Auden Hospitality

Can unforgettable hospitality be systemised?

After an evening at Cadogan Hall listening to Will Guidara and Rory Sutherland discuss the art of hospitality, Auden Hospitality founder Scot Turner left with plenty to think about.

From creating memorable guest moments to finding competitive advantages in the things others overlook, the conversation raised some important questions for hospitality operators.

Scot shares his key takeaways and explores how these lessons can be applied to everyday hospitality.

Read the full article:
www.audenhospitality.com/insights/can-you-systemis…

1 week ago | [YT] | 3

Auden Hospitality

A menu should tell you what kind of place you’re in.

At Penningtons, the goal was never simply to create a collection of good dishes.

The menu needed to support the bigger idea: a British brasserie that feels connected to the history of its setting, while still feeling relevant to the way people want to eat today.

Flat fish, Café de Paris butter and verjus is a good example of that thinking.

Recognisable. Generous. Rooted in classic cooking. But with enough detail and confidence to give it a point of view.

That is where menu development becomes more than choosing what goes on the plate.


At Auden, we look at how the menu works for the guest, the concept, the kitchen, the team and the commercial role of the restaurant. Because every dish contributes to the story guests are being told about the venue, and ultimately, whether they understand it, choose it and want to return.

Penningtons needed to feel like a restaurant with a reason to exist in its own right, not simply somewhere to eat because you happen to be staying upstairs.

Sometimes strategy looks like a positioning document.
Sometimes, it looks like the plate on the table.

2 weeks ago | [YT] | 3

Auden Hospitality

A portfolio strategy should create alignment without flattening what makes each property distinct.

That was an important part of our work with New Forest Collection.

Across four hotels, there were opportunities to strengthen shared standards, identify common commercial priorities and create greater consistency where it would add value.

But each property also had its own market, guest mix, competitive set and operational reality.

That matters.

Because the right F&B strategy for one hotel may be completely wrong for another, even when they sit under the same brand.

Good strategy is not about finding one answer and rolling it out everywhere.

It is about understanding where consistency creates strength, where individuality creates relevance, and how both can work together to improve performance across the wider portfolio.

That is where market research and strategy become especially valuable: not simply telling you what to do, but helping you understand where the answer needs to change.

Read more:
www.audenhospitality.com/case-studies/new-forest-c…

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3 weeks ago | [YT] | 3

Auden Hospitality

Breakfast might be the most familiar part of a hotel stay. But that doesn't mean we should stop rethinking it.

We're delighted that Auden Hospitality founder Scot Turner will be joining the speaker line-up at Hospitality Exchange 2026, Northern Ireland's largest hospitality conference!

Scot will deliver a keynote, "The Business of Breakfast", exploring how changing guest expectations, emerging breakfast trends and the economics of hotel food and beverage are reshaping the morning experience.

Hosted by the Northern Ireland Hotels Federation, Hospitality Exchange brings together industry leaders for two days of fresh thinking, practical insight and conversations about the future of hospitality.

Crowne Plaza Belfast
13–14 October 2026
Scot's keynote: Wednesday 14 October, Business Breakfast

If you're attending, come and say hello! We'd love to hear how you're approaching breakfast in your hotel.

3 weeks ago | [YT] | 4

Auden Hospitality

Some recognition is particularly lovely to share.

We were delighted to see Foxhills Club & Resort awarded 9/10 by The Telegraph , with Food & Drink also receiving 9/10.

Much of the review focuses on Lomri, described as “what a triumph”, with particular praise for Chef Achal Aggarwal and the journey through India told through the menu.

But this one feels especially meaningful because our work with Foxhills stretches beyond a single opening.

Auden has been proud to work alongside Marc Hayton and the Foxhills team over several years, from the development of Flo’s at The Pavilion to the more recent strategy, concept and guest experience work behind Lomri and The Manor House.

So while the score is lovely, what we’re really celebrating is the team who continue to bring these places to life every day.

Congratulations to Marc, Chef Achal and everyone at Foxhills, and thank you to The Telegraph for recognising what has been created.

We’re very proud to have played our part.

Read the full review: www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/uni…

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1 month ago | [YT] | 3

Auden Hospitality

Exceptional service cannot live in people’s heads.

When the expectation is as high as it is at Harrods, great service can’t rely on instinct alone.

The smallest details matter. How a guest is welcomed. The rhythm of the experience. The rituals that create a sense of occasion. The visual standards that tell a team, at a glance, what “right” looks like.

But there’s a balance.

Define too little, and standards become inconsistent.

Define too much, and hospitality can start to feel scripted.

Our work with Harrods on The Georgian Restaurant and The Penthouse Private Shopping Service was about finding the space between the two.

Creating clear service rituals, sequences and visual standards that teams could understand, leaders could coach and guests could experience, while still leaving room for hospitality to feel human.

Because the best standards shouldn’t be noticed by the guest.

The experience should be.

That’s how exceptional service becomes repeatable.

1 month ago | [YT] | 3

Auden Hospitality

A hotel restaurant can serve breakfast, lunch and dinner and still only be an amenity.


The shift happens when you start asking a different question:


Would someone who isn’t staying here choose to come?


When an F&B space is designed for the local community, visitors to the destination and the guest upstairs, the thinking changes.


The concept needs an identity.
The experience needs a reason to visit.
The space needs to compete with everything outside the hotel doors.


And when locals want to be there, the in-house guest notices too.


As Scot Turner put it during a recent conversation with MCA:


“Stop thinking of hotel F&B as an amenity. Start thinking of it as a destination.”


That shift can influence far more than covers. It can strengthen the guest experience, drive engagement with the wider property and ultimately give people another reason to choose the hotel in the first place.

1 month ago | [YT] | 3

Auden Hospitality

History works hardest when it becomes part of the experience.

At Penningtons, the Manager’s Office takes its cue from the building’s past, reimagining the place where takings were once handed through a hatch into an intimate private dining room at the heart of the restaurant.

The details carry that story forward. Fluted glass. A sense of enclosure. A little intrigue. Design choices that feel rooted in what was here before, rather than added for effect.

That was central to Auden’s approach to Penningtons: understand the history, find the details worth preserving, then translate them into spaces that feel relevant to the guest today.

Because in a destination like Windsor, the restaurant has to do more than serve the hotel.

It should feel like part of the destination itself.

The Manager’s Office is one small room, but it captures the bigger idea: creating a sense of place people can remember, talk about and return to.

1 month ago | [YT] | 4

Auden Hospitality

“We’re constantly calibrating what we do.”
- Bal Mahey

Because a hospitality concept is never really finished.

Guest behaviour changes. Teams change. Trading patterns reveal what is working and where friction is starting to appear.

At Auden, the work goes beyond creating the idea. We look at how the concept performs in the real world, then keep refining the details that shape the guest experience and the commercial result.

The menu. The service. The training. The systems. The moments guests remember.

Strong hospitality is not set and forget.

It is built, observed, tested and continually calibrated.

1 month ago | [YT] | 2

Auden Hospitality

Penningtons is officially open at The Castle Hotel Windsor.


But the days before the doors open are some of the most important in the entire life of a hospitality concept.


After 18 months of strategy, concept development and planning, the final days are about bringing everything off the page and into the operation.


It’s training the team not only on what to do, but why it matters. Refining service standards. Walking through the guest journey. Testing the details. Adjusting the things that work differently in real life than they did on paper. Building confidence. Creating consistency. And making sure the team who will ultimately deliver the experience feel part of what has been created.


That’s a big part of what we do at Auden Hospitality.


From F&B strategy and concept development through operational planning, menu and experience development, pre-opening support and team training, we work alongside hotel owners and operators to build concepts that can actually live and breathe once the doors open.


And after 18 months working with the team at The Castle Hotel Windsor, there was something particularly special about seeing Penningtons full of the people who will now make it their own.


The doors are open. The tables are set. And Penningtons is ready for Windsor.


If you’re nearby, stop in for a drink, lunch, afternoon tea or dinner.


We’ll be sharing more from behind the scenes of the Penningtons journey over the coming weeks.

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2 months ago | [YT] | 3