Hotel Grocery Delivery: The Next Big Thing?

The Wyndham Hotel Group estimates that consumers spent an estimated $42 billion in online grocery orders in 2016. That’s a 160 percent increase in revenue for the online grocery industry from 2015. And 2020’s forecast is well over $200 million. 

New partnerships with both Peapod and Instacart allow guests staying at Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham at eight locations in Chicago; Philadelphia; Charlotte, N.C.; and Orlando, Fla., access to groceries, delivered directly to their rooms. Hawthorn's guests can starat shopping now by going to hawthorn.com/homemade.

“We launched grocery delivery service as a pilot program [for this summer] so we can understand how guests respond to and use the service, what works and what might need tweaking,” Larry Hambro, spokesman for the chain, said. Hambro added that feedback on the program from both guests and the participating hotels has been “positive,” which does not surprise him. 

The company’s press release also noted that there's no additional charge levied by the hotel, but that as the program rolls out, if it's successful, it will be revenue-generating for the chain. 

Maybe I’m missing something here, but why couldn’t a guest just log on to either Instacart or Peapod and order their groceries direct?