This article was originally published in January 2019 after a stay at RACV Cape Schanck Resort. A lot has changed since then, including the coffee equipment used at many hotels, but the underlying problem remains surprisingly familiar.
Hotels can spend extraordinary amounts of money creating beautiful rooms, impressive restaurants and elaborate breakfast buffets, yet somehow coffee is still frequently treated as an afterthought.
And for many guests, that is the one part of breakfast they care about most.
Oh George, How Could You?
Back in 2019, we escaped to RACV Cape Schanck Resort for a few days over Christmas.
Running an online coffee business means weekends and public holidays rarely feel much different from weekdays. Fresh coffee still has to be roasted, packed and shipped, which is why Christmas has traditionally been one of the few opportunities for us to stop.
Cape Schanck looked like the perfect place for a short break.
The rooms were excellent. The facilities were impressive. The breakfast buffet was extensive.
Then I saw the coffee machines.
Two large commercial Nespresso Professional machines occupied the breakfast area, surrounded by rows of colour-coded capsules and guests trying to work out which one might produce something resembling a strong coffee.
Hence my original title:
Oh George, how could you?
The Problem Isn't Capsules. It's Where You Use Them.
My view on capsules has evolved considerably since I first wrote this article.
We now produce our own Nespresso-compatible coffee capsules, and there is absolutely a place for capsule coffee.
They are convenient, consistent and particularly well suited to situations where people want to make one coffee quickly with minimal equipment or mess.
A hotel room is a perfect example.
A high-volume hotel breakfast service is a very different environment.
Hundreds of people may arrive within a relatively short period, many wanting milk-based coffee at exactly the same time. In that environment, asking guests to individually select capsules and operate machines can quickly create queues, empty milk reservoirs, overflowing capsule bins and confused users.
The problem isn't necessarily the capsule.
It's the application.
When Convenience Becomes Congestion
At Cape Schanck in 2019, guests were presented with a large display of different capsules, identified primarily by colour.
Most people appeared to be doing exactly what coffee drinkers commonly do when confronted with unfamiliar capsule options: trying to determine which one was strongest.
Meanwhile, the machines were working hard.
Milk needed replenishing. Waste containers needed emptying. Warning lights appeared. Guests waited while others tried to work out what buttons to press.
What was intended as an automated solution still required considerable intervention.
And the coffee itself was underwhelming.
Some capsules produced dominant woody, leathery and bitter flavours. Milk temperature was inconsistent and often too low for my preference.
Perhaps I'm spoiled by spending my working life around freshly roasted coffee, but assessing coffee is also part of my job. Every week we roast, taste and adjust coffees from many different origins and processing styles.
I don't expect every hotel to produce competition-level espresso.
But I do think a premium hotel should be capable of producing a genuinely enjoyable cup of coffee.
Expensive Espresso Equipment Doesn't Guarantee Good Coffee Either
The alternative found in many hotels isn't necessarily better.
We've all seen the impressive commercial espresso machine sitting somewhere near the breakfast buffet, operated by staff who may have received very little barista training.
A commercial espresso machine is only as good as the coffee, grinder, recipe and person using it.
If the beans are stale, the grinder is poorly adjusted or milk is overheated, expensive equipment achieves very little.
This is why hotel coffee is a surprisingly difficult problem.
There isn't one magic machine that solves everything.
The Case for Good Batch Brew
For breakfast service, I continue to think good batch brew is one of the most underrated solutions.
Modern batch brewing has very little in common with the burnt coffee that used to sit for hours in glass pots on hotplates.
With fresh coffee, proper brewing ratios and quality equipment, batch brew can deliver excellent results.
It also solves several operational problems simultaneously.
Coffee can be prepared in meaningful volumes before the breakfast rush. Guests can serve themselves quickly. There are no capsules to choose, buttons to understand or milk reservoirs to replenish.
Most importantly, it allows the coffee itself to be the focus.
A well selected medium-roasted coffee served fresh from a quality batch brewer can be sweet, clean, aromatic and satisfying.
Add fresh milk separately and suddenly the humble hotel coffee station becomes considerably more effective.
Bean-to-Cup Machines Have Improved Things — Slightly
Since that original 2019 visit, RACV Resorts have moved away from the commercial Nespresso systems we encountered and adopted automatic bean-to-cup machines at a number of their properties.
We've now stayed at RACV resorts in Cape Schanck, Torquay, Inverloch and the Goldfields more than 18 times, so our observations aren't based on a single breakfast encounter.
The automatic machines are an improvement in some respects.
There are no capsules for guests to decipher and the system is easier to operate.
But bean-to-cup machines introduce their own compromises.
They have to grind, dose, extract and manage milk automatically while coping with large numbers of users. Convenience inevitably becomes part of the engineering equation.
They can produce an acceptable coffee.
But I still don't think they consistently match a well-prepared espresso or a good batch brew made from fresh coffee.
Hotels Obsess Over Food Provenance. Coffee Often Escapes Scrutiny.
This is the part I've always found strange.
Hotels frequently promote locally sourced produce, regional suppliers and paddock-to-plate dining.
Menus tell you where the eggs came from.
Where the tomatoes were grown.
Which farm supplied the beef.
Then the coffee may come from a large imported brand selected through a national procurement agreement.
Coffee somehow seems exempt from the same provenance story.
Australia has an extraordinary roasting industry, including excellent roasters in virtually every major city and region.
A Victorian resort serving Victorian-roasted coffee shouldn't be a radical proposition.
Apart from supporting local businesses, locally roasted coffee can also arrive much fresher.
Freshness matters enormously.
What Would Better Hotel Coffee Look Like?
There isn't one solution suitable for every hotel.
A smaller property may be able to operate a properly staffed espresso bar during breakfast.
A larger resort might combine batch brew with an automatic machine.
Capsule machines remain extremely practical in guest rooms, where convenience and individual use matter far more than throughput.
The important part is matching the coffee system to the environment rather than choosing equipment purely because it appears automated.
For a busy breakfast service, I would personally favour:
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freshly roasted coffee
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a properly configured commercial batch brewer
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insulated thermal servers
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fresh milk available separately
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simple, clearly labelled coffee choices
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trained staff responsible for quality control
Not glamorous.
Not complicated.
Just good coffee, served hot and consistently.
Travelling With Your Own Coffee
Years of disappointing hotel coffee eventually taught me another lesson.
Take your own.
Depending on where we're staying, I'll sometimes travel with a French press, stovetop brewer or coffee capsules.
Our own Nespresso-compatible coffee capsules are particularly useful when a standard Original-style compatible machine is provided in the room.
They are not compatible with the larger commercial Nespresso Professional systems historically used in places such as hotel breakfast rooms, but for compatible in-room machines they provide a very simple insurance policy against disappointing morning coffee.
Coffee Is Part of the Hotel Experience
For many people, morning coffee isn't an optional extra.
It is part of the ritual of starting the day.
That's why poor hotel coffee stands out so much.
A guest can enjoy an excellent room, beautiful surroundings and an impressive breakfast, yet still remember the disappointing coffee.
Hotels already understand that small details influence how guests perceive the overall experience.
Coffee is one of those details.
And perhaps it deserves a little more attention.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is hotel coffee often disappointing?
Hotel coffee systems are usually selected to prioritise speed, consistency and ease of operation. Coffee quality can suffer if freshness, grinder adjustment, milk preparation or staff training receive less attention.
Are capsule machines bad for hotel coffee?
Not necessarily. Capsule machines are very practical for individual use, particularly in hotel rooms. Problems tend to arise when capsule systems are expected to handle large volumes of guests during busy breakfast periods.
Are bean-to-cup machines better than capsule machines?
They can be more convenient in high-traffic environments and remove the need for guests to select individual capsules. However, coffee quality still depends on the beans, machine configuration, maintenance and brewing parameters.
Is batch brew good quality coffee?
It certainly can be. Modern commercial batch brewing using freshly roasted coffee, correct brewing ratios and good equipment can produce excellent coffee with impressive consistency.
Why might batch brew suit hotel breakfasts?
Batch brew can prepare larger volumes quickly and allows guests to serve themselves without individually operating a machine. This can reduce queues and improve consistency during busy breakfast periods.
Should hotels use locally roasted coffee?
There are strong arguments for doing so. Locally roasted coffee can offer better freshness, give hotels access to knowledgeable local suppliers and align with the local sourcing philosophy already used for many other food products.
