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Le Meridien Unveils Breakfast Study in Conjunction with the Launch of Le Meridien Signature Breakfast in Asia Pacific

2009-01-23 11:02 4180

More Than 70% of Travelers Eat More Than They Usually Consume at Home When Traveling

More Than 90% Of Travelers are Satisfied With Hotel Breakfast but Find the Spread Boring and 90% are Willing to Try New Breakfast Options

Le Meridien Launches Signature Breakfast for Travelers, Offering a New Perspective to the Most Important Meal of the Day

SINGAPORE, Jan. 23 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- We know how important breakfast is, and even more so when we are traveling. But what is available right now - are they good enough? Boring? In a quest to discover how breakfast is perceived by travelers, Le Meridien conducted a survey with business and leisure travelers in Asia Pacific and unveiled the results recently. The survey was conducted in Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, China and India.

(Logo: http://www.prnasia.com/sa/200807290935.jpg )

Let me discover something different

While breakfast might not be on the top of everyone's to-do list in the morning, more than 70% of travelers will make time to eat it. While most of them are satisfied with the breakfast offering in hotels, more than 90% are willing to try new breakfast options when they travel on business or leisure.

Some confessions on the amount eaten for breakfast

Interestingly, more than 70% of travelers eat more than they usually consume at home. This is especially true for travelers in Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia. In contrast, half of the Chinese travelers and 40% of Indian travelers manage to curb their glutton urges and eat about the same amount of breakfast as they usually do at home.

Schedules are typically packed during business and leisure travels - no one stays too long for breakfast

In this fast paced society we live in, travelers' schedules tend to be packed and no one dallies for too long at the breakfast table. Chinese (85%) and Indian (74%) travelers are the fastest eaters, finishing their meal within 15-30 minutes and the next fastest breakfast gulpers are the Hong Kong travelers (63%) and Australians (61%). Only Singaporeans seem to spend some time chewing with 47% spending 30 minutes to an hour eating this first meal of the day.

Leave me alone at breakfast

With the late-night meetings and entertaining the night before, business travelers are not in a sociable mood at the start of the day. Australian (63%), Chinese (52%) and Hong Kong (59%) business travelers choose to dine alone in the company of a newspaper/magazine over breakfast. It is noted however, that watching TV while eating breakfast alone is relatively unpopular with Chinese (30%), Indian (34%) and Singaporean (23%) business travelers.

Le Meridien Signature Breakfast

As Le Meridien continues to transform the hotel experience and infuse artistry and creativity into the main guest touch points, Le Meridien's newly launched breakfast will unveil a new point of view on cuisine. Rolling out in 2009 in all Le Meridien hotels in Asia Pacific, Le Meridien's new Signature Breakfast is created in partnership with three-star Michelin Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten and features eye-opening elixirs with unconventional combinations of fruits such as oranges, carrots and raspberries, and herbs and spices such as chilies, cloves and pepper, as well as breakfast entrees which are new interpretations of classic breakfast items.

European-rooted Le Meridien and Jean-Georges have many things in common: both are French-born and internationally renown. In addition, Jean-Georges has a special relationship with Le Meridien: in 1983, during the early stages of his career, Vongerichten worked as a chef at Le Meridien Singapore. Jean-Georges' approach to combining fresh, high quality ingredients, strive for excellence and creativity, as well as his goal of making haute cuisine accessible, match Le Meridien's ambitions to develop a reputation for a unique point of view on cuisine.

"Le Meridien continues to reinterpret every aspect of the hotel experience, with the goal of breaking the mold and awakening our guests' creative curiosity by delivering cultural experiences that stimulate their senses," said Eva Zielger, Global Brand Leader, Le Meridien. "Jean-Georges is a natural and strategic choice for us as he is an innovator who has successfully reinterpreted classic cuisine in a new way. This approach fits perfectly with Le Meridien's creative vision."

"My goal for Le Meridien was to create a breakfast experience that not only delivers the basics at a high quality level, but also provides a level of "discovery" for guests by blending exotic flavors with everyday ingredients. The dishes deliver a unique blend of flavors that invigorate and awaken the palate," added Jean-Georges Vongerichten.

Jean-Georges Vongerichten is a member of LM100, a diverse international group of established and emerging creative souls, curated by Le Meridien's Cultural Curator, Jerome Sans. LM100 members offer their creativity to develop original and interactive programs for Le Meridien hotels worldwide that will transform the guest experience. In addition to Jean-Georges' breakfast menu items, Le Meridien will offer guests a set of authentic international breakfast items from China, Japan, India and the Middle East to appeal to Le Meridien's global customer.

In addition to redefining breakfast, Le Meridien is introducing a new point of view on Coffee Culture. illycaffe, Europe's innovative, premium coffee brand, led by Andrea Illy, grandson of the founder of illycaffe, will support the development of Le Meridien's unique coffee culture. In addition, illycaffe's World Barista Champion, Giorgio Milos, will join Le Meridien creative team, will curate new programming around coffee for the brand's hotels around the globe and design a series of specialty coffee drinks exclusively for the hotel brand. Le Meridien will also designate one of its hotels to serve as a coffee laboratory enabling illycaffe to test products and bring new coffee experiences to life.

About Le Meridien:

Le Meridien brand, currently represented by 113 properties in 50 countries, was acquired by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE: HOT) in November 2005. With close to 80 of its properties located in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific, Le Meridien provides a strong international complement to Starwood's primarily North American holdings. Plans call for dynamic expansion of Le Meridien hotels and resorts within the next five years, concentrating in the U.S., Latin America, and Asia-Pacific, including destinations such as India, Thailand and China. Le Meridien plans to open new hotels in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Shimei Bay (China), Dallas and Philadelphia in the coming months, and has recently signed new hotel deals in Taipei and Xiamen, China.

For more information, please visit http://www.lemeridien.com .

For more information on Starwood Hotels and Resorts, please visit http://www.spg.com .

About Culinary Concepts by Jean-Georges:

Culinary Concepts by Jean-Georges develops, owns, operates, manages and licenses world-class restaurants created by Jean-Georges Vongerichten. In a partnership with Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE: HOT) and private equity firm Catterton Partners, Culinary Concepts by Jean-Georges creates international, multi-concept restaurant and licensing businesses to be utilized both in Starwood's luxury hotel brands including W, Westin, Le Meridien, Sheraton's Luxury Collection, and the St. Regis as well as freestanding locations throughout the world. Culinary Concepts' current portfolio includes 10 concepts that are either existing or in development. Existing properties include Spice Market in New York City, Chambers Kitchen at Chambers Hotel, Minneapolis, and Lagoon at St. Regis Resort, Bora Bora. For more information, please visit http://www.culinaryconcepts.com .

About Jean-Georges Vongerichten:

Internationally renowned for his innovative, groundbreaking cuisine, Jean-Georges Vongerichten has emerged as one of the world's leading chefs. Acclaimed by critics as 'formidably gifted' and a 'residential genius,' his culinary vision has consistently set new standards and helped define modern cuisine. He has earned an unprecedented total of 20 stars from The New York Times for his New York City restaurants -- Jean Georges, JoJo, Vong, Mercer Kitchen, Perry St and Spice Market. In 2007, Jean-Georges was awarded a total of six Michelin stars; three for Jean Georges, one each for Vong, JoJo and Perry St. A singularly notable accomplishment was the presentation of three major awards to Jean-Georges in 1998 by the James Beard Foundation -- Best New Restaurant for Jean Georges, America's Outstanding Chef, and Who's Who of Food & Beverage. This 'triple crown' to the same chef in the same year was a first for the Foundation. Vongerichten has published several cookbooks including Simple Cuisine (Wiley, 1990); Cooking at Home with a Four Star Chef (Broadway, 1998), for which he won the James Beard Foundation Award for Best Cookbook in 1999; Simple to Spectacular (Random House, 2000); and most recently, Asian Flavors of Jean-Georges (Broadway, 2007).

About illycaffe:

Based in Trieste, Italy, illycaffe produces and markets a unique blend of espresso coffee, under a single brand leader in quality. It is available in more than 50,000 of the best restaurants and coffee bars and is sold in 140 countries around the world, serving over six million cups of illy espresso coffee a day. espressamente illy, the chain of franchised Italian-style coffee bars is now present in 32 countries and comprises 160 outlets. With the aim of spreading the coffee culture, illy has founded the University of coffee, the centre of excellence offering theoretical and practical training on every aspect of coffee for coffee growers, coffee bars staff and enthusiasts. On a global level it employs more than 700 people and has a consolidated turnover of 270 million euros.

Source: Starwood Hotels & Resorts
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