How WhatsApp helped The Queen at Chester Hotel double its dining uptake
Hotels feel they’re fighting a losing battle when it comes to securing F&B revenue. But after a multi-million pound refurbishment, The Queen at Chester Hotel needed the numbers to stack up. And here’s how they achieved it with WhatsApp
The appeal of The Queen at Chester Hotel is obvious. Inaugurated by Queen Victoria in 1861, it’s one of the largest hotels in Chester, and it’s located right by the city’s train station. With 218 bedrooms, a restaurant, a bar, and event spaces, it caters to both leisure and corporate guests, enjoying a 60/40 split between these two markets.
In recent years, the hotel has benefitted from a significant refurbishment – £5 million was invested in upgrading the bedrooms, and a further £1 million was ploughed into the food and beverage (F&B) spaces. And with those upgrades came pressure to deliver ROI.
Tough targets in a tough climate
“We were tasked to grow our F&B revenue by over £1 million this year,” explained Joji Esao, Hotel Manager at The Queen. “But being in the middle of Chester, with so many restaurants and bars nearby, we were struggling to keep guests dining in-house. Traditional email promotions just weren’t moving the needle.”
Other hotels are in the same boat. F&B needs to work harder for them. But with rising costs and competition from other food outlets in the local area, F&B often isn’t generating the revenue needed.
The team at The Queen at Chester Hotel knew it was time for a different strategy to connect and engage with guests about their F&B offer. For Biteluxe CEO, Prem Jethwa-Odedra, the solution was clear: the hotel needed to move to where their guests already were – on WhatsApp.
“Email open rates hover around 20% and are falling every year,” Jethwa-Odedra said. “Compare that to WhatsApp, which sees open rates around 98%. It’s faster, easier, and more personal. That’s where relationships are built, and that’s what drives spending.”
Biteluxe manages WhatsApp solutions for hotels, building and deploying custom AI to handle the content. This means hotels can connect and communicate with their guests seamlessly and effortlessly through WhatsApp, without impacting valuable staff time. Spurred on by its ambitious targets, The Queen at Chester Hotel partnered with Biteluxe to deliver its WhatsApp solution.
Doubled dining uptake
Through the partnership, The Queen developed a new AI assistant called Amanda, who now messages guests before their arrival and during their stay. “We see a mobile number capture rate of around 70–80% when guests book, either directly or via OTAs,” Jethwa-Odedra noted. “With that data in hand, hotels can open real-time conversations rather than relying on static marketing.”
The impact on The Queen’s F&B targets has been profound. “Since we introduced Amanda, our in-house sleeper-to-diner ratio has pretty much doubled compared to last year,” Esao said. “Guests feel engaged before they arrive, and many are now choosing to dine with us rather than going out.”
Although the key driver of implementing the WhatsApp solution with Amanda was to achieve F&B targets, the solution has allowed the team to spot – and monetise – new opportunities. In fact, upsell conversions have risen by 60% when delivered contextually through WhatsApp, instead of through email. For example, repeated guest enquiries about early check-in led to a new upsell product. “We weren’t offering early check-in before,” Esao explained. “But after seeing the demand in messages, we created a package. Take-up has been so strong we’re now tweaking the offer to manage demand.”
The benefits extend beyond revenue too. Before WhatsApp, The Queen struggled with high volumes of calls to reception for basic queries. Now, Amanda handles many of these directly. “We saw a huge reduction in phone calls,” Esao said. “Guests just send a WhatsApp, and Amanda can answer most questions instantly. That’s improved satisfaction, reduced staff costs, and freed our team to focus on higher-value interactions.”
The road ahead
Looking forward, Jethwa-Odedra believes hotels must move from reactive messaging to proactive conversations. “The opportunity is anticipating needs before guests ask,” he said. “That’s not selling – that’s helping. And when you help, guest satisfaction and revenue both rise. Instant messaging is where loyalty and revenue are going to be won.”
The Queen at Chester Hotel is a living example of making technology work harder for hotels, who are already operating in a challenging industry. “It’s happy days for ROI,” Esao said. “Every week we’re seeing stronger numbers than last year.”