Full-service hotels like Holiday Inn typically provide a restaurant serving breakfast and dinner, and select-service hotels like Holiday Inn Express and Comfort Inn provide a complimentary breakfast. Until recently, guests looking for a boost in the middle of the day or night would have to seek food outside the hotel.

Holiday Inn New York Lower East Side

To address this need, the Holiday Inn brand introduced Corner Market Place convenience stores. These “grab-and-go” markets, available 24/7 in the lobby, feature a variety of snacks, beverages and toiletry items. Some even offer more substantial fare, entrees that can be heated up in the microwave. Snacks run the gamut from salty and sweet to healthy and nutritious. Not incidentally, sales provide a modest additional revenue stream.

Holiday Inn New York Lower East Side

Taking their cue from the success of the Holiday Inn brand concept, M&R’s Holiday Inn Express and Comfort Inn on the West Side of Manhattan are both in the process of adding grab-and-go markets. Tracey Rucks, general manager of the Holiday Inn Express Manhattan Midtown West, notes the markets will benefit guests who check in late, after nearby restaurants are closed, and are looking for a quick bite.

On-site convenience stores are one more way our hotels can be proactive in providing what we like to call “hands-on hospitality.”