The Tricycle of Guest Service Excellence: A Perfect Model For Remarkable Experiences
Doug Kennedy | October 4th, 2024
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Hospitality Financial Leadership: Why OTA’s Are Uber Successful
David Lund | November 5, 2018
By David Lund Have you ever wondered why we all hear so much complaining and downright all-around annoyance being expressed from hotels about the on-line travel agents? You would naturally think that because there is so much protest being made that hotels would simply not use the service and opt for something else? Right? Well – not so fast as hotels are reportedly using OTA's more than ever. There are three key reasons why OTA's are so successful and, in turn, why hotels and customers all flock to use them. One. Hotels, brands and franchisers all benefit from using OTA's and they do so without making a single dollar of investment...
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...
Hospitality Financial Leadership: Trading Places
David Lund | October 29, 2018
Circa 2009. Late September. I'm the regional controller for five hotels. Sitting at my desk minding my own business, doing my own work when the phone rings. It's an old friend, one-time assistant, and now the regional controller based at a hotel in another city. He explained the desire to move back to where I was but was not having much luck finding a job. His homesick wife really wanted their children educated at home. We chatted for a few moments and caught up on different topics. Then he said, "Hey, David, how about we trade jobs?" "Can we do that?" I asked. Then I thought, "Wow, it's 28 years after the high school summer I planned t...
How Wellness Became Big Business in America
JLL Real Views | October 26, 2018
During a '60 Minutes' segment on health in 1979, anchor Dan Rather said, "'Wellness': there's a word you don't hear every day." Four decades later, the word is ingrained into the paces of modern life, from a spirulina-infused smoothie in the morning, to an evening sound-healing session at the office, offered as part of a corporate wellness program. "Wellness went from a niche concern – something 'granola' – to something that is mainstream," says Carl Muhlstein, who leads a landlord agency leasing team at JLL. With mass appeal comes mass profit. The wellness industry is now valued at US$4.2 trillion, having grown 12.8 perce...
How 5 Hotels Compete With OTAs by Showcasing Unique Local Experiences
Nancy Huang | October 25, 2018
By Nancy Huang Today's travelers are no longer content with merely visiting a destination and have the same experience as everyone else. They increasingly yearn for something unique and want to explore the places they visit through a local perspective. This emerging need represents a huge opportunity for hotels. By creating in-depth destination guides, or by hosting their own locally-led tours, hotels can make their properties more desirable to drive more direct bookings. The following post highlights five hotels that are promoting their destinations with engaging neighborhood guides and authentic local experiences. But before diving...
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...
High-Speed Rail Propels Hong Kong Hotels
JLL Real Views | October 23, 2018
New bullet trains zipping between Hong Kong and mainland China are set to make travel for tourists faster, cheaper and easier than ever – although finding a hotel room amid rising visitor numbers could well become that much harder. Eight years in the making, Hong Kong's high-speed rail officially opened last month. The $11 billion project created the longest high-speed network in the world, connecting 44 cities in China to Hong Kong. It's forecast to ferry 80,000 passengers a day – including business travelers and tourists – in and out of Hong Kong. An immediate impact for travelers to Hong Kong: a steep drop in costs....
The Top 25 Most Haunted Historic Hotels for 2018 From Historic Hotels of America
Historic Hotels of America | October 23, 2018
These "spirited" guests may have checked out, but never left these historic hotels WASHINGTON, D.C.—October 23, 2018 Historic Hotels of America® has over 300 hotels with long and storied histories representing over 36 decades in American history. From a former Carmelite convent to hotels that are adjacent to battlegrounds and a hotel that was once a morgue, many of these hotels have "spirited" guests that continue to haunt the halls long after they have checked out. Here is Historic Hotels of America's Top 25 Most Haunted Historic Hotels for 2018 along with some of America's spookiest hotel ghost stories: Concord's Colonial In...
Ways To Improve Business Travelers’ Guest Experience
October 19, 2018
by Emilia Jaakkola The hospitality industry is constantly exposed to new demands from business travelers, particularly as tech-savvy Millennials have grown up into that customer segment. New technologies - like artificial intelligence and IoT - are revolutionizing hotel guest experience permanently. This brings us to a question many hoteliers are pondering: how have business travelers needs changed and how to update the hotel for them to maximize guest experience? To help you do this, we've compiled some of the most relevant needs and ways to satisfy them: 1. Streamline the check-in process. Upon arrival business travelers value a fast...
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 203: Hotel History: The Skirvin Hotel, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (225 Rooms)
Stanley Turkel | October 16, 2018
by Stanley Turkel, CMHS Hotel History: The Skirvin Hotel (Part 1) The Skirvin Hilton Hotel is Oklahoma City's oldest hotel. It was built by William Balser Skirvin, a native of Michigan who made his fortune in Texas land development and oil. In 1906, Skirvin and his family (including his daughter Pearl who would later become Perle Mesta, ambassador to Luxemborg and a famous Washington hostess) moved to Oklahoma City. Skirvin hired Solomon Andrew Layton, an American architect who designed over 100 public buildings in the Oklahoma City area including the Oklahoma State Capitol. Twenty-two of Layton's buildings are listed on the National R...
Hospitality Financial Leadership – Understanding RevPAR and RevPAR Index
David Lund | October 15, 2018
RevPAR and RevPAR index are different and I'm going to explain them both in this article. Let's start with RevPAR It is the cornerstone of the hotel world and rightfully so. It is the product of occupancy and rate smashed together. The acronym stands for "revenue per available room." In a simple example: If my hotel was 60 percent occupied last night and my average rate was $100, my RevPAR would be $60 (100 x .6). The other way to calculate this would be to take the total rooms in my hotel—in this example it is 500—and divide that by the total room revenue last night. At 60 percent that means I had 300 rooms occupied and I w...
Four Things That Got People Talking at Expo Real
JLL Real Views | October 15, 2018
Whether it's new technologies changing how we work, economic policy decisions changing the investment landscape or fresh ways of looking at old business models, Europe's real estate isn't short of disruptive forces right now. And that's before we even start on the political uncertainty currently gripping Europe's decision makers. At Expo Real, Europe's annual international trade fair for property investment held in Munich, all these different strands of change were up for debate as real estate professionals dissected emerging investment opportunities, discussed the economic and political outlook and considered how to stay ahead of the c...
How Marijuana Legalization Impacts Hotels
Larry Mogelonsky | October 10, 2018
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.hotelmogel.com) With national legalization of marijuana in Canada coming into effect on October 17, 2018, it raises quite a few lucrative opportunities for hotels to capitalize on this new market, as well as a few cautionary notes. Further, with numerous states already adopting similar policies and even more soon to join the fold, this trend is one you must pay attention to. For starters, you must ask whether or not there is any money to be made in marijuana tourism. While you can certainly draw affirming statistics from the likes of anomalies like Amsterdam or Copenhagen's Christiania District, a ...
The Future of Private Equity and Private Markets
Stuart Pallister | October 9, 2018
By Stuart Pallister Ecole hôteliere de Lausanne, a leading hospitality school, recently staged the 2nd annual private markets research conference. Private equity was a major focus this year particularly as the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund had recently decided against investing in this area. Private equity, or unlisted equity investment, has had an impact on a wide range of industries, including hospitality. A few years ago, Blackstone's $26 billion Hilton deal was hailed as the best leveraged buyout ever. According to a Bloomberg View columnist, the most profitable equity deal in history was 'badly timed but brilliantly execute...
Why More Consolidation Is on the Cards for Hotels
Real Views | October 8, 2018
From mega-mergers to niche acquisitions, consolidation is recalibrating the balance of power in the hotel industry as established operators get bigger and smaller brands seek new ways to differentiate themselves. Today's hotel operators are increasingly looking to diversify their offerings with a range of different concepts, for example serviced apartments or boutique chains alongside their established brands, as well as branching out into new countries. New live-work-play concepts are emerging as "a kick against the idea of the traditional hotel", Tony Ryan, managing director of global mergers & acquisitions at JLL says, pointing t...
Hospitality Financial Leadership: Your Department Managers Really Want to Do Their Monthly Financial Forecasts
David Lund | October 8, 2018
By David Lund You probably read the title and said to yourself, "No way, that's a load of BS. There is no way my managers want to do their financial forecasts. Heck, I can't even get them to submit their accruals or commentaries. We ask them to do their forecasts but rarely do we get them on time or even halfway making any sense. How on earth can I get my department managers to want to do their forecasts?" One of the most powerful distinctions in the world is the difference between wanting to do something and knowing how to do something. There is a saying that goes like this: If you can find the 'want to', the 'how to' is everywhere. Th...
Hospitality Is the Ultimate Cachet – Images Planted, Dreams Launched!
John Hendrie | October 8, 2018
By John Hendrie The marketplace is bustling with experiences for consumers to consider. It hurts your head! However, Colleagues, we've got it, and others want it. The term, hospitality, evokes certain emotions and expectations, and we are the practitioners who make it work. We fulfill the dreams and deliver the goods. Hospitality represents a most worthy cachet, and we cannot afford to lose that edge. Cachet, you say. What does that actually mean? By definition, a cachet is a sign showing something which is genuine, authentic or of superior quality – a mark of distinction and prestige. In this age of experience, that is exactly wh...
Hilton Singapore Welcomes New Executive Chef Kazi Hassan
Stanley Turkel | October 5, 2018
SINGAPORE - Hilton Singapore welcomes new Executive Chef Kazi Hassan who brings over 15 years of international culinary experiences from various acclaimed establishments, five-star hotels and Michelin-starred restaurant across Australia, Middle East and Asia. Born in Bangladesh and raised in Australia at a very young age, Hassan proclaims himself a modern Australian Chef yet holds true to his Bangladeshi roots with a penchant for spices and aromatic flavours. "We are thrilled to have Chef Kazi Hassan on board at Hilton Singapore. His extensive international culinary experiences at top five-star hotels and Michelin-starred restaurant wil...
Online Customer Reviews: Their Impact on Restaurants
Dr Jean-Philippe Weisskopf | October 5, 2018
By Dr Jean-Philippe Weisskopf and Philippe Masset Dining out, going for a movie, or enjoying a bottle of fine wine are all 'experience goods', that is, they have to be consumed or experienced in order for them to be assessed and evaluated. Online customer reviews are valuable as they allow potential consumers to get in-depth information from others for a relatively low cost and little effort. With one click, they can solve an information asymmetry problem in which service providers are better informed than customers. The internet allows customers to share their views and feedback cheaply and efficiently with a large audience. Why do con...
The Need for Big Data and Quantitative Skills Training In Hospitality
Dr. Giuliano Bianchi | October 4, 2018
By Dr. Giuliano Bianchi & Dr. Isabella Blengini The hospitality industry is becoming increasingly complex, with financial engineering, corporate governance, and strategic interactions with other sectors now part and parcel of daily life. In addition, publicly-traded major hotel chains manage a portfolio of brands and deal with a range of other industries at the same time. Hotels can no longer rely on experience and 'savoir-faire' to get by, but need to hire staff who are comfortable with quantitative skills such as mathematics and statistics. This is why, as economists, we believe hospitality business schools that teach subjects suc...
Lowe, AECOM Capital and Atlas Hotels Sell Four Development Parcels to Joint Venture Owned by Holland Partner Group and North America Sekisui House
Holland Partner Group | October 3, 2018
SAN DIEGO--Joint venture partners Lowe, AECOM Capital and Atlas Hotels have completed the sale of four residential development parcels in San Diego's Mission Valley neighborhood. The 10.13-acre development site is part of the planned mixed-use renovation and redevelopment of the Town and Country San Diego, a 40-acre urban resort hotel and conference center on Hotel Circle North in Mission Valley. The buyer was a joint venture owned by Vancouver, Washington-based developer Holland Partner Group and North America Sekisui House, LLC (NASH). According to Tom Warren, Executive Managing Director of Holland Partner Group, construction on the f...
Hotel Industry – Q4 2018 and Beyond
Robert A. Rauch | October 3, 2018
By Robert A. Rauch Many of us who attended The Lodging Conference this past month heard Bernard Baumohl, Chief Economist for the Conference Board, provide his economic forecast. He covered topics in his usual fast, effective and entertaining style. Some interesting takeaways were that business spending is not up much, oil is going to see oversupply and is up markedly due to politics (not the market), and GDP will be up 3 percent this year, 2.2 percent next year and 1.4 percent in 2020, according to the Consensus Forecast. Baumohl's concerns include President Trump, cyber warfare, geopolitical threats and a real need for corporate agilit...
