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
Going Beyond Transactions: ‘Conversational Commerce’ and Its Impact on the Travel and Hospitality Industry
Alan Young | February 6, 2019
Coined by Uber's Chris Messina, consumer demand for digital-centric interactions with hotel and travel brands is on the rise By Alan E. Young, Puzzle Partner It's 2019, and I would argue that there have never been more marketing-related "buzzwords" battling it out for conversational real-estate across thought leadership articles, webinars, white papers and more. Whether it's agile marketing, catering to the 'age of the consumer,' hyper-personalization, or the mobile age — there are plenty of commerce-related silos to get lost in as industry leaders seek out the trends and methods which can best benefit their respective brand a...
Luxury Hospitality and the Risk of Obsolescence
Stuart Pallister | February 4, 2019
By Stuart Pallister Luxury hospitality is at risk of becoming obsolete, according to PwC Global industry leader for hospitality and tourism, Nicolas Mayer. That's because it no longer fulfills the 'needs and desires' of clients that they couldn't get elsewhere. Mayer told EHL students recently in classroom sessions that, in decades gone by, luxury had involved 'standard expectations' about security, beautiful surroundings and service levels that guests were willing to pay for. Whereas now, this brand promise and standardization, this consistency promise, doesn't need to be obtained from a luxury operator anymore. You can get it online a...
Hotel Lawyer: Brand Franchise Owners Ask “What Happened to My Area of Protection?”
Jim Butler | January 31, 2019
By Jim Butler and the Global Hospitality Group® Hotel Lawyers | Authors of www.HotelLawBlog.com Hotel Lawyer on Owners' concerns with hotel brand franchise agreements — Areas of Protection or Non-competition clauses My partner Bob Braun is a senior member of our Global Hospitality Group® and has experience with many hundreds of hotel management and franchise agreements. Bob is also co-author of the Hotel Management Agreement & Franchise Agreement Handbook (3rd edition), and has first-hand experience with branding and management for every major traditional hotel brand, including a number of multi-branded properties. Tod...
Ten Marketing Questions for Q1 2019
Larry Mogelonsky | January 30, 2019
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.hotelmogel.com) Now that we are making headway into 2019, it's time to re-evaulate the budgets you devised last quarter and see if you are indeed on the best course for the year ahead. This process can be quite rewarding if you have a clear vision of where you want to take your hotel for beyond the current fiscal cycle. The key is to plan for a gradual and continuous change, and the first step towards this is to align with your team. As for the coming year, it is definitely not business as usual. There are disruptors lurking in the dark alleys of the travelsphere, and if you aren't careful you'll s...
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 208: Hotel History: Grand Hotel (1887) Mackinac Island, Michigan
Stanley Turkel | January 29, 2019
by Stanley Turkel, CMHS Hotel History: Grand Hotel The "Grand" as it is called on the island, is a historic coastal resort with a spectacular 660-foot long, three-story high porch. Below this covered veranda is a manicured lawn sloping down to a formal flower garden where 10,000 geraniums bloom in season among other flower beds with wild blossoms. The hotel is located on Mackinac Island which is in the straits between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. It has thrived because of an important decision made in the 1920s. All private cars and trucks were outlawed on the island which gives visitors a chance to live in a village without...
Who Will Benefit From the Digitization of the Hotel Industry?
Georges Panayotis | January 28, 2019
By Georges Panayotis We have fully entered a new era. What was once a craft industry has now become an industry that is highly specialized in many fields. These changes are exciting and gratifying. Why? Because they make the players in this business future experts in digital technology and marketing, and they push us to go ever further in product design, customer relations and the range of services we can offer them. The notions of the "money back guarantee", "exchangeable product" and sales were invented at Le Bon Marché department store. Nearly 200 years later, Black Friday has become a global institution, a...
Drawbacks to Outsourcing Your Hotel Labor Force
Larry Mogelonsky | January 23, 2019
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.hotelmogel.com) The growing prevalence of outsourced labor within the frontline ranks of many guest-facing departments may have deep-rooted consequences that aren't immediately discernable on a balance sheet. Whether your property is thinking of contracting out its valets, bellhops, restaurant servers, banqueting staff or housekeepers, what we stand to lose may be far greater than any apparent cost savings or reductions in employee benefit packages. While the two abovementioned advantages of outsourcing are indeed quite lucrative – and not to mention the overall decrease in risk involved with...
What Corked Wine Teaches You About Service Excellence
Larry Mogelonsky | January 16, 2019
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.hotelmogel.com) There's an important lesson in the form of what corked bottles – that is, wine that's gone off – can present as an opportunity to wow your restaurant patrons and hotel guests. For all of my fellow oenophiles out there, it's one of the worst feelings in the world. You pop open a bottle, pour yourself a glass, take a sip and your mouth is hit by a musty, astringent splash that eviscerates any lingering flavors. The wine is skunked and utterly worthless. This lesson all comes down to one of the hallmarks of a service culture in that it's not just about how well you provide ...
Limited and Select Service Hotels: 5 Ways Your Front Desk Staff Can Increase Direct Bookings and Cut Distribution Costs
Doug Kennedy | January 15, 2019
By Doug Kennedy Like all segments of the hotel industry, limited and select service hotels are seeing distribution costs eating away at top-line profits. Of course OTA's and other third parties are important to the channel mix. However, the colleague at your front desk right now can be your hotel's best resource for increasing the most profitable of all channels, which is of course your direct bookings. Not only do reservations that are made directly have the lowest acquisition costs, but they also tend to have a higher ADR. The following are some action steps and then five training tips for your segment of the lodging industry. Action ...
You Can’t Get Anything for Twenty Bucks These Days
Georges Panayotis | January 10, 2019
By Georges Panayotis While we've been relatively spared the hardship of winter's cold weather, 2019 has nevertheless sprung up. So what should we wish for? What do you want? Let's get to work and act, find the strength and the means to join forces, move forward and progress together. Let us not look back because what is done is done, but let us try not to repeat the same mistakes and let us try to make the most of the assets we have. But who is looking after leisure tourists? "We shall not forget that the international symbols of Paris are the Eiffel Tower and the Champs Elysées - not La Défense and the ...
Free WiFi as the Easy 2019 Goal
Larry Mogelonsky | January 9, 2019
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.hotelmogel.com) As now is the time for New Year's resolutions, let's start off with a 'low hanging fruit' – an easy victory that will resonate strongly with any guest no matter the travel modality. But first, to show you how much times have changed and why this is an important project, we need only compare two frequently asked questions posed to the front desk. Whereas, "Do you have free WiFi?" was common a decade ago, nowadays this is more likely to be, "What's the WiFi password?" If you understand the difference, then you already know what that means as it concerns guest expectations. The l...
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 207: Hotel History in Brooklyn, N.Y.: Hotel Bossert (1909) and St. George Hotel (1885)
Stanley Turkel | January 9, 2019
by Stanley Turkel, CMHS Hotel History in Brooklyn, N.Y.: Hotel Bossert and St. George Hotel The Hotel Bossert was built in 1909 by Louis Bossert, a Brooklyn lumber magnate, as a residential hotel in Brooklyn Heights. The historic 14-story, 224-room hotel, once referred to as the "Waldorf-Astoria of Brooklyn," was owned by the Jehovah's Witnesses since 1984. The Brooklyn Dodgers celebrated their first and last World Series championship when they beat the New York Yankees in 1955. In the lobby of the Hotel Bossert, delirious Dodger fans celebrated by singing "For He's A Jolly Good Fellow" for Walter Alston, the Dodger's manager. Jackie Ro...
Paid, Owned and Earned Media: What Matters Most for B2B Travel and Hotel Tech Brands in 2019?
Alan Young | January 8, 2019
By Alan E. Young In a marketing landscape where content is king, you might think it's just a matter of creating and distributing great content. After all, if great content is what every consumer craves from the brands they favor, delivering it should be the easy part — right? But in fact, that's not the case at all. While content is undeniably an integral piece of any modern marketing strategy, business leaders are quick to realize that the curation of valuable and timely content is only half the battle. Back in the day, big brands had to buy an ad or film a TV commercial to get their product in front of their target market. In to...
2019 Top 10 Hospitality Trends
Philippe Masset | January 7, 2019
By Philippe Masset and Jean-Philippe Weisskopf The hospitality industry has been undergoing tremendous changes and disruptions over the last two decades.What key trends have been steadily reshaping the industry and where is hospitality heading in the near future? A study conducted among EHL faculty in the fall of 2018 provides insights on past and new challenges (as well as opportunities) hospitality players need to take into consideration. The TEN trends that have reshaped (and are still reshaping) the industry: #1 - Virtual communities Social networks and in particular TripAdvisor have had a profound impact on customers. This has led ...
Continuing Professional Development for Housekeepers
Larry Mogelonsky | January 2, 2019
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.hotelmogel.com) While new legislation is emerging from all corners of the world to better safeguard workers, and more specifically housekeepers, from harm and thereby generate new applicants for these roles. Two prominent examples are the widespread mandate for employee safety devices, often called the panic button, as well as the new musculoskeletal injury prevention regulations in California. I see these trends as part of a bigger issue, though. Namely, we aren't doing enough to make this particular line of work rewarding over a long stretch of time. Housekeeping can be grueling, monotonous and o...
U.S. News & World Report – Best Law Firms® Recognizes JMBM as 2019 “Best Law Firm”
JMBM | November 8, 2018
By Jim Butler and the Global Hospitality Group® Hotel Lawyers | Authors of www.HotelLawBlog.com 08 November 2018 A hotel lawyer brings together numerous legal disciplines, depending on the hospitality project. That's why the Global Hospitality Group® is part of a full-service law firm. My partners at Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell LLP (JMBM) provide first-rate services to our hospitality clients and I am pleased that their efforts were recognized today in U.S. News & World Report's list of Best Law Firms. – Jim U.S. News & World – Best Law Firms® Recognizes JMBM as 2019 "Best Law Firm" Jeffer Mangel...
How Involved Are Hotel Owners in Property-Level Decisions?
Demian Hodari, Ph.D | November 6, 2018
By Demian Hodari, Michael J. Turner, Michael C. Sturman Hotel owners increasingly contract hotel management companies to operate their properties. While extensive research has examined management agreements to determine the balance of power between owners and management companies, little research has investigated the actual role that hotel owners play in property-level decision making. This is perplexing because management companies generally insist that hotel management agreements (HMAs) specifically stipulate that the owner should not seek to influence the hotel's general manager (GM). In other words, in exchange for their services, m...
Vacation Rentals vs. Hotels: What Amenities Do Consumers Really Want?
Kacey Bradley | November 5, 2018
By Kacey Bradley There was once a time when travelers had only a handful of places to choose from when traveling, and all of them were hotels. Nowadays, though, there's almost no limit to where they can stay, and that's all thanks to the vacation rental industry, which has opened up locals' homes and apartments to short-term tenants, too. Of course, that's not to say hotels are out of the game. Both are viable options that suit a specific type of traveler. As such, those who choose to rent a personal property search for particular amenities, separate from the ones that draw in hotel aficionados. Here's what each type of customer really ...
Top Luxury Eco-Friendly Sustainable Hotels and Why Travelers Love Them
Alan Young | November 5, 2018
By Alan Young Industries across the globe are witnessing the consumer transition into what we like to call the experience economy. Perhaps influenced by the impressive buying power and sheer numbers of the millennial generation, modern consumers are showing a definitive preference for experiential purchasing over material goods. As the Harvard Business Review describes it "within an experience economy, a company intentionally uses services as the stage, and goods as props, to engage individual customers in a way that creates a memorable event." This puts the travel and hospitality industry, specifically, in an exciting position to maxim...
Airbnb Pricing: What’s the Reason for Discrepancies?
Dr Elisa Chan | November 5, 2018
Bloomberg recently released the latest edition of its index which ranks locations around the world – taking into consideration some 120 cities – according to rates charged by Airbnb. Among its main findings were that although Miami and Boston took the top two places for the second year running regarding Airbnb pricing, Middle East destinations are now some of the most expensive in the world, with locations such as Tel Aviv, Dubai, Jerusalem, Riyadh and Kuwait City among the top 15. But how reliable are the data? According to EHL assistant marketing professor Elisa Chan, there is a challenge in understanding how Airbnb sets i...
Finding Meaning in Travel
Dr. Reza Etemad-Sajadi | November 1, 2018
By Dr. Reza Etemad-Sajadi and Marie Schöpfer For more and more travelers nowadays, vacations are less about the "fly and flop" and more about living an outstanding experience and finding meaning and purpose in their busy lives. Some travelers seek authenticity and want to really dive into the culture or destination they are exploring; some want to dedicate a portion of their trip to a charity, besides taking time for themselves and get involved in volunteering projects. People are traveling for new reasons As explained by Jean-François de Clermont-Tonnerre - Executive Producer of "Going Home to the Stars", a documentary that...
The Value of Teamwork in Service
Stuart Pallister | October 31, 2018
By Stuart Pallister How does one of the top restaurants in the world approach teamwork in service? Two EHL lecturers have just spent several days at Alain Ducasse's restaurant at the Plaza Athénée in Paris and came away with a number of insights which they will now pass on to their students, as they seek to make sure the education they provide is up-to-date and aligned with the latest trends in the industry. The two faculty members spoke to Hospitality Insights about their key takeaways. Eric Iunker and Lionel Sauvère who teach on EHL's practical arts (or AP program) have a challenge. How can they make sure what the...
The Need for True Careers in Housekeeping
Larry Mogelonsky | October 31, 2018
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.hotelmogel.com) A widespread problem that hotels are currently facing pertains to staffing shortages. Lensing our discussion to the housekeeping department where turnover is often at resource-exhaustive rates, a common thread I've seen and heard from executive housekeepers and human resource directors is that this line of work is not seen as desirable, only attracting those candidates who desperately need a job and who are not motivated to stay beyond the base need for a weekly stipend. Some room attendants end up staying from lengthy breadths of time – decades even – and become cheris...
Sense of Place Has a Human Side
Larry Mogelonsky | October 24, 2018
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.hotelmogel.com) Too often when we refer to the concept of a 'sense of place', our thoughts tend to drift towards the physicality of a hotel – mainly its exterior and interior design elements. Yes, these are both insurmountably important towards creating a unique impression on guests and bringing them into your property's exceptional experience, but they are hardly everything. While next down the list would be guestroom design, staff uniforms, authentically local additions to F&B, lobby or spa treatments and perhaps the keepsakes you give guests at checkout, one area that you cannot overlo...
