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
Putting Guest Interactions Into Accounting Terms
Larry Mogelonsky | October 12, 2016
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.lma.ca) To those who have taken a course in accounting or general finance, both of these four letter acronyms should be instantly familiar. Adapting these terms beyond bookkeeping and into the realm of hospitality, we can lever such terminology for a completely different purpose – guest interactions. First, a refresher for those who have been away from the financial texts for a while. FIFO, or 'First In First Out', is the generally accepted means of assessing the costs of inventory. With FIFO, inventory valuation is based upon a calculation that infers that products being sold are the oldest ...
One Task Every GM or DOS Should Do Right Now to Increase Group Sales Revenues
Doug Kennedy | October 10, 2016
By Doug Kennedy With group demand growth having leveled off or declined in most hotel markets, General Managers and Directors of Sales are looking for ways to capture more of the market share of the business that is still out there. As I have explored many of my previous articles, the hotel sales environment has changed dramatically in recent years, yet hotel sales training and the related sales processes have not evolved fast enough at too many hotels. We all know that an ever-increasing number of meeting planners inquire electronically by sending emails; others use electronic request-for-proposal tools such as Cvent, Starcite, CVB spo...
JMBM’s Global Hospitality Group® Announces EB-5 Financing and Closing of Two Recent Deals for Great Wolf Resorts and Wurzak Hotel Group
Jim Butler | October 10, 2016
By Jim Butler and the Global Hospitality Group® Hotel Lawyers | Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com Los Angeles—The Global Hospitality Group® of Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell LLP is pleased to announce the recent closing of two hotel deals for their clients, Great Wolf Resorts and Wurzak Hotel Group. Jim Butler, Chair of the Global Hospitality Group®, and David Sudeck, a senior member, led the transactions and associated EB-5 financing. Great Wolf Resorts recently closed the purchase of property in LaGrange, Atlanta, for a resort that will include a 93,000 square foot water park, several restaurants, and 456 suites. ...
Squaring the Circle: We’re Working On It!
Georges Panayotis | October 6, 2016
By Georges Panayotis All the interest politicians are showing in Tourism, particularly as the next elections approach, has produced two figures: 7% of the GDP, which is far from naught, and 2 million direct or indirect jobs, the first characteristic of which suggests that they cannot be relocated. But can we be so certain? This reasoning is based on the fact that the companies and activities that generate tourism are solidly associated with territories, and that it is impossible to dismount them and expatriate them. Undoubtedly! But what about clients who prefer to do their shopping on Bond Street rather than avenue Montaigne? What abou...
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning: What will be the Impact on The Travel Industry?
Alan E. Young | October 5, 2016
by Alan E. Young There has been a great deal of "news" in our industry regarding the implementation and adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) within the travel industry. How will this happen and what will the adoption rate look like? More importantly, in a service based industry, what percentage of travelers will be open to this new wave of technology and who will dismiss it? The emergence of cloud and cluster technology enables the wide implementation of AI and Machine Learning. One of the most obvious choices for this new technology to be adopted is within the B2B framework of our industry. Revenue Management platforms that are bei...
Generational Differences In Social Media Usage
Larry Mogelonsky | October 5, 2016
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.lma.ca) Young people and old people use different social media platforms and behave differently online. Everyone knows this…or at least they should. And it has powerful implications for your digital marketing strategies. It all started from the very onset of social networks which were peer-to-peer outlets for early millennials while boomers were still completely in the dark. Facebook played a big role in changing this dynamic. What started as an interface for university students soon took on high school pupils, college alumni and then everyone could sign up. As Mark Zuckerberg's character in...
EB-5 Regional Center Program Extended Until December 9, 2016 by Continuing Resolution
Jim Butler | October 5, 2016
By Jim Butler and the Global Hospitality Group® Hotel Lawyers | Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com Déjà vu all over again? Last Thursday, President Obama signed the Continuing Resolution, or CR, passed by Congress for the principal purpose of avoiding the shutdown of the Federal government by continuing to fund government operations and most of its agencies at 2016 levels through December 9, 2016. It is hoped that at that time, Congress and the President will be able to agree upon the budget for the entire fiscal year ending September 30, 2017. As last year, the Continuing Resolution is a temporary solution, continuing fun...
How the Marriott-Starwood Merger Will Affect Every Stakeholder in the Hotel Industry
Jim Butler | October 4, 2016
By Jim Butler and the Global Hospitality Group® Hotel Lawyers | Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com Most of the people we talk to in the hotel industry believe that consolidations, such as the recent Marriott-Starwood and Accor-Fairmont mergers, will have a big effect on their own hotel investments and other stakeholders in the hotel industry. JMBM's Global Hospitality Group® would like to know what you think about these events. Please click on the link below to tell us how these mergers will impact your business with this 6-question survey that should take you less than 3 minutes to complete. Click here to take our survey. We will s...
How Many Millions Could “Prevailing Wage” Cost Your Hotel?
Jim Butler | October 3, 2016
By Jim Butler and the Global Hospitality Group® Hotel Lawyers | Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com PREVAILING WAGE LAW is California's "other" minimum wage. It requires workers to be paid union wages on publicly funded construction projects. But in recent years, the law in California has EXPANDED well beyond its initial purpose. It has become a tool for workers to demand union wages on virtually any construction project in California. These claims can increase the cost of a major construction project by millions of dollars—and can be brought years after construction is complete. $8 million Prevailing Wage verdict in 2011 for work ...
How Silent Are Your Hotel Rooms?
Larry Mogelonsky | September 28, 2016
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.lma.ca) I'm fascinated by the sounds of a hotel or, should I say, the distinct lack of sound. But before I delve into this topic, here is a quick basic primer. Sound travels in waves and you can't see them. The amplitude of a sound wave is a measurement of how forceful the sound wave is. This measurement is expressed in decibels, or dB of sound pressure. A decibel meter allows you to measure just what level of sound exists in any environment. We all hear (pun intended) about extremely loud noises and the dangers of prolonged exposure to such cacophony. In fact, there are maximums to the acceptable ...
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 167: Hotel History: Casa Monica Hotel, St. Augustine, Florida*
Stanley Turkel | September 26, 2016
By Stanley Turkel, CMHS The Casa Monica, one of the oldest hotels in the United States, was built by Franklin W. Smith, an idealistic reformer who made his fortune as a Boston hardware merchant. He was an early abolitionist, author and architectural enthusiast who proposed transforming Washington, D.C. into a "capital of beauty and cultural knowledge." He was a major founder of the YMCA and a supporter of the 1860 election of Abraham Lincoln. Henry M. Flagler sold Smith the land on which to build the Casa Monica Hotel in 1887. The Casa Monica is an impressive five-story structure with 100-foot towers on each end topped with ti...
What’s up With All the New Hotel Brands and What Does It Mean to You?
Bob Braun | September 23, 2016
By Jim Butler and the Global Hospitality Group® Hotel Lawyers | Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com Have you noticed the explosion of new brands from hotel companies over the past few years? At JMBM, we do a lot of work with branding through license agreements, management agreements and other arrangements. So we asked my partner Bob Braun to give us some insights on what this is all about and what significance it has. Here are Bob's thoughts, along with some practical advice on what owners and developers should do in this situation. Hotels – Brand Expansion or Brand Explosion? by Bob Braun, Hotel Lawyer Consumer oriented companies ...
12 Reasons Travel and Hospitality Brands Should Boost Their B2B Content Marketing in 2017
Alan E. Young | September 22, 2016
By Alan Young It's hard to believe that summer is just about over and we are entering the homestretch of 2016 --and planning time for 2017. I am sure you already see the paradigm shift in the travel and hospitality technology industry ---and it is truly tougher than ever to break through the noise. There's a reason why CMOs at the largest tech brands report that content marketing is the second most important initiative, only behind measuring ROI. In fact, 75% of marketers are increasing investment in content marketing in 2017. These days, if you want your business to succeed, it's not enough to just produce and deliver your product &nda...
The Perpetual Debate Over The Hotel Booking Bar
Larry Mogelonsky | September 21, 2016
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.lma.ca) Every marketing manager you employ will tell you a version of the same story: Your website needs to have a 'Booking Bar' prominently stapled onto the home page and every page thereafter – big, flashy and impossible to ignore. The central concept is that your site visitors will be compelled to immediately interact with the banner to see what spaces are available, compare guestrooms and even select value-added options to enhance their stays. Another assumption is that site visitors are just too naïve or blind to click a smaller button that says 'Reservations' and that revenues will...
Five Scary Facts About Millennial Travel Purchases
Larry Mogelonsky | September 14, 2016
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.lma.ca) The rate at which consumer purchasing behavior is changing is downright scary. What worked only five years ago is now something for the junkyard. It's a difficult world to understand and, importantly, you must be keen to grasp the elusive spending habits of millennials – the generation that is destined to become the primary influencer in the hospitality industry within ten years' time, if not already! A recent focus group of a dozen late-stage millennial travelers – that is, between the ages of 27 and 33 with no children and healthy median salaries – yielded some exception...
Capturing More Catering Sales Revenue – Circa 2017
Doug Kennedy | September 12, 2016
By Doug Kennedy As we turn another page on our calendars and head into the fourth quarter, most hotel catering sales associates have booked up all of their event space for fall conference season and the busy holiday party month of December. It's time to look ahead to yet another year that is certain to bring about more unanticipated changes and disruptions. Yet one fact that will remain the same is that catering will be still be one of the most profitable departments of the hotel. Before diving into budgets for next year, it's a good idea to pause to reflect a bit. When you do it's easy to see that the sales process for the catering inq...
Living in Fear, but Keeping a Smile
Georges Panayotis | September 8, 2016
by Georges Panayotis The debates that are stirring up the French population and are being fed by the beginning of the presidential campaign have cast a pall over the image of a welcoming country. Any demonstration of cultural diversity seems to purposefully goad the perfect model of a secular republic. It is normal for the multiplication of attacks against France's population and its symbols of liberty to cause a security reflex. However, it is important to distinguish between the need to guarantee security for all –citizens and visitors alike, regardless of their origins or culture– and the temptation to reject the other an...
Fixing the Problem of Too Many New Brands
Larry Mogelonsky | September 7, 2016
Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.lma.ca) Right now, the hotel industry is experiencing a virtual gusher of new brands. There are so many new faces on the logo tree that even as a keen observer of our niche in the world, I am having difficulty placing what brand goes with what house. I imagine that launching a new brand registers some excitement in the corporate head office, adding a somewhat pleasant diversion for the c-suite executives from the real work of fighting the real issues such as the encroachment of alternate lodging providers, elusive millennial travel desires, waning loyalty or the market domination of the OTAs. While th...
Nobody Asked Me, But-No. 166: Hotel History: Hotel El Convento, Old San Juan, Puerto Rico*
Stanley Turkel | September 6, 2016
By Stanley Turkel, CMHS Located in the walled city of Old San Juan, the Hotel El Convento is a former Carmelite convent dating back to 1651. The Monasterio del Señor San Jose was founded by Doña Ana Lanzos, a wealthy widow who donated her money and her magnificent residence with a large double-sloped tile roof. Three Carmelite nuns from Santo Domingo served as founders. The building was expanded between 1854 and 1861 after the original structure was demolished. Governor Fernando de Norzagaray helped raising the necessary funds and personally inspected the project daily. Certain elements stand out in the facade of the chape...
Forgetting the Past Leaves No Room for the Future
Georges Panayotis | September 2, 2016
by Georges Panayotis When the tide goes out, the sand leaves behind all its irregularities, holes and puddles, empty seashells and dried seaweed … When holiday goers leave Paris, the Riviera, France altogether, their absence reveals the destinations' shortcomings and absences, the dilapidation of our supply and lack of renewed supply. Upon preparing a needed recovery, questions need to be asked even if the answers may be uncomfortable and even downright unpleasant. The terrorist attacks that hit the capital and the Riviera don't offer a full explanation. They created an urgent situation that needed to be treated rapidly a...
Loyalty Points Are No Trade Off For Housekeeping
Larry Mogelonsky | August 31, 2016
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.lma.ca) Traveling for work puts me up close and personal with a wide variety of hotels, but even though I love dabbling in the luxury segment, the wallet just isn't fat enough to make that a year-round thing. Instead, I opt for business-oriented properties, often downtown or near a convention center, and shrewdly designed for the harried guest. As you all know, this is a humungous category of hotels worldwide, and any new features that help optimize revenue for this market are often rapidly gormandized across all major brands. I could address the omnipresent issue here of whether such widespread ad...
New Hotels! New Talents!
Georges Panayotis | August 30, 2016
by Georges Panayotis It is natural for jobs to evolve, for functions to be diversified, for technology to intervene at all stages of management in order to control human resources, investments, costs and improve profitability. But the most delicate is to succeed in doing so without losing sight of the final customer experience and the perception they may have with respect to value, and especially the pleasure/price ratio. This is undoubtedly where that there was some distraction and the price increase was somehow disconnected from the satisfaction element... While it would be nice to shift gears, the hotel sector continues to be a cycli...
Redefining Modern American Cuisine
Larry Mogelonsky | August 24, 2016
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.lma.ca) When it comes to food, the United States of America has 50 states and 320 million people with clam chowder in New England, burritos in the Southwest, fried chicken in the South, deep dish pizza in Chicago and so much in between. How are we supposed to summarize the culinary habits of this gigantic nation under the banner of 'Modern American Cuisine' let alone 'American Cuisine' when there is so much diversity? In the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, before the rise of craft enterprises and our present food revolution, perhaps we could have written about the homogeneity of American cuisine &nd...
Say Goodbye to the Business Center
Larry Mogelonsky | August 17, 2016
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.lma.ca) Reaching its zenith in the mid-1990s following the proliferation of the personal computer, I have many fond memories of the hotel business center. Such facilities were a high priority for road warriors who needed to refine presentations, print materials, prepare travel itineraries or work on just about everything else, all while hotel staffers stood at the ready to assist wherever they could. The advent of mobile devices, tablets and streamlined laptops have proven to be the business center's downfall, rendering it as obsolete as the stapler and three-hole paper punch (anything involving pa...
