest experience.
In the same way that hotels invest in Michelin-starred restaurant concepts and destination cocktail bars, could they create coffee shops with a similar level of ambition? Imagine a hotel coffee shop that looked like a La Cabra or a Watchouse, that won awards for its design as well as its coffee, were incredible coffee tasting experiences like Special Guests or Lonich, or seamlessly slotted into the fabric of its neighbourhood like an Atelier September or a Fuglen.
A More Considered Cup
Coffee doesn’t need another machine.
It needs a champion.
Hotels already know the value of chefs, bartenders, and sommeliers because they understand that great hospitality rarely happens by accident.
Coffee deserves the same treatment.
Maybe the next great luxury hotel won’t be remembered for its Michelin restaurant.
Maybe it’ll be remembered for the best flat white you had all year?
It could happen – and we hope it does.
Yes I think coffee should be overhauled. I think a Nespresso machine isn’t cutting it
By definition the Sommelier is responsible for all liquids from water to digestif. Great Sommeliers understand this and work to have a great, coffee, non-alcohol and water options. Unfortunately many hotels place these in the hands of the cuisine chef. If you have complaints about the coffee speak to the Sommelier