SELECTED WORK · NEW F&B CONCEPTS · FOR MARRIOTT HOTELS EUROPE
Marriott Hotels Europe
Brief
Hotel restaurants have always had an identity problem. Rooms generate 3–5x the profit of F&B on equivalent revenue — which means that for most full-service properties, the restaurant ist an amenity. A thing guests expect to find, not a reason they showed up. Meanwhile, back in 2014, a generational shift was underway: millennial travelers were choosing where to stay based on food and drink experiences — and what they were looking for was the opposite of what most hotels were offering. Neighborhood soul. Not corporate polish.
Approach
I led the formation of CANVAS - an F&B Concept Lab and Talent Incubator. The program invited local entrepreneurs to collaborate with Marriott teams on designing and launching new, original concepts across underleverage spaces. Each concept was backed by a budget and, crucially, a license to ignore Marriott's standard playbook. First concept was launched as a pop-up in London's Marriott Park Lane in 2015, with follow-on concepts later launching in Berlin, Budapest, and Singapore.
Outcome
The new F&B concepts attracted local diners who had no intention of staying at a Marriott — and in doing so, generated covers, drove bar spend, and changed how the hotel was perceived. No longer a "vanilla" hotel, instead a hip destination vetted by locals. This by extension started attracting exactly the traveler Marriott most wanted to reach. Brand refresh became the byproduct of bridging from traveller insight to commercial value. Underutilized hotel spaces became a revenue-generating asset.
