Hospitality mobile F&B specialist IRIS has dropped a fascinating new set of insights, and if you work in hotels, guest experience, or travel tech, this one is worth a closer look. After analysing more than four million mobile orders placed over the last year across 2,000 hotels worldwide, the company is seeing both a volume spike and a reshaping of what guests expect from mobile ordering.

IRIS reports a 42% year-on-year increase in mobile orders across its client base — a growth pace that many in hospitality tech would envy. But the interesting part isn’t just the growth; it’s how and where people are ordering, and what that tells us about the next phase of hotel F&B.

Here’s what Alertify readers need to know.

In-room dining is still king — but mobile ordering is expanding everywhere

The stereotype that mobile ordering is something guests only want in their rooms? No longer true. Yes, in-room dining still dominates the charts, proving that convenience, privacy, and comfort remain top priorities. But IRIS’ data shows a much broader appetite for mobile ordering across hotel spaces.

The top five outlets for mobile orders might surprise you:

The top five outlets for mobile ordering

• In-room dining
• Pool bars
• Lobbies and reception areas
• Cafes or coffee shops
• Restaurants

This matters because it underscores a shift: guests don’t just want convenience; they want control — the ability to order wherever they are without waiting to flag someone down. And for hotels, this opens up revenue channels that were traditionally harder to capture.

The geographic spread is also telling. The US, Canada, the UK, Australia, and Japan top the list of mobile-order volume, all markets with strong appetite for digital-first guest experience touchpoints.

Personalisation and grocery ordering are now mainstream guest expectations

One of the most interesting trends IRIS highlights is the rise in personalised mobile ordering. Guests want menus that adapt to them — dietary preferences, past orders, time of day, and even mood. This aligns with wider hospitality tech shifts, where platforms like Oracle OPERA Cloud, Toast, and Lightspeed have been investing heavily in personalisation layers and AI-driven upsell recommendations.

The second big trend is even more surprising: grocery pre-orders.

Some hotels now offer the option for guests to stock their room before they arrive — snacks, drinks, essentials, even small retail items. And it’s working. IRIS cites examples like a $500 grocery order from a single guest, and some properties processing 8,000+ orders per month. This isn’t niche behaviour anymore; it’s quickly becoming a lucrative new revenue stream.

Graham Rushin, VP Sales & Marketing at IRIS, summed it up well: guests are embracing mobile ordering not just for speed but for autonomy and flexibility. And hotels are responding by expanding menus, adding new outlets to their platforms, and getting creative with retail offerings.

Why hoteliers are doubling down: efficiency + higher spend

One of the biggest operational wins IRIS reports is a reduction in wait times by up to 10 minutes. In hospitality, shaving even two minutes off a process can be transformational; ten minutes is a completely different game. Faster service keeps guests happy — but it also increases throughput.

On the revenue side, IRIS points to higher average order values and some eyebrow-raising examples: a single in-room dining order reaching $1,500. As operators broaden menus and integrate main-restaurant items into mobile ordering systems, upsell opportunities naturally grow.

This mirrors what competitors like SuitePad, Crave Interactive, Akia, and MyStay have been reporting: when guests can browse at their own pace, without pressure, they tend to spend more. Research from Skift, Hospitality Net, and HTNG has repeatedly shown that mobile ordering lifts check sizes by anywhere from 15%–30%, depending on property type.

Hotels are rapidly rethinking what mobile ordering should be

A few years ago, mobile ordering in hotels was a nice-to-have — a digital convenience for early adopters. Now, it’s becoming an ecosystem.

Hotels are:

• Expanding menus beyond traditional room service
• Connecting outlets that historically didn’t support mobile ordering
• Adding retail, snacks, and grocery items
• Using ordering data to personalise recommendations
• Extending the service from guestrooms to pools, lobbies, and lounges

This represents a broader transformation of guest-facing operations. Mobile ordering is no longer just a tool; it’s becoming infrastructure.

Conclusion: Mobile ordering is entering its most innovative phase yet

Compared with other major players in mobile guest experience — such as SuitePad, Crave Interactive, and Bbot (now part of DoorDash) — IRIS’ findings signal that the market is moving beyond basic digitisation and into full-service, multi-outlet commerce. What used to be a simple tap-to-order interface is evolving into a platform that blends F&B, retail, personalisation, and pre-arrival engagement.

This mirrors global hospitality trends tracked by Skift Research, Hospitality Technology Magazine, and Phocuswright, which have all documented the same shift: digital ordering is becoming a central pillar of guest experience, not an optional add-on. The rapid rise of grocery and retail ordering is especially noteworthy — very few competitors have leaned into this area as aggressively as IRIS’ client base, suggesting a competitive advantage for hotels adopting early.

If IRIS’ forecast holds true, the next 12 months will bring even more experimentation — deeper integrations, AI-driven personalisation, location-aware ordering, and even more crossover between hotel F&B and retail.

Guests want convenience, flexibility, and choice. Hotels want efficiency and revenue. Mobile ordering sits at the intersection of all three — and IRIS’ latest data makes it clear: we’re only at the beginning of what this market will become.