Grounded Foods | Plant-based cheeses with no nuts, no soy, no dairy and no additives

26-2-2020

For many years the vegan cheese market merely consisted out of nut- and soy based products. Prices where high and the diversity was low as the market didn’t seem to progress, until now. Grounded Foods, founded by Veronica and Shaun Fil is offering a variety of cheeses, based on fermented cauliflower and hemp seeds. This way of making cheese keeps prices low and makes it possible for people with nut or soy allergies to also enjoy vegan cheese.

There is a choice between ‘Cauliflower and hemp camembert’, ‘Hemp seed feta’ and ‘Cauliflower Gruyere’ and the cheeses look delicious! We love to taste them.  

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Booking.com Launches New Pilot App CityBook in Amsterdam, London and Paris

25-2-2020

Booking.com, one of the world’s leading digital travel companies committed to making it easier for everyone to experience the world, recently announced the launch of a new pilot product, CityBook, a responsive digital guide for cities that seamlessly combines inspiration, planning, navigation and experience all in one place. The first pilots launched in the cities of Paris, London and Amsterdam.

This Pilot product leverages machine learning to make instant recommendations for travelers to easily explore all the best a city has to offer on the go. Booking.com just made exploring cities a whole lot easier. read more

Soulpicks app | Already 120,000 unique favorite places, restaurants, wine bars and Cafe’s worldwide

25-2-2020

Places where you like to go and share in private with friends, family and acquaintances. In the past year, 120,000 of these kind of unique ‘soulpicks’ were recorded and shared in the Soulpicks app by users and the experts associated with Soulpicks. Of all favorite places, restaurants are the most shared, but also wine and cocktail bars and cafe’s throughout the world are well represented in the app. More than 7,800 favorite places have already been added in Japan, more than 31,000 in the USA and more than 16,000 in the United Kingdom and France. The milestone is an important step towards the position of Soulpicks as a ‘go to app’ for the implementation of your leisure time, wherever you are in the world.

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Trends we spotted | Week 8

24-2-2020

At hospitalitytrends.eu we spot many national and international trends on a daily basis. We pick the most interesting ones to write about, the smaller trends we use in our weekly column ‘Trends we spotted this week’.

This week, among other links to articles about the Crystal Clear Bread Challenge, cheese made from cauliflower and Popcorn Chicken Pizza.

 Burger King New Zealand released a sandwich with just French Fries and at the New York Fashion Week Croc’s latest collaboration has been released: Crocs clogs for KFC fans!

 KFC China created ‘pocket franchises’ via Wechat, a virtual franchise system to engage customers and encourage people to order from the restaurant. And the Travalyst coalition announces the development of new sustainability frameworks to help travellers to find sustainable travel and tourism options.

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Our list of new restaurants in London | February 2020

21-2-2020

Are you a foodie and planning a trip to London soon? If you love to eat out and experience the latest trendy additions to the restaurant scene in this vibrant city, we’ve listed 12 new restaurants for you to try. Whether you fancy a healthy breakfast, Burgundian dinner, or want to give a different cuisine a chance, or combine sightseeing with a tiny pub, there is something on the list for all tastes.

The list does include the recently opened and high on our personal list, Dominique Ansel Treehouse, although an Italian breakfast sounds delicious as well! We also understand the excitement about the soon to open restaurant Kol from Santiago Lastra, the former project manager for Noma Mexico.

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Gacha Gacha Coffee | A do-it-yourself coffeeshop by Maruyama Coffee

21-2-2020

A do-it-yourself coffeeshop, created by Nendo Design Studio for Maruyama Coffee In Japan. Although already closed it’s been an introduction to a coffeeshop that didn’t require many staff members. Nendo Design Studio created the almost fully-automated café called Gacha Gacha Coffee. The experience was inspired by Gachapon, a capsule toy vending machines that’s popular in Japan. The pop-up from October till November 2019, located in the observation deck of Roppongi Hills, featured 12 vending machines. At these machines consumers could purchase a capsule filled with coffee beans for ¥500 (USD 4.50). As from that the consumer had to take the coffee to semi-automated stations to brew it themselves. Staff only had to give information and clean up!

The idea behind Gacha Gacha Coffee is to create a coffee experience that makes you choose your beans, take time to watch it brewed and maybe even talk about coffee with a barista and of course enjoy the view at the observation deck! But as Trendwatching (we spotted Gacha Gacha Coffee in their ‘Innovation of the day’-trendletter) indicates it’s a great example on how you can use automation to face labour shortage, which we’re facing in the Netherlands as well.

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Dominique Ansel Treehouse |A new all-day café in London

18-2-2020

Chef Dominique Ansel, named World’s Best Pastry Chef by the World’s 50 Best Awards, has recently opened Dominique Ansel Treehouse, a new all-day café in London’s Covent Garden. Located on quaint Floral Street, the new concept offers a menu that celebrates and showcases the pastry foundations and artisanal techniques that pastry chefs do best, from flaky puff pastry to delicate handmade pasta, short crusts for pies and tarts, fresh-baked breads, and more.

We’ve been fans of chef Dominique Ansel from the moment he opened his first bakery in New York and got famous by creating his Cronut® and many more fêted pastries like my favourite his signature DKA (Dominique’s Kouign Amann). They don’t serve the Cronut® at the Treehouse for this croissant- doughnut hybrid you need to go to his bakery in London. But the menu of Dominique Ansel Treehouse sound delicious and London is relatively nearby for us Dutchies, although we still would love to have a Dominique Ansel bakery in Amsterdam!  ^Marjolein

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Trends we spotted | Week 7

17-2-2020

At hospitalitytrends.eu we spot many national and international trends on a daily basis. We pick the most interesting ones to write about, the smaller trends we use in our weekly column ‘Trends we spotted this week’.

This week, among other links to articles about a nicotine-like ‘meat patch’ and the Fondue Pizza by Pizza Pilgrims and The Cheese Bar.

An international project upcycles shellfish to tackle plastic pollution and Café Jack and Beyond in London serves ‘bottomless Cake and Prosecco’. And a new water-saving defrosting system, called Boss Defrost, offers a more sustainable solution.

And an article on how the Coronavirus is hitting the business of American Chinese Restaurants and some inspiration for Valentine’s Day 2021!

Click on the title if you like to read the full article. Enjoy reading!

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The city of Igualada & Airbnb | ‘Healthy Destinations Lab’

14-2-2020

A healthy tourism project between the city of Igualada (Spain) and Airbnb provides a blueprint to promote lesser-known destinations across the world. As told by Airbnb the number of arrivals of guests to the region increased 50% in one year propelled by domestic travelers. In late 2018, Igualada City Council and Airbnb announced the creation of the “Healthy Destinations Lab”. The innovative project brought together industry, policymakers and locals to explore, generate ideas and collaborate on building a healthy and sustainable tourism model for the municipality of Igualada, located within the L’Anoia region in Catalonia (Spain).

We wrote about the ‘Global Office of Healthy Tourism’ by Airbnb back in 2018 and recently they published a whitepaper on New Sustainable Tourism Destinations in which they, amongst other topics about sustainable tourism, subscribe the project with the city of Igualada in the Anoia region in Spain. The effect of the project: Guests arrivals in the Anoia region grew by almost 50% in 2019, 71% growth of domestic travel in the Anoia region in 2019, 16 of the 35 municipalities in the Anoia region received travelers through Airbnb.

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Punk, Royals and Shoreditch | The new nhow London hotel has a special interior design theme

4-2-2020

NH Hotel Group recently opened its first nhow property in London at the beginning of January. nhow is a brand that surprises and inspires its guests by offering them an unconventional experience, which is unique to each hotel’s location. nhow London is part of the exciting new development 250 City Road.

Check out their Instagram account for more details of the interior design which has ‘London reloaded’ as theme. You’ll be welcomed by Henry the robot and we love the Big Ben rocket sculpture in the lobby! read more

Mandarin Oriental Miami | 20 Years of Hospitality celebrated with a ‘Platinum Wedding and Honeymoon’ offer

4-2-2020

In honor of the hotel’s 20th anniversary, five-star Mandarin Oriental, Miami is gifting newlyweds the honeymoon of a lifetime with the ‘Platinum Wedding and Honeymoon’ offer. Named for the traditional 20th anniversary gift of platinum, the offer includes a seven-night honeymoon at any Mandarin Oriental hotel worldwide when booking a wedding at the Miami hotel.

Great initiative by this large key player within the hospitality industry, showing the importance to always keep utmost attention for creating exceptional and unforgettable guest experiences (no matter how large the organization is). A great example for other chains? Although this ‘Platinum Wedding and Honeymoon’ offer has a high price tag it might be an opportunity for other chains as well, a kind of ‘all in one wedding’ offer.  read more

Trends we spotted | Week 5

3-2-2020

At hospitalitytrends.eu we spot many national and international trends on a daily basis. We pick the most interesting ones to write about, the smaller trends we use in our weekly column ‘Trends we spotted this week’.

This week, among other links to articles about ‘Truth & Tonic, the first plant-based café on the Strip in Las Vegas and at an ATM outside of the new Vagabond venue in London, dispensing a glass of prosecco!

Other articles are about CHEW, another personal and reusable straw and an eco-friendly chocolate bar by Kit Kat, flavoured and sweetened with cacao fruit!

The Mandarin Oriental Ritz, Madrid will reopen its doors in the summer of 2020 and Beyond Meat had another collaboration with Dunkin’ this time! A limited edition of the Beyond D-O-Double G Sandwich with Beyond Sausage!

And a very important development in Spain  Aqua Abib created a solar-powered system that turns salt water into drinking water and commercial salt. Big, bigger, biggest – At the Lamanna’s Bakery in Scaborough Canada they created very big pizza slices and even sweet ones like The Donut Slice!

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‘Tempo by Hilton’ | An elevated and approachable new lifestyle brand

28-1-2020

Hilton launched ‘Tempo by Hilton’, an approachable lifestyle brand curated to serve a growing segment of ‘modern achievers’ who seek a hotel experience that reflects their ambition. By combining thoughtful design and diverse lifestyle partnerships, ‘Tempo by Hilton’ provides hotel owners and developers with a highly scalable brand that is both uplifting and within reach for future guests – all powered by an efficient service model. read more

Trends we spotted | Week 4

27-1-2020

At hospitalitytrends.eu we spot many national and international trends on a daily basis. We pick the most interesting ones to write about, the smaller trends we use in our weekly column ‘Trends we spotted this week’.

This week, among other links to articles about the loss of the third Michelin star by L’Auberge du Pont de Collonges, Restaurant Paul Bocuse and the most expensive bottle of gin ever is made by Skully Gin!

The Fairmont in San Francisco created a temporary and controversial solution for their very busy breakfast buffet and you’ll be able to enjoy ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ in London as well!

Karma the food rescue app, will install 100 communal smart fridges across Sweden, the UK and France. And in New York, the meat-free sushi restaurant ‘Beyond Sushi’ is expanding., they will open their 7^th location.

Click on the title if you like to read the full article. Enjoy reading! read more

Booking.com | Twenty epic unique places to stay to kick start 2020 New Year’s resolutions

24-1-2020

This holiday season, Booking.com, the global travel leader with a mission to make it easier for everyone to experience the world, is encouraging consumers to book a trip to help kick start 2020 New Year’s resolutions. In an effort to offer inspiration, Booking.com is custom designing 20 incredible experiences available for guest bookings, with each “Resolution Suite” themed to align with 20 of the most popular New Year’s resolutions for 2020. Booking.com has encouraged consumers to #BookYourResolution to help them come true.

Great marketing campaign by booking.com. Unfortunately only available in the US and hopefully the lucky ones that had the opportunity to stay in one of their resolutions suites are probably even more motivated to have their resolution come true! The suites were available for 2 nights as from January 17^th! It might be a great 2021 New Year’s resolution for Booking.com to create a likewise campaign in Europe, preferably in Amsterdam!

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