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Opinion Article Operations & Strategy

Hotel Catering and Conventions: A Decade of Change - the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

A detailed industry review covers a decade of shifts in hotel catering and conventions, from menu personalization and tech gains to hidden fees, labor shortages, and F&B contract traps hitting smaller groups hardest.

Nasir Zahir
By Nasir Zahir
United States
Hotel Catering and Conventions: A Decade of Change - the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Ten years ago, booking a hotel for a convention or a large catered event was a predictable, if unexciting, transaction. You’d pick a menu from a laminated binder, and most hotels also handed clients a printed catering package with set menus, tiers, and prices already spelled out. You’d negotiate a room rate, and trust that the banquet team would show up, set up, and serve without much drama.

That world is gone.

A once-in-a-century pandemic, a labor market that never fully recovered, soaring food costs, and a wave of new technology have reshaped the hotel catering and convention business almost beyond recognition. Some changes have been genuinely good for planners and guests. Some have been deeply frustrating. And some have crossed into territory that feels less like a business partnership and more like a bait-and-switch.

Here’s an honest, on-the-ground look at where things stand, with real examples and a practical checklist for anyone planning a catered event or convention today.

I. The Good

Menus have gotten more interesting, and more personal. A decade ago, "chicken or fish" was the extent of customization at most conventions. Today, catering teams are building global and fusion menus with intention, and interactive food stations, build-your-own bars, and live cooking demonstrations are now standard requests rather than novelties.

Beverage service has grown up. Instead of a sad cash bar and a few bottles of house wine, planners are asking for craft beer, curated mocktail menus, and infused sparkling water stations. This shift is driven by attendees who are more health-conscious and less interested in drinking simply because alcohol is the only option available.

Personalization is now a real strategy, not a buzzword. Planners increasingly report that guests want food tied to a story: a couple's favorite date-night restaurant, a company's regional roots, a cultural tradition tied to the group. Catering teams that can build a menu around a narrative, rather than defaulting to a banquet standard, are winning repeat business.

Technology has removed real friction. Mobile ordering, digital BEOs (banquet event orders), online booking platforms, and AI-assisted forecasting have made it easier to plan, adjust headcounts, and track spending in real time. For planners who used to fax menu changes and wait days for a revised proposal, this is a genuine quality-of-life improvement. AI-driven platforms are now helping hotels track waste, manage inventory with precision, and reduce dependence on manual labor.

Sustainability moved from a talking point to an operating principle. Biodegradable packaging, reduced single-use plastic, and sourcing from local and sustainable farms are now common line items in proposals—not just marketing copy. Hotels are increasingly moving toward fully electric operations driven by sustainability and carbon footprint concerns. Local sourcing and waste reduction are no longer just ethical choices but business imperatives.

II. The Bad

Staffing shortages are the norm, not the exception. According to an American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) survey conducted in late 2024, nearly two-thirds (65%) of U.S. hotels reported staffing shortages, with 9% describing themselves as "severely understaffed". In May 2024, that number was even higher—76% of hotels reported being understaffed, with 13% severely so. Hotel employment is still nearly 10% below pre-pandemic staffing levels. The most acute shortages are in housekeeping (38% of hotels), followed by front desk roles (26%), culinary positions (14%), and maintenance (13%). More than seven in 10 hotels (71%) reported having job openings they were unable to fill despite active searches.

What does this mean for a convention client? Slower banquet turns, thinner service ratios on the floor, and menus that get simplified—not because the chef wants to simplify them, but because there aren't enough hands in the kitchen to execute a more ambitious plan. Hotels have raised wages—up roughly 20% industry-wide since 2019 but higher labor costs have also negatively impacted hotel profitability, and the staffing challenges persist.

Buffets and full-service plated dinners have quietly shrunk in scope. Post-pandemic hygiene concerns accelerated a move toward pre-plated, individually packaged, or grab-and-go options at many properties. That's understandable from a food-safety standpoint, but it has also become a convenient excuse to cut labor and portion costs. Planners often don't find out until the final menu tasting that "chef's choice" now means fewer hot options and more pre-packed sides.

Costs have outpaced value. Food and beverage inflation ran into the double digits in 2023, and while it has cooled since, per-person pricing for basics like continental breakfast or a simple boxed lunch has climbed well beyond what inflation alone would explain. Planners routinely report that a "modest" welcome reception budget barely covers hors d'oeuvres for fifty people once real-world pricing is applied.

Attrition and food-and-beverage minimums have become financial traps for smaller groups. An attrition clause is essentially your promise to fulfill a specific number of room bookings or meet specific F&B minimums; if you fall short, you could be responsible for the difference. A group that doesn't fill its contracted room block or doesn't hit its F&B minimum can owe the hotel a percentage of the shortfall, often calculated against numbers that were unrealistic for that group's size in the first place. Regional associations and smaller nonprofits, who don't have a procurement team dedicated to reading 40-page hotel contracts, are the ones who get hurt most often.

III. The Ugly

Hidden and stacked fees have turned simple math into a shell game. A "$20,000 food and beverage minimum" rarely means $20,000. By the time a 22–26% service charge and local tax are applied, the real cash outlay is often $27,000 to $29,000 or more. In some cases, service charges have climbed to 24–32% of the total F&B spend. Some properties add extra layers on top: planning fees of 3–5% tacked onto the total F&B spend, or even a separate "healthcare fee" added to guest rooms and banquet checks, marketed as a benevolent gesture while actually shifting the hotel's own labor costs onto the client. Meetings industry experts warn that hidden fees can add 30–40% or more to the cost of your meeting.

Service charges don't reliably go to the people doing the work. This isn't a rumor; it's been litigated. In the California case O'Grady v. Merchant Exchange Productions, an appellate court examined a banquet facility that added a 21% mandatory service charge to all banquet contracts and distributed part of it to managers and non-service staff rather than passing it fully to the servers and bartenders who actually worked the event. The court concluded that a mandatory service charge may qualify as a gratuity as a matter of law, meaning it may have to be paid to employees providing the service. Some hotels are no longer tipping out their servers at all; instead, service staff are on a favorable hourly wage, and the fees are relabeled as "administrative fees". Planners in industry interviews have said plainly that they've never gotten a straight answer about where the rest of a service charge actually goes.

Room-flip and labor fees are billed without warning. Need the ballroom converted from theater seating to banquet rounds between sessions? Many contracts now charge a room-turnover fee on top of everything else, calculated per flip or per labor hour, and it's frequently left out of the initial proposal entirely. Planners find out when the final invoice lands.

Cancellation penalties are often flat, not scaled. Some contracts apply the same steep cancellation percentage whether you cancel twelve months out or thirty days out, which punishes groups for the kind of early, transparent communication that should be rewarded.

IV. What Catering and Convention Teams Can Actually Do to Improve

The properties and catering departments that are winning repeat business right now aren't necessarily the fanciest ones. They're the ones that fixed the trust problem.

Publish real, all-in pricing. Show the per-person price with tax and service charge already included or, at minimum, show the math in plain language on page one of the proposal, not buried in a footnote. A new Federal Trade Commission rule, which took effect in May 2025, now prohibits so-called "bait-and-switch" pricing and requires businesses to include all mandatory fees in the advertised total price.

Staff to the event, not to the budget. If a banquet floor is understaffed, tell the client before the event, not after the entrées come out cold. A short, honest conversation about service ratios protects the relationship far more than a quietly thinner buffet line.

Separate gratuity from administrative fees, and say so in writing. If a service charge is not a gratuity, say that explicitly on the contract and the final bill. If part of it is a gratuity, disclose the percentage that goes directly to staff. The O'Grady case made clear that unspecified service charges may have to be paid to employees providing the service, and hospitality employers should review their service charge practices to avoid legal challenges.

Build flexible, tiered F&B minimums for smaller and nonprofit groups. A one-size-fits-all minimum written for a 500-person corporate conference punishes a 60-person regional association. Segmenting minimums by group size and history reduces attrition disputes and builds loyalty.

Bring the kitchen into sales conversations early. Menus that sound achievable on a proposal but aren't achievable with current staffing levels are how properties end up cutting corners mid-event. If the executive chef signs off on what's realistic before the contract is signed, service quality holds up on the day.

Invest in cross-trained, flexible labor pools. Properties partnering with hospitality staffing agencies for banquet-specific surge coverage and investing in retention through career pathing, predictable schedules, and fair pay are seeing measurably lower turnover. The hotel industry must "prioritize career mobility and create clear paths for advancement to truly attract and retain the workforce we need," said Hireology CEO Adam Robinson.

Use technology to remove friction, not to remove humans. Mobile ordering and digital BEOs are genuinely useful. AI-driven forecasting for headcounts and food waste is genuinely useful hospitality businesses running AI food waste technology have saved over $100 million in food costs annually. None of it should replace a human floor manager who can adapt in real time when 40 extra people show up for lunch.

Offer a genuine sustainability option, not a greenwashed one. Biodegradable packaging and local sourcing matter to a growing share of clients. Make it a menu option with real detail: which farms, which packaging, what the actual footprint reduction is instead of a single vague line in the proposal.

V. Detailed Checklist for Planners (and for Catering Teams Who Want to Earn Trust)

Before signing the contract

  • Ask for the fully loaded per-person price, including tax and service charge, in writing.

  • Confirm in writing whether the service charge is a gratuity, an administrative fee, or a split of both and what percentage goes to banquet staff.

  • Ask whether the service charge itself is taxed (this can add a meaningful amount you won't see coming).

  • Get the exact food and beverage minimum, and confirm whether tax and service charge count toward it (they usually don't).

  • Ask about attrition thresholds on both room block and F&B minimum, and whether they can be negotiated on a sliding scale.

  • Ask about cancellation penalties and push for a sliding scale tied to how far out you cancel.

  • Ask specifically about room-flip/turnover fees if your event needs the space reconfigured between sessions.

  • Ask about "planning fees," "healthcare fees," or any other administrative surcharge that isn't standard tax and gratuity, and get a plain-language explanation of what it covers.

  • Confirm parking validation quantities for attendees and the overage rate beyond that number.

  • Confirm the deadline for final guarantees and final menu selections, and what happens if your headcount changes after that date.

  • Ask who the in-house catering provider is, and whether outside caterers are permitted and at what fee.

When building the menu

  • Ask the property directly whether current staffing levels can support the service style you want (plated vs. buffet vs. stations).

  • Request a tasting before finalizing, and ask specifically what changes (if any) between the tasting and the day of the event at scale.

  • Build in at least one dietary-inclusive option per course as a default, not an afterthought special request.

  • If sustainability matters to your group, ask for specifics: packaging type, sourcing radius, and food-waste donation or composting practices.

  • Confirm beverage options beyond alcohol: sparkling water, mocktails, and coffee/tea service quality are increasingly judged as closely as the meal itself.

In the weeks before the event

  • Reconfirm headcounts, dietary restrictions, and any AV/room-flip needs directly with your banquet captain, not just the sales contact.

  • Walk the space in person if possible, and confirm timing for room turns between sessions.

  • Get a single point of contact for day-of issues, with a direct phone number.

On-site and post-event

  • Review the final invoice line by line against the signed contract before authorizing payment.

  • Flag any fee that wasn't disclosed in writing during contracting; many properties will remove undisclosed charges if challenged promptly.

  • Debrief with the banquet manager on what worked and what didn't, and put it in writing for your next contract negotiation.

  • If service felt short-staffed, say so specifically (not just "service was slow") so the property can address root cause rather than guessing.

Resources

Operations & Strategy Event Revenue Event Management Service Charges Labor Shortages F&B Minimums USA & Canada United States
Nasir Zahir
Nasir Zahir
Hospitality Net Contributor

Nasir Zahir is a seasoned, hands-on, and passionate hotelier with many years of world-class hotel experience. Throughout his career, he has worked with leading three to five-star/diamond hotels, including renowned international brands such as Four Seasons, Stouffer's, Hyatt International, Radisson, IHG, Starwood Hotels, Hilton Hotels, and ITT Sheraton International, as well as various independent boutique and preferred hotels.

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