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
Create A “Selfie Station” At Your Hotel
Doug Kennedy | October 10, 2014
by Doug Kennedy October 10, 2014 Most hotels and resorts are always looking for ways to expand their presence on social media. Many Tweet-out press releases and post engaging content on their Facebook and Instagram accounts. Others train their guest service colleagues to create memorable guest experiences that "Make Guests Tweet," which was the title of one of my recent articles that included some tips and techniques for doing so. One additional easy way to encourage more social media postings is to create a "Selfie Station" in your lobby and/or other public areas. Having two teenagers has really made me understand first-hand the emerg...
Los Angeles is the New Magnet for Real Estate Investment
JMBM | October 7, 2014
By Jim Butler and the Global Hospitality Group® Hotel Lawyers | Authors of www.HotelLawBlog.com 7 October 2014 After so many years of being off everyone's screen, Los Angeles has suddenly become one of the hottest markets for real estate investment. Roger Vincent's article of October 4, 2014, in the Los Angeles Times provides some of the latest and most exciting detail about how the "smart money" in New York now sees Los Angeles is a great place to buy real estate. See "Downtown L.A. real estate is drawing N.Y. investors' interest." The transformation of Los Angeles to a "real city" where people live, work, and play has taken deca...
Marriott Signs FCC Consent Decree and Agrees to Pay $600,000 Civil Penalty for Wi-Fi Blocking
JMBM | October 6, 2014
By Jim Butler and the Global Hospitality Group® Hotel Lawyers | Authors of www.HotelLawBlog.com 6 October 2014 Have you ever wondered why your cell phone or personal Wi-Fi hot spot does not seem to work in some hotels? As more business and leisure travelers equip themselves to stay in constant communication with their work place and families, they have accelerated the tendency to shun high-priced hotel room telephones and internet connections. But sometimes, even when you are in the middle of New York City (or other major urban gateway) on a high floor, your cell service or Mi-Fi just does not seem to work, and you wonder if it is...
Enhancing Your Comfort Foods
Larry Mogelonsky | October 1, 2014
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.lma.ca) We've all heard the term 'comfort food' used here and there, but many of us outside of immediate F&B circles seldom fully grasp its potential. They're soft, filling, easy to digest and hit all the right flavor notes. Comfort foods are also ones that act to directly prick our brainstems to psychologically uplift us and thereby heighten our meal satisfaction. In this way, it's no longer just a meal for sustenance's sake, but an emotional elevator carrying us to the top. There's also a salient slice of nostalgia at play; in addition to making us comfortably numb, these are foods that take ...
10 Quick Ways to Invigorate Your F&B
Larry Mogelonsky | October 1, 2014
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.lma.ca) Year ago, my sister wrote a book entitled, "Everybody Eats." While not particularly useful for the average hotelier, the title stuck with me. We spend an inordinate amount of time discussing spas, fitness centers, golf courses and other peripheral components to the our hotel/resort complexes. Yet, no single facet of your operations is likely to enhance your business more than great food. Based upon my experiences, here are ten cost-effective ways to improve your F&B product. True, these may require operational changes or some new suppliers. But, by shaking up this department, you just m...
Hotel Room ‘Hauling’
Larry Mogelonsky | September 24, 2014
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.lma.ca) Have you heard of 'hauling' or, to be a little more precise, a haul video? For those of you who aren't wholly up to date on the latest internet lingo, let me explain. Used mostly for retail purposes, a haul video is when a person records what items they purchased from stores, displaying each as they are unpacked, and then posts it to the internet, most likely onto YouTube. During the brief video, the purchaser might go over basic product details, prices and his or her own opinions of the goods. Although this trend has its roots in the 'unboxing' of the latest hi-tech gadgets, especially gam...
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 129 Hotel History: Roosevelt Hotel (1893), New Orleans
Stanley Turkel, CMHS | September 22, 2014
By Stanley Turkel, CMHS 1. Hotel History: Roosevelt Hotel, New Orleans The original Roosevelt New Orleans Hotel was built in 1893 by Louis Grunewald, a German immigrant, as the Grunewald Hotel. In 1908, it was expanded with a fourteen-story 400-room annex. The expansion was designed by the Milwaukee architectural firm, H.C. Koch & Sons who also designed the Pfister Hotel and the City Hall in Milwaukee. The Grunewald was the site of The Cave, one of America's first nightclubs. The subterranean supper club came with waterfalls, stalagmites, stalactites and a line of chorus girls dancing to a Dixieland jazz band. The Cave remained in o...
FAQs on Service Animal Requirements of the ADA. What Every Hotelier Needs to Know. Why Uber was Sued
JMBM | September 17, 2014
By Jim Butler and the Global Hospitality Group® Hotel Lawyers | Authors of www.HotelLawBlog.com 17 September 2014 The recent Uber lawsuit On September 9, 2014, Uber Technologies was sued in Federal Court in San Francisco for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and California's Unruh Act. The suit arose from the claim that UberX drivers refused to allow blind riders to bring their guide dogs. For a copy of the complaint, click here to see Natl Federation of the Blind v. Uber Technologies. This is just the latest in a long history of complaints or enforcement actions involving the legal requirements concerning "service a...
The Rise of PLD Marketing: Product, Local and Digital
Georges Panayotis | September 17, 2014
by Georges Panayotis The digital economy raises questions about everything and makes some marketing rules seem a bit old since they did not keep up with technological evolutions. "Think global, act local" is no longer the only key because the interaction between the two levels has become more complex. Based on the principle that the new digital economy was too complicated for field-based teams to implement, some headquarters were tempted to centralize most of their strategic decisions and then bring their instructions out to the field. In the same spirit, management of CRM programs was recentralized at headquarters in order to collect,...
Strategist or Tactician?
Larry Mogelonsky | September 17, 2014
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.lma.ca) Which one are you, strategist or tactician? Or, do you even know the difference? It's subtle, but very important to remember. Strategists are the big picture idea generators and recommenders of this world. They are the ones who get the prestige for coming up the winning concept that reaped a heavy payload down the road. Oftentimes a single thought or suggestion can save a whole company or launch it into an entirely new marketplace. Strategic planners, consultants and corporate advisors all fit this role for the purpose of helping an organization find that 'next big thing' to propel it forwa...
Privacy Invasion
Georges Panayotis | September 12, 2014
by Georges Panayotis Where does one draw the line between knowing the habits of customers in order to provide individualized and personalized service and invading their private lives and personal behaviors? This question constantly stirs up marketing managers at hotel groups during the conception of CRM software and their use. They know perfectly well that there is a boundary that must not be crossed in order to respect the confidentiality of certain information and that a questionnaire about personal preferences should not feel like an inquisition. It is always the customer himself who decides to give the information he feels is neces...
The Medium is NOT the Message
Larry Mogelonsky | September 10, 2014
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.lma.ca) A proud claim to marketing fame for Canadians has always been Marshall McLuhan's 1964 aphorism, "The medium is the message." Pithy, famous, bold, and now it is wrong. While elements of this statement are still true, they are rapidly waning. This claim requires a pinch of backstory. In the era when McLuhan made this statement, the number of mediums was much smaller. Roughly speaking, you could choose from: radio, movies, television, magazines, newspapers, catalogues, direct mail and billboards. With so few options, each dominated a specific communications niche which bestowed the message wit...
Is Your Reservations Mystery Shopping Criteria Stuck In The 1990’s?
Doug Kennedy | September 9, 2014
by Doug Kennedy When conducting reservations sales audits for a diversity of hotels, resorts and lodging companies of all types I frequently am exposed to their existing mystery shopping criteria as part of the review. As a result I get to peek behind the scenes and see what their reservations, front desk and/or call center staff are being trained to do. What I often find is that most organizations are still using the same reservations call handling criteria as they did long ago. Meantime, so much has changed on the caller's side of the equation. When it comes to information, the "balance of power" has shifted to the caller's side; many...
Looking for EB-5 Financing? The China “Retrogression” Means You Should Act Sooner than Later!
JMBM | September 9, 2014
By Jim Butler and the Global Hospitality Group® Hotel Lawyers | Authors of www.HotelLawBlog.com 9 September 2014 EB-5 Visas and China "Retrogression" - What's it all about? by Jim Butler and Jonathan Bloch Partners, Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell LLP In the past, when China exceeded its 7% allocation of US Immigrant Investor Visas (EB-5 visas), Chinese applicants were permitted to take advantage of unused EB-5 visas allotted to other countries. But as of the last week of August 2014, the US State Department decided that the issuance of new EB-5 visas to Chinese applicants will be frozen or "retrogress" (move backward) until Octob...
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 128 Hotel History: Hotel Dixie/Carter; Quote of the Month
Stanley Turkel, CMHS | September 3, 2014
By Stanley Turkel, CMHS 1. Hotel History: Hotel Dixie/Carter A recent article in the New York Times (July 27, 2014) reported on the adventures of North Vietnamese businessman Truong Dinh Tran ("Mr. Tran's Messy Life and Legacy"): Truong Dinh Tran led a mostly uneventful life, unless you count spending two years in a North Vietnamese prison, swimming his way to South Vietnam, building a fortune in wartime, fleeing to the United States with a suitcase full of cash and another full of gold, installing himself and his four paramours and their children in a single-room-occupancy hotel on Manhattan's West Side, becoming a subject of the big...
The Importance of RevPOR over RevPAR
Larry Mogelonsky | September 3, 2014
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.lma.ca) Why is that RevPAR (Revenue Per Available Room) gets all the attention? Because it's without a doubt incredibly important for hotel operations and management. But RevPOR (Revenue Per Occupied Room), also known as effective RevPAR, is equally important. In essence, it combines the metrics of RevPAR and occupancy into a 'per capita' number, and when compared quarter-over-quarter or year-over-year, it can reveal some extraordinary guest insights. It's best to illustrate this through an example - the traditional North American low season (OK, excluding sun destinations) of January through until...
How Netflix is Changing the Hotel Room
Larry Mogelonsky | August 29, 2014
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.lma.ca) Until I subscribed to Netflix, I never gave it a lot of thought. Its share price, which has seen soaring increases since its IPO, is a hot topic amongst many investors. I, for one, sadly admit that I have no shares; although with performance at that level, I wish I had. For those who do not have Netflix or are not familiar with its utility, let me give you a quick primer. This is an online movie and television subscription service. For roughly ten dollars per month, subscriber gets unlimited access to thousands of movies and TV series. Your subscription allows you to set up multiple devices...
Make Guests Tweet!
Doug Kennedy | August 27, 2014
by Doug Kennedy As I often say in my training workshops, a hotel's guest services staff is now part of the marketing and PR department! With the continued explosion of social media postings and online guest reviews, the walls of hotels are essentially made of glass; everything that happens within can clearly be seen by basically anyone in the outside world. This can either be a hotel's worst nightmare or its dream opportunity for viral marketing that is free of charge, depending on interactions your guests are having every day with your guest services colleagues. So what does it take to encourage guests decide to whip-out their smartpho...
Start-Ups, Keep Your Eye On The Ball
Puzzle Partner | August 27, 2014
Puzzle Partner CEO Shares Insights To Help Technology Start-Ups Hit It Out of the Park By Alan E. Young, CEO and Co-Founder of Puzzle Partner Toronto, CA August 27, 2014 Last night I was out in the backyard throwing the ball with my 10-year-old son, and while he has the arm of Greg Maddux, he has some difficulty catching the ball. I instructed him to watch the ball all the way from my throw into his glove. I kept on telling him to keep his eye on the ball. Once he understood this concept; the balls stopped falling onto the ground and remained in his glove. Obviously, once he was catching fastballs, pop flys and almost anything I threw a...
Asians Want to Live, Buy Homes and Invest in Orange County
August 21, 2014
By Jim Butler and the Global Hospitality Group® Hotel Lawyers | Authors of www.HotelLawBlog.com 21 August 2014 Asians love California, particularly Southern California! They love it as a place to live, buy homes, invest, go to school, and run their businesses. In June, we talked about the close affinity between China and Los Angeles County as revealed by a new report. Now there is yet another report documenting how Asians love Orange County. Why? The report does not tell us that, but certainly Asians are attracted to California for the same reasons they been settling here for more than a century: proximity, climate, opportunity, and th...
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Hoteliers
Larry Mogelonsky | August 20, 2014
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.lma.ca) There's little doubt that you've read or at least heard of the famous business and self-help book entitled "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen R. Covey. Fitting reminder as we head into the final months of the year, it's time for a little homage - adapting the title of this book and giving hoteliers seven ideals to strive for. This isn't the definitive, be-all-end-all 'Seven Habits' list for hoteliers; just something to start you off on the right foot. 1. Know Thy Customer. It's easy for consumers to break up with a faceless organization, but much harder for them to par...
JMBM Announces 25th Annual Meet the Money® National Hotel Finance Conference
Meet the Money | August 19, 2014
By Jim Butler and the Global Hospitality Group® Hotel Lawyers | Authors of www.HotelLawBlog.com 19 August 2014 Today, the Hotel Lawyers in JMBM's Global Hospitality Group announced our 25th Annual Meet the Money® conference to be held May 4-6, 2015, at the Sheraton LAX. It's hard to believe we are marking the 25th year of getting together with our friends in the industry for a couple of days where all participants share information, meet leaders in the industry and make deals. It will be an exciting conference and if you have not joined us at Meet the Money® in the past, we hope you will come find out what all the buzz is about in 20...
Reimagining the Grilled Cheese
Larry Mogelonsky | August 13, 2014
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.lma.ca) We are in the midst of a food revolution - or reboot if you will. Chefs all over are taking restaurant staples like hamburgers, sliders, sandwiches, omelets, salads, burritos and tacos and giving them their own personal twists. They are reimagining these basic foods as a foundation for something far more flavorful, something far more grandiose and something far more memorable. Above all, they are giving customers a reason to return. Today, I want to reboot the grilled cheese. But why bother with a cheesy makeover? As mentioned in the previous paragraph, it's all about leaving an impression....
Hotel Lawyer with FAQs about EB-5 Project Financing for New Hotel Development
Jim Butler | August 7, 2014
By Jim Butler and the Global Hospitality Group® Hotel Lawyers | Authors of www.HotelLawBlog.com 7 August 2014 Frequently Asked Questions about EB-5 project financing for new hotel development by Jim Butler and Jonathan Bloch Partners, Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell LLP Why is there so much buzz about EB-5 financing? In the last five years, EB-5 financing has become extremely popular in development circles and is being widely used by mainstream, institutional players including government entities such as port authorities, major hotel brands like Marriott and Hilton, and some of the largest owners of hotels and restaurants. EB-5 fi...
