The Program
Sonesta International Hotels Corporation, the eighth-largest U.S. hotel company by property count, is launching 'Young Royals' — a family-experiential program rolling out this fall at five Royal Sonesta properties across North America and the Caribbean. The initiative targets the family-travel daypart with a bundled set of amenities designed to convert a standard hotel stay into a multi-touchpoint branded experience, from check-in crowning ceremonies to property-wide scavenger hunts.
Debut locations include Royal Sonesta Chicago Downtown, Royal Sonesta San Juan, Royal Sonesta Washington, DC Capitol Hill, The Benjamin Royal Sonesta in New York, and The Yorkville Royal Sonesta Hotel Toronto — a geographically diverse pilot that spans leisure and urban-convention properties.
Food-and-Beverage Angle
For foodservice operators watching hotel F&B strategy, the program's 'Dine Like Royalty' component is the most directly relevant element. Royal Sonesta outlets at participating properties will introduce a dedicated kids' menu alongside branded cups and themed table presentations, integrating the Young Royals narrative directly into restaurant and banquet operations. Hotels have increasingly used kids' F&B programs as an ancillary-revenue lever, with branded touchpoints designed to lift covers and check averages during family-heavy dayparts — weekend brunch and early dinner in particular.
The broader Young Royals package layers in a coloring-and-storybook activity kit, a plush mascot companion, a hands-on crown-making kit, and in-room or banquet-room castle setups — all designed to generate shareable moments and extend dwell time on property, which operators have identified as a driver of incremental F&B spend.
Portfolio Context
Sonesta's 1,100-property, 100,000-room portfolio spans 13 brands across 11 countries, with the Royal Sonesta flag occupying the upscale full-service tier. Launching Young Royals within that tier — rather than at the company's extended-stay or economy flags — signals a deliberate push to capture the premium family-travel segment, which has shown resilience in recent leisure demand cycles. Full-service hotel F&B operations have broadly benefited from post-pandemic increases in family and multigenerational travel, as operators moved to program outlets beyond the standard continental breakfast offer.
The experiential-hotel model, which ties amenity programming directly to F&B and ancillary revenue, has gained traction across the upscale segment as brands compete on guest engagement rather than room rate alone. For franchisees and hotel operators within the Royal Sonesta system, programs like Young Royals represent a low-capital, high-visibility addition to the guest experience — the kind of asset-light initiative that can differentiate a property without significant renovation spend.
Sonesta has not disclosed incremental F&B revenue targets or average check data tied to the launch. A wider rollout beyond the initial five properties has not been announced.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
