The ultimate guide to choosing the right coffee machine for your hotel business

The ability to enjoy a premium, barista-quality beverage on arrival or throughout their stay is a non-negotiable for most modern travellers. Whether it’s from the office coffee machine during the working week or when we check in to a hotel, we now expect a top-quality coffee experience wherever we are, and offering this essential amenity can help take your hospitality business to the next level. If you have a restaurant, café or bar in your hotel it’s even more important that your coffee offering is up to scratch to ensure you don’t get lost in the crowd - if your competitors are already offering a premium coffee experience, can you really afford to be left behind?

A strategically located and elegantly designed coffee machine can also act as a focal point in your space and offer somewhere for guests to interact, connect and unwind. And beyond being an expected amenity, the right coffee solution and coffee experience can help create memorable experiences for guests and ultimately drive loyalty and repeat business.

There are a myriad of different coffee solutions on the market, and it can sometimes feel like a minefield trying to choose the perfect one, but there are several things that should be considered before making your decision.

• Location - The location of your coffee machine will have an impact on its output and the amount of drinks it can serve. You need to be confident that the coffee solution you choose can keep up with demand. Perhaps you need machines with different capabilities for different areas, but for busy environments like receptions, restaurants, business lounges or spa areas, choose a machine that can consistently deliver a top-quality beverage without breaking a sweat.
• Drink Choice - It’s important that the coffee machine you choose can cater for all your guests’ tastes and dietary requirements. Can the coffee machine offer dairy-free alternatives to cow’s milk? What about a decaf option? Are users able to adjust any of the drink settings to make their coffee the way they like it? We all have different preferences, so a one-size-fits-all approach is not sufficient when it comes to optimising the guest experience.
• User Interface - The usability of your coffee machine is paramount. In all instances it’s important that the machine is easy to operate, but this becomes a bigger issue if you opt for a self service machine where guests order and make their own drink. A super automatic bean-to-cup coffee machine that delivers barista-quality coffee at the touch of a button, but without needing to employ an actual barista, would be a good choice for a self-service coffee area as they are simple to use and offer a consistent drink quality.

• Design - The ability to design a destination for your guests shouldn’t be hampered by your coffee machine. Choose a solution that enhances the ambiance of the space to provide a premium experience without compromising on the design. The right coffee machine can be strategically placed in the scheme to elevate, rather than hinder, the space.
• Ongoing maintenance - Who will be cleaning and maintaining your coffee machine(s)? A complex machine that is difficult to maintain will make the lives of your facilities and cleaning teams more difficult, and in turn this can affect the guest experience. How long will it take to clean and how frequently do the coffee beans and milk need to be replenished? If the daily clean and maintenance tasks take a long time to complete, that’s valuable time where your guests can’t enjoy a coffee on site and might be tempted to go elsewhere.
• Coffee - When it comes to choosing your coffee solution, don’t overlook the quality of the coffee itself! You could have the best coffee machine in the world, but if the drinks it produces don’t taste great, your guests will go elsewhere for their caffeine fix. As well as ensuring you opt for high quality beans, you may want to look into their origin - are they sourced in a sustainable and ethical way?

With its sleek, elegant design and consistent barista-quality coffee, TopBrewer offers everything you need from a coffee machine in a hospitality environment.

Its digitally-driven platform allowed us to turn the traditional coffee machine on its head and hide the bulky brew unit under the counter, leaving only the elegant swan neck tap visible. As well as clearing the countertops, it also allows for TopBrewer to be seamlessly installed into almost any environment to deliver a first-class coffee experience without disrupting the design of the space. The under-counter brew unit also means that it is nearly silent and can be installed into a quieter space without worrying about the noisy grinding of beans of spluttering of a milk foamer.

With an output of up to 400 barista-quality drinks each day, and with no down-time needed between each drink, TopBrewer is perfectly suited to busy areas. Its app control and optional payment module means that TopBrewer can be installed as a completely self-service coffee solution and its intuitive app actually allows the end user to customise their drink to meet their exact taste. Furthermore, there is the option to offer two types of coffee, including decaf, as well as offering a milk alternative in addition to cow’s milk, so you can be sure you are catering to all tastes and dietary requirements.