The Tricycle of Guest Service Excellence: A Perfect Model For Remarkable Experiences
Doug Kennedy | October 4, 2024
The Art of a Great Arrival for Luxury Hotels
Adam and Larry Mogelonsky | May 22, 2024
Guest Experience
Create and Deliver Itineraries Without Leaving The Lobby With ALICE and Percipia
ALICE | May 31, 2018
ALICE, the leading hospitality operations platform, and Percipia, the industry innovator in telephony solutions, software, and services, have partnered to provide The Post Oak Hotel at Uptown Houston with convenient in-room digital signage to enhance the guest experience. Now, with the ALICE-Percipia partnership, when a concierge creates an itinerary for the guest, this itinerary can be displayed on an in-room device. This provides the guest with a convenient way to stay on top of their schedule, and the concierge with a user-friendly way to share their work with the guest. Percipia's LATITUDE mobile application brings in-room controls,...
Does Your Hotel Stand Out?
Chamberlin Public Relations | May 31, 2018
Brand standards can make a hotel seem…well, standard. And with so many hotels flooding the market, it can be hard for travelers to tell one apart from the next, making it even more challenging to establish customer loyalty. But by carefully targeting specific types of guests and incorporating clever design and programing, a few hotel brands are standing out from the pack. Business & Leisure To attract business travelers, IHG's Crowne Plaza brand has been updating its guestrooms and public spaces, adding touches that working professionals need. Hotels now have studio spaces off of the lobbies that guests and locals can rent by...
The Hidden Costs of Sold-Outs
Max Chertkov | May 31, 2018
By Max Chertkov Did you know that securing a new customer costs between 5 to 25 times more than retaining an existing client? Although several factors can lead to losing a customer, booking failures and sold-outs have a major impact on customer loyalty. Strong businesses are built on the fundamental understanding of customer lifetime value - a customer once won can become a customer for life. Today's highly competitive travel market, especially online, bears numerous challenges when it comes to winning a customer. In fact, the revenue from the first customer booking often barely covers the acquisition cost. For this reason, customer...
Intelity to Showcase 10 Years of Technology Innovation at HITEC Houston
Intelity | May 30, 2018
Mobile apps for service delivery, check-in/out and room keys, plus in-room solutions that engage guests via tablets, mobile devices and AI voice commands, will be on display in Booth 2127, June 19 to 21, at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston [Orlando, Fla. — May 30, 2018] — Next month, Intelity – the 2018 "Official Mobile and In-Room Technology Provider of the Forbes Travel Guide" – will showcase its award-winning mobile and in-room technologies at HITEC Houston. At this premier technology event that combines top-notch education with the world's largest hospitality technology exposition, hoteliers w...
Headspace and KEYPR Partner to Deliver Guided Meditation App to Hotels
KEYPR | May 30, 2018
Collaboration brings popular app-based meditation to millions of hotel guests through the KEYPR hospitality platform Los Angeles, CA (May 30, 2018) - KEYPR®, the technology company whose enterprise cloud platform is the leader in guest experience and hospitality management, announced today that it has partnered with Headspace to deliver its wildly popular guided meditation and mindfulness sessions to hotel rooms worldwide via KEYPR's in-room tablets. "Wellness is a huge priority in hospitality today, and undoubtedly all travelers can benefit from a few minutes of calm," said Dan Kessler, VP of Business Development and Partnersh...
Speculating on the Technological Future for Hotels
Larry Mogelonsky | May 30, 2018
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.hotelmogel.com) For many hoteliers, forecasting the future of our industry typically centers upon financial data prognostications and, for instance, whether RevPAR growth will translate into higher property valuations. Setting aside dollars and cents, however, the future holds many profound changes for hospitality, some of which we are currently at full tilt grappling with while others are still quite nascent. The good news is that there will always be a real need for temporary lodgings, both for leisure as well as business travel, all of which is coalescing into a hybrid form given the cringe-wort...
Four Must-Attend Speaking Engagements During HITEC 2018
ALICE | May 29, 2018
If you haven't been to HITEC yet, you are missing out on the biggest hospitality industry technology exposition and conference of the year. 2018's HITEC kicks off on June 18th in Houston, where C-level hospitality executives and the top technology industry experts will gather for four days of in-depth demonstrations and networking. ALICE, the hospitality industry's leading operations platform, will showcase its complete suite of hotel management and guest engagement products, June 18-22, at Booth 2319. Schedule an appointment with the ALICE team here. The 2018 conference speaker line-up is full of great options for hoteliers and technol...
Tips to Fill Your Urban Hotel This Summer
Larry Mogelonsky | May 23, 2018
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.hotelmogel.com) Every North American resort owner knows that the time between Memorial Day and Labor Day is peak. The kids are out of school by mid-to-late June, making it family time for the beach, the great outdoors or a meticulously planned European vacation. For a moment, though, let's focus on urban properties. Bricks and mortar are depreciated all 12 months of the year. There are no summer breaks in your debt obligations even as the meetings and conference segment wanes. Yes, weekend occupancies may be buoyed by weddings or other citywide events, but you still can't thrive off two nights of r...
It Takes Two to Build, But Only One to Destroy
Georges Panayotis | May 22, 2018
By Georges Panayotis How can we imagine developing a product and a brand that are disembodied, cut off from their source of inspiration, with no link to what should feed them and help them progress? Today, large companies suffer from two major ills: a brutal and merciless transformation that does not wait for latecomers, the rupture that is on everyone's lips; and obvious management problems. Managers have been sidelined, in favor of robotisation, financiers and great strategists without anticipating in the medium term the devastating effects of a lack of management. Because those managers who are operational, who are the lines of ...
The Shared Hotel Room
May 22, 2018
by David Goldstone Airbnb and other "shared economy" businesses have raised the bar for travel providers who wish to deliver personalized, truly local experiences for guests. For hotels, the new environment means a re-think of a hotel's relationship with their guests – and in many ways, a complete redo of the foundations of the guest experience. Attention Hotel Owners: It's No Longer Your Hotel Room Today's travelers see a hotel stay as part of an immersive travel experience that begins with booking and continues through multiple engagements and touch points.[1] To satisfy them, it must be made clear, every step of the way, that i...
Scribd and KEYPR Partner to Deliver Digital Library to Hotels
KEYPR | May 17, 2018
Collaboration brings Scribd's unlimited reading subscription service to hotel rooms via the KEYPR hospitality platform LOS ANGELES (DATE) — KEYPR®, the enterprise technology company whose cloud-based platform is the leader in guest experience and staff optimization, announced today that it has partnered with Scribd, the premier digital reading subscription service, to offer its library of more than 1 million of the best ebooks, audiobooks, and magazines to hotel rooms worldwide. Scribd VP of Business Development Rama Sadasivan said, "We are thrilled to partner with KEYPR's diverse and expansive hotel network to bring Scribd to...
Being a Senior Team Member in Ten Steps
Larry Mogelonsky | May 16, 2018
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.hotelmogel.com) Years ago, it was simple – reaching 65 meant retirement. You got your gold watch, or other memorabilia of recognition, and set out into the sunset of your time on earth. Perhaps a life in Florida or Arizona was in the plans, with many thinking that their last days would be spent in the bliss of endless golf games and beach walks or inspirational hikes. At least, that is what the television commercials wanted you to believe. I vividly remember advertising for Sun Life Insurance where the current marketing slogan was 'Freedom 55' which envisioned a happy future starting ten year...
Unlocking the Mystery Behind Travelers Planning and Booking
MyTravelResearch.com | May 15, 2018
Carolyn Childs, strategist at MyTravelResearch.com, says there are simple things travel brands can do to capture the traveller at the key planning and booking stages of the customer journey Moving the customer from planning to booking is the eureka moment for travel firms. It's the pivotal minute on the customer's path to purchase. That journey comes in stages: dreaming, the decision to go, planning, booking, anticipating, on the trip, and post-trip sharing. Travel industry specialists MyTravelResearch.com have written extensively about the stages of the customer journey. In a new report, Carolyn Childs, co-founder of the travel intelli...
All Guest Services Staff Should Love Guests’ “Buts”
Doug Kennedy | May 14, 2018
By Doug Kennedy Each month I get to travel the world and present 6 – 8 training workshops, many of which are for frontline staff. It is a career I have been blessed to have for nearly 30 years. We talk about a lot of important subjects these days, such as the fact that in the era of social media and online guest reviews, every guest contact colleague is in the public relations and marketing field. We also talk a lot about loving guests' buts. The reason I train everyone to love guests' "buts" is because when we can manage to get a good "but" out of a guest, that means that we have shown the guest we are asking because we truly car...
KEYPR and Dow Jones Partner to Deliver The Wall Street Journal to Hotels
KEYPR | May 10, 2018
Collaboration brings WSJ's full digital content to hotel guests via KEYPR's hospitality platform LOS ANGELES, CA (May 10, 2018) — KEYPR®, the technology company whose enterprise cloud platform is the leader in guest experience and hospitality management, announced today it has partnered with The Wall Street Journal to seamlessly deliver the company's award-winning content to hotel rooms worldwide, via KEYPR's expansive platform. "The Wall Street Journal is the premier publisher of business and finance focused news, information, commentary and analysis. We are dedicated to meeting the needs of our readers – most of whom a...
Protecting Your Housekeepers From Injuries
Larry Mogelonsky | May 9, 2018
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.hotelmogel.com) Following an immersive full-day seminar at the recent Housekeepers Forum in Toronto to discuss all the latest issues affecting this department, one critical issue addressed that merits further discussion is repetitive strain injuries (RSIs), especially those with an aging workforce. A combined aggravation of both the nervous and musculoskeletal system, an RSI is typically caused by repetitive tasks or those which put the body in an awkward position. There are many different types of RSIs, but as I am not a doctor, the diagnoses and exact syndromes are not the focus here. Rather, it...
Worried About Reaching Out to Your Millennial Guests? Top 5 Things You Can Do to Attract Them
Hotelogix | May 9, 2018
Millennials are the first generation that grew up with close proximity to internet, mobile phone/smartphones and televisions. Their exposure to technology sets them apart from the previous generations. Talking about millennials in the hospitality industry, their entire experience - right from making the reservation to checkout, they expect something new from the hotel. They use their phones to book hotels, on the go. They look at guest reviews before booking their stay. They are not satisfied with the word 'average', they need more. That's why, hoteliers must find newer ways to market their properties to this young, tech-savvy and deman...
Please Use the “F” Word!!
Roberta Nedry | May 8, 2018
By Roberta Nedry Relax! Not that 'F' Word! This 'F' stands for Feelings, which are critical to any service interaction or guest experience and they must be front and center to make meaningful emotional connections. Whose feelings you might ask? Yours, theirs and ours!!! How you perceive your guests are feeling as they arrive, experience and depart can make a powerful difference in the feelings they remember. Once that perception is made, the next step is how to respond and deliver behaviors that will make those feelings positive. How can hospitality leaders orient their teams to do this and deploy an "F" word strategy for each touchpoin...
Texting Guests Is About to Be a HUGE Legal Liability That Can Cost a Hotel 4% of Its Annual Revenue
Einar Rosenberg | May 4, 2018
By Einar Rosenberg Every GM knows the equation for implementing new hotel services. Benefit must be greater than the cost. In 2017, the most popular new craze for hotels was text messaging guests. The cost was low and the benefits were high. But in 2018, that cost is going to sky rocket, thanks to the GDPR or General Data Protection Regulation. If your hotel hasn't heard of the GDPR yet, you better learn fast, because it's going to change how nearly every hotel around the world does business. At its core, the GDPR is the strongest consumer privacy and protection laws in history. Though the GDPR was created by the EU, it's no...
What Will Your Front Desk Staff Do With All the Extra Time They Have After Adopting Text Messaging Automation?
ALICE | May 2, 2018
Hotels using automated text messaging have seen guest engagement increase by over 25% by Alex Shashou Texting has emerged as one of the most popular ways for hotels to communicate with their guests. However, the time-consuming nature of one-on-one text messaging makes it seem at times at odds with the busy atmosphere of the front desk. A tool such as guest messaging automation increases employee productivity as it enables hoteliers to spend less time doing the actual sending and more time communicating. In recent beta testing, hotels that have adopted guest message automation as a part of their communication strategy have seen an increa...
Special Job Titles Deserve Special Prices
Larry Mogelonsky | May 2, 2018
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.hotelmogel.com) A fun solution to help drive more restaurant profitability may be in further specializing your F&B team then giving these dedicated experts uniquely alluring names. The inspiration that sparked this concept came about tangentially when discussing a somewhat recent initiative at select Ritz-Carlton alpine resorts where they have introduced a 'smoreologist' which is, in essence, a fancy name for a pastry chef who spends a bit more of his or her experimenting with fancy graham crackers and marshmallows. Still, though, the name resonates, helps create some excitement amongst the fam...
ALICE’s Gillian Feldman Returns to California to Scale Growth in the California Market
ALICE | April 30, 2018
New York - NY - ALICE Senior Sales Executive Gillian Feldman has relocated to Los Angeles to scale growth in the California market. ALICE is the hospitality industry's leading operations technology, connecting every department of the hotel with one platform for all staff communication and guest requests. Following its $26M Series B funding in 2017, ALICE acquired California-based concierge software provider GoConcierge. The merger with GoConcierge has allowed ALICE to upgrade their services with existing clients and greatly accelerate the pace of new opportunities. More than two thousand hotels across the country and around the world ha...
Starving Boomers and Travel Mindsets
Larry Mogelonsky | April 25, 2018
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.lma.ca) I'm borrowing a term from the art world where the 'starving artist' is a burgeoning creative mind living hand-to-mouth, toiling away at his or her work while also probably taking on a part-time gig and waiting for that golden ticket of making a sale. Adapting the term to describe a new trend within the baby boomer generation is a bit of a stretch as they are hardly starving per se. But it does illustrate the point in that many boomers who have entered a second career or a state of semi-retirement, after departing from the breadwinning days in their former full-time jobs, are struggling to f...
Small Luxury Hotels of the World Appoints Larry Mogelonsky as Canadian Ambassador
Small Luxury Hotels of the World | April 24, 2018
April 24, 2018 (Toronto, ON) Small Luxury Hotels of the World™ (SLH) is pleased to announce the appointment of Larry Mogelonsky as its Canadian Ambassador. The announcement was made at SLH's annual Canadian Showcase event held on Apirl 10, 2018 at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto. In making the announcement, Filip Boyen, Chief Executive Officer of SLH, noted, "Canada is our third largest guest-originating market, yet we are critically underrepresented here with only one property. Our goal is to raise the profile of SLH within the Canadian hotel community and, in the process, increase our membership as well as open the world t...
