As DoorDash and Uber Eats continue grocery and retail expansions, Grubhub continues charting a different course by focusing on college campuses and, with its latest announcement, direct-to-guest meal delivery in hotels.
The Chicago-based delivery provider owned by JustEatTakeaway.com announced a new partnership with Homewood Suites by Hilton that aims to simplify ordering meals while traveling to its nearly 500 locations across the country.
As part of the deal, guests at Homewood Suites properties in the United States that don’t have on-site dining options will be able to order from local restaurants and convenience stores on Grubhub via geolocation and QR codes around the property that take them directly to the Grubhub Marketplace.
To create a seamless experience for guests, the hotel location and courier drop-off instructions will automatically populate at checkout. Guests who were a part of a pilot program at select Homewood Suites locations earlier this year noted higher overall satisfaction with their delivery experience—from the speed of delivery to the packaging of the food and options for delivery, including no-contact delivery.
“Travel and food go hand-in-hand, and we’re excited to work with Hilton to be their go-to meal delivery provider and make it easier for guests to discover new restaurants from the comfort of their room,” said Eric Ferguson, chief operations officer at Grubhub who spoke at this year’s Food On Demand Conference about closed-campus partnerships. “Whether a guest is craving a meal, wants a quick snack or needs an item they may have forgotten at home, they’ll be able to access Grubhub’s robust network of restaurants and convenience stores at the touch of a button. From our pilot of this program, we saw that orders from small and mid-sized businesses accounted for more than half of all orders, and we’re proud to support local communities and restaurants through this partnership.”
“We are delighted to team up with Grubhub as we continue to innovate new ways to enrich the guest experience and enhance the food and beverage offerings available to guests of Homewood Suites by Hilton,” said Rick Colling, global head of Homewood Suites. “This distinctive collaboration offers guests access to great local restaurants, helping them feel at home during their stays while exploring local communities through food.”
The Grubhub partnership is now available at all participating Homewood Suites hotels across the U.S. Homewood Suites guests that affiliate with their hotel will receive one free month of Grubhub+, Grubhub’s loyalty program that provides diners access to unlimited $0 delivery on orders of $12+.
Click here for more information about Grubhub for hotels.
