Palladium Hotels & Resorts has expanded its service catering to guests with food allergies to all of its resorts in Mexico, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic.
With the Palladium program, guests need only explain their food allergies when they check in, and they will be given a color-coded bilingual card (in Spanish and English) to show their waiters. All foodservice staff members receive special training to understand the importance and logistics of complying with special diets. In addition, guests can make appropriate selections from the buffet and a la carte menus using labeling that is color-coded to their dietary card.
In the kitchen, chefs and food preparation staffs have been professionally trained in the preparation of dishes for gluten-free and type-2-diabetes diets and seven other common allergy/special diets, including allergies to nuts, fruits and vegetables, seafood, eggs, dairy and lactose, fish and monosodium glutamate. Working in collaboration with professional dieticians, the chefs have created allergy-compliant recipes so they can offer guests with various food allergies a wide array of carefully prepared options.
“Vacations need to be relaxing in every respect and a time for families to enjoy sharing new experiences together — especially at meals,” said Felipe Martinez, director of operations – Americas. “It’s certainly not relaxing or conducive to bonding when a family needs to worry about finding suitable foods or having only limited choices. That’s why Palladium has taken great initiative to establish a program that allows our guests, especially the little ones, with dietary restrictions to dine with their friends and family and experience gourmet cuisine that caters to their special needs.”