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
What Women Want, With Ten Suggestions
Larry Mogelonsky | July 8, 2015
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.lma.ca) My dear bride of some 34 years travels with me for leisure, and sometimes business. To be expected, my work activities tend to be carried over into dinnertime conversations so this hybrid mode of travel makes sense. With her as critical input, we've come up with a short list of ideas that focus on women's hotel needs. Travel research indicates that the female head of household makes the bulk of leisure travel decisions – either directly or through "grocery list" male counterparts. So, while we're fussing over our operating costs to the barebones, we may be cutting corners that really cost...
Marketing for the Working Boomer
Larry Mogelonsky | July 1, 2015
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.lma.ca) As a boomer still burning a candle at the office, I can tell you that advertisements targeting me with morbid imagery and 'preparing for the inevitable' catchphrases do not get my mojo going at all. Now that the millennials have officially surpassed the boomers in sheer numbers, it's become a trend to treat the latter group as a 'dying generation'. And from this has emerged the outlook that marketing slogans and campaigns attempting to appeal to boomers should focus on the motifs of retirement, aging and health. While these three themes are on the back of most boomers' minds, they are hardl...
How to Craft the Guest Experience
John Hendrie | June 29, 2015
by John Hendrie Starbucks, once the darling of brand excellence, devalued, and now on an ascension, was never about the coffee. It was about the experience in a Starbuck's location - the colors, the texture, the sounds, smells, comfort and safety - a cornucopia for the senses. We are all consumers, and your staff, no matter the type of hospitality business - lodgings, restaurants, attractions, entertainment or retail stores- understand authenticity, appeal to the senses and the role of expectations in framing and delivering on the guest experience. But, sometimes, you, the manager, must synthesize and bring it home to your establishmen...
Selling Food Through Stories
Larry Mogelonsky | June 24, 2015
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.lma.ca) Food is by far one of the best ways to differentiate your property and make a lasting impression with guests. Why? For one, eating involves a range of senses – taste, smell, sight, touch and, if you count the hustle-bustle of a lively ambiance, sound. It's this activation of so many senses that primes our emotions and signals our memory centers to start taking notes. Plus there's the emotional transference effect – good times at a restaurant reflect kindly on the parent property. Next, there are so many ways to stand out and deliver a unique experience in a much cheaper capacity than, s...
DIRECTV and UIEvolution Partner To Provide Next Generation Hospitality Guest Entertainment Solutions
UIEvolution | June 23, 2015
UIEvolution's UIE ExperienceManager™ platform brings dynamic branding and marketing management to DIRECTV's industry-leading hospitality solutions. UIEvolution, a global leader in highly scalable connected device software platforms for Enterprise companies in the Hotel, Cruise, and Automotive industries, announced today a partnership with DIRECTV, one of the world's leading providers of digital television entertainment, to integrate the company's technology platform, UIE ExperienceManager™, with DIRECTV's Residential Experience (DRE) and COM2000 products in the launch of Guest Welcome Screen PRO. DIRECTV is the national leader in en...
Great Service Isn’t Rocket Science
Jana Love | June 23, 2015
By Jana Love I personally enjoyed our blog last week because the outcome was a GREAT customer service experience, where the associates went over and above to anticipate needs and deliver on surprises and delights. Shouldn't this be the norm? Why are so many service experiences disappointing? My theory ~ leadership is looking in the wrong direction. Too many businesses focus on sales and not so much on service. This is baffling to me because more sales come with better service. Randy Pennington says that in his experience, "Companies with bad service view it as a cost to be managed rather than an investment that creates a compet...
Never Forget Cross-Generational Word of Mouth
Larry Mogelonsky | June 17, 2015
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.lma.ca) Trying to make sense of our generational differences is a common thread in hospitality publications, namely contrasting the rise of the millennials with the baby boomer's demise. The tendency is for us to describe the behaviors of these generations as wholly disparate and with little to no overlap. While differences in wants and motivations are undeniable when comparing a 60-year-old to a 22-year-old, there are far more similarities than we are acknowledging. In many cases, we are being lead to believe that members of one demographic do not influence the pricing behaviors of members in anot...
The New Dazzler Brooklyn Hotel Offers Combined Advantages of GuestTek and DIRECTV
June 16, 2015
Calgary, Alberta & Brooklyn, NY - June 16, 2015 - Opening this August, the new Dazzler Brooklyn Hotel will offer the in-room technology and entertainment of two industry leaders. Guests at the Dazzler Brooklyn Hotel will enjoy GuestTek's OneView Media technology with its Video on Demand and myAway/myMedia applications for mobile device integration. They will also experience the best in Free-to-Guest programming from one of the world's leading satellite and cable providers in hospitality, DIRECTV. "Our relationship with DIRECTV has greatly expanded the programming options available to guests at properties like the Dazzler Brooklyn Ho...
ZENO’s Guest Experience Interface Connects Front Office Staff to Environmental Controls
June 11, 2015
New building automation tools from Zeno Controls LLC are equipping even the smallest properties with the equipment they need to monitor important engineering data; See ZENO Controls at HITEC in the Viconics / Schneider Booth #2133 [BUFFALO, NY - JUNE 11, 2015] - Today Zeno Controls LLC is putting sensor data in the hands of the people that impact the guest experience . . . the hotel staff. Using Zeno's InnPoint® Guest Experience Interface, data that normally is reserved for back-of-house areas is now available for guestrooms. InnPoint uses a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system that collects data points from anywher...
Another Take on Hospitality Trends for 2015
Jana Love | June 10, 2015
By Jana Love What are Millennials? According to, Wikipedia, Millennials (also known as the Millennial Generation or Generation Y) are the demographic cohort following Generation X. There are no precise dates when the generation starts and ends. Researchers and commentators use birth years ranging from the early 1980's to the early 2000's. Robert Rauch wrote an article, Top 10 Hospitality Industry Trends in 2015 that discusses the profile of a Millennial. The major focus for this group is exploration, interaction, and experience. Rauch says, "They are looking for a unique and novel experience and this has and will continue t...
Building Your Third Space
Larry Mogelonsky | June 10, 2015
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.lma.ca) You've probably heard the term 'third space' thrown around here and there, and you've probably given it some thought. With all the recent shifts in consumer behavior, however, it's important that you understand this concept in full and how you might use it to enhance a property's atmosphere. To summarize, the third space describes a place where people congregate outside of the home (first space) and the office (second space). If you can engineer parts of your hotel – the lobby, the restaurant, the bar, the café and so forth – as flourishing third spaces, then it will play to your advan...
Get on Social Media & Don’t Make These 4 Mistakes
Katie Scheer | June 8, 2015
By Katie Scheer We all need to up our social media game. Why? Because: 72% of online adults use social media (according to Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project). Researching >3,000 hotels revealed that having a social presence is a "must" (as noted in our recent article, Top Hospitality Industry Trends for 2015). If you aren't on the "social" bandwagon or don't have a social media game plan, you now understand that you might be committing business suicide. Clearly, social media is where many of your customers are, and it is a platform for you to build your brand and reputation, engage more with your customers,...
5 Simple Steps for Sales Calls
Katie Scheer | June 5, 2015
By Katie Scheer The surest way to grab a sale is to make a great impression from start to finish. To ensure you get it right through and through, if you simply follow our "5 Simple Steps for Sales Calls," you will have a head start on reaching the sales finish line. Then, if you incorporate some intuitive skills, like positive energy, an engaging personality, and a genuine desire to discover and meet the customer's needs, your customer will always want to buy from you. Pretty simple and not exactly hard to incorporate into your sales interactions, right? Now share this with your team so all of you are on the same page and follow the sa...
3 Steps to a More Focused Service Delivery
Jana Love | June 3, 2015
By Jana Love, ProSolutions President/CEO Quick reactions and timely responses should be a part of every company's core standards because these two actions help support a positive customer experience. Customer service doesn't just happen to someone else; it's a very personal and intentional action that happens to each one of us daily. We have a personal connection to the service we are providing as well as receiving. We have built our world around speed, and because of this, any amount of waiting seems like a complete waste of time and an enormous frustration. We have drive-thru opportunities everywhere- banks, coffee shops, cleaners, an...
Ten Common Hotel Fitness Center Problems
Larry Mogelonsky | June 3, 2015
by Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.lma.ca) With the desire for healthy eating, exercise and all-round wellness on the rise (particularly amongst the younger generations), creating an environment conducive for guests at your hotel's fitness facilities is paramount. As a road warrior, staying at some 35+ different properties annually, I've had the opportunity to experience a wide variety of these amenities. I don't contend to be an expert on fitness equipment – this likely requires a PhD in bio-mechanics – but it is nevertheless easy to spot where some hotels are excelling in this regard over others. On this basis, here is my top ...
Shining a Light on Emotional Reviews
Larry Mogelonsky | May 20, 2015
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.lma.ca) Life used to be simple and somewhat orderly. Hotels were classified as one through five stars (or diamonds) by reputable agencies such as AAA or Mobil/Forbes. Classification was based upon a very specific set of criteria for both service and physical operations. Annual inspections were exciting times on property with staff anxiously awaiting any changes in classification, for better or for worse. No one believes that inspections only take place once or twice per year. Each and every guest that crosses your transom is an inspector, fully capable of providing an instantaneous blow-by-blow of ...
What You Can Learn from Economy Hotels
Larry Mogelonsky | May 13, 2015
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.lma.ca) Most of the time, innovation flows downstream. In our industry, logically, this implies that ideas generated amongst four and five star (rated) properties are the idea generators, leading the industry with new features that are emulated further along the food chain. In this way, we are highly focused on learning from exemplary hotels in the premium price range that we seldom give enough attention to those providers who are succeeding at the economy level. These are operators who might not have the lavish facilities or a monstrous and pliable budget, and yet they nevertheless find a way to m...
The Importance of Vintage
Larry Mogelonsky | May 6, 2015
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.lma.ca) "A 2008 Chateau X? Or how about the 2009? Who cares about the year, just give me the one that tastes the best!" is a conversation you've probably overheard at a restaurant before. It might have even been you uttering these words at one point. Or, instead of asking for the best of multiple options, you're simply demanding the cheapest. And, importantly, ask yourself how many times multiple vintage years of the same product on your wine list? Unless a patron has previously visited a specific winery and participated in a vertical tasting of different vintages from the same vines, he or she pro...
Building Rapport Beyond the Spoken Word
Larry Mogelonsky | April 29, 2015
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.lma.ca) If you've ever read a book on body language or perfecting your public speaking abilities, then you've probably come across the statistic touting that our verbal language skills only account for approximately 7% to 15% of all communications. The other 85% is comprised of: Vocal tonality (calm and slow, loud and forceful, terse and upset, tense and chatty etc.) Facial expressions (direct eye contact, nervous sideways glances, smiling, frowning etc.) Body movements (posture, hand gestures, fidgeting, gait etc.) I bring this up because every so often I come across a published article discu...
Leading Characteristics for Your Next Executive Chef
Larry Mogelonsky | April 22, 2015
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.lma.ca) Do you remember the times when the top restaurants in most cities happened to be located in the best downtown hotels? This was the era of the carving station serving chateaubriand for two, Caesar salad with dressing made by the waiter tableside and flambéed desserts. Today, however, this isn't a guarantee. Excellent restaurants can be found nearly anywhere, and even though hotel restaurants in the luxury segments have matured significantly, they are nevertheless engaged in a perpetual war for culinary dominance with just about every other upscale purveyor in the area. As every brand sharpe...
Hotel Development in Three Phases
Larry Mogelonsky | April 15, 2015
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.lma.ca) Of late, our agency has been involved in several new property developments. All are coming along quite successfully and appear to be on track to meet their launch dates. To put it bluntly, the process of initiating a new property is not for the faint of heart. Far from it. It takes an excruciating toll from all those involved in the process. Many have asked me if there is a formula for success, to which I reply with a simple-yet-pervasive, three-part answer. 1. Vision It starts with a vision from the developer - what they hope to deliver to the marketplace. For a hotel/resort this includes ...
Where Have The Real Hotel Marketers Gone?
Larry Mogelonsky | April 8, 2015
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.lma.ca) In my role as hotel industry consultant, marketer and blogger, I am often asked to provide advice to hoteliers and suppliers. One such call came in a couple of weeks ago. The call's nature provides a keen insight into the current state of hospitality marketing. The call was from an advertising agency who was tasked with the requirement of building a traditional media plan for this hotel chain. The amount was in the multi-millions of dollars, not small change given the meager amounts spent these days. I was asked - pro bono I might add - to see if I could give any recommendations. My first q...
Learning to Cope with Airbnb
Larry Mogelonsky | April 1, 2015
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.lma.ca) Despite what many have dismissed as a mere blip on the radar, Airbnb is a force to be reckoned with and we have yet to see just how widely it will impact our livelihoods. But before we discuss this disruptive company and its effects on the hospitality industry, let's look to Uber and how it is changing the way we utilize vehicles for hire. Starting out as a niche taxi service provider reliant on smartphone geolocation technology, it's now far more than just a trendy accessory for millennials living in San Francisco or Brooklyn. Founded in 2009, it has already expanded into over 200 cities a...
PAR Springer-Miller Creates Spa Technology Hub in Toronto
PAR Technology Corporation | March 31, 2015
Stowe, VT - (March 31, 2015) - PAR Springer-Miller Systems, Inc. (PSMS) --- a wholly owned subsidiary of PAR Technology Corporation (NYSE:PAR) and the leading provider of guest-centric hospitality management systems today announces the expansion of their Markham, Ontario location to create a hub focused on providing the best spa technology available. Already established as the headquarters for SpaSoft Spa Management System, PAR Springer-Miller's Markham office has become a magnet, attracting employees to their growing spa technology segment. Over 71% of the Forbe's Five-Star Spas employ SpaSoft to manage their operations. These spas rel...
