Espresso in hospitality service has come a good distance since Ace Resort first partnered with Stumptown Espresso. The espresso trade broadly greeted this collection of collaborations as factor, an indication of the trade maturing and hospitality companies recognizing how vacationers’ amenity needs have developed. But right here we’re on the finish of 2025, and for probably the most half, espresso lovers nonetheless discover ourselves MacGyvering the lodge drip espresso maker or pod machine to churn out respectable sizzling water.
Journey espresso choices have significantly improved over the past decade. It’s now not solely the Hario hand grinder that matches completely within the AeroPress. We’ve acquired specialty immediate espresso, a number of hand grinder choices, or, for the devoted, a transportable espresso answer like those from Aptitude Espresso, which include their very own carrying case.
When touring, it appears like a letdown when a lodge is seemingly all-in on its meals and cocktail choices however relegates its espresso to a pod machine. Very like espresso in Michelin-starred eating places, lodge espresso is all too usually an afterthought, not a characteristic to brag about. However statistics are displaying a promising development: a report from Enterprise Analysis Insights predicts that the worldwide lodge and resort espresso market will attain US$165.32 billion by 2033—this 12 months’s valuation is at an eye-popping $97.71 billion. It additionally cites the US Journey Affiliation’s report of 75% of world lodge guests discover a distinctive espresso service as a key amenity, with 60% of those visitors selecting lodging that sources from native roasteries.
In Seoul, Resort Drip&Drop goes far past most resorts: espresso is in its identify and a distinguished associate in all the things it provides to visitors. From the minimalist lounge space to the espresso drip bag and kettle in rooms, your entire expertise has been designed to showcase Korean espresso tradition.
Drip&Drop provides each capsule items (beds amongst different beds) and rooms. The lodge deliberately companions with 4 native roasters for retail bag buy and collaborates with FourB to create its signature mix in a drip bag. Room visitors obtain complimentary drip bag units, and capsule visitors could make their very own cup within the shared lounge. Geared up with a grinder, scale, kettle, and drip bag, specialty espresso followers gained’t want to hold their very own journey set. After all, if visitors don’t really feel like brewing their very own espresso, batch brews can be found to them.
“We selected espresso as an alternative of cocktails or tea as a result of we needed our visitors—90% of whom are worldwide vacationers—to have a very native Korean expertise,” explains Sooyeon Kim, model technique director at LOG Resort Group, which owns Drip&Drop. Espresso performs a major function in on a regular basis Korean life, with Koreans consuming all of it day. This lodge idea has confirmed profitable thus far, she says, with two extra areas deliberate subsequent 12 months.
Cleia Junqueira, normal supervisor at The Espresso Connoisseur Collective and a guide, notes that the tempo of change within the espresso trade has been gradual when in comparison with different elements of meals and beverage. She works with hospitality purchasers to design distinctive espresso experiences for visitors, together with curated pairing classes, customized signature drinks that replicate the property, and in-room rituals. Of all these, Junqueira says that the pairing classes are “transformative” and rewarding for each events. “The impact is twofold: visitors are stunned and delighted by the complexity of espresso, and the property beneficial properties a particular, memorable expertise that feels each instructional and splendid.”
This consideration to distinctive experiences aligns with shopper tendencies of shopping for from product firms that prioritize values, high quality, and intentional sourcing. She notes, “Immediately’s vacationers are more and more acutely aware of moral sourcing and sustainability, and a robust espresso program offers resorts the chance to attach with them on that deeper stage.”
Personally, I believe the bar for lodge espresso is so low that even having a batch brew out there from an area roaster appears worthy of mentioning. Complimentary parking? Nothing to see right here. Drinkable espresso that may stave off a caffeine headache? Have a good time and inform a buddy. A customized espresso flight pairing with native pastries? I don’t know what I might even do right here…write about it?
Dis-loyalty, a journey and meals membership program that was launched by the luxurious lodge group Ennismore in 2023, is banking on this type of exploratory traveler. At $216 a 12 months or $18 per thirty days, your membership buys you advantages at any of Ennismore’s international properties and types, plus (amongst different issues) a each day free cup of espresso, which is “a nod to of us who actually work close to one in every of our resorts or espresso outlets,” says founder and Co-CEO Sharan Pasricha in Quick Firm. “Publish-Covid, we’ve seen an enormous shift in of us touring additional away, staying longer, and doing much more. They’re reassessing what’s necessary to them, they usually need new adventures.”
Deliberately designed with UAE tradition and the native artwork scene in thoughts, Resort Indigo Dubai Downtown created Open Sesame, an idea contained in the lodge’s eating restaurant. “Espresso isn’t only a beverage, it’s a ritual, a connector, and a storyteller,” PR & Advertising and marketing Supervisor Ines Encarnacao tells me. “Whereas cocktails and tea have their very own appeal, espresso has the facility to convey individuals collectively from morning by means of night, in conversations that usually flip into collaborations.” For its espresso program, Resort Indigo tapped native companies Cafe Rider and B612.
On Worldwide Espresso Day and as a part of its efforts to interact with the group, Open Sesame held a brewing competitors for close by baristas to showcase their abilities. When completed proper, Encarnacao notes that an amazing espresso program is weaved into each side of the visitor expertise and for Resort Indigo, espresso “represents how we inform our story: domestically impressed, artistically curated, and made with intention.”
Junqueira agrees {that a} profitable program must be constant and absolutely built-in, and explains, “This sort of curation and theater is what takes espresso from a ‘good contact’ to a defining luxurious second.”
For those who’re like me—somebody who plans journeys round attention-grabbing espresso spots—you may as effectively keep at a self-proclaimed espresso lodge. Earlier this 12 months, Rotterdam-based Man Met Bril Koffie opened the “world’s first” espresso lodge, full with a residency program for espresso professionals. I’m unsure what constitutes a “espresso lodge” (do boutique resorts at espresso farms not rely?), however what differentiates Man Met Bril Koffie’s lodge from Drip&Drop is that the corporate was first a roastery-cafe for a decade earlier than embarking on the hotelier journey.
All mentioned, I hope the development of luxurious espresso experiences in city resorts spreads and turns into the common expertise. Me? I nonetheless plan on packing some packets of specialty immediate espresso in case of emergencies.
Jenn Chen (@thejennchen) is an Editor At Massive at Sprudge Media Community. Learn extra Jenn Chen on Sprudge.
All images courtesy of the themes
