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
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 191: Hotel History: “Buffalo Bill” Cody
Stanley Turkel | February 8, 2018
By Stanley Turkel "Buffalo Bill" Cody (1846-1917) William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody (1846-1917) was an American legend, bison hunter, government scout, Wild West showman, pony express rider and hotel developer. In 1902, Cody opened the Irma Hotel named after his daughter. He anticipated an increasing number of tourists coming to Cody, Wyoming on the recently-built Burlington Railway. While most Americans knew about the legendary Buffalo Bill because of his Wild West Show, he was also a promoter of tourism in the Yellowstone National Park. After his father's death, Bill Cody became a rider for the Pony Express at age fourteen. Durin...
Does Search Engine Marketing Actually Work for Hotels?
Larry Mogelonsky | February 7, 2018
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.hotelmogel.com) Search engine marketing (SEM) can be highly profitable, but only when properly executed and when hoteliers are actively engaged with the people who manage their Google Adwords campaigns to carry out what's needed for true success. As a general manager, this starts by asking three questions to your director of marketing: Can you tell me, unequivocally, that the money that we are spending in SEM is generating better returns than the rate of commission paid to the OTAs? What percentage of our SEM budget goes to buying our own brand name – that is, the 'bottom-of-the-funnel' &n...
Twelve Useful Tips for Hotel Renovations
Larry Mogelonsky | January 31, 2018
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.hotelmogel.com) With the kids gone, it was time to follow the footsteps of many other boomers and downsize to a condominium. What started as a mere paint job, however, morphed into a $150-per-square-foot renovation of the entire apartment comprising appliances, lighting, flooring, soft goods, mirrors, kitchen and plumbing fixtures. What we ended up having on our hands was a genuine case of 'scope creep' – something not uncommon in any property refurbishment. Hotel renovations are a necessary dread of our industry in order to keep apace with the constantly changing décor trends, star ra...
Important News for Hospitality Executives: How the New Tax Act Could Affect Your Estate Plan
Jim Butler | January 30, 2018
By Jim Butler and the Global Hospitality Group® Hotel Lawyers | Authors of www.HotelLawBlog.com 30 January 2018 If you are a hotel executive or other highly compensated individual in the hospitality industry, you need to be aware of how the new Tax Act (H.R. 1 – Tax Cuts and Jobs Act) might affect your estate plan. In some cases, the impact will be significant. In the brief article below, JMBM's tax attorneys recommend that you review your existing estate plan to ensure that the Tax Act does not alter your plan's original intentions. They also point to substantial new planning opportunities provided by the Tax Act, and you wil...
Learning from Sushi Master Jiro
Larry Mogelonsky | January 24, 2018
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.hotelmogel.com) I trust that many of you have seen the beautiful, 81-minute documentary called "Jiro Dreams of Sushi" which was produced in 2011 (if not, look for it on Netflix). The film discusses the life and opus of Jiro Ono, the 85-year-old proprietor of Sukiyabashi Jiro, a 12-seat sushi restaurant located within Tokyo Ginza subway station. The restaurant does not even have its own washroom, and yet it has been awarded three Michelin stars, with Jiro being the oldest chef ever to obtain this level of prestige. How did he do this? While the movie will explain his methodology and philosophy in de...
Innovation in Hospitality: Change is Good
Georges Panayotis | January 23, 2018
by Georges Panayotis Each upheaval in the hotel industry offers an efficient response to the problems of the moment and these answers make it possible to reset the counters to zero and start over on sound foundations. About fifty years ago, hotel chains contributed to a major transformation in the sector by introducing strong innovations to the hotel product. They built a model that offered a better value for money and made the offer more reliable through standardization. The customer who booked a night in a hotel knew exactly what to expect in terms of products and services. This new way of looking at the hotel business has been accomp...
Taking Another Look at Airbnb’s Advertising
Larry Mogelonsky | January 17, 2018
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.hotelmogel.com) I have to hand it to the folks running Airbnb. Their brilliance in communicating their message makes all of us in the hotel business look a bit amateurish. And incredibly for that matter, Airbnb's latest TV missive has nothing to do with travel or even accommodations. For those who have restricted their television viewing to Netflix or other streaming services and have missed the advertisement, here's a short synopsis. The ad depicts an retired couple talking about how renting out a room in their home helps them keep up with payments. It goes on to suggest that Airbnb is helping tho...
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 190: Hotel History: Moana Surfrider Hotel
Stanley Turkel | January 17, 2018
Moana Surfrider Hotel (1901), (Waikiki Beach, Hawaii (791 rooms) The Moana Hotel opened on March 11, 1901 as Waikiki's first hotel. It is known as the "First Lady of Waikiki." In the late 1890s, Waikiki was a swampy backwater area surrounded by duck ponds and taro fields. The beautiful beach was the site of homes of Hawaiian royalty and the wealthy kamaainas including the Honolulu landowner Walter Chamberlain Peacock. In 1896, Peacock incorporated the Moana Hotel Company and hired architect Oliver G. Traphagen (1854-1932) to design it. Traphagen designed many buildings in Duluth, Minnesota for both public and private owners which show t...
The Staff Of Nizuc Resort Cancun Clearly Understands Where True Hospitality Starts – The Human Heart
Doug Kennedy | January 17, 2018
By Doug Kennedy As a hotel industry sales and guest services trainer, on average I experience six or more hotel stays each month. Although I have clients across all segments of lodging, many of my clients are in the ultra-luxury five star or five diamond categories. Once thing I have learned is that the level of authentic and genuine hospitality, which travelers treasure the most, has little to do with the number of stars or diamonds hanging on a plaque behind the front desk. In fact, I've experienced some of the most memorable service encounters at economy lodging properties, whereas I find that hospitality too often falls short at ult...
Renovate to Innovate
Georges Panayotis | January 16, 2018
By Georges Panayotis At the dawn of the French Revolution, Mirabeau told Louis XVI: "Sir, when we look at where the good heads led France, perhaps we might try the bad ones." Could there be any resemblance to what we are experiencing now? It is too late to rewrite history, but it is high time we learned from our mistakes. The first is not putting enough emphasis on productivity. The hotel industry is one of the few sectors where the value added per hour worked has not changed over the last two decades, while it has been soaring in other sectors, such as new technologies as well as in traditional industries. In this context, on...
Hotel Trends in Technology for 2018
Larry Mogelonsky | January 10, 2018
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.hotelmogel.com) We all know that the future holds many fascinating possibilities about what can be adapted to improve the overall guest experience. The question is what should be acquired and implemented. With this as a guide, I've selected the following hospitality technology trends for the coming year not wholly on wow factor but far more so on practicality and ROI. 1. Wielding Your CRM It's been a long road from simply trying to comprehend what a CRM is to full data terminal integration and leveraging the inferences based from these interconnections. In 2018, those ambitious hoteliers who have f...
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...
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 189; Hotel History: The Boar’s Head
Stanley Turkel | December 28, 2017
By Stanley Turkel, CMHS The Boar's Head (1834), Charlottesville, Virginia (175 rooms) On August 13, 2017, the New York Times wrote in "A Guide to the Charlottesville Aftermath": "On Saturday afternoon, President Trump met criticism for condemning the "egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides" without singling out white nationalists or neo-Nazis". My hotel research about the 183-year old Boar's Head Inn in Charlottesville reveals its relationship to the Boar's Head in London which has been synonymous with warm hospitality and good food since Shakespeare's day. In the 1730s, the Inn was the site of Terrell's...
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...
Pulling on the Grass Won’t Make It Grow…
Georges Panayotis | December 19, 2017
By Georges Panayotis Desperate times call for desperate measures. The planet is overheating and each and every one of us plays a role in this battle against climate deregulation. The French government wishes to be a forerunner leading the battle to preserve our ecosystems. In the meantime, hoteliers can do their share of the job and participate in the attack, but for that to happen they need some concrete assistance that is useful and can be mobilized. Of course, there are measures to promote the energy transition but they are not enough, the hotel loan is capped at 400,000 euros for example, a drop in the bucket when it comes to the ex...
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...
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...
California Labor & Employment Law Update: Key Changes in 2017 and What’s Slated for 2018
Jim Butler | December 13, 2017
By Jim Butler and the Global Hospitality Group® Hotel Lawyers | Authors of www.HotelLawBlog.com 12 December 2017 California has enacted a number of new regulations related to labor and employment that go into effect when 2018 begins. Hotels owners and developers with properties in California need to be aware of how these rules apply to their workforce so they can meet their legal obligations and remain in compliance with the law. A round-up of upcoming changes, written by the JMBM Labor & Employment group, is below. California Labor & Employment Law Update: Key Changes in 2017 and What's Slated For 2018 by The JMBM Labor &am...
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 188: Hotel History: The Pierre Hotel, New York City*
Stanley Turkel | December 7, 2017
Hotel History: The Pierre Hotel (1930) 5th Avenue and 61st Street, NYC Did you read last year that the penthouse triplex at the Pierre Hotel in New York City was for sale for $125 million, the highest price ever listed for a New York hotel residence? At 13,660 square feet, that works out to $9,150 per square foot. The major feature of the triplex is the 3,500 square foot Grand Salon which originally was the Club Pierrot, an exclusive supper club when the hotel opened in 1930. But in the depths of the Depression, the Club was disbanded soon thereafter. Later, the Pierre Roof ballroom was the favored site for debutante receptions, wedding...
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...
Trip Advisor: The Fox Who Believed Himself Judge
Georges Panayotis | December 5, 2017
By Georges Panayotis The earth trembles beneath the feet of the giant Trip Advisor. Long courted by hoteliers and all operators in the tourism and leisure value chain, this colossus seems to have clay feet. When it was created in February 2000, the baby was in good health and a bright future lay ahead. Growing up, it was surrounded by all the professionals of the tourism industry who have been eager to sign partnerships in order to enter this race for customer opinions and e-reputation management . The growing adolescent reached its peak in the summer of 2014, but failed to stay on track. Instead of consolidating and expanding on the fo...
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...
