Hyatt Hotels

Traveling with children can be challenging, but those who stay at Hyatt Hotels have one less thing to worry about: how to feed their kids healthier meals during their stay. Hyatt, which joined PHA at its inaugural Summit in 2011, promised then to increase the nutritional profile of its children’s and full adult menus across all of its dining offerings.

And they did. Whether their guests are enjoying a poolside snack, sitting down in the restaurant or ordering room service, they’ll now find items 16 percent lower in calories and 22 percent lower in sodium.

Children’s meals – dished out to 500,000 little guests each year – now come with a fruit or vegetable as the default side and low-fat or non-fat milk as the default beverage. At least one of the kid choices on every menu meets U.S. Dietary guidelines and MyPlate federal guidance, including fruits and veggies, whole grains, lean protein and low-fat dairy. And because children are so susceptible to marketing, any meal choices pictured on the menu will be nutritious ones, including milk or water as the beverage.

Also company-wide was the creation of a Healthy Balance section of the menu for all of its restaurants, including in-room and poolside dining, as well as catering services. Diners are able to customize their meals by choosing among proteins, vegetable-centric side dishes and sauces. But what’s offered in this section varies from hotel to hotel, giving chefs leeway to be creative in what they prepare and how they choose to prepare it.

“The new approach is not just healthier, it’s profitable. The customizable, healthful choices are popular. When we run sales reports for the restaurants, quite often we are finding sections of the Healthy Balance menu are right up there in the top two choices for the entire restaurant.

~John O'Connell, Director – Food & Beverage, Americas Region, Hyatt Hotels Corporation in PHA’s 2016 Annual Progress Report

Adults and older children will find meals lower in salt, sugar and calories on the menu and at least two healthy options priced the same or lower than other items. As an added benefit, at least one menu item also now contains locally produced food products or ingredients.