For many years, the in-room hotel coffee experience has been defined by convenience: plastic pods, quick brewing and a cup few travelers would describe as memorable.
Staypineapple Hotels is betting guests want more. The boutique brand has replaced traditional pod machines across its portfolio through a new partnership with Coulée Coffee Co., bringing a plastic-free, automated pour-over system to all nine of its hotels.
The rollout, which began recently, makes Coulée the exclusive in-room coffee provider at all Staypineapple properties. For the hotel brand, the move is designed to elevate a small but often overlooked part of the guest stay while advancing its sustainability goals.
Dina Belon, president, Staypineapple Hotels, said the company had been searching for a better in-room coffee solution for several years.
“We’re a boutique hotel brand that has a quirky, different and unique character and brand ethos, so having the same coffee solution that everybody has didn’t really work for us,” she said.
She noted that Staypineapple was an early adopter of pod systems years ago, before they became widespread across the industry. Over time, the brand wanted something more distinctive and better aligned with guest expectations.
That search carried extra weight because of the company’s Seattle roots and the role coffee plays in the brand culture. Four Staypineapple hotels are in Seattle, where coffee expectations tend to run high.
“We’re from Seattle, so we’re all kind of coffee snobs,” Belon said with a laugh. “Coffee is literally one of the pillars of the company.”
The company evaluated multiple alternatives, including kettles and other brewing platforms but had yet to find a solution that delivered quality, convenience and differentiation at the same time. Coulée first entered the picture about a year ago, though the initial version required refinement.
“We tested it out, but it was too difficult,” Belon said. “We were afraid that the guests were going to think it was too difficult and too challenging.”
Instead of walking away, Coulée returned to redesign the product. Belon later reconnected with the company at an industry conference, where she saw the updated machine in action.
“I sat down, and they made me a cup,” she recalled. “I’m like, ‘Yep, great coffee guys.’ We thought it finally hit the note. It was easy enough, but still unique, and still created an amazing cup of coffee.”
Ted Ayliffe, cofounder/CEO, Coulée Coffee Co., said his company was built around a simple challenge: fixing the in-room hotel coffee experience without creating more waste.
Rather than relying on pod pressure-brewing, Coulée chose a pour-over format. The machine delivers hot water through a stainless-steel brew path into an external filter, using a swirl motion designed to replicate a manual pour-over process.
“The big differentiator is really brewing outside the machine,” Ayliffe said. “Especially in hotels, that means no mold or any other buildup can occur inside the system. They’re easier to clean.”
The system was engineered around the fundamentals of coffee extraction: proper water temperature, the right coffee-to-water ratio and sufficient contact time.
“Instead of pod systems that are trying to speed up the process, we just have a two- to three-minute dwell time when the water and coffee are in contact,” he said. “Sure enough, if you follow the recipe, you end up with a great cup of coffee.”
The machines also can dispense hot water for tea without carrying over coffee flavor, adding flexibility for hotel guests who want something different to drink.
The brand currently offers three 100% Arabica options for Staypineapple guests: She-Devil, Doc’s Blend and B.I.O.N Decaf. A fourth blend is expected to launch soon.
For Staypineapple, Belon said the coffee decision was about more than beverages. “It’s really important to us that the in-room experience is holistic,” she said. “The guest experience is all about your sleep health and the morning coffee.”
Sustainability was equally important. Staypineapple has already removed single-use plastic water bottles, installed refillable in-room soap dispensers and expanded renewable energy usage across its hotels. Belon said the company had also tried to improve pod systems through recycling programs and recyclable cups, but those efforts had limits.
“We tried to make the pod system better,” she said. “But if you put plastic into your product stream, then you’re going to have some of it end up in waste, because guests are going to throw it in the wrong container.”
By contrast, the new compostable filters better match the brand’s existing waste programs. Staypineapple composts across its portfolio, but Belon said even if a guest disposes of the filters incorrectly, the environmental impact is lower.
Ayliffe said sustainability choices also shaped Coulée’s product development. Earlier versions used polylactic acid (PLA) corn-based bioplastic, but the company continued iterating until it created a paper-based format.
“It’s basically a cardboard upper ring that’s stiff enough to survive for two minutes, and the filter is 100% paper,” he said.
The outer packaging, he added, meets a high compostability standard and is designed to break down in months rather than years.
Belon said the alignment between the two companies goes beyond product specifications. “Our motto is ‘Do the next right thing,’” she said. “If it’s right for the team members, right for the environment and right for the company, then that’s the decision to make.”
