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
Tourism Will Not Bury its Head in the Sand…
Georges Panayotis | June 13, 2017
By Georges Panayotis Like it or not, politics necessarily enter the world of tourism, and President Trump's recent decisions to limit access to the United States are another demonstration of this. But Tourism, as an economic sector, cannot possibly flourish without political implication at the highest level. In this regard, French professionals are suspended in an uncertain void. There is no recent declaration, no evidence from the "Supervisory Minister" that would support our sector a "national priority". The directors of several major American hotel groups have asked the administration and their president to mo...
Hotel Sales Best Practices for the Era of Electronic Inquiries
Doug Kennedy | June 12, 2017
By Doug Kennedy As anyone who has worked in the profession of hotel sales and catering sales for 10 or more years knows, the skill-set required to be a top performer is quite different these days. Today's sales superstars still have to have exceptional "people skills," which today is more formally referred to as emotional intelligence. Equally as vital, however, is the need for sales colleagues to develop an excellent organizational skillset. These days, one has to be good at both "people" and "process" skills in order to succeed. This is because today's sales teams are dealing with an overwhelming flow of electronic correspondence thro...
Six Questions For Your Marketing Team
Larry Mogelonsky | June 7, 2017
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.hotelmogel.com) No matter the time of year or how well your occupancy figures look for the quarter at hand, the prep and planning for next year's marketing budget is never too far away. Undoubtedly, it will include the usual spattering of KPIs established at the start of the fiscal period, which will be scrutinized and massaged to death until all senior executives are happy. This process makes me yawn. Not that it doesn't work, but it can take up too much time which would be better allocated elsewhere. How about a different approach? Here are six questions that I am encouraging you – as a gen...
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 179: Hotel History: Julius Manger: One of The Greatest Hotel Owners of The Twentieth Century
Stanley Turkel | June 5, 2017
by Stanley Turkel, CMHS Hotel History: Julius Manger (1868-1937): Julius Manger was born in Boonville, Missouri. He graduated from the Tulane University Law School. At the age of twenty-eight, he engaged in the coffee business and was later associated with his brother, William, in the construction business in Galveston, Texas. They later located the hub of their business activities to New York City where they built more than 500 homes in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn. They also built the Builders Exchange Building in Manhattan and in 1907 traded it for the Plaza Hotel in Chicago, which was the beginning of their successful venture ...
Unsung Heroes of Hospitality – Security Director
Larry Mogelonsky | May 31, 2017
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.hotelmogel.com) While most of us in hospitality focus our efforts on finding ways to enhance our guests' comfort (and make more revenues!), we can only do so in an environment where both safety and security are assured. We often take the role of our security department for granted. After all, this is a department where reports stating 'nothing has happened' are considered the norm, and management tends to respond to incidents versus the status quo. It is also hard to measure the performance of the security department when assessments are largely binary. How do you know if team members are meeting y...
The Downfalls of Overcharging for Bottled Water
Larry Mogelonsky | May 24, 2017
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.hotelmogel.com) You've trained your bellman, concierge and front desk staff to a tee. Your guests immediately feel welcome at your property with the awful nightmare of security lines, air travel and bag collection finally behind them. They enter their guestroom, just starting to unwind, and then prominently displayed is a bottle of water with an unmistakably exorbitant price tag. And it is all for naught. Why is it that this one markup grinds guests' gears more than almost everything else? Perhaps the wording of 'unmistakably exorbitant' offers a clue. When a commoditized item like bottled water, i...
EB-5 Funding for New Development: JMBM Has Closed More Than $1.5 Billion of EB-5 Financing
Jim Butler | May 23, 2017
By Jim Butler and the Global Hospitality Group® As of January 31, 2017, JMBM's team has closed more than $1.5 billion of EB-5 financing and sourced more than half of that for our clients! EB-5 is a proven means of financing development projects. EB-5 financing is an important and viable source of construction financing for hotels, hotel enhanced mixed-use, and other development projects. Seven or eight years ago, when JMBM started helping hotel developers with EB-5 financing, many worried about whether this is a legitimate and reliable financing source. Now, after billions of dollars of development have been funded with EB-5, this t...
Creativity in Tourism: When Intelligence and Fun Converge
Georges Panayotis | May 23, 2017
by Georges Panayotis Is it the job of all tourism enterprises to become a universal reservation portal? Must they become a single outlet where travelers may build their journey, from transportation to accommodations, from shopping to cultural activities, dinning to discovery? One may legitimately question this new strategy that opts for the quest for exhaustiveness to the detriment of the specificity of the trade. When Airbnb buys a sharing platform for restaurant delivery and comes up with the idea to sell its hosts' tips in each city; when Booking.com makes it possible to by local "Experiences" in addition to the hotel r...
Meet the Money 2017 Presentations Now Available for Download!
Jim Butler | May 22, 2017
By Jim Butler and the Global Hospitality Group® 22 May 2017 - Meet the Money® 2017 wrapped up last week at the Hyatt Regency LAX, and looks to be one of our most successful years yet! More than 350 hotel industry leaders gathered to hear from 130+ speakers who gave their expert perspectives on the current hospitality market, the national and global economy, and where trends might take us as we move towards 2018. The conference will return May 7-9, 2018–Watch www.MeetTheMoney.com for program and registration information. In the meantime, you can download all the presentations the conference completed last week from the RESO...
How Hotels Can Aid In Biodiversity
Larry Mogelonsky | May 17, 2017
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.hotelmogel.com) As an avid supporter of the locavore movement, there is one other related and seldom discussed food initiative your property can take to both elevate your cuisine and to further help the environment. Firstly, the advantages for promoting local foods are clear. They strengthen your bonds to the community (which can result in additional business via word of mouth), they help reduce food miles as less petroleum (or other form of energy) is devoted to their transportation and, above all, they taste better. The moment you uproot a vegetable or pluck a fruit from a tree, the flavor clock ...
EB-5 Extended Without Change: President Donald Trump Signs Bill
Jim Butler | May 17, 2017
By Jim Butler EB-5 extended through September 30 Just after noon on Friday, May 5, 2017, President Donald Trump signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2017. The new law approves $1.1 trillion in Federal appropriations through September 30, 2017. One of the provisions of the bill extends the EB-5 Regional Center program without change through the same date. Although the Consolidated Appropriations Act did not change any provisions of the EB-5 program, we expect further Congressional and regulatory efforts in the very near future. As we said yesterday, Industry leaders view this extension of the program as the necessary threshold t...
Hotel Owner and Operator Relations: The Pendulum is Swinging the Other Way
Georges Panayotis | May 16, 2017
By Georges Panayotis In any love story there is that balancing point where each individual has the feeling of sharing a single plenitude, wherein there is no desire to take advantage of another's weakness. In life and business alike this quest for balance feeds discussions between partners; sometimes they are discreet, other times they are more tumultuous, as love stories are wont to be. Over the ages, relations between hotel operators and owners, franchisers and franchisees, operators and distributors have been supported by balances of power and a regular shifting of this balancing point. Long after their American counterparts, tod...
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 178: Hotel History: Pinehurst Resort and Spa (1895); Pinehurst, North Carolina (428 rooms)
Stanley Turkel | May 15, 2017
by Stanley Turkel, CMHS The history of Pinehurst began in 1895, when Bostonian James Walker Tufts, wealthy owner of the American Soda Fountain Company, purchased 5,800 acres of ravaged timberland in the sand- hills of central North Carolina. This land once held a flourishing pine forest that had been cut and deforested for its turpentine and building supplies. Tufts originally developed Pinehurst as a health resort for patients recovering from tuberculosis. After much of the construction had been completed, Tufts learned that tuberculosis was contagious and was forced to turn his new community into a leisure resort instead. Tufts hired ...
The Impact – And Importance – Of Virtual Reality in the Hotel Industry
Alan E. Young | May 12, 2017
By Alan E. Young, President, Puzzle Partner Imagine a traveler considering a stay at your hotel. Your potential guest "virtually" walks through one of your luxury suites, exploring all the amenities and even taking in the sweeping view from the window. Or a guest staying in your hotel aims their smartphone in any direction to discover information about nearby attractions and to find their way to the pool. Welcome to the world of augmented reality (AR). AR essentially takes virtual reality (VR) to the next level. Instead of immersing users in a different world, AR superimposes digital content over the real world. AR captured the world's ...
Tourism and Hospitality: Do More and More for Yourself and Even More for Others!
Georges Panayotis | May 9, 2017
By Georges Panayotis As the future of our country takes shape, there are not so many opportunities to rebound towards a better horizon. If we look carefully, tourism is one of the economic activities that is best able to reconcile the aspirations of a majority of the population, the integration of profitable new economic models and respect for a large share of current concerns. If the number of international tourists continues to grow steadily despite all adverse events that could slow growth, it is only because the desire to discover the world and to share new experiences is a fundamental part of being human. Replacing crusades with mu...
Guest Experience Management – Strategic “How to” Guide Helps Hoteliers Achieve Success
Smart Decision Guides | May 8, 2017
Starfleet Research, the leading provider of best practices research and recommendations for the hospitality industry, has released The 2017 Smart Decision Guide to Hotel Guest Experience Management. It is currently available for complimentary access. This 45-page Smart Decision Guide offers research findings, analyst insights and unbiased recommendations for enhancing the quality of the guest experience. It serves as a definitive resource for senior executives, general managers, IT directors and other decision makers charged with upgrading their Guest Experience Management (GEM) capabilities. It is not surprising that hoteliers are turn...
Should You Attend Hotel Tradeshows?
Larry Mogelonsky | May 3, 2017
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.hotelmogel.com) Hotel tradeshows and conventions are an excellent opportunity to keep pace with all the latest products, news and concepts in our ever-evolving industry. There are many such events happening on a year-round timetable and all around the world, so much so that you could hypothetically spend every week in another city and at another hospitality conference or symposium. Practically, though, you hardly have the time to attend more than five of these events each year, and a 'divide and conquer' approach would work even better. That is, by sending various associates and senior executive te...
Tradition, Training and Innovation, the Golden Triangle of the Hotel Industry
Georges Panayotis | May 2, 2017
by Georges Panayotis As in many other sectors, innovation in the hotel industry is receiving a lot of attention –perhaps too much– as if it were the only source of progress and new clientele. While adapting to changes, inventing new offers, and offering a new vision of things are indispensable acts in the life of corporations, they must not override the fact that in the service sector, in general, and hospitality in particular, there are traditions that have more to gain by being passed down than by being revolutionized. It is understandable that the irruption of new players that upset, or even destroy traditional economic m...
Airline Service: Stop Complaining, Start Complying and Be Grateful For Super Low Fares!
Doug Kennedy | May 1, 2017
By Doug Kennedy As a hotel industry customer service trainer and conference speaker, I am on the road nearly every week. Being based in a large metropolitan area such as Ft. Lauderdale / Miami, FL, it is not logical to stay loyal to one airline; I find it better to fly on whichever one has non-stops. Although I am a Platinum level flyer on both Delta and American, I also frequently fly all the major airlines including United, Southwest, Jetblue, and even some of the low-cost ones such as Spirit and Frontier. I'm sure I fly at least 200,000 miles every year and have for more than 25 years. Of course I encounter delays, typically due to w...
Getting Creative With How You Use Your Guestroom TVs
Larry Mogelonsky | April 26, 2017
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.hotelmogel.com) It's going to take a long time to dispel our belief that televisions are meant solely for a viewing experience while situated on a comfortable chair, sofa or bed, but the seeds are indeed already well-planted. The TV that is front and center in every guestroom is due for a 'smart' upgrade, but that's not the becoming for how screens can serve to heighten the guest experience. In fact, the future of screen technology is everywhere, pervading every point of interaction that a consumer has with your hotel. And the more you work to undo the antiquated notion that TVs are only for bedroo...
The Franchise Always Pays in the End
Georges Panayotis | April 25, 2017
By Georges Panayotis In just a few years our industry went from a phase of progressive adaptation of economic models to one of major disruptions that impose self-examination for all. This major change comes at a time when most of the European markets have been upset by economic, geopolitical and security crises. Since then, the morale of entrepreneurs has been low and development projects are struggling to find a good return on investment. And yet, this fundamental choice is inescapable: one must be either actor or victim of any restructuring that is underway. In light of a deflationary economic spiral and pressure from new players, hot...
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 177: Hotel History: Cranwell Resort, Spa And Golf Club (1894)
Stanley Turkel | April 24, 2017
by Stanley Turkel, CMHS Cranwell Resort, Spa and Golf Club Lenox, Massachusetts As you stroll about the grounds of Cranwell Resort, you are walking through history. Over the years, Cranwell has served as a home to wealthy industrialists, clergy, writers, students, golfers, and culture lovers in Massachusetts. The centerpiece of the property, with its extraordinary views of the Berkshires, is the hilltop Tudor-style Mansion, which has dominated the countryside for more than a century. The history of Cranwell is entwined with many stories of the opulent period between 1880 and 1920 that is known as the Gilded Age. In 1853, the Reverend H...
How Alternative Lodgings Affect Entry-Level Hotel Jobs
Larry Mogelonsky | April 19, 2017
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.hotelmogel.com) Raising the argument that Airbnb's business model does not directly support the local economy is not anything new for the hospitality industry, and even more so for real estate. However, there appears to be an additional impact on hotels, one that requires a bit of explaining. (Before we get underway, know this Airbnb is simply the largest of these alternate lodging accommodation companies. Its namesake in this article is used as shorthand to represent all others in this category and that Airbnb is not to be singled out in any way.) A hotel represents the combination of both a physi...
Is the Hotel Industry Downsizing?
Georges Panayotis | April 17, 2017
by Georges Panayotis The world of hospitality is sinking its roots into a thousand-year-old history that is its strength, but it also hampers its transformation when it is unable to shake its habits to change dimensions. The last major "hospitality revolution" dates back to the arrival of chains and hotel brands that upset individual hotel operations with great operational rigor. For half a century, hotel groups have improved their tools and practices to benefit from opportunities on the market, sometimes even leading to shortage, while living comfortably on a market in perpetual expansion. It is no surprise that the new digit...
