Guests trust single cups in room

Regardless of a hotel’s actual cleanliness, perception often rules a guest’s experience. And often, that perception is that most in-room items are unsanitary. Switching from a carafe and a ceramic mug, which required daily cleaning, to a recyclable paper to-go cup, puts these perceptions at ease.

“The guest knows for a fact if they use a paper cup it’s clean,” said Lisa Wilson, GM of the Radisson Hotel Sacramento (Calif.). “There’s a security there for the guest.”

And beyond the mere perception is the actual usability of the product. Leonard Clifton, GM of the Doubletree Cleveland Downtown-Lakeside, said people didn’t actually take the carafe out, fill it with water and make a cup of coffee. The single-cup process is being used much more, he said.

“Our guests are more used to using them than just a few years ago,” said Tom Negri, managing director of Loews Vanderbilt Hotel in Nashville. “Generally speaking, it’s more straight forward with no mess.”

Although for some guests—and some managers—there still may be some confusion.

“Some people think the pot is missing,” Wilson said. “We get more phone calls saying the pot’s not there. I even did it myself. … I did a room check and reported there was no coffee pot in the room.”

In the numbers...
29-30 extra carafes needed on hand
Source: Joe Panackia, GM at Radisson Cape Canaveral
17-20 million families around the world who grow their own coffee
Source: planetgreen.discovery.com
3.1  cups per day is the average U.S. coffee drinker’s consumption
Source: professorshouse.com
400  billion cups of coffee consumed each year worldwide
Source: Coffee Statistics Report - 2009 Edition