Hello, Green Lodging News readers! My name is Meredith Marin, and I’m thrilled to be writing to you from the crossroads of two things I’m deeply passionate about: hospitality and veganism. As the founder of Vegan Hospitality, I spend my days helping hotels and resorts navigate the ever-evolving needs of vegan guests—one plant-based menu and guest experience at a time.
“I’m not interested in plant-based eating or veganism, and frankly vegan guests are difficult to deal with,” you may be thinking. This is where you might stop reading, wondering how this topic even applies to your life or your business. If you can find the willpower to stick around for another few minutes and stay on this journey with me while you drink your morning coffee (dare I say, with oat milk?) then perhaps you might find we have a shared agenda, or at least be inspired with a nugget of thought provoking content to bring back to your team for further conversation.
Why does vegan friendly hospitality matter? Because the world is changing, and the hospitality industry has an incredible opportunity to lead the charge in creating a more sustainable, inclusive, and delicious future.
But before we get into that, let’s address the elephant in the room—or should I say, the almond milk in the mini-bar. You might be wondering: Why do vegan guests need special attention? Don’t they just eat salads and call it a day? Well, I’m glad you asked because this is where things get interesting.
The Vegan Guest: More Than Meets the Eye
First, let’s debunk the biggest myth about vegan guests: that they’re all the same. Just like any other guest, guests who choose to order vegan food come with diverse tastes, preferences, and expectations. Some are health-conscious foodies, others are ethical eaters, some have food allergies, and some do not, and some are simply curious omnivores dipping their toes into plant-based options. If you remember nothing else from this article, I hope this fact sticks with you and influences your menu decisions: your vegan customers are not only similar to your traditional customers; they once were your traditional customers! It’s rare to find a paying hotel guest who was born vegan (although they may have kids who were), so most of the people you are serving vegan food to actually know what your other dishes taste like, meaning they know what they’re missing out on when you serve them subpar options.
While vegan guests have diverse preferences, what they all share is the desire to feel seen and valued during their stay. And this is where many hotels fall short. Sure, offering a “vegan option” is a step in the right direction, but what happens when that option is the same uninspired pasta marinara or side salad they’ve seen a hundred times before? What happens when they are staying for seven days, or expecting an all-inclusive experience, and they are driven off of the resort to find their meals? I think you probably guessed that they don’t feel valued—they feel like an afterthought. And this afterthought experience is the essence of what it means to be a vegan guest in the mainstream hospitality and tourism industry today. My life’s work intends to change that.
The Bigger Picture: Sustainability & Inclusivity
Serving vegan guests isn’t just about customer satisfaction; it’s about staying ahead of global trends. Since you are a Green Lodging News reader, I assume that you have an interest and perhaps even a commitment to environmental sustainability as a company value. Plant-based living is on the rise, driven by concerns over climate change, animal welfare, and personal health. By catering to vegan guests, hotels aren’t just meeting a niche demand—they’re aligning themselves with their own company’s values.
Consider the environmental impact. Plant-based meals use significantly fewer resources and produce less carbon than their animal-based counterparts. The recent World Sustainable Hospitality Alliance whitepaper “Decarbonizing Hotel Food Systems” explains that “if hotel food was a country, it would be in the top 25 percent of nations ranked by their emissions.” The paper goes on to cite that food sourcing (what is on the menu) accounts for over 60 percent of hotel food system emissions, making it the most significant point of intervention. Comparatively, while sourcing local food is important for sustaining local economies, from an environmental perspective, transport only accounts for less than 10 percent of food system emissions: the majority comes from production. And food waste, another important initiative that hotels are investing time and resources into, accounts for 17 percent of food related emissions. If your hotel is interested in making the biggest impact on environmental sustainability, it’s impossible to ignore the need to shift toward plant forward food sourcing.
Imagine the ripple effect if hotels worldwide embraced plant-based dining as a cornerstone of their sustainability initiatives. Early adopters are already making commitments to transition percentages of their menus to plant based, with other hospitality groups coming out with special vegan menus for their guests. If your company has not yet considered one of these strategies, I encourage you to get in touch with me so my team can partner with you in 2025 and support you in planning for plant forward F&B and guest experience programming. Beyond environmental sustainability, let’s not forget inclusivity. Welcoming vegan guests with open arms (and innovative menus) sends a powerful message: Everyone is welcome here. That kind of reputation isn’t just good for the planet; it’s great for business.
What Vegan Guests Really Want
So, what does it take to truly serve vegan guests? Here’s a quick cheat sheet based on years of consulting with hotels:
- Food First: Vegan-friendly menus aren’t just about swapping chicken for tofu in every dish. Think beyond the basics. Guests love creativity, variety, bold flavors, and local ingredients. As you plan your menu, try to put yourself in the shoes of your vegan guest (made from pineapple leather of course) and imagine what you would eat during your stay. Would you have attractive options to choose from for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert?
- Clear Communication: Vegan travelers don’t want to play detective with their meals. Labeling, transparency, and knowledgeable staff are key. A simple menu audit from a Vegan Hospitality Consultant can make all the difference in avoiding common menu engineering and labeling mistakes.
- Room Amenities: A vegan-friendly mini-bar stocked with plant-based snacks and cruelty-free toiletries? That’s how you win hearts (and glowing reviews). Some vegan guests may also ask for down-alternative bedding, so it couldn’t hurt to have these on-hand for a customized cruelty-free experience.
- Staff Training: Empathy and education go hand in hand. When staff understand why a guest is asking about the ingredients in their soup, it changes the tone of the interaction entirely.
Enter Vegan Hospitality: A Partner in Progress
This is where Vegan Hospitality comes in. Our mission is simple: to help hotels and resorts create unforgettable experiences for vegan guests while driving sustainability and inclusivity across the industry. We work with properties of all sizes, offering training, menu development, and consulting services tailored to their unique needs. And here’s the exciting part—we’ve just launched our global Vegan Hospitality Certification Program. This program allows hotels to earn a seal of approval that shows the world they’re serious about serving vegan guests. More than a badge, it’s a statement of values, a commitment to excellence, and a way to stand out in a competitive market. We piloted our certification program with 10 hotels and lodges in 2024 (you can read about a few of them here!), and this year we are excited to expand our capacity to certify and support even more.
A Story Worth Sharing
I’ll leave you with a quick story from one of the many hotels we’ve worked with. A boutique resort came to us feeling overwhelmed about how to cater to vegan guests. They wanted to do more but weren’t sure where to start. We started with the basics: training the kitchen staff, revamping the menu, and adding vegan options to the breakfast buffet. Then we went deeper: creating vegan menus, labeling items clearly, and even adding a plant-based cooking demo as an optional guest activity. The result? Glowing reviews from vegan and non-vegan guests alike, increased revenue from dining and activities, and a renewed sense of purpose among the staff.
That’s the magic of embracing vegan hospitality—treating vegan guests with the same standard of quality as traditional guests helps all guests–because who wants to travel with that one vegan grandkid who complains all the time about not having anything to eat?
The Time Is Now
As I reflect on the future of the lodging industry, I feel inspired. The opportunities to innovate, connect, and make a difference are right in front of us—we just have to take them. With a shared vision, we can make hospitality what it was meant to be: a warm welcome for everyone. And it all starts with small, intentional steps—like adding oat milk to the coffee station or reimagining a traditional dish with plant-based ingredients. If you’re curious about what vegan hospitality could look like at your property, I’d love to chat. Together we can ensure that every guest feels valued, and that your food sourcing aligns with your sustainability goals.
Meredith Marin is Executive Director, Vegan Hospitality. You can reach her at meredith@veganhospitality.com.
