Siegel Sez: Not Your Father’s Power Socket
September 3rd, 2021
The Most Important Hotel “Salesperson” Right Now Is Working Behind Your Front Desk
Doug Kennedy | July 22nd, 2020
It Is Time to Be True Leaders!
Vanguélis Panayotis | December 6, 2022
By Vanguélis Panayotis A career is a lifetime achievement - from early days in one's career all the way to maturity, expectations will inevitably evolve for those who have chosen the industry. It is our duty to adapt to these expectations. Whatever they might be, we all search for meaning. As an industry, it is up to hospitality to bring this meaning to its employees. Therefore, many stakeholders have become involved in helping communities, implementing concrete actions to preserve the planet and addressing (gender) diversity. Let’s remember that tourism accounts for 10.3% of global GDP and also more than 300 million jobs worldwide*. ...
Solve the Current Labor Shortage With Automation
LARRY AND ADAM MOGELONSKY | September 29, 2021
By Larry and Adam Mogelonsky Understanding the full depth of why many hotels are suffering from labor shortages at the moment would require a full semester of instruction on macroeconomics. While there is a likely scenario where this current problem is transitory and labor markets stabilize sometime in 2022, we must still prepare for prolonged erraticism by maximizing the productivity of those that remain. Hence, we need technology, automating wherever possible. We all know technology’s myriad advantages in today’s world, including the ability to make more data-driven decisions, increasing social distancing for guest safety, heighte...
Siegel Sez: Not Your Father’s Power Socket
September 3, 2021
Siegel Sez September 3, 2021 Maybe my age is showing, but I miss the times where Walter Cronkite (OK, that was actually before my time), Dan Rather, Peter Jennings and Tom Brokaw gave us the news we needed every night. Today, thanks to the rapidly changing world of social media, news comes from thousands of sources and probably half of it is made up. I bring this up because recently a few people reached out to me asking if HITEC was canceled. Of course, no one could explain specifically where they had heard this information, but it made me laugh. I guaranteed them that HITEC will not cancel. There are thousands of people in the industry fro...
Saying Goodbye to 2020 With Gratitude
Matt Peterson | January 8, 2021
By Matt Peterson This past year has been a tough one; a year which was, for many, filled with suffering and loss and I for one, alongside most others, could not wait for 2021 to commence. In reflecting on the last 12 months, I have consciously decided to adopt a different mentality for what lies ahead. I recently came across a quote from the theologian Paul Tillich which read “suffering introduces you to yourself and reminds you that you are not the person you thought you were.” It was followed by the comment, “suffering teaches us gratitude.” Wow. So, in retrospective, I choose to reflect on 2020 with gratitude. I am grateful f...
A Realistically Optimistic 2021
Shep Hyken | December 31, 2020
As we close out the year, I thought I’d break from the traditional customer service and experience topics and get a little personal – maybe even a little motivational. I’m very optimistic about the future. But the word very doesn’t mean I’m overly optimistic. There’s a difference. Put another way, when I’m asked if the glass is half empty or half full, my response is, “Yes.” Maybe that seems like a bit of a rude answer, but here is the point. It is half full, and even though I’m very optimistic, it doesn’t mean I’m unrealistically optimistic. No, I’m realistically optimistic. Since March, when the ...
Hospitality Financial Leadership: Moving Part 1
David Lund | November 23, 2020
By David Lund In the hotel business if you want to get ahead you better be ready to move. It’s the way in which you can multiply your opportunities and increase your chance for greater personal prosperity. That’s the way it was explained to me many years ago and it has certainly been my experience. On the flip side, moving is not easy and it can take its toll on you and the people in your relationships. One aspect of moving is the accumulated experience it allows you to gain. The work exposure as well as life itself. Learning how to survive and excel in different work environments and locations is seducing and intoxicating. Once you...
Four Quick Training Tips for Hotel Sales Prospecting Success
Doug Kennedy | November 16, 2020
By Doug Kennedy Now that 2020 is winding down and the preliminary vaccine results are favorable, it is time for hotel salespeople to recommit to put on their orange vests and embrace their role as sales hunters. In previous articles for this publication I have spoken about the transition from Sales Fishing to Sales Hunting, the Habitudes of Sales Success, and how salespeople can master their Remote Sales Skills. Here are four additional specific sales tips. Is Your Hotel Sales Team Ready For The Transition From "Fishing For Inbound Leads" To "Sales Hunting”? Hotel Sales Habitudes For The Long Ride To A Slow Recovery - By Doug Kennedy ...
Hospitality Financial Leadership: Chapter 13 – Serving
David Lund | November 16, 2020
By David Lund The chapter below is an excerpt from my new book. It’s fiction but some of the characters and story lines are based on people I have worked with and events that have taken place in the hotels I have worked in. The book is a fable about a hotel manager who has some very bad habits. He must change in order to survive and the book takes him and you through the lessons needed to be a great hospitality financial leader. I’m writing ahead each month so I’m not sure how the book will end. I hope you enjoy it and if you missed any earlier chapters you can find them on my website blog tab. “My Story is not a story,” e...
Hospitality Financial Leadership: What Do Peter Pan and Your Hotel Career Have in Common?
David Lund | November 9, 2020
By David Lund “All children, except one, grow up.” ~ Peter Pan In the hotel business we don’t want to grow up either. That’s why so many people find our business so exciting and interesting and that’s why they stick around and work crazy days and super long weeks. Why else would anyone want to do these things? In my experience many of the people in hospitality who really excel in their careers came for a summer job and stayed a lifetime. That’s the unexpected magical spell that lands on you when you fall in love with the hotel business. Falling in love is exciting and everything seems effortless and new. But what happens ...
RIP BookingSuite: Protecting Your Hotel’s Digital Assets
Vikram Singh | November 4, 2020
By Vikram Singh On November 30th of this year, Booking/Priceline is shutting down its BookingSuite product, likely affecting hundreds of hotels worldwide. In short, they will stop running websites, booking engines, and revenue management software for their hotel clients. Even with the volume of hotels they amassed on their platform, the headache is clearly not worth it to them anymore. Sadly, they timed the shutdown during the toughest year on record for the hotel and travel industry. In addition to dealing with the pandemic, hotels on their platform now need to gather their digital assets and go vendor hunting. That’s not an easy task e...
HVS Guide to Hotel Management Contracts
Eunice Wong | October 22, 2020
By Eunice Wong, Daniel J Voellm HVS Guide to Hotel Management Contracts is an extensive collation and comparison of key terms and clauses of management contracts to across the United States of America, Europe, and the Asia Specific region. This report presents the critical survey results. Download document (657 KB)...
Compare Yourself to the Best
Shep Hyken | October 22, 2020
By Shep Hyken Stop comparing yourself to the competition. It’s okay to ask yourself, “What are they doing that we aren’t?” However, that can be a dangerous question. I use the word dangerous to warn you that all you are doing is “baseline thinking.” I call it that because it’s at the base. Realize that others in your industry are probably asking themselves the same question. If all you do is copy your competitor, then you risk being the same as them—not an organization that’s different, and ideally better. In worst-case scenarios, you become a commodity. It doesn’t matter if you’re B2B or B2C, you become just ...
How to Audit (and Fix) Hotel Tax Rates to Save a Few Bucks
October 22, 2020
By Stephanie Smith With the amount of uncertainty in the world due to COVID19, now more than ever hotels must fight for every dollar! There is no easy reservation today. One of the most overlooked ways hotels can reduce their losses is by ensuring the correct tax rates are reflected on both your own website and all Online Travel Agency [OTAs] websites. Although seemingly intuitive, the review process is often ignored and forgotten. Once implemented, hotels are instantly guaranteed a few cents per reservations – which can really add up over time! Do a Tax Audit Against Your Own Hotel Website Check with your finance department on what...
Dynamic Pricing, Perishability, Decoupling in India’s Service Industry
Ajay Mehtani | October 20, 2020
By Ajay Mehtani We have heard these words often enough while discussing pricing, revenue management and demand management in our industry. We try and analyze our current approach and what the future may entail in case we wish our hotels to improve yields. In some of our previous articles we discussed the need for the hotels sector to measure revenues per square foot as an industry benchmark for total revenue management. In this article we are initiating a discussion about pricing power & revenue management. Airlines have been leading on dynamic pricing in the services sector The aviation industry has the most advanced dynamic p...
To Pay or Not to Pay: When Dividend Policy Rhymes With Business Strategy
Dr Cédric Poretti | October 14, 2020
By Dr Cédric Poretti The current dividend drought The COVID-19 crisis is putting the global economy under pressure in an unprecedented way. Companies worldwide have been forced to cut their dividend payouts. Based on the Janus Henderson Global Dividend Index (August 2020), global dividends fell by 22% to $382.2bn in the second quarter of 2020. However, significant variations appeared across regions and industries. North American dividends barely changed on a year-on-year basis, while in Europe, 54% of firms reduced their dividend payouts. In France, payouts dropped by 57%, in Spain by 70%, in Germany by 19%, while no change appeared (on a ...
Hospitality Financial Leadership: Internal Control Reviews
David Lund | October 5, 2020
By David Lund Hot on the heels of creating a hotel policy manual is the newfound ability to create an internal control review process. Policies are all about the rules of the road and the ICR is all about the roadside check stop. “Excuse me, Sir, have you been drinking tonight?” “Why no, Officer, we’re just coming back from church.” In this piece I am going to examine how to create and use the ICR so your hotel and hotel company will have an effective, efficient and low-cost method of catching the rule breakers and most importantly, making sure everyone stays on the right side of the rules and we all make it home safely....
How to Pick the Perfect Hotel
PolyU’s School of Hotel and Tourism Management | September 25, 2020
Online travel agencies should be able to better predict their customers’ decision making and meet their needs, suggest Dr Sangwon Park of the School of Hotel and Tourism Management (SHTM) at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University and his co-researchers in a ground-breaking study published recently. Through identifying a simple typology of decision-making styles, the researchers offer unprecedented insights into precisely how and why Internet users decide which travel products to buy. As the online share of travel revenue increases in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond, their findings have far-reaching implications not only for online hotel ma...
Following the Shot In
Shep Hyken | September 23, 2020
By Shep Hyken Much of my life is spent traveling. Lately, I’ve been home more than usual, along with most other people in the era of COVID-19. When I am home, I play hockey three or four times a week. This is hardcore cardio training with some friendly competition worked in, which makes for an exhilarating workout. Before we go further, you should know this isn’t a super-competitive league. We’re just out there to get some exercise and have fun. We all agree that we’re going to work the next day, so we agree to no physical contact, known in the game as “checking.” We just skate hard, pass a lot and occasionally score a goal...
How to Launch a Hospitality Business in an Economic Downturn
EHL Hospitality Insights | September 23, 2020
Financial turmoil: A perfect opportunity for start-ups If you’ve been toying with the idea of starting a hospitality business, but have been put off by the economic downturn as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, fret not. There’s hope. In fact, despite the global uncertainty and the unstable financial and political climate, now might actually be one of the best times to launch your business. Here’s why: Volatile markets create chaos and give rise to new problems. This means consumers are looking for new and innovative solutions, which presents the ideal opportunity for start-ups aiming to make a name for themselves. Co...
Hospitality Financial Leadership: Chapter 10 – Mr. D
David Lund | September 14, 2020
By David Lund The chapter below is an excerpt from my new book. It’s fiction but some of the characters and story lines are based on people I have worked with and events that have taken place in the hotels I have worked in. The book is a fable about a hotel manager who has some very bad habits. He must change in order to survive and the book takes him and you through the lessons needed to be a great hospitality financial leader. I’m writing ahead each month so I’m not sure how the book will end. I hope you enjoy it and if you missed any earlier chapters you can find them on my website blog tab. The looks on the faces of my tea...
When Surprise and Delight Becomes Surprise Without Delight
Shep Hyken | September 9, 2020
By Shep Hyken We’ve all heard the expression surprise and delight. The intention is that we surprise our customers with better-than-expected service. The result is that they are delighted. But what happens when the intended surprise does not delight? That’s exactly what happened to my friend and fellow professional speaker, Beth Terry. She has a three-bedroom home. The third bedroom is used as an office. She hired a cleaning service to clean her home, and specifically told them not to go into the third bedroom. She told the cleaning crew where she wanted them to focus their efforts for the time they were there. She also told th...
COVID-19: The Great Hospitality Reset
September 9, 2020
By Matthieu Mauguin Do you ever feel like time can go by at different speeds? While on vacation, an entire week may go by in a few hours, whereas at work, a bad day can sometimes feel interminable. This is often described as the elasticity of time which is strictly a matter of perception: your brain either produces stimulants which cause an overestimation of the flow of time, or depressants/anesthetics which have the opposite effect. However, in the last few months, it seems like this feeling took a literal turn. The COVID-19 outbreak warped the concept of time, both subconsciously and literally. Early 2020 already feels like a decade a...
Innovative Ideas for Keeping Guests Safe During the Pandemic
David Berger | September 9, 2020
From flying guests private and hosting balcony concerts to leveraging robotics and partnering with local tourism bureaus, hoteliers are finding new ways to help guests stay responsibly. By David Berger With the COVID-19 pandemic continuing to impact occupancy rates of hotels across the U.S., hoteliers are doing what they can to signal to travelers that their properties are taking every precaution to keep them safe, but this messaging — even with the continued support of brands and industry associations — is often inconsistent with the narrative consumers are hearing from other sources. The confidence to travel again is predicated on...
Hospitality Financial Leadership: Why Does It Take So Bloody Long to Do the Annual Hotel Budget?
David Lund | September 8, 2020
By David Lund Bloody is a great word. It’s English and I’m Canadian so that’s close enough and I’m adopting it for this piece. The word is so descriptive, and it immediately conjures up images of battle and of great suffering. Much the same as the annual carnage we refer to as budget season in the hotel business. It’s the epic contest between line managers and executives, hotel leadership teams and the brand and hotels and their owners. In some hotels it can take six months to get the budget done, revised umpteen times and eventually – hopefully – approved. It’s nothing for the battle to last for three months in a typica...
