Room service is a hotel amenity that some people value immensely, while other people couldn’t care less about it. So that raises an interesting question, based on something that was just brought to my attention — is room service (or in-room dining, if you prefer) a standard amenity that should be expected at any upscale or luxury hotel, or is that just not the case anymore?

The Royal Hawaiian Waikiki has no room service

The 528-room Royal Hawaiian belongs to Marriott Luxury Collection, and is one of the popular properties in Waikiki. Admittedly we can debate the extent to which US-based Luxury Collection properties are actually luxury, but here’s a detail that surprised me — the hotel doesn’t offer in-room dining, and it has been that way for years.

No, it’s not just that the hotel doesn’t have room service over certain overnight hours, or anything like that. Instead, it really doesn’t have room service at all, and the hotel simply recommends guests order food via food delivery services (which still requires going to the lobby, as those items can’t be delivered to rooms).

At what hotels should guests expect room service?

Back in the day, a vast majority of full service hotels had room service. Obviously not limited service properties, but beyond that, most hotels did have this amenity, at least in some capacity.

However, increasingly this is going from being industry standard to being the exception. Coming out of the pandemic, many hotels temporarily suspended room service, only to never restore it again. I guess that’s true of so many aspects of the guest experience at hotels in the US (in particular).

I think people are surprised to learn that room service generally isn’t profitable for hotels. You’d think it would be, given that it typically comes with lots of extra fees, and the process of serving it isn’t that inefficient. Yet somehow it’s something that most hotels lose money on.

The challenging economics also seem like the reason that room service should be a standard at a hotel that’s claiming to be luxury and have more high touch service, rather than it being something that’s just nice to have. Admittedly not everyone values room service, but part of what sets apart luxury hotels is how frictionless they’re supposed to be. If you’re willing to pay the inflated prices, there’s no reason they shouldn’t be able to bring food to your room.

So anyway, I’m a bit surprised by this policy at the Royal Hawaiian, even with the low expectations I have of hotels in the US. But I’m curious if it’s actually common for a “luxury” hotel to not have room service, or if this is unusual. Is it just a challenge with labor shortages in Waikiki, or…?

Bottom line

The Royal Hawaiian Waikiki, part of Marriott Luxury Collection, doesn’t offer room service. It seems to me like that should be a standard amenity at any luxury property, and should even be brand standard for Luxury Collection. Yet this 500+ room hotel offers no way to have food delivered to your room.

Obviously this is minor in the scheme of things, but still, it’s a sad reflection of how hotels in the US know no bounds when it comes to the corners they’ll cut (and this is hardly the most egregious example).

What do you think — is this a rare outlier for a “luxury” property, or is this more common than I realize?