The Westin River Walk, San Antonio (HEI Hotels & Resorts)- IRIS mobile dining

Hotel Overview

Nestled on the banks of the iconic San Antonio River Walk, The Westin Riverwalk (part of HEI Hotels & Resorts) is a landmark hotel offering 473 rooms and suites, a bar and patio along the river, and a rich culinary offering.

With a mix of business, leisure, and international guests attending large-scale citywide events, the hotel sought new ways to elevate the guest experience and optimise operational efficiency - particularly within its F&B outlets.

 

Challenges

Prior to deploying mobile ordering, The Westin Riverwalk faced several F&B hurdles:

  • Low in-room dining revenue, with many guests opting for third-party platforms like DoorDash and Uber Eats.

  • Manual ordering processes, require guests to call the front desk, leading to operational delays and room for error.

  • Changing guest behaviour, with increasing demand for digital-first, contactless experiences.

  • A lack of visual menus or item descriptions, limiting upsell opportunities and customisation.

Recognising the shifting preferences of today’s travellers and the success of digital platforms in the consumer space, the hotel’s leadership sought a robust and intuitive mobile dining solution.

 

Solutions

IRIS Mobile Dining with Micros POS integration - Guests can browse visual menus, customise orders, and schedule delivery from their own device. Orders flow directly into the MICROS POS, ensuring instant, accurate processing in the kitchen.

This boosts average guest spend, speeds up service, reduces errors, and frees front desk staff to focus on exceptional in-person hospitality, giving guests the contactless, digital-first dining experience they expect.

IRIS provides us with the perfect tool to capture more revenue and more orders - it has already had such huge impact and enabled us to transform our room service offering.

Guest spend is up, service is faster, and our teams are happier. It’s helped us compete with online delivery giants by offering something more personal and more convenient - and the results speak for themselves.

We’re excited to expand its use across the property and maximise our F&B operations even further.
— Chaitan Mugili, General Manager, The Westin Riverwalk San Antonio

Benefits

Increased Guest Spend by up to 122%

  • Average transaction values rose significantly, driven by visual menus, item suggestions, and upselling via “related items.” Guests are ordering more and customising meals with ease - adding proteins, sides, and alcoholic drinks that were often missed with manual ordering.

  • Average guest spend uplifts (compared to traditional ordering previously):

    Breakfast – 29% increase

    Lunch – 21% increase

    Dinner – 11% increase

    Alcohol - 122% increase

  • This is also thanks to the slick user interface, and full menu visibility (with items readily available to them at different times of the day).

Faster, More Accurate Service

  • Orders placed through the app flow directly into the POS system and print instantly in the kitchen, speeding up service and reducing order errors. Guests enjoy prompt delivery and higher order accuracy, especially during peak times.

Operational Efficiency

  • Front desk staff are no longer tied up taking and clarifying food orders. This has freed up their time to focus on check-ins and delivering exceptional face-to-face service.

Staff Satisfaction

  • The increased order volume has translated to more gratuities for servers, boosting morale and job satisfaction. Happier teams mean better service and lower turnover.

Guest Convenience & Preference

  • Guests enjoy being able to self-serve at their leisure, customise orders to their liking (with modifiers and notes to the chef, for example), and receive food delivered seamlessly to their door without needing to pick up the phone or leave their room.

  • Guests are fully in control, so less miscommunication aligns perfectly with today’s traveller’s digital-first expectations.

Enhanced Marketing & Visibility

  • The hotel promotes mobile ordering through QR codes on desks, TVs, and within rooms, as well as through the Marriott Bonvoy app, directing guests straight to the IRIS platform.

Global Readiness

  • With international guests frequently attending local events, the digital platform enables multilingual ordering and greater efficiency so the hotel can maximise sales during citywide peak periods.

  • The team can also administer pre orders effectively, especially for those early-rising business travellers who use the scheduling tool and place orders the night before for breakfast.

Scalability & Expansion

  • Following its in-room dining success, The Westin Riverwalk plans to expand IRIS mobile ordering to its on-site coffee shop, enabling guests to place pick-up orders.

  • The hotel also intends to enrich the platform with more imagery and upsell opportunities, further boosting revenue per order.

 

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For more information on the hotel, click here.


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Revenue beyond the room: Boosting ancillary revenue with Mobile Ordering

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The Gwen Hotel, Chicago (HEI Hotels & Resorts)- IRIS mobile dining