You no longer need a room reservation to have a cocktail at a hotel. The bar itself has become reason enough to walk through the doors. Grand hotels have understood this for more than a century, but the idea is once again moving to the center of the hospitality business, driven by investment, new operating models and a public increasingly comfortable walking into a hotel simply for a drink. The latest numbers come from the United States. The 2026 Hotel Beverage Study by NielsenIQ (NIQ) and the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA), based on research involving 5,000 hotel-goers and more than 50 major hospitality brands, examines how people drink in hotel bars.
New Drinking Habits and Opportunities for the Hotel Industry
One finding speaks directly to cocktails: over the next 12 months, 27 percent of respondents expect to stop at their hotel for a pre-dinner or late-night drink. According to TGP International, a hospitality and food-and-beverage consultancy, drawing local residents, professionals and other outside guests can also strengthen the economics of hotel bars and restaurants. A broader customer base makes better use of these spaces throughout the week and reduces their dependence on room occupancy.
The History of London’s Hotel Bars, from the Savoy to the Connaught
The idea of visiting a grand hotel without staying there, however, is hardly new. London may offer the clearest example of how a hotel bar can become a destination in its own right. The American Bar at the Savoy dates to 1893, and its counter — over the decades a meeting place for travelers, Londoners and international personalities — helped establish the hotel as somewhere worth visiting simply for a drink. Its reputation was shaped by two seminal figures in cocktail history: Ada Coleman, who arrived in 1903 and created the Hanky Panky, and Harry Craddock, who succeeded her in 1925 and published “The Savoy Cocktail Book” in 1930.
Continue reading on Coqtail – for fine drinkers magazine. Order your copy here
