The Tricycle of Guest Service Excellence: A Perfect Model For Remarkable Experiences
Doug Kennedy | October 4th, 2024
Crafting a Unique Employer Brand for Today’s Talent Market
Veronika Mercier | August 14th, 2024
Hospitality Financial Leadership: Serving Lunch
David Lund | February 8, 2021
By David Lund Almost 40 years ago now I was a busboy at a large and busy resort in the Canadian Rockies. I had transferred west a few months earlier from another hotel in the same chain where I had worked for two years. This is a story about me starting to find my way through this maze we call the hotel business. This piece was inspired by a reader who sent me a note. In the early eighties, I completed high school and through a bit of a cluster flux I ended up in hotel school at the local college. While attending the hotel program I was fortunate enough to get hired at the summer resort as a bartender, the hotel also had a year-round ba...
Launching a Hospitality Start-Up During a Pandemic: Keys to Success
Virdee | February 8, 2021
By Branigan Mulcahy, Nadav Cornberg 2020 can be seen as a hugely challenging time to have launched a start up company – especially in the hospitality space, which has suffered massive dislocations as a result of COVID-19. In spite of the challenges, our experience has been that the need for innovative solutions for hotels has never been greater - and there is a growing recognition that start up innovation is a key to both recovery and future industry growth. We started Virdee with the vision for a solution to help hoteliers automate check-in, ID verification and payments. The past year’s experience of turning the dream into a rea...
Tourism Tidbits: Some Merchandising Ideas in the Age of Pandemics
Peter Tarlow | February 5, 2021
By Dr. Peter Tarlow Even with the arrival of vaccines, and the hopeful large-scale inoculations, tourism leaders know that these next few months will not be easy. In many places there has been a second or third wave, and other nations are now dealing with alternative strains of the virus. Until the pandemic ends it will be necessary to increase our merchandizing skills both for tangible products and for those products that are intangible but very much a part of the travel and tourism experience. Due to the Covid-19 economic meltdown throughout much of the world, how we market and merchandise may determine the difference between an ac...
Americans Plan to Take an Additional Week of Vacation This Year, Expedia Reports
Expedia.com | February 4, 2021
SEATTLE, WA -- Feb. 4, 2021 -- Following a year where for many, every aspect of life – from work, school, daycare, and even vacation – was spent under one roof, in 2021 people worldwide are more determined than ever to use up all the vacation days they've earned. According to the annual Vacation Deprivation study from Expedia®, in 2021 Americans plan to take an extra week (five days) of vacation. With this new "no days left behind" mindset, Vacation Deprivation is well on its way to becoming a thing of the past. Expedia first launched the annual study more than two decades ago to illustrate the benefits of vacation and encourage work...
Company Cultures and Residual Shockwaves From 2020
February 3, 2021
By Thomas Mielke, James Houran Social and economic disruptions often shift people’s behaviours — sometimes in small ways, other times more seismic. On this point, AETHOS conducted a ‘COVID Gap’ analysis for the C-suite within hospitality organisations at the end of last year. The results were sobering. Particularly, we found several significant changes across these team’s Execution, People, and Cognitive skills: “Overall, management teams were more tactical and short-term focused, but also much nimbler in their thinking. Strategy alongside established protocols and processes were thrown out the window. Aspects relating to tea...
The Problem Isn’t the Employee, It’s the System
Shep Hyken | February 3, 2021
By Shep Hyken Here’s a true story shared by my friend and speaking colleague Beth Terry. The short version is that there is a doctor, who is probably a good doctor. But he’s a terrible boss. When a patient – as in his customer – complains about something, he listens and then goes back to his employees, and in a knee-jerk reaction, he berates and punishes them by taking away their incentives. You can only imagine what that does to the morale of the team. And what happens next? The employees quit, which is understandable. There are plenty of employee surveys that point to the number one reason people quit their jobs. Many peo...
Frontline Staff Training: From Customer Service to Entertainment
EHL | February 3, 2021
The role of frontline staff is changing within the hospitality industry. Staff members are now expected to have an expanded role with additional service skills at their disposal. If you’re hoping to get into this industry, you should know that on top of proper customer service skills, you’ll need to up your game to deliver an entertaining experience to your guests. This is what gives modern guests the immersive experience they crave. Why has the industry changed? Hotels didn’t always need to provide an entertainment experience, as they were generally seen as a home base for relaxing and resting between going out to other destina...
Survey: 56% of Americans Likely to Travel for Vacation in 2021; 21% Report Traveling Since Pandemic
AHLA | February 3, 2021
WASHINGTON — February 3, 2020 — A new survey conducted by Morning Consult and commissioned by the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) shows consumers are optimistic about traveling again in 2021, with 56% reporting they are likely to travel for vacation this year. That represents a significant decline from pre-pandemic levels, when approximately 70% of Americans took a vacation in any given year, according to OmniTrak (TNS) data. Since the onset of the pandemic, just 21% of survey respondents reported traveling for vacation or leisure, and only 28% reported staying in hotel. Prior to the pandemic, 58% of survey respondents ...
Hybrid Meetings Impact on Group Business
Craig Jacobs | February 2, 2021
By Craig Jacobs Who could have predicted a year ago that Zoom would be a major disruptive influence in the Meetings Industry? Years of speculation about the threat to hotels from videoconferencing was much ado about nothing until the Pandemic. Now, conventional wisdom suggests that Hybrid Groups, which combine teleconferencing with person-to-person meetings, will be prevalent for the foreseeable future and a permanent part of the new normal. NEW PARADIGM, NEW CHALLENGES The same forces (perceived cost savings, enhanced convenience, health concerns,) that have exalted the benefits of working from home also wreak havoc on...
‘Hospitality Industry Trends for 2021’ Report Now Available From Beekeeper
Beekeeper | February 2, 2021
Learn how hoteliers and restaurateurs can take charge of their recovery using digital strategies to pave the way; It’s time to look at disruption as an opportunity OAKLAND, CALIF. — February 2, 2021 — 2021 is bringing many changes to the way the hospitality industry operates, but not in ways we expected just a year ago. Like a sudden blackout, COVID-19 disrupted every aspect of modern life, and operators’ day-to-day lives have yet to return to normal. To understand how the hardships imposed by the pandemic will impact hospitality this year, Beekeeper is offering a new report titled “Hospitality Industry Trends for 2021 — ...
Hospitality’s ‘Hot Seat’ Leadership Series: Trends in Key Functions – Part 1
Andrew Hazelton | February 1, 2021
Andrew Hazelton, Thomas Mielke We are frequently asked by leaders in our industry what roles are ‘hot’ and where are we seeing movement? That curiosity is reflective of our highly competitive sector, one where individuals are eager to further their professional development but also of an industry where scarcity of talent remains an issue – and the pandemic, perhaps counter-intuitively, will probably exaggerate this even further. Of course, one cannot deny that, at present, there is a larger than usual talent pool for employees to pick and choose from. However, the pandemic has also caused some considerable ‘talent haemorrhaging’,...
Hospitality Financial Leadership: Container Inventories
David Lund | February 1, 2021
By David Lund If you read my stuff you are probably familiar with the phrase, “Hospitality is a game of inches.” Yes, it’s true. There is the driving engine of room revenue but almost everything else we need to deal with puts a drag on performance. These things can really slow us down, to use another motorsports analogy. One thing you want to make sure you’re on top of is the proper use of the container inventory, and I am willing to bet most of you reading this that you don’t do what I am about to outline. Before I get into the details, allow me to tell you a little story about one hotel I worked in and the night watchman. I ...
Be a Goldfish
Shep Hyken | January 27, 2021
By Shep Hyken I was recently asked what three traits I think are most important for someone in customer service to have. I’d like to broaden the topic to anyone dealing with someone else’s problem or question, be it a customer or another person inside the organization, also known as an inside customer. My response to the question was quick: Empathy, which I have chosen as The Word of the Year. More than ever, our customers need to feel a connection. Good communications skills, which includes listening and also ties back to empathy. If you miscommunicate with customers, that could lead to them saying something like, “I...
Give Guests a Rest!
PolyU’s School of Hotel and Tourism Management | January 27, 2021
27 January 2021 - A good night’s sleep is the most important service a hotel can offer its overnight guests, according to Dr Alice Hon and Dr Clare Fung of the School of Hotel and Tourism Management (SHTM) at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Analysing hotels’ sleep-management strategies from the perspective of both business and leisure travellers, the researchers show how hotels can best allocate their resources to optimise guests’ sleep quality. Such strategies may offer hotels a unique source of competitive advantage, enabling them to survive and even thrive in today’s precarious market environment. The chance to sleep well an...
Will Guests Say “I Do” Again? Survey of Tech’s Impact on Guest Satisfaction
Agnes DeFranco | January 26, 2021
By Agnes DeFranco and Minwoo Lee Technology is everywhere in a modern hotel, and in 2021 and beyond, it is not only about in-room Wi-Fi or booking a hotel room online. The reality is that the list of guest-facing technology is quite long. Plus, now hotel companies are leaning on technologies to limit personal contact in support of social distancing. This leads us to ask: are our guests satisfied with these new technologies? Does technology satisfaction carry over to the overall satisfaction of the hotel stay? More importantly, would guests rebook with the same hotel company in the future? This past August, we conducted a study that aime...
Hotel Distribution – Why You Need to Be “Agile” as a Hotelier
Ellis Connolly | January 25, 2021
By Ellis Connolly The need for agile hotel distribution is more important now than ever, as the hotel industry continues to strategize and map out roads to recovery across every segment of the market amidst Covid. When was the last time a hotel revenue strategy team was able to rebuild their distribution and channel strategies from sub 50% occupancy levels? It’s been decades for most properties unless you are a new build. We, as an industry, should look at this as an opportunity to better position ourselves, while thinking about both short- and long-term distribution strategies. Hoteliers’ abilities to quickly move – and fail –...
Hospitality Financial Leadership: Brotherly Love
David Lund | January 25, 2021
By David Lund I didn’t start out in the hotel business with a plan or even any desire to be a financial leader. I was going to be a GM one day. Well, all that changed in 1986. The large downtown hotel was a big change from the youth-infused Rocky Mountain resort hotel where I had worked for the past three and one-half years. At the hotel in the Rockies, the food and beverage department and the front desk occupied most of my early time, and in the last year, I took a day job in the food and beverage control department. I took the job for two reasons: one the pay was better and two the schedule was Monday to Friday 8:30 a.m. – 5 p.m. ...
Consumer Behavior Changes During the Pandemic: What Should Businesses Know?
Hassan Al Sayegh | January 22, 2021
By Hassan Al Sayegh It has been one year since the first COVID-19 case was reported to the World Health Organization in December 2019. The World Health Organization declared it a pandemic in March 2020. Multiple countries during the pandemic have initiated nationwide lockdowns and restrictions (WHO, 2020). The pandemic has led to global economic disruptions described by the IMF as the worst since the Great Depression (Jones et al., 2020). COVID-19 is having a lasting impact on consumer needs and preferences (Samuel, 2020). It is being declared as “the new normal” (Charm et al., 2020). Interestingly, consumers are adjusting to this n...
Hotel Sales Teams: 2020 Is Behind Us but Not the Pandemic. Now What?
JoAnn M. Mulnix-Morris | January 22, 2021
By JoAnn M. Mulnix-Morris In Spring 2020, many hotels were forced to furlough most on-property Sales Managers because so much demand for hotels disappeared with the pandemic, requiring any remaining team members to be responsible for market segments which previously were not their responsibility. These remaining Sales Managers were forced to adapt to many other changes in a short time, including rescheduling/canceling events, in addition to learning how to research and sell to new/additional market segments while maintaining relationships with past and current clients. What does this mean for the future sales teams? You Can’...
Small Improvements in Customer Service Create Big Wins
Shep Hyken | January 20, 2021
By Shep Hyken Little successes added together make for large success down the road. Small successes add up. To put it in baseball terms, you don’t need to hit a home run every time it’s your turn at bat. So, here’s the question to consider: What small change will enhance the experience for the customer, even if it is just by 1%? My friend and client, Jason Bradshaw of Volkswagen in Australia, was tasked with improving the customer experience for the VW dealerships. Within two years he had made big strides. It didn’t happen with big sweeping changes. It happened with little ones. Even “tiny” ones that he referred to as...
Lessons Learned in 2020 Spark New Digitalization Trends for Frontline Workers in 2021
Andrada Paraschiv | January 20, 2021
By Andrada Paraschiv It may be a new year, but it is far from business as usual for those working in the hospitality industry. According to new data released from the U.S. Department of labor, “498,000 employees were laid off from their jobs in the leisure and hospitality sector in December 2020.” The Washington Post reports that “of those, about 75% were employees at restaurants and bars,” and “nearly 4 million leisure and hospitality jobs have been lost since February 2020, according to economists.” One of the biggest lessons learned last year was that communicating with hotel housekeepers, laundry workers, roomservice a...
Customer Service and Recovery via Social Media
Ana McFee | January 19, 2021
By Ana McFee More than half of the world’s population currently uses social media. People turn to the various platforms to connect with friends and businesses alike. They read stories that interest them, share news, and even investigate companies that they might be interested in buying from. Social media, in many ways, has become the world's watercooler. This is where customers go to discuss the issues that matter the most to them. In a world where customers control much of the early process of the buyer’s journey, including taking the initiative to uncover companies and product solutions that might help them solve their pain point...
How Job Seekers’ Social Media Profiles Affect Employability: Evidence From a Research Study
Linchi Kwok | January 19, 2021
By Linchi Kwok Social media plays an increasingly important role in recruitment and employee selection. Recruiters are tempted to check on job candidates’ social media profiles (SMPs) because SMPs could reveal more dynamic information about the candidates than their resumes alone. By checking the candidates’ SMPs, recruiters can discover their real personality, which cannot be easily achieved even through job interviews. Meanwhile, hiring managers can also assess job candidates’ social capital based on the size and the composition of their social networks. The study To investigate how social media may affect recruiters’ hiring dec...
Hospitality Financial Leadership: What’s Possible in the Future With Hotel Financial Statements
David Lund | January 18, 2021
By David Lund I am a big fan of the Uniformed System of Accounts for the Lodging Industry (USALI), or as she is affectionately called “You Sally.” It has been the guide that our industry uses to properly present financial information for a long…long time, in fact almost 100 years. It lays out the format for our financial statement presentation and essentially acts as a referee if you like, to tell us what goes where. What revenues, costs of goods, expenses, and payroll belong to which department. Having a guidebook in its 11th edition that details where it goes and what it looks like are a gift. I know many industries struggle w...
