Skip to content
‹ Back to IndustriesHospitality

5 Ways The Restaurant Experience Will Change: Say Yes To Travel

Dining Out is such an important part of tourism and it would be remiss of me to not cover it. After all, restaurant recommendations are a concierge’s number 1 request. Although many details are still being sorted out, ultimately, when it comes to dining, restaurants and guests are going to have to use their…

This story was produced through MarketScale. See how Hospitality teams put it to work with Executive Thought Leadership.

Share
5 Ways The Restaurant Experience Will Change: Say Yes To Travel

Free workspace

Turn your Hospitality expertise into content.

Record interviews, organize footage, and write with AI on a free trial of the MarketScale platform for qualifying companies. No demo required, no credit card.

Try it Free

Dining Out is such an important part of tourism and it would be remiss of me to not cover it. After all, restaurant recommendations are a concierge’s number 1 request.

Although many details are still being sorted out, ultimately, when it comes to dining, restaurants and guests are going to have to use their noodle—but maybe not figuratively as they did in this café in Germany.  

Here are five ways that the restaurant experience will change… even if just in the short term.

Less Tables and More Patios

In compliance with social distancing, restaurants will have to reduce their capacity by 50% or so, much of this by removing and rearranging their dining tables. In cases where they can, restaurants will also rely on their patio spaces or even look to building out patio space to expand both capacity and offerings.

Take-Out Windows

As many diners have gotten used to eating at home, takeout and delivery will become a larger part of the dining-out experience. Eateries will need to consistently deliver high quality takeout orders by updating their menus with dishes that travel well. This will be a shift for higher end restaurants, but as we have already seen with restaurants that remained open during lockdown, there is a proven demand for this.

More Combo and Pre-Fixed Options

We have seen this even in the world of food delivery, restaurants were starting to offer more combos and in the case of higher end restaurants, pre-fixe dining options on their menus. As restaurants open back up, there will be more of these offerings to target the budget conscious crowd.

Capping Large Parties

In the short term, restaurants will not be able to accommodate dinner restaurants for large parties. It seems likely that they will need to pause on accepting reservations of parties of more than 6 people—not only due to space, but just in an effort to manage social distancing.

Reservations Only

Long gone are the days of packed waiting areas for in-demand restaurants. Local hot spots will shift to being “reservations only” as a means to manage an even flow of diners throughout the evening. Restaurant goers will be encouraged to reach out to their favorite restaurants before just showing up once things reopen.

Well, those are five ways dining out will change moving forward.

So how do you see dining out changing? What will you miss most about eating in restaurants?

Share your thoughts in the comment section below and don’t forget to share this video.

Until next time, see you then!

Listen to Previous Episodes of Say Yes To Travel!

Your experts belong here

Every story in MarketScale Hospitality starts with a company putting its general managers, operations leads, and brand teams on the record. Buyers are already reading this topic. The only question is whose experts they find.

Owners and operators buy from people who understand the property, and your teams prove it in their own words.

Book DemoSee how it works15 minutes, straight to a calendar.
B2B Weekly

The week in Hospitality, and sixteen other industries, every Monday.

Ten stories, one-line takes, five minutes. Free.

Hospitality: are you visible to AI?

Before they reach out, Hospitality buyers ask AI engines which vendors to trust. Explore how your experts, customers, and partners can become useful content for buyers and AI search.

Free Trial

You just read one Hospitality expert. Your company is full of them.

This article was produced through MarketScale. The same platform turns your general managers, operations leads, and brand teams into the articles, video, and social content Hospitality buyers are searching for. Start a free trial and see it with your own people. For qualifying companies, no credit card, no demo required.

NPS +73 · 1,000+ creators · 38+ countries

What your free trial includes

Hands-on access to the MarketScale platform
Media requests to your crowd, remote recording, AI writing tools
No demo required. No credit card.
For qualifying companies. Company confirmation required.

More Hospitality Insights

How a Labor Day calendar shift can make a weekly travel comparison look weak

How a Labor Day calendar shift can make a weekly travel comparison look weak

A calendar shift can move holiday travel into a different comparison week than the year before, making one week look weak and the next look strong. A positive result shows the direction of the comparison, not the size of the gain.

  • 01Calendar shifts can alter the comparability of weekly travel metrics year over year.
  • 02Misaligned holiday weeks can make a week look weak in year-over-year comparisons and the adjacent week look strong.
  • 03Forecasting models should include festival dates and holiday placement as named line items.

Sep 28, 2026

My Place relaunches Trend with an introductory royalty for franchises executed before Dec. 31

My Place relaunches Trend with an introductory royalty for franchises executed before Dec. 31

My Place Hotels of America relaunched Trend by My Place as a three-tier platform for independent owners and properties ready to change flags. The pitch is a way into a national franchise system without heavy capital requirements, backed by My Place’s reservations, loyalty and support platform, as U.S. conversions run 15% above last year. Owners have until Dec. 31 to execute deals under an introductory royalty.

  • 01With U.S. hotel conversions up 15% year over year, My Place is pitching Trend to owners as a franchise path that avoids heavy capital requirements.
  • 02Trend by My Place has been relaunched as a three-tier platform aimed at independent owners and properties ready to change flags. The relaunch coverage does not name the tiers or specify whether the 2020 admission standard—limited to high-quality, well-operated properties opened in 2005 or later—still applies to any tier, including one intended for regional inns or destination lodges.
  • 03The question for owners before the Dec. 31 introductory royalty cutoff: does the 2020 rule admitting only properties opened in 2005 or later still apply to each new tier?

Sep 26, 2026

Hotel Effectiveness: HPOR gains continued through H1 2026

Hotel Effectiveness: HPOR gains continued through H1 2026

Hotels cut labor hours per occupied room in H1 2026: 3.1% at full service and 3.5% at select service, with smaller gains in Q2. Hourly wages rose 2.9% to 3.3%, which could offset HPOR declines and leave wage cost per occupied room near flat—or, in Q2 select service, possibly higher if raises outpaced the 1.8% HPOR improvement.

  • 01Select-service HPOR improved 5.1% year over year in Q1, then the gain narrowed to 1.8% in Q2. The report says that pattern reflects how hard it is to sustain gains as occupancy and workloads grow.
  • 02Hourly wages rose 2.9% to 3.3% while hours per occupied room fell 3.1% to 3.5%. That suggests the productivity gains could roughly offset the raises on a per-room basis.
  • 03For operators watching second-half data, select-service gains that stay below the pace of wage growth could push labor cost per occupied room back up.

Sep 26, 2026

Explore More Hospitality Insights

Read more expert perspectives from across Hospitality.

Browse Hospitality Hub

For B2B teams

Your experts could be publishing here

Stories like this one run on content MarketScale captures from real practitioners. See how your team's expertise becomes coverage in Hospitality and beyond.

Book a Demo

Or call us. No forms required. We pick up. 214-945-2512