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Brand Building: A More Cost-Effective Way to Raise Your Company’s Profile?
Stuart Pallister | March 21, 2018
By Stuart Pallister When Arnaud Bertrand and Junjun Chen finished their studies at Ecole hôteliere de Lausanne in 2008 they went on to set up HouseTrip, an alternative accommodation start-up which would compete head-to-head with Airbnb and other online travel agencies. Initially the couple had just a laptop, an internet connection and an idea. They went literally from zero to annual revenues of 100 million dollars within just five years or so. Junjun takes up the story. "We were still in school, doing our second internships. We were in London and wanted to go to Scotland but we were students so didn't want to spend too much money....
CRM + PMS = Time to Wake up and Smell the Coffee
Kevin McCarthy | March 21, 2018
By Kevin McCarthy Think about all your possessions, all your worldly belongings, how you travel, and where you stay. I have just walked through my house in my mind and thought of brands that exist in my life for more than 3 years, and persist in their presence. One stands out, a coffee, George Clooney is a fan too of this brand, we have one of their coffee machines in our kitchen in Dubai that we bought 4 years ago when we lived in Switzerland. It works. Never broke down, never falters. The coffee tastes as good today as it did back then and the flavor variety increasing ensures our trust remains. Last Christmas we received complimentar...
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 193: Hotel History: John McEntee Bowman*(1875-1931)
Stanley Turkel | March 21, 2018
by Stanley Turkel, CMHS Hotel History: John McEntee Bowman John McEntee Bowman, president of the Bowman-Biltmore Hotel Corporation, had no easy boyhood. Born in 1875 in Toronto to Irish-Scottish immigrants, Bowman came to New York in 1892 when he was seventeen years old with the traditional lack of funds. He carried a letter of introduction to the manager of the old Manhattan Hotel at Madison Avenue and Forty-second Street. After waiting hours for an interview, he left without seeing the manager. He subsequently mailed the letter, asking for an appointment but received no reply and no returned letter. He got his first experience in the ...
Casablanca’s Hospitality Market Is Largely Dependent on Business Travellers, and Has Relatively Limited Hotels in the Luxury Segment, Says JLL
JLL | March 21, 2018
Occupancy rates recovered in 2017 from 62% in 2016 to 66% in 2017, owing to the performance of the 4-start hotel segment catering to conferences and exhibitions across the city CASABLANCA, Morocco, March 21, 2018/ -- Earlier this year, the Moroccan Central Bank (Bank Al-Maghrib) introduced the gradual floatation of the Moroccan Dirham, providing more flexibility to real estate investors and paving the way for a more buoyant real estate market in the year ahead. According to JLL's (www.JLL.com) Morocco 2018 report, the bank widened the official band within which the dirham may fluctuate to 5 percent, with a maximum daily move of 2.5 perc...
The Future Business Model of Hospitality Brands
David Samson | March 20, 2018
By David Samson The fundamentals for the hospitality industry all point to growth. According to the UN's World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), international tourist arrivals are projected to increase by more than 3 percent a year to reach 1.8 billion by 2030, whilst the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) predicts that the hospitality industry will grow in value on average by 3.9 percent a year over the next 10 years to $11.5 trillion – just slightly less than China's entire economy today. At the same time, the industry is feeling nervous as the hospitality landscape undergoes a period of significant change. The entrance of te...
Finding & Recruiting Talent in Hospitality: Never More Than Two Degrees of Separation
David Lund | March 19, 2018
By David Lund Finding good people in our industry is a tough job, especially in certain economies. It is extra tough when you are looking for a particular skill set. Hospitality does not have the reputation for paying well. We have the reputation for long hours and working on weekends and holidays. Not exactly the millennial's picture-perfect career profile. Hospitality is special and either you get it and you drank the Kool-Aid or you don't. According to salary.com a hospitality degree is number four on the top eight college degrees with the worst return on investment. How is that for a hard pill to swallow. There is hope and there are...
Tourism Tidbits: Tourism and Health
Dr. Peter Tarlow | March 12, 2018
by Dr. Peter Tarlow With the Northern Hemisphere's winter soon to become spring, on some level tourism officials can take a sigh of relief that there were no major pandemics. This season was however in many parts of the world an extremely difficult flu season that resulted in a great deal of discomfort, days missed at work, and even in some extreme cases deaths. Tourism is especially vulnerable to contagious illnesses. People are in close contact, often both tourism employees and travelers are subjected to filtered, rather than fresh air. Additionally we are all subject to issues of jet lag, disrupted sleep patters and irregular eating....
Hotels Are Bringing Enhanced Style to Increase Their Guest Experience
Kacey Bradley | March 12, 2018
By Kacey Bradley Today's consumer is flooded with choice when it comes to finding the perfect lodging. It could be a hotel, or it could be a rental property, and either would be simple to preview and book online. One huge advantage that hotels have over personal property rentals — think: Airbnb — is that they tend to have larger budgets to provide the updates consumers crave. Both interior design and technology fall under the umbrella of a place's overall style, and a boost in this realm can make your property much more appealing to potential customers. With better guest experiences and reviews, a hotel's prestige can grow, ...
Hospitality Financial Leadership – How to Read Hotel Financial Statements and The Link
David Lund | March 12, 2018
By David Lund The first thing you need to know about reading a hotel financial statement is there are basically two different statements you will want to get comfortable with. The two are the income statement—some call it the P&L or profit and loss statement—and the second is the balance sheet. Now I know what you are thinking, balance sheets are for the accounting types and they are complicated. Nothing could be further from the truth and I am going to give you a new understanding and share a secret about the balance sheet and the relationship to the P&L. Let's start with the income statement Something to note here:...
Women in Leadership: a Rallying Cry
Dr. Sowon Kim | March 8, 2018
By Dr. Sowon Kim The financial services sector has finally begun shedding light on the gender pay gap within the industry, with Citi becoming the first major Wall Street bank to disclose internal data – albeit somewhat selectively – on gender pay, following activist shareholder pressure. The Financial Times (FT) reported earlier this month that, in a message to staff, Citi's head of human resources put the gender pay gap in the US, UK and Germany at just one percent. However, according to the FT's own research, while women account for up to 51 percent of Citi's global workforce, they make up only 42 percent of mid-level exec...
Deliver Superior Guest Experiences: The Convergence of Guest Facing Mobile and Service Request Management Systems
Guestware | March 6, 2018
Executive Summary Technology continues to transform the way guests want to communicate with your property. The latest trend is guest-facing mobile communication, a new channel for service requests. These systems allow travelers to bypass the traditional voice call to the front desk. Guests today can make requests via smartphone texts, in-room tablets, television sets, and voice-controlled devices like Amazon's Alexa. Despite its rapid growth, guest-facing mobile is an emerging technology. That means most travelers still ask for extra towels, HVAC repair, or luggage assistance the traditional way – with a phone call or face-to-...
Hospitality Financial Leadership – Who Has ALL the Risk and Why?
David Lund | March 5, 2018
By David Lund In the hotel business, we have lots of stakeholders: brands, managers, executives, and owners. But one has by far the biggest risk. The risk in this sense is holding a large hand of cards and the game is suddenly over and you must cash out all of those face cards and tens. What happens in the hotel business when the phones stop ringing? Who must pay the piper? It has been seven great years in most markets in North America that the hotel sector has been strong and growing year over year. Some markets have produced several years of strong single and even double-digit RevPAR growth. With the great RevPAR growth comes solid pr...
The Transformation of the Hotel Industry in the 2010s
Robert A. Rauch | March 1, 2018
By Robert A. Rauch, CHA We have officially been transformed into the John Naisbitt coined "hi tech, hi touch" world, 33 years after the release of his book. Led by revenue management but now including distribution, channel management, social media marketing, Web 2.0 and more. The industry has been permanently changed. Digital Marketing is required to both acquire and retain guests. Believe it or not, only a real quality revolution gives you the competitive edge, because brand loyalty is very limited in today's millennial dominant hospitality market. Since hospitality businesses do not hold customers captive, the only way we can prevent ...
Bringing Experiential Travel to the Americas
JLL Real Views | March 1, 2018
By Maggie Nichols From sharing a yurt with a nomadic family to sleeping among the monkeys in jungle treehouses, today's travelers are increasingly on the lookout for authentic experiences and exotic adventures. This shift has created and fueled demand for experiential travel – a form of tourism where people focus on experiencing a destination by connecting to its nature and landscapes, culture, residents and way of life. Experiential travel first took off – and is still most prevalent – in Africa. Think luxury tents on the Serengeti plains of Tanzania or a safari in the wilderness of the Okavango Delta in Botswana. Now...
Africa: On a Rollercoaster Ride
Trevor Ward | March 1, 2018
By Trevor Ward Towards the end of 2017, we witnessed the end of an era (a very long one) in Zimbabwe, as a soft revolution ousted President Robert Mugabe, and brought in Emmerson Mnangagwa. Shortly afterwards, we saw the election of Cyril Ramaphosa as the leader of South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC), on course to become the country's next president. Elections are very important for the hospitality industry in Africa, as political power tends to be more centralized than in more mature democracies and major shifts are not uncommon. Investors – those who stay in hotels, and those who invest in them – need sta...
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 192; Hotel History: The Negro Motorist Green Book
Stanley Turkel | February 28, 2018
By Stanley Turkel, CMHS Hotel History: The Negro Motorist Green Book This series of AAA- like guides for black travelers was published by Victor H. Green from 1936 through 1966. It listed hotels, motels, service stations, boarding houses, restaurants, beauty and barber shops. Widely used when African American travelers faced a swamp of Jim Crow laws and racists attitudes which made travel difficult and sometimes dangerous. The cover of the 1949 edition advised the black traveler, "Carry the Green Book with you. You may need it." And under that instruction was a quote from Mark Twain which is heartbreaking in this context: "Travel is fat...
Hospitality Financial Leadership – Create the Monthly Financial Circle!
David Lund | February 26, 2018
By David Lund It's A Circle – Create the Monthly Financial Circle! Practice is what we are missing. Practice with the financial piece is somehow a foreign concept. "Everything we do is practice for something greater than where we currently are." – Adam Kirk Smith If you and I worked in banquets and we were both rookies, we would show up every day and listen, work and learn, and in a relatively short period of time, we would both be pretty good at setting up, servicing and tearing down the banquet. How is this different from learning the financial piece? It is not, that's the illusion. It looks different because it is money a...
How Artificial Intelligence Is Changing the Game for the Hotel Industry
Hotelogix | February 26, 2018
Artificial Intelligence has already made a mark across varied businesses and the hospitality industry is fast catching up with this trend. While the hotel industry is an already crowded market, innovation is the key element for hotel owners to stay ahead of the competition. Technologies such as artificial intelligence are vital to maintain a constant growth and to generate more revenues. Hoteliers are already striving for new methods to reach out to customers, know them better, engage them to earn their loyalty. If you are a hotelier, the sooner you embrace smart technologies, the better it would be for your success. Wouldn't it be grea...
Will Other Asian Retailers Follow Muji’s Move Into Hospitality?
JLL Real Views | February 22, 2018
By Serene Lim American furniture retailer West Elm has done it, as have luxury brands such as Armani and Bulgari. Now Japanese lifestyle giant Muji, which is known for its minimalist aesthetics, is taking a step into the hospitality business. The first Muji hotel opened in Shenzhen last month, and it has two other properties lined up for launch in Beijing and Tokyo later this year and next. Rooms will feature Muji homeware products, allowing guests to lounge on the furniture and try out homewares in private. Stores within the hotels then allow them to purchase their favourite items. "Muji is one of the retailers that successfully starte...
Bringing Data to Life: How a Deeper Guest Understanding Drives Revenue
the Author | February 22, 2018
By Terri Miller, Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder, Concilio Labs Business today is all about choice — a surplus of choice. In this world of abundant choices, consumers hold the cards as they equip themselves with information to make educated buying decisions. The digital age has also created an ever-evolving online forum for both positive and negative consumer-generated reviews. As a result, the standard of business offerings must remain competitive, or risk being painted in a negative light by vocal consumers. This understanding holds true for the hospitality industry more than ever before, as hotels look to data-driven i...
Connie Rheams Takes on Executive Role at Beekeeper
Beekeeper | February 20, 2018
Rheams calls Beekeeper the 'missing mobile link' to connecting 80% of our hotel industry's non-desk hotel employees SAN FRANCISCO, CA February 20, 2018 - The global hospitality industry is doing a tremendous job of leveraging mobile technology to enhance the guest experience. What isn't being addressed is using the power of mobile to share real-time staff/hotel/brand/management company information with the 1.9 million front- and back-of-house hotel employees who don't sit at a desk or have a company email address. As such, Connie Rheams, named one of the most influential women in hospitality technology by HFTP (Hospitality Financial &a...
Hotel Websites: The Lights Are on but Nobody’s Home
Sudheer Thakur | February 19, 2018
By Sudheer Thakur In an industry reputed for service excellence, it's ironic that most hotel websites today remain impersonal, unhelpful and unresponsive. Hotels spend vast amounts of resources to attract prospective guests to their website, only to abandon them to find their own way around. If visitors can't find the information they need, they must call or email the hotel, risking being put on hold or not receiving a reply at all. Or worse, they are obliged to complete a Contact Us form or comb through an FAQ. Malay Blowjob a Foreigner Meanwhile, it's 2018 and the rest of the world has moved on to digital messaging and cha...
Women in Leadership: A Rallying Cry
Dr. Sowon Kim | February 19, 2018
By Dr. Sowon Kim The financial services sector has finally begun shedding light on the gender pay gap within the industry, with Citi becoming the first major Wall Street bank to disclose internal data – albeit somewhat selectively – on gender pay, following activist shareholder pressure. The Financial Times (FT) reported earlier this month that, in a message to staff, Citi's head of human resources put the gender pay gap in the US, UK and Germany at just one percent. However, according to the FT's own research, while women account for up to 51 percent of Citi's global workforce, they make up only 42 percent of mid-level exec...
Hospitality Financial Leadership – Is Your Hotel Culture Blame or Appreciation?
David Lund | February 19, 2018
By David Lund In my career, I have seen both. Lots of appreciation for hard work and a challenging workplace. On the flip side a horror story of the blame for "mistakes" and lack of preparedness. Blame is the easy one to master. Management by embarrassment as I like to refer to it. One of my past hotels was a classic blame game hotel. After a much-publicized error or screw up or service interruption the GM would warmly ask, "Where is my victim?" or state, "Bring me the victim." What usually followed was paramount to a public flogging. Everyone got their turn and the others would just watch in stunned disbelief only being thankful that i...
