Hotels serve lighter fare for healthy appetites

But Kurtzman, a media consultant in Raleigh, N.C., may soon have other options because a better-for-you food craze is sweeping the hotel industry.

Starwood, whose hotel brands include Sheraton, Westin and W, said last month it will eliminate by year's end all trans fats at its 400-plus hotels in North America and the Caribbean. Marriott, Loews, Hampton, Red Lion and Carlson, the owner of Radisson, also say they are eliminating trans fats from foods at all, or most, hotels. Trans fats have been linked to obesity and heart disease.

Meanwhile, Hyatt just introduced a StayFit menu for room service that will be available at all North American hotels in the next 12 months. Behind StayFit, says Hyatt, is a new cooking philosophy that emphasizes fresh, locally grown ingredients.

Hotels say customer demand has led to the healthier menus. They're also a way to stay competitive and increase dining revenue, lodging experts say.

"The American public is becoming obese, and people are becoming more health-conscious," says Joe McInerney, president of the American Hotel & Lodging Association. "Hotels are looking to get on the bandwagon with menus that cater not only to the diet-conscious but also to the health-conscious."

Stay healthy, stay competitive

Many sophisticated hotel guests expect healthy dining choices, so a hotel without them is "behind the curve and not competitive," says Rupert Spies, senior lecturer at Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration. He says an attractive menu, bar or common area can influence a traveler's hotel choice.

Healthy menus are part of a rebirth of hotel restaurants, Spies says. "We've come full circle from the late 1980s and early 1990s when hotel restaurants were not making enough money, and hotels were closing or outsourcing them," he says. "Hotel restaurants have come back with a lot of energy."

McInerney doesn't believe healthy fare attracts more diners. Jeanne Bischoff, publisher of the food and beverage magazine Hotel F&B, disagrees.

"Hotels more than ever realize they are competing with the local restaurant community," she says.

Candlewood Suites executive Gina LaBarre says responding to guests' concerns about healthy eating builds loyalty. Her extended-stay chain is offering fruit, and low-fat and low-carbohydrate breakfast items, such as cereal and yogurt, that guests can take with them when they leave a hotel.

"If you listen to what guests tell you and make changes, they will more likely stay with you again," LaBarre says.

Some hotel food initiatives:

•Hyatt's StayFit menu features such appetizers as apple, endive and feta cheese salad; and white bean and tomato soup. Entrees include acorn squash ravioli and soba noodles with grilled tofu. The new menu is a response to guest requests for "high-quality and tasty choices," says Achim Lenders, Hyatt's corporate chef.

"We want to create a variety of offerings that take advantage of the seasons and build strong relationships with local growers and producers," Lenders says.

•Hilton said in April that its North American hotels this summer will begin putting color-coded labels next to breakfast buffet and menu items to "assist guests visually in managing their dietary needs." The labels denote whether a menu item is low-fat, low-cholesterol, low-calorie, high-fiber, high-energy or "an indulgence."

•Several chains, including Wyndham, Radisson and Loews, revamped their breakfast menus to include more healthy fare.

Wyndham's "Fields and Sun" breakfasts include a cereal and yogurt bar, fresh fruit and fat-free muffins. Radisson's "Tasteful Choices" menu emphasizes low-calorie, low-fat and low-carbohydrate items, as well as rich and flavorful foods with fresh, high-quality ingredients. Loews offers such breakfast items as tofu omelets, turkey-based breakfast meats and vegetarian frittatas.

•Holiday Inn's Kem's restaurants have changed their menus "to cater to the consumer demands for fresh and grilled food items," says spokesman Brad Minor.

The restaurants have added more salads, a grilled or steamed vegetable plate and grilled salmon, and they have removed comfort foods such as meatloaf and fried chicken.

The menu cover no longer features a picture of a hamburger with french fries. In its place is a colorful depiction of a plate and fork.

Healthy choices appeal to David Ellis, a computer consultant in Asheville, N.C., who orders room service twice a week but frequently leaves his hotel to find healthier options. "Hotel restaurants offer too much fried foods and not enough baked or broiled foods like fish fillets or baked chicken breasts," he says.

Frequent traveler Sue Reiss, a highway safety consultant from Iron River, Mich., says if more healthier choices were available at hotel restaurants or on room-service menus, she "most certainly would dine in more often." But Tink Wilkinson, a software consultant from Mobile, Ala., says it wouldn't make a difference. "I like to get out," he says. "Eating at the hotel is typically a last resort."

Hotel officials and other lodging experts expect healthy menus to be a long-term trend. That's fine with business traveler Kurtzman, who eats about 125 meals a year in hotel restaurants.

"Anything a hotel can do to make eating on the road healthier — where finding convenient, healthy options is often difficult — will always make me a happier customer," he says.

By Gary Stoller, USA TODAY