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
Fairmont Miramar Hotel & Bungalows Selects KEYPR as Exclusive Guest Experience Technology Partner
KEYPR | January 4, 2018
KEYPR®, the leading cloud-based technology platform for the hospitality industry providing an integrated end-to-end experience for guests and staff through embedded and mobile devices, announced today that Fairmont Miramar Hotel & Bungalows has deployed its expansive hospitality platform. "We pride ourselves on providing a luxury experience that is efficient and unobtrusive, and as our guest demographics diversify, we must find ways to cater to growing technological needs while maintaining the service we are known for," said Matthew Lehman, Fairmont Miramar's General Manager. "KEYPR addresses all of those needs in one neat packa...
KEYPR Announces Major Platform Release
KEYPR | January 4, 2018
Leading hospitality technology company releases major upgrade opening up advanced platform features and functionality KEYPR®, the leading cloud-based technology platform for the hospitality industry providing an integrated end-to-end experience for guests and staff through embedded and mobile devices, announced today the release of a significant upgrade to its platform including a variety of powerful new features and major enhancements to existing features. "The new platform dramatically increases our existing lead in hospitality guest technology by enabling the rapid development and deployment of new features, integrations and inte...
AT&T Hotel and Conference Center Raises Customer Satisfaction Ratings with Focus on Guest Experience
AT&T Hotel and Conference Center | January 4, 2018
Major Hotel and Conference Center Integrates Guest Service Requests, Guest Recognition, Maintenance Scheduling with Guestware January 4, 2018 – The AT&T Hotel and Conference Center in Austin, Texas is the meeting destination for hundreds of local, national and international companies. It offers 83,000 sq. ft. of high-tech meeting facilities and 297 guestrooms on site, with access to additional rooms through a collaborative partnership with surrounding hotels in Austin's high-tech Innovation District. The hotel understands how to use technology to elevate the guest experience and continuously improve and retain high TripAdvisor...
Boosting Employee Performance in Hospitality
January 3, 2018
Few industries make greater use of part-time and seasonal employees than the hospitality industry. But even as they provide extra hands in busy times and the high season, part-timers and seasonal workers are less likely to consider themselves to be 'insiders', who are generally more willing to suggest improvements or accept additional duties. For this reason, many employers go to some lengths to encourage all employees to regard themselves as insiders (for example, with pep talks or other employee events). With that goal in mind, a new study from Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne highlights the key elements that would encourage e...
Hotel Trends in F&B for 2018
Larry Mogelonsky | January 3, 2018
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.hotelmogel.com) Just as they did a century ago, hotel restaurants have a mantle to uphold by striving to be culinary leaders in their respective locales. To do so in today's competitive foodservice landscape, however, requires constant ingenuity. Everyone knows about the big push to offer healthier options, incorporate any purported superfoods and raise the profile of local producers through farm-to-table programs. Much like nearly every other customer who will set food in your eatery, I would expect that your team already have those three well in hand. Below are five more to consider as the New Ye...
Time To Line Up Your 2018 Goals
Larry Mogelonsky | December 27, 2017
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.hotelmogel.com) Occupancies and rates have been steady if not growing throughout the calendar year of 2017. The 'natural' calamites (hurricanes, earthquakes, wild fires and the like) are regional anomalies, hopefully with rather short-term impacts and adequately mitigated by viable insurance policies. Before you pop a few magnums of Krug or Dom, let's pause for a moment. Hotels are not flash-in-the-pan operations. Physical structures are built with multi-generational use in mind. A good year or even a fantastic year does not mean that you are impervious to downturns. Hence, as we move towards the i...
Analyzing the Relationship Between Serviced Residences and Hybrid Travel
Larry Mogelonsky | December 20, 2017
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.hotelmogel.com) Both traditional hotels and any form of alternate lodging provider share a common pool of potential customers, consisting primarily of those individuals looking for short-term accommodations away from home. Typically, those stays are measured in days, and rarely in weeks or months. The length of stay is often one of the critical differences that defines serviced residences such as apartment rentals from both the hotel and sharing economy products. Ascott Limited is a subsidiary of CapitaLand, one of Asia's largest real-estate companies. Through rapid growth over the past three d...
Say Hello to Intelity’s New ‘Voice Request’
Intelity | December 14, 2017
Amazon's Alexa enhances the guest experience by giving guests immediate access to room controls, hotel services, restaurant information and more. [Orlando, Fla. – December 14, 2017] — Intelity is unveiling yet another tool designed to enhance guest experiences. Intelity Voice Request is a product that leverages Amazon's Alexa to give guests immediate access to room controls, hotel services, restaurant information and more. The hands-free device, powered by the cloud-based digital assistant, enables guests to speak to their room with voice-activated commands. "Voice Request acts as a personal butler for each guest," s...
Why Customer Experience Is (Rightly) Such a Hot Topic in Travel
MyTravelResearch.com | December 14, 2017
Companies that anticipate and deliver what travellers want, when they want it, are more likely to command loyalty – and profits By Carolyn Childs Why is customer experience such a hot topic and buzz phrase in the travel industry (and others)? Answer: because in the age of the experience economy the quality of customer interactions at each stage of the path to purchase builds customer loyalty and advocacy. Both are closely aligned to profits. The reality is, big data and technology have enabled brands to understand us better – often better than we understand ourselves (I sometimes joke that Google knows me better than my part...
Healthy Eating Means Healthy Desserts Too
Larry Mogelonsky | December 13, 2017
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.hotelmogel.com) We're a stone's throw away from 2018. People are drinking less alcohol, renouncing cigarettes, exercising more often and eating healthier. If you're smart, you'll get with the program. Many other articles, especially those under the purview of New Year's resolutions, will cover methods and choice tips by which to give your mains and appetizers the health kick they need to keep drawing in patrons with increasingly esoteric dietary restrictions. One nutritional piece of advice around this time of the year that can be quite damaging to our restaurants, however, is to cut out desserts e...
Customer Service & Sales: Be Authentic
Katie Scheer | December 13, 2017
By Katie Scheer Let's stop faking it. Deliver the customer service that you want to receive, and sell honestly in such a way that you would want to buy from you. Consumers today seek and crave authenticity since there's too much garbage always getting in the way of the truth and what's genuine. No more acting or saying what you think will give you the best end result. Instead, speak the truth and make yourself proud. Yes, this is your Oprah moment, and you too could become rich (if you aren't already). How do we do this in customer service and sales? Here are just a few simple ideas: 1. Deliver quality, even if it means ...
L’Envie D’Avoir Envie, or the Desire to Desire: The Johnny Syndrome
Georges Panayotis | December 13, 2017
By Georges Panayotis The heart has its reasons that reason cannot understand. In this era of customer experience, all that is authentic, all that is lived, it is interesting to draw a parallel between recent news and our hoteliers' activities. Two men who were part of our heritage and French and francophone culture left us one after the other. Each left a deep impression on the collective memory, but each in his own way. One was an accomplished intellectual, crowned and praised, who spoke with his spirit. He excelled in the handling of words, ideas and concepts. The second one spoke with his guts and heart. He lived strong moments o...
Trends in Reservations Inquiry Call Volumes: Is There More to the Numbers?
Doug Kennedy | December 6, 2017
By Doug Kennedy As a hotel reservations consultant and sales trainer, I'm often asked for my perspective on the current trends regarding the number of inquiry reservations call received vs. previous years. Many hotel marketers seem to think this is a simple question and I suppose that on one level it should be. It certainly is possible to just ask a large sample of hoteliers for their number of calls received YTD vs. previous YTD and then average the percentage of change either way. However, based on my experiences in consulting with a multitude of very different lodging operations throughout North America, I would say that such a simpl...
Using Gamification to Sell Guestroom Upgrades
Larry Mogelonsky | December 6, 2017
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.hotelmogel.com) Selling room upgrades is a vital tactic for generating incremental revenue and filling unused inventory. Most websites that I've visited attempt to outline the advantages of better rooms, be it through size, view, bed type, floor level, amenities or a combination of these elements. But once the consumer purchases a specific room type, how do you entice them to spend a little extra to get something even better than what they've already confirmed? While there's the age-old approach of prompting them either through a pre-arrival email or phone call, or once they are physically at the f...
Time To Get In The Holiday Spirit With…Holiday Spirits
Larry Mogelonsky | November 29, 2017
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.hotelmogel.com) There's something about this time of year that brings out the merriest of moods as well as our indulgent sides. It starts with that extra slice of pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving, and then it's a slippery slope all the way through to the inevitable reckoning on January 1st and all the various proclamations of austere diets that only last for roughly two weeks. In any case, knowing that the holiday season is synonymous with decadence means that you should adjust your F&B offerings to better appease this primed audience, all in the pursuit of greater guest satisfaction and hopefully a...
InterContinental Malta Implements Guestware to Personalize the Guest Experience
Guestware | November 29, 2017
Guestware Guest Response Solution Streamlines Request Fulfillment; Helps Anticipate Guest Preferences Seattle, WA – November 29, 2017 – Guestware announced that InterContinental Malta in St. George's Bay implemented Guestware to personalize the guest experience and simplify staff response to requests. Guestware is an integrated Guest Experience (GX) software solution used by hospitality companies around the world to deliver exceptional guest satisfaction. InterContinental Malta is an exclusive 481 room and suite beachside resort. Click here for more information on how to streamline operations and personalize guest service w...
Using Microlearning and Training Tech to Boost Team Morale
Larry Mogelonsky | November 15, 2017
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.hotelmogel.com) Making guests happy is a noble pursuit for any hotel as we all know this translates into higher occupancies, the ability to grow rate, more asset value and quite a few other monetary advantages. While we can talk to no end about physical and operational upgrades that contribute to this goal, perhaps none is more impactful than having motivated and attentive associates servicing your customers. After all, this is a people business, so your guests' experiential satisfaction will ultimately be influenced by the happiness of your very own employees. This leads to the question about how ...
Angie Hospitality Selected to Present Voice-Assistant’s Hotel Guest Wi-Fi Innovation at WBA Wireless Global Congress
Angie Hospitality | November 14, 2017
Developer of world's first 24-hour interactive hotel guest room assistant to present innovative, secure and personal guest room Wi-Fi feature set at leading wireless technology conference SAN JOSE, Calif. – November 14, 2017 – Angie Hospitality, creator of the world's first voice-based guest room assistant and in-room Wi-Fi access solution developed specifically for hotels, has been selected by WBA (Wireless Broadband Alliance) to present at this year's Wireless Global Congress in New York City. During the four-day event, which is scheduled to take place November 13-16 at The Roosevelt Hotel, Angie Hospitality's CEO, Ted Hel...
Fix the Debit Card Problem at the Front Desk
Tucker Johnson | November 9, 2017
By Tucker Johnson Many guests are unaware that at check-in a hotel is just authorizing their credit or debit card, not charging them for their stay. The charge occurs at check-out and is typically done on the same card that was originally authorized and used to check-in. In the case of a credit card, the authorization is easily released; the card is then charged, and the whole transaction is very smooth. This is not the case with the use of a debit card, however. When using a debit card, the initial authorization is also released when the card is charged. The problem occurs with the way the releases are processed. Debit card releases ca...
Do You Train Your Team To Be Locally Authentic?
Larry Mogelonsky | November 8, 2017
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.hotelmogel.com) By now, the phrase 'local authentic experience' has been tattooed on every hotelier's back ever since it started to trend some five to ten years ago. And yet, even to this day many properties have some serious shortcomings in this area, either through a lack of attention to detail when it comes to soft goods and decor items with local flair, or associates' lack of knowledge regarding the immediate neighborhood. True, we have brand standards to abide by, but that shouldn't stop you from engaging in small acts of regional expressionism, especially when you already know that it is such...
Bartech Demonstrates Latest Advances in Hotel Minibar Design and Technology at BDNY 2017
Bartech | November 7, 2017
Global leader in automated minibar innovation to showcase wireless eTray, Neotray and eDrawer solutions New York — November 7, 2017 — Bartech, a world leader in profit-generating automatic minibar solutions for the hospitality industry, is set to present hoteliers with the latest in minibar innovation at this year's upcoming Boutique Design New York (BDNY) show. Taking place November 12-13, at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City, BDNY attendees visiting booth #364 will have the opportunity to take part in live demonstrations of Bartech's innovative standalone eTray, as well as the adaptive Neotray guestro...
Former Head of Mitel Americas Hospitality Sales Joins Percipia Hospitality Solutions as New Global VP of Sales
Percipia | November 7, 2017
Chicago, IL – Percipia, a globally recognized technology leader in the hospitality industry, has named Speleos Dravillas as its Vice President of Global Sales. Speleos, a veteran of the Unified Communications Solutions space, brings his expertise to Percipia as they continue their aggressive growth plans globally. Percipia offers custom solutions to improve both the guest experience and back-office Unified Communications needs. Previously, Speleos oversaw Mitel's Connected Guests Hospitality Sales for the Americas and held previous Sales Leadership roles with Mitel for eleven years. Before that, Speleos, or "Spe," was Chief Busine...
Thanks to Erika at Omni Resort at ChampionsGate for a Perfect Front Desk Welcome!
Doug Kennedy | November 6, 2017
By Doug Kennedy As a hotel industry hospitality trainer, I surely have a more critical eye for detail than the average guest, yet I still try to be patient regardless. As a lodging industry conference keynote speaker, I often stay at large resorts that cater to conventions., so I always remind myself to lower my expectations for hospitality, as they are rarely met. Typically, I find myself as the only guest in the lobby (checking outside of the mass arrival times), yet still having to wander through rope lines. After navigating the maze, I stand there staring at the top of someone's head as they seem to obsess on the computer screen. Fi...
Building Customer Loyalty – How Easy Is It?
Chamberlin Public Relations | November 1, 2017
Here's an exchange a traveler recently shared on Twitter, recounting a quick but memorable check-in experience at a major branded hotel: Me: I'm checking in Him: Long day? Me: Too long Him: Here's a voucher for the bar. Yes, building loyalty can be that simple. Whether a property is branded, independent, large or small, a hotelier can make a guest's stay a lot more memorable by anticipating their needs and personalizing the experience. And once a guest has had a positive experience, they'll be much more likely to share that story on TripAdvisor, Yelp and other review sites. (For the record, the traveler in the above exchange made a poin...
