Using the Labor Data from Hotel Effectiveness to Minimize Costs and Turnover
Adam and Larry Mogelonsky | January 11th, 2023
Four Creatively Destructive Forces for the Hotel Industry
Larry and Adam Mogelonsky | July 13th, 2022
Thinking for Yourself May Be the Only Regimen for a Full Recovery Part I
Steven Ferry | July 22, 2020
By Steven Ferry “Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.” Groucho Marx Do you personally accept the "New Normal" for the hospitality industry and society as a whole—which is based on the premise that Covid-19 is a singularly dangerous threat that requires a complete change in our lives, when (as it turns out) it is actually on a par with the common flu and (as it turns out) every other incorrectly declared pandemic? Or do you want to understand what has happened and do whatever is in your power, big or small, to return to the old, fun and life-f...
Maestro Asks: ‘How Serious Is Your PMS Provider About Service?’
Maestro PMS | July 22, 2020
Client-first, all-inclusive philosophy is the standard by which all property-management system suppliers should be measured; Maestro PMS is leading the way Markham, Ontario, July 22, 2020 — As independent hoteliers work diligently to prepare for reopening, many are struggling to get the support they need to ensure their property-management systems and integrated solutions are ready for guests’ return. Those who are dissatisfied with their provider’s lack of customer service are turning to Maestro, known industrywide for its Diamond Plus service. The cloud and on-premise PMS provider offers a comprehensive suite of services and tools ...
How Consulting Data Can Help Build Your Profit Back
HotStats | July 21, 2020
The punches thrown by COVID-19 onto the hotel industry have been incessant. First, it landed a blow to public and employee health. Next came a punishing economic swing that knocked out nearly 200 million jobs globally. Now, many hoteliers may feel like they’re left laying on the mat — heads spinning from the chaos. It’s time to get back up and fight back with a plan. Make no mistake, the damage from COVID-19 will keep coming. But hoteliers can use data to soften the impact of future blows and emerge from the COVID-19 era in better shape. Here’s how: Establish a Financial Baseline Before moving forward, hoteliers need to get ...
Is the Hotel Industry About to Self-Destruct? Media Exposes Shocking Hotel Fails and Growing Guest Distrust
Alan Young | July 21, 2020
By Alan E. Young At the onset of the pandemic, the fall-out was immediate; in the span of a few weeks, hotel lobbies and airport terminals that were once bustling with travelers were left empty. Fear and distrust spread quickly, as did the realization that international travel may be off the table for an extended period of time. In response, hotels have been quick to announce big plans for enhanced cleaning and sanitation programs and policies to help guests feel safe enough to return. Every hotel large and small seems to be promoting new practices to reassure guests. However, hotels face heightened speculation and scrutiny as their c...
Hospitality Industry Urged to Embrace the New Customer Journey and Re-Think Processes in the Post-Pandemic Business Recovery
HSMAI Europe | July 21, 2020
In order to overcome the challenges and capitalise on opportunities in the post-pandemic business recovery, the hospitality industry will need to re-think former working processes and be prepared to adapt to meet the changing customer requirements. This was the clear and inspiring message from the recent HSMAI Region Europe webinar entitled ‘The All New Customer Journey’ which took place last week. Research findings According to the latest research from HSMAI Europe unveiled at the webinar, more than three quarters of the membership surveyed believe firmly that customer experience rather than profitability will be a core focus for...
Hotel Industry, Reeling From Covid-19 Economic Fallout, Lays Out Priorities for Covid 4.0
AHLA | July 21, 2020
Hotels Still Below 50% of Pre-COVID Staffing; Industry Calls for Increased Liquidity Measures & Targeted Tax Provisions Click here to download the letter WASHINGTON (July 21, 2020) – As lawmakers consider additional legislation to address the ongoing health crisis and economic fallout from COVID-19, the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) sent a letter to Congress calling for additional help in several areas, including extending the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) for severely impacted businesses and their employees, creating targeted lending facilities and liquidity measures to help hoteliers meet debt service, ...
Franchise and Management Disputes in the Time of Covid
Jim Butler | July 20, 2020
By Jim Butler and the Global Hospitality Group® Hotel Lawyers | Authors of www.HotelLawBlog.com Franchise and Management Disputes in the Time of Covid by Robert Braun If you are reading this, you are almost certainly in the hospitality industry, and you are most likely in a financial and emotional distress. During trying times, hotel owners rely more than ever on their brands and managers – the professionals that owners engage to protect the multi-million dollar investments that they have made in building, maintaining and upgrading properties. Owners rely on brands to drive occupancy and revenue, and on managers to make the most effect...
The MAPP Report, by myDigitalOffice Gains Momentum
myDigitalOffice | July 20, 2020
Helps Hotels Accelerate Recovery from COVID-19 with forward-looking data Washington, DC - July 20, 2020 - myDigitalOffice, the information management and back-office automation platform for hotels, recently launched the MAPP report (Market Analytics, Pace, and Performance), a free data analytics tool that enables hoteliers to identify forward-looking bookings pace and performance trends across their hotels and their respective markets, and visualize market recovery in real-time. In a matter of weeks, this free resource has garnered the attention of nearly 200 groups, representing over 15,000 hotels worldwide. ”The speed at which our i...
Travelers Confused by Inconsistent COVID-19 Travel Rules and Advice Across Europe
July 17, 2020
Lack of alignment will slow down the Europe-wide recovery Proper co-ordination by European governments could create a 10 million jobs boost London, UK: The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) has called for more consistent travel rules and COVID-19 advice by European countries to counter confusion by travellers and holidaymakers. Those journeying to Europe for the first time since travel restrictions began to ease have faced a baffling array of different types of travel rules and advice – with each country across the continent emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic at different stages, which is delaying the recovery. The une...
Travel Industry Outlines Relief Needs as Reopenings Falter
U.S. Travel Association | July 17, 2020
Recent News Has Hurt Americans’ Views on Traveling, Polling Shows WASHINGTON (July 17, 2020) - Amid a new round of coronavirus-related economic closures and fresh data that Americans are as wary as ever of traveling, the devastated U.S. travel industry on Friday submitted to Congress and the administration its policy requests for the next coronavirus relief package. The slate of proposals includes measures to help travel employers survive the worst of the downturn; assistance with health-related necessities such as robust sanitation and personal protective equipment; and, eventually, incentives to get Americans safely traveling again...
Hotel Industry Releases Top 5 Requirements to Travel Safely
AHLA | July 17, 2020
Face Coverings, Physical Distancing to be Standardized at Hotels; Download the Guest Checklist WASHINGTON (July 16, 2020) – The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) today released the “Safe Stay Guest Checklist” for guests on how to travel safely while also creating a standardized safety experience nationwide. This checklist is part of AHLA’s Safe Stay guidelines, an industry-wide, enhanced set of health and safety protocols designed to provide a safe and clean environment for all hotel guests and employees. The Safe Stay Guest Checklist includes: Require face coverings in all indoor public spaces and pract...
U.S. Hotel Transactions Down 74% Due to COVID-19
STR | July 17, 2020
BROOMFIELD, Colorado—U.S. hotel transactions were down 74% year over year from March to May 2020, according to the just-released Hotel Transaction Almanac produced by STR’s Consulting & Analytics office and CoStar Group. “The industry went from a position of record profit levels to financial distress in a matter of weeks, creating a shift in focus for those in the transactions community,” said Hannah Smith, a senior consultant at STR. “Looking ahead, we expect transaction activity to eventually pick up, while pricing will continue to decline later in the year, as investors look to acquire distressed assets at a discount. Wh...
Hotel Industry Urges Governors, Mayors to Standardize Face Coverings in Public Spaces in All 50 States
AHLA | July 16, 2020
AHLA Commends States That Have Mandated Face Coverings, Asks For Consistent Nationwide Mandates WASHINGTON (July 16, 2020) – The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) sent letters today to the Trump Administration, the National Governor’s Association, and the United States Conference of Mayors commending governors and mayors across the country who have standardized the use of face coverings in all indoor public spaces while urging a consistent standard practice across all 50 states. “We are grateful to the more than two dozen governors and numerous mayors who have standardized the use of face coverings in all indoor pu...
Technology Companies Help Hotels Get Back to Business
Hospitality Upgrade | July 16, 2020
From virtual events to product discounts, these vendors are stepping up to accelerate industry recovery by Fran Worrall, Hospitality Upgrade Editor As the travel industry begins to rally, technology companies are taking steps to help their customers get back to business. Strategies run the gamut from complimentary webinars and virtual learning events to special promotions and discounts, all designed to enable hotels and other hospitality venues to reopen confidently and economically amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Industry giant Oracle Hospitality, with support from HTNG, a global trade association dedicated to uniting hospitality compan...
Recovery Is When Gen Zers and Millennials Travel for Business
Linchi Kwok | July 15, 2020
By Linchi Kwok Gen Z and Millennials are key to travel industry’s recovery That was the headline of a Travel Pulse report, which quoted a GlobalData survey. The survey suggests that younger and wealthier travelers would be the first to resume international leisure travel when the COVID-19 restrictions are lifted. Both generations belong to the younger group of travelers, with the oldest Millennials just turning 39 this year. That assumption is probably right, but Gen Zers and the Millennials have their concerns too. For example, Gen Z – “A worried generation” Gen Zers are those who were born after 1996 or 2000, dependi...
Going Cashless Without Phone Transactions
Larry Mogelonsky | July 15, 2020
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.hotelmogel.com) The physical distancing and work-from-home orders put in place have brought to light numerous inefficiencies in how we manage hotel operations. These will all need to be addressed as we open our doors while keeping a leaner team, and today’s pain point relates to automating credit card transactions taken over the phone. Namely, still accepting this information via phone is an ineffective use of your front desk’s time while it also isn’t fully PCI compliant and creates a jumble of paper-based work for your accounting team which needs to post everything to the proper ledger. Plu...
Returning to Hospitality Operations
Adam Knight | July 14, 2020
By Adam Knight Unless a property is seasonal, most hotels aren't built to be closed. Ask around and you'll find that many hospitality professionals have never gone through the process of closing or opening a hotel. The first half of 2020 has changed that and we find ourselves at the start of the second half of the year with closed hotels still trying to decide if they should reopen and recently-opened hotels either struggling to operate on very minimal staffing or being overwhelmingly busy (with very minimal staffing). In any of these scenarios, trying to figure out what to do to safely reopen or to reassess plans that were put in pl...
Train Your Hotel Staff to Show Hospitality When Enforcing Mask Requirements
Doug Kennedy | July 14, 2020
By Doug Kennedy With most hotels around the globe requiring guests to wear facemasks in all public areas these days, it has fallen upon the frontline hospitality staff to enforce this policy, which in many cases is also municipal ordinance or decree. Although most guests comply voluntarily, a small minority are voicing their displeasure but still complying. An even smaller, but very vocal minority of hotel guests are challenging our staff’s authority to require compliance in a way that is confrontational and often demeaning. From what I am hearing, it’s the front desk staff who are most often the receptors of a verbal barrage, as th...
Pillows Hotels Implements IDeaS to Optimise Revenue Amid Market Demand Uncertainty
IDeaS | July 14, 2020
Pillows Hotels to reposition its organisation-wide strategic focus around IDeaS RMS capabilities Tweet this: Pillows Hotels implemented the @IDeaS_RevOpt Revenue Management System in the face of current demand uncertainty and is already reporting positive results. Get the details here: www.ideas.com/news LONDON—July 14, 2020—Today, IDeaS announced Pillows Hotels selected IDeaS Revenue Management System (RMS) to enhance the hotel chain’s strategy and competitive position in the face of the current industry downturn. Across its eight properties in the BENELUX region, the group has installed the industry-leading revenue management...
Travellers Should ‘Wear to Care’ in the New Normal Says WTTC
July 13, 2020
London, UK: The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) has called upon all travellers to don protective face masks to show they ‘wear to care’ in the new normal of travelling. As countries transition from lockdowns to reopening their borders, the wearing of face masks helps signal the return of safer travels, while also providing personal protection for users as well as those around them. The advice from WTTC in favour of mandatory mask wearing comes from evidence that countries which are recovering faster and avoid second COVID-19 spikes are those where the use of face masks have been widely enforced and encouraged. Following...
Change Is on the Horizon: What’s Next for Marketing in a Post-Pandemic World
Alan Young | July 9, 2020
It is time to shift from "here's why you should buy this service/product" to "here's how we can help" By Alan E. Young Around the world and across industries, marketers now face arguably one of the toughest challenges of their careers. There is, after all, no universally established gold-standard for marketing during a wide-spread pandemic, because a global crisis of this magnitude is hardly ‘textbook’. As the media coverage so often reiterates, we now find ourselves in uncharted territory. Although the importance of brand agility and frequent innovation is well-understood by business owners and B2B marketers, the coronavirus pan...
Breaking Even and the 5 Stages of Grief
HotStats | July 9, 2020
By David Eisen In 1969, Swiss-American psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross published “On Death and Dying,” which posited five stages of grief: Denial Anger Bargaining Depression Acceptance Hotel owners have been made to suffer through these phases at the cruel hands of COVID-19, which at its outset thoroughly destroyed the collective industry, bringing travel to a halt, wrecking revenue and drying up profit. After the preceding years of relative operational success, 2020 was the wakeup call the hotel industry didn’t want to hear, but was forced to. When occupancy rates instantly fell 50 percentage points, ho...
Impacts of COVID-19 on the Boston and Cambridge Hotel Industry
July 8, 2020
By RKG Associates and Pinnacle Advisory Group For 2019, Pinnacle Advisory Group estimated that Boston and Cambridge hotels generated nearly $2 billion in rooms revenue, based on a total supply of nearly 25,700 rooms, an average occupancy of 81.4 percent and an average daily rate (ADR) of $259. Over 13,300 people are employed in the hotel industry sector in Boston and Cambridge. Due to the pandemic and the stay-at-home requirements starting in March of this year, demand for hotel rooms has dropped precipitously. On March 31, Governor Baker began a provision of lodging that was defined as a COVID-19 Essential Service, allowing hotels in th...
Hotel Marketing in the Summer of Covid
Larry Mogelonsky | July 8, 2020
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.hotelmogel.com) With a vaccine far off, the balance of 2020 and some of 2021 will find us working under a powerful Covid cloud. Marketing is still needed, though, as it’s the lifeblood for driving awareness and generating demand. The summer months and early stretch of fall are critical for maintaining your current audience as well as finding new ones closer to home. While each property will have its own unique circumstances, there are some generalities that you can use to guide your budget planning. Below is a guide, not in any particular order of priority, split into those programs you should av...
