Trying local foods in a new city is a massive draw for travelers, but there’s something indescribably comforting about curling up in a fluffy hotel robe after a hot shower and splurging on room service.
After a long day of traveling or exploring, sometimes you just want to hibernate inside your hotel room for the night. At the right hotel, dining in can be just as much of a luxurious experience as dining out. Can’t pick between the tuna tartare and the filet mignon? Get both! And why not a split of champagne while you’re at it?
Hotels.com just released its inaugural Room Service Report, which found that guests prefer to go “all-out” when ordering room service. According to the report, 27 percent of the surveyed U.S. hotels said that guests easily spend more than $100 on room service during their stay.
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Steak and champagne continue to be the most expensive items on room service menus across the nation. Meanwhile, guests at New York City’s The Plaza Hotel, where Kevin McCallister stayed during "Home Alone," are shelling out $300 for a 16-scoop "Home Alone" ice cream sundae, which also features whipped cream, maraschino cherries, M&Ms, brownie bits, chocolate, caramel, and raspberry sauce.
It may come to no surprise that hamburgers are the most commonly ordered meal at hotels globally—more common than pizza, tacos, French fries, and sandwiches. But what about the most unusual room service requests?
While it isn’t unusual to make simple substitutions to a room service order—such as a hamburger with no cheese or swapping fries for a side salad—some guests are out there treating hotel kitchen staff like their personal chefs.
Among the 473 hotels globally surveyed, a majority said eggs in hell (also known as shakshuka) made without eggs and bison were some of the most common weird room service requests. Additionally, hotels are frequently asked to prepare rice bowls for guests traveling with dogs.
You may have heard of an egg-white omelet, but what about a no-egg-white omelet? The unusual breakfast item that consists of yolks only is a wacky request, as is cockle popcorn. The fifth most unusual room service request is a bit of a doozy: a cooked fish that the guest brought with them. It’s unclear what exactly the hotel kitchen was asked to prepare since the fish arrived cooked and how much it cost, but to each their own!
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In fourth place for the most unusual room service request is boiled bottled water followed by blowfish in third place. Melted ice cream also ranked high on the list in the number two spot. Though, this seems like one of the easier requests to fulfill?
At the top of the list is diet water, which may sound like a nonsensical request. But “diet” is typically understood to be that the water has been infused with minerals, vitamins, and/or electrolytes.
Oh to be a fly on the wall in a hotel kitchen!
