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
3 Ways Your Independent Hotel Can Go From Good to Great
Hotelogix | March 8, 2017
The rise of millennial travelers has had drastic implications of the landscape of hospitality. No longer do the evolved chains hold all the aces when it comes to attracting guests from around the world – millennials are after experiences, and will choose even an independent property if it can guarantee them a great stay. However, they still do expect a minimum standard of service. The writing is on the wall – make sure your independent hotel can meet these modest requirements and you're on your way to establishing your property's long term future. Fortunately for hoteliers, the onset of cloud computing has opened the floodga...
How to Follow-up on Voice Reservations Inquiries With Personalized Emails and Phone Calls
Doug Kennedy | March 2, 2017
By Doug Kennedy If you're like most hotel marketing and revenue leaders, chances are that one of your major near term strategic goals is to drive more direct bookings and thus reduce the costs of customer acquisition. Certainly this strategy calls for finding ways to drive traffic to your website and make it easy for them to book there right now. However, while many guests will book online, others prefer to first speak directly with a credible reservations agent. Generally, the higher the rate, the longer the stay, and the more they guest has a personal interest in the visit (such leisure guests) the more likely they are to call. To con...
“A Little Bit of Magic in the Everyday:” How ALICE Concierge Helps This Nashville Concierge
ALICE | March 1, 2017
This is a guest post from Erik Rocca, Lead Concierge with Thompson Nashville. "A hotel in the middle of the night can be a magical place" - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. It's absolutely true...There is something fundamentally beautiful about a hotel shrouded in the intrigue and mist of the evening. Whether it's exploring the ancient echoes of an old European hotel, or navigating the angles and curves of a brand new architectural property, the nighttime yields a certain romance. It was with this in mind that my hotel, and I must say a brand new hotel, designed a very special amenity to be delivered to guests ...
The Need for Hotel Careers in the Face of the Gig Economy
Larry Mogelonsky | March 1, 2017
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.lma.ca) As the gig economy continues to take hold in various industries, it is also changing how we think about our chosen line of work. The 9-to-5 office is eroding while working from home and working when you want behaviors are gaining widespread acceptance. The impacts for hotels are manifold. At its core, this freelancer economy promotes a transient approach to wage earning. That is, you get exactly what you put into it and not a penny more. The more you work, the more money you make, with a few demand-based algorithms to keep rates attuned to market pressures. Further, there's little emotional...
Is Technological Ageism an Issue in Hospitality?
Larry Mogelonsky | February 23, 2017
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.lma.ca) Ageism has always been a part of our social fabric, but whereas in the past it was standard to venerate the old for their experience and sagacity, nowadays the situation has been flipped somewhat due to the rapid proliferation of technology. With all the new devices, new media and new apps, it has become increasingly difficult for those who are proverbially 'set in their ways' and without young, sponge-like brains to keep up. Much like how we abridge complex social stratifications into 'the have and the have-nots', we are likewise experiencing a generational movement with regard to 'the tec...
Mr. Ring Wants A Table For Two At Restaurant Romance: How ALICE Concierge Helps It Happen
ALICE | February 22, 2017
SIXTY's Head Concierge explains how ALICE Concierge has his back when it comes to guest requests. By Noah Lemaich, Head Concierge, SIXTY Hotels. One of my big fears as a concierge (especially when I was starting out) is missing even a single guest request. If I forget to make dinner plans for myself, no big deal, I can always order in. However, missing a guest's dinner request has the potential for ruining an entire stay and the guest's likelihood to return to us. I'd love to show you how ALICE has my back throughout a single guest request. While names and places are clearly made up (a good concierge always respects our guest's privacy...
What’s Your Opinion on Tattoos in the Hotel Workplace
Larry Mogelonsky | February 15, 2017
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.lma.ca) This is a topic you should definitely review with your HR director. Does a sentence appear in your hiring policy to specify whether or not a candidate is permitted to have any visible tattoos? Or, while unwritten, have you or someone within your organization ever dismissed potential applicants outright on this basis? If you have answered affirmatively to either of these two statements, it may be time to re-evaluate your hiring practices. While discriminatory cases involving skin art have yet to reach the spotlight in our court systems, modifying an outright ban in your internal policies is ...
For 2017, Resolve to do Something About Your Hotel’s Package Problem
ALICE | February 13, 2017
In recent years, the package situation at many hotels has become untenable. This is especially true for hotels where the concierge and front desk are responsible for package management, because concierge technology today doesn't account for package management alongside the other requirements of the job. ALICE Concierge is the first concierge technology on the market that helps concierges with a dedicated package management toolkit, in addition to all the other concierge-supporting functions of the technology platform. Each year, more and more packages get delivered. In the one month between Thanksgiving and Christmas last year, an estim...
Making Wine and Chocolate Pairings Work for You
Larry Mogelonsky | February 8, 2017
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.lma.ca) Chocolate is a highly romantic food for the fast-approaching Valentine's Day and, of course, wine goes with just about any meal, so why not bring the two together? While you might not have any many options as a wine and cheese tasting, pairing chocolate with these grape-based liquors may be just the ticket to winning the hearts and minds of incoming guests. You can apply this concept as a small-plate amuse bouche, an appetizer, a dessert or as part of some other cocoa-infused main. Furthermore, much like any other edible staple with a bourgeois cachet, chocolate is also in the midst of an a...
Safeguarding the Future of the Concierge Through Technology: Why Your Concierge Needs a Modern-Day Toolset
ALICE | February 6, 2017
Few roles in the hotel have been as affected by technology as that of the concierge. Mobile internet and apps have decreased the reliance of most guests on the concierge, while at the same time changing the relationship concierges have with their own workplace tools. ALICE Concierge is a modern-day toolset for concierges that acknowledges the demands of today's guests, as well as concierges' own expectations of technology. It's a product attuned to the challenges and opportunities of the modern concierge role, and the importance of the concierge role to the hotel when it comes to guest engagement and service differentiation. What about ...
Be Wary Of Double Deviations This Year
Larry Mogelonsky | February 1, 2017
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.lma.ca) The following article pertains to an incident at a hotel that happened late last fall pertaining to something called a 'double deviation'. Please read through this short story, and then do your best to ensure that your hotel doesn't succumb to this most gravest of service errors. A wedding in the family served a worthy excuse for a Saturday night sojourn to a resort hotel in a small city two hours away from my hometown of Toronto. The venue was immaculate, the bride was stunning, the speeches were uproarious, the food was great and the whole shebang went off without a hitch. But an issue ar...
Is the Inability to Charge Mobile Devices Adding Friction to Your Guests’ Experiences?
Dave Weinstein | January 30, 2017
By Dave Weinstein With a new year comes new buzzwords. For 2017, it appears that "Frictionless" is the way to be. For hoteliers, it means creating a consistent experience across all touchpoints along the guest's journey. It means enabling guests to conduct transactions easily and instantly. In most cases, those transactions are digital, and they typically involve a mobile device of some kind. Today's smartphone is a magic wand of sorts. You can use it to instantly connect you to another person who could be on the other side of the room or across the globe. You use it to change TV channels, control room temperature, purchase items, split...
Deliver QUALITY Customer Experiences to Your Customers
Katie Scheer | January 27, 2017
By Katie Scheer What can set you apart from your competitors is your ability to provide quality to your customers. This is more than just the design, style, usefulness, and condition of the product or service you are delivering. This is taking it past these logical elements of what you are selling by delivering a quality, focused customer experience. How do you do it? Going beyond processes, procedures, and your tangible product or intangible service, you can provide quality customer experiences by incorporating these concepts into your business standards: Provide An Individualized Experience- No one likes to be treated like a number...
Upgrading Your Beverages Also Means New Glassware
Larry Mogelonsky | January 25, 2017
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.lma.ca) "You have chosen…wisely," is what the immortal knight says to Indiana Jones after he drinks from the Holy Grail – an unsuspecting wooden cup hidden among a swath of poisonous chalices and jeweled goblets. I'm reminded of this scene at the climax of The Last Crusade whenever I have to make a decision as to how best to pair a chosen wine with its appropriately suitable glassware. Not that it is a blatant faux pas to mismatch wine and glass (at least not in my circle of friends), but proper etiquette should be followed wherever possible. Not only do shape and size affect aroma and...
The New Food for 2017 is ‘Starchy’ Fruit
Larry Mogelonsky | January 18, 2017
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.lma.ca) With 2016 dubbed 'The Year of the Pulse' by the United Nations with beans cited for their versatility as both an energy and protein source in addition to their potent health benefits, it is time once more to declare 2017 as a banner year for something else. While many chefs are still searching for new and clever ways to infuse legumes into their menus, it is nevertheless every hotelier's duty as a benefactor for food innovation to be on the lookout for the best big thing. This year, I'm not waiting for the UN to make its proclamation; I am telling you today to start looking at starchy fruit...
This Year Means Screen Domination
Larry Mogelonsky | January 11, 2017
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.lma.ca) Five hundred years from now when historians look back at the early modern era, they'll likely identify the advent of the screen-based technologies – that is, the still camera, the motion picture projector, the cathode ray tube and so on – as one of the most important discoveries right alongside the transistor, nuclear power and the theory of relativity. Understanding how humans lived prior to these inventions helps gives us some perspective. A friend of mine used to glibly remark, "A fire is nothing more than a caveman's TV," as we huddled together around a blazing pit late at n...
Conquering Complaints™: Part Two
Doug Kennedy | January 11, 2017
With the proliferation of online guest reviews and social media postings, training all of your guest contact colleagues to properly respond to guest complaints is more important than ever before in the history of the lodging industry. As we explored in Part One of this series, the first step in Conquering Complaints is to understand their root causes. Last month we explored what I call the "Carrot Model" as a way of analyzing the root causes of guest complaints. When planted in a garden, the leafy greens sprouting out the top of the carrot represents the part of the complaint that frontline associates see being presented to them by the ...
Infographic: Hotel Guest Satisfaction – Industry Insights & Key Takeaways
January 5, 2017
Infographic provided courtesy of Irelands The Europe Hotel & Resort ...
New Year’s Resolution – Read One Industry Article Every Day
Larry Mogelonsky | January 4, 2017
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.lma.ca) December is a time of gifts, holiday feasts and resolutions for the coming New Year. Instead of posting a listicle of sorts with a dozen viable self-improvement tips, I want you to focus on just one. And in order for it to properly sink in, unencumbered by the noise of thousands of other resolution articles, I'm giving it to you now. In order to be a smart hoteliers, you have to read the news and op-ed pieces. You have to stay abreast with the latest developments, keep up with what thought leaders are saying about the hot issues and familiarize yourself with trending industry jargon. Lookin...
Hotel Online’s Top Read News for 2016
Hotel Online | December 29, 2016
As we look toward 2017, here's a look back at each month's top headlines in 2016 from Hotel-Online! January 2016: 4 Ways Luxury Hotels Can Use Technology To Provide Better Customer Service / Alex Shashou Three Ways Technology Makes Payments Easier For Hotel Guests / Cristine Sommers 5 Game-Changing Hotel Industry Trends To Tackle in 2016 What's In and What's Out? Top 10 Travel Trends for 2016 The Restoration in Charleston, South Carolina Unveils $27 Million Yearlong Transformation and Expansion February 2016: 'Chef's Tables' Driving Market Differentiation for Meyer Jabara Hotels Hotel Lenders Tightening the Screws Four Seasons, ...
Cider Is Back In Style So Don’t Miss Out!
Larry Mogelonsky | December 21, 2016
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.lma.ca) Yes, this column is supposed to be about wine. But ever since humankind discovered that the sugars in ANY fruit juice can be fermented to generate enough alcohol to ward off cholera and dysentery (common side effects of drinking water way back in the day), we've been tinkering and experimenting to conjure up ever tastier beverages. Wine from grapes is the most popular, but we also have such delightful libations as blueberry wine, raspberry icewine, gin from juniper berries, schnapps, brandy, sherry, perry from pears and a whole rainbow of liquers. Thirsty yet? Then there's cider, made from ...
Being Flawless Doesn’t Stop Your Hotel From Being Boring
Larry Mogelonsky | December 14, 2016
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.lma.ca) A recent stay at a big brand's 'core' product reinforced a key flaw that ails many properties around the world. The property in question was located in the heart of a major city close to the convention center. The non-descript hotel edifice had easy street access with a standard yet intuitive front desk, elevator and signature restaurant layout within the lobby. Door and front desk staff were both courteous and personable. The guestrooms were likewise typical in their design, carved out of the directory of some long-passed interior decorator's dream of ergonomic living. The idea here is tha...
How Self-Service Technology is Enhancing the Guest Experience
JLL Real Views | December 7, 2016
by Natasha Stokes At hotels around the world, the friendly face of a concierge who remembers your name could soon be replaced by technology that aims to do just the same. When it comes to a great hotel stay, that personalized touch is often the defining feature. At the Aloft hotels in Boston and Santa Clara, guests can perfect their room's temperature not by ringing down to housekeeping, but by telling the in-room iPad to "cool the room". When it launches next summer, the Hilton Group's Tru brand will similarly target tech-savvy, millennial travellers, who can check-in by app, collect a virtual key on their smartphones and let themselve...
What Hotels Can Learn From Walmart
Larry Mogelonsky | December 7, 2016
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.lma.ca) Years ago, and well before my hotelier days, I traveled to Bentonville, Arkansas selling ergonomic furniture, mouse pads and the like. The Walmart offices were huge then and I can only imagine how much they have grown since. Today, Walmart is the world's largest company by revenue ($288 billion) and employees (2.2 million), rivaling the GDP of many nations, including some that are traditionally defined as first-world. What's most interesting to me is that hoteliers, by and large, have never really looked to this retail titan to see what they can glean. Perhaps it's a stigma whereby Walmart ...
