Management of Gastronomic Branding in the Hotel Restaurants

In this study, it was important to find out what is the relationship between the type of destination, the hotel’s star rating, chain affiliation and the promotion of the gastronomic brand by hotel restaurants. It was also necessary to identify how the participation of St. Petersburg hotels in promoting the gastronomic brand of the city has changed, compared with the results of previous studies. Obtaining relevant data on the gastronomic branding of St. Petersburg is due to the implementation in 2014 of the St. Petersburg Cuisine project, aimed at “promoting St. Petersburg as the cultural, tourist and culinary capital of Russia”. The relevance of the work is due to the fact that in recent years more attention has been paid to the issue of promoting local gastronomic branding of destinations in many countries. 121 restaurants at hotels in 8 destinations were analyzed, the relationship between the star rating of hotels, chain affiliation and the promotion of the local gastronomic brand of the destination was revealed. 1228 reviews were analyzed in 20 hotels of the sample downloaded from the tripadvisor site. The number of references and names of authentic cuisine dishes marked by guests, the attitude of guests to the local gastronomy presented in the hotels are revealed. Recommendations on the construction of the most effective model for promoting a gastronomic brand by restaurants at hotels have been developed. The results of the study may be of interest to hotel restaurant managers, as well as hotel administration representatives interested in promoting establishments and attracting tourists. Keywords: hotel restaurants, gastronomic branding, local gastronomic brand, authentic cuisine.