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Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 172: Hotel History: Bibles in Hotel Rooms
Stanley Turkel | January 9, 2017
For the past one hundred years, if you opened the nightstand drawer in almost any hotel room in the U.S., you would find a bible placed there by an evangelical organization known as Gideon's International. The oldest Christian business professional men's association, the Gideons have been around for more than one hundred years and have been placing bibles in hotel rooms for almost that long. A recent survey by STR found that the percentage of hotels that offer religious materials in guestrooms has dropped over the past decade from 95% in 2006 to 79.9% in 2016. The Gideons got their start in a hotel room on September 14, 1898, in Boscobe...
Why Green Real Estate is the Way Forward
JLL Real Views | January 5, 2017
by Ang Kian Seng Going green has gone from being a luxury option to a necessity for the built environment sector today. For cities around the world it has a key role to play in helping to cut their long-term carbon footprint. In Singapore, for example, the built environment is responsible for almost a quarter of our carbon emissions. To reduce this we need to change not just the way buildings are constructed and run but also the perception of sustainability. In the early stages of Singapore's green building movement, green building practices were not perceived to offer any competitive advantage. However, today, we are seeing a shift in ...
What Hotel Brands Don’t Know: The Secret to Creating Great Financial Expertise in Your Hotel
David Lund | January 5, 2017
By David Lund What hotel brands dont know is, they can create great financial bench strength in their hotels and their owners will pay 100% of the cost. Brands also dont know that they can create this bench strength with resources that are readily available. Lastly, brands dont know that their non-financial managers are literally dying to get these financial skills and abilities now and they want to apply them. Brands need to evolve. Brands need to stand still long enough to realize they sell one thing to owners, expertise in running and managing hotels. Brands sell expertise for all aspects of running and managing a hot el. Not just mo...
Tourism Tidbits: Reviewing Some Fundamentals Of The Travel & Tourism Industry – Part 1 of 2
Dr. Peter Tarlow | January 5, 2017
By Dr. Peter Tarlow Once again the travel and tourism industry faces both new and on-going challenges. Travel and tourism cannot be separated from the world context in which they operate. Be that context political states of war, or one of health issues or of economic undulations, what occurs throughout the world touches every aspect of tourism. It is for this reason that every once in a while it is good for travel and tourism professionals to take a step back and to review at least some of the basic fundamentals of their industry. We all claim to know these fundamental principles, but all too often in the "madness of life and work" we n...
How ‘Poshtels’ are Reinventing the Budget Accommodation Sector
JLL Real Views | January 4, 2017
By Natalie Holmes At a time when budget travelers are increasingly experience-driven, the hospitality industry is responding with a concept that caters to this new guest profile: the 'poshtel'. Unlike traditional hostels, poshtels typically combine a design-led ambiance with small, often shared sleeping areas and a focus on innovative communal spaces. "This reimagined hostel meets the needs of the modern traveler," says Graham Craggs, Managing Director of EMEA Hotels at JLL. "It offers flexibility on the room product, and, often, organized events that encourage guests to meet and mingle." Independent properties have been blazing a trail...
Preliminary Hotel Industry Forecast: 2017
Robert A. Rauch | January 3, 2017
Since 2016 is barely gone, we may as well spell out the big news and the impact that news may have on 2017 and beyond. The first was Marriott—that was a big merger with Starwood and provides the new company with over 1,000,000 hotel rooms in 5,700 hotels, 30 brands and huge bargaining power with online travel agencies. The second was the Republican sweep—Donald Trump will have an opportunity to change the economic landscape. President-elect Trump will have a majority in both the Senate and House of Representatives. If he focuses on trade, wages, regulations and the strength of our nation, he could keep this long but slow rec...
A New Climate for Sustainable Investment
Jll Real Views | January 3, 2017
By Jim McClelland Not so long ago, sustainable investment was the preserve of an eco-conscious minority. Now attitudes are changing amid mounting evidence that it's not a choice between profit and planet. Whether it was reports in the Financial Times of green funds outperforming 'black' ones, or Morgan Stanley busting the myth that Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) necessarily costs more, markets were on the move. After the COP21 Climate Change summit held in Paris in December 2015 where, for the first time, 195 developed and developing countries agreed a climate deal, sustainable investment has gained even greater momentum, leading...
Total Impact: Using Data to Make a Difference
JLL Real Views | January 2, 2017
By Neasa MacErlean No company is an island: its actions, both direct and indirect, often have a big impact not just on its workplace and employees but also on the world around it. Now, a new approach known as Total Impact (TI) is helping them work out their full effect on society, the environment and the economy. It looks to build on existing financial reporting, as well as concepts such as corporate sustainability and integrated reporting, and could help to offer a more complete picture of a company's role in wider society. "What's new about TI is the methodology," says Philip Hirst, Director – Upstream Sustainability Services in...
Hotel Online’s Top Read News for 2016
Hotel Online | December 29, 2016
As we look toward 2017, here's a look back at each month's top headlines in 2016 from Hotel-Online! January 2016: 4 Ways Luxury Hotels Can Use Technology To Provide Better Customer Service / Alex Shashou Three Ways Technology Makes Payments Easier For Hotel Guests / Cristine Sommers 5 Game-Changing Hotel Industry Trends To Tackle in 2016 What's In and What's Out? Top 10 Travel Trends for 2016 The Restoration in Charleston, South Carolina Unveils $27 Million Yearlong Transformation and Expansion February 2016: 'Chef's Tables' Driving Market Differentiation for Meyer Jabara Hotels Hotel Lenders Tightening the Screws Four Seasons, ...
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 171: Hotel History: Hotel Theresa (1913)
Stanley Turkel | December 20, 2016
by Stanley Turkel, CMHS Hotel History: Hotel Theresa, "The Waldorf of Harlem" Fidel Castro's recent death brings to mind his visit to New York City. On September 18, 1960, four months before the United States severed diplomatic relations with Cuba, Fidel Castro arrived in New York City for the 15th session of the United Nations General Assembly. He and his staff first checked into the Shelburne Hotel at Lexington Avenue and 37th Street. When the Shelburne demanded $10,000 for alleged damage that included cooking chickens in their rooms, the Castro entourage moved to the Hotel Theresa in Harlem. Castro's group rented eighty rooms for a ...
Tourism Tidbits: Providing Tourism Cheer
Dr. Peter Tarlow | December 13, 2016
Wishing Everyone a Happy Chanukah and a Merry Christmas by Dr. Peter Tarlow Tourism this past year has faced many challenges, from a slow economy in Europe to ISIS attacks, from medical issues such as Zika to waves of terrorism in Europe and wars in the Middle East. For many around the world, despite the fact that this has not been an easy year, the month of December creates a great deal of "light" and "hope'. In the northern Hemisphere the lights of Christmas and Chanukah provide great beauty during the dead of winter. In the southern Hemisphere this is the beginning of the summer holidays and a time for rest and relaxation. December t...
How Self-Service Technology is Enhancing the Guest Experience
JLL Real Views | December 7, 2016
by Natasha Stokes At hotels around the world, the friendly face of a concierge who remembers your name could soon be replaced by technology that aims to do just the same. When it comes to a great hotel stay, that personalized touch is often the defining feature. At the Aloft hotels in Boston and Santa Clara, guests can perfect their room's temperature not by ringing down to housekeeping, but by telling the in-room iPad to "cool the room". When it launches next summer, the Hilton Group's Tru brand will similarly target tech-savvy, millennial travellers, who can check-in by app, collect a virtual key on their smartphones and let themselve...
EHL Publishes the LAUSANNE REPORT, a Look Into the Hospitality Industry With a 2030 Horizon
December 7, 2016
LAUSANNE, Switzerland, December 7th 2016 – Today, Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne (EHL), the world's leading institution in hospitality management education, announces the publication of its much-awaited Lausanne Report, an inspirational analysis of two years of extensive market research and exclusive interviews with prominent business leaders. The study provides reader-friendly reflection on some of the most important forces that are shaping today's world and their long-term impact on the hospitality industry. The Lausanne Report challenges a conventionally unilateral thought process and enriches the debate on future ris...
Robert Rauch’s Top 10 Trends in Hospitality for 2017
Robert A. Rauch | December 1, 2016
Just 10 years ago, Facebook morphed into a mainstream business tool, Twitter arrived, the iPhone exploded on the scene and Android phones were born. Today, the pace of change has accelerated dramatically. In his new book, Thank You for Being Late, Thomas Friedman explores this very age of acceleration. Our trends this year do not include every trend, just what we believe are the Top 10. Certainly we could add the Internet of Things (IoT) but we cover some of that in our technology trends below. We could also add the proliferation of brands but that is more of a continuation of the past few years. Feel free to weigh in on social media or...
Nobody Asked Me, But…No. 170: Hotel History: Washington Square Hotel, New York City (1902)
Stanley Turkel | November 29, 2016
by Stanley Turkel, CMHS A haven for writers and artists for more than a century, the Washington Square Hotel, located at Waverly and MacDougal Streets, just off the northwest corner of Washington Square Park, occupies a unique place in Greenwich Village's history. The hotel facilities include 150 guestrooms, a renovated lobby with unique art works, 24-hour front desk service, fitness room, lobby bar and the highly-acclaimed North Square Restaurant & Lounge. Complimentary wireless internet access is available in the lobby and lobby bar. The Washington Square Hotel was built in 1902 as a residential hotel named the Hotel Earle after i...
How Technology is Turning Buildings into Butlers
JLL Real Views | November 28, 2016
You enter your office and check your phone. An app displays your day's schedule and prompts you to reserve a room for your next meeting. When you settle down to work, the smart building controls automatically adjust the lighting and temperature just for you, and even plays your most productivity-enhancing background music. Morning coffee? The office espresso machine knows you prefer a double. Sound a bit too futuristic? Maybe in the average office in 2016—but technologies like these are already in use at The Edge in Amsterdam, largely occupied by Deloitte. And other workplaces could be following suit in the not-too-distant future. ...
Guest Experience: Moments of Difference
David Dann | November 28, 2016
New Approaches to Customer Service By David Dann We are learning from psychology that if we want to retain customers, then merely good or even excellent service is not enough. Because of the ways in which the brain remembers we must create 'moments of difference' which differentiate the customers' experience. The psychologist Daniel Kahneman explains that the brain tends to remember specific moments rather than the total experience. Kahneman discusses the relationship between the 'experiencing self' and the 'remembering self' and these concepts have a direct impact on the ways in which we offer customer servi...
New Innovations In Hospitality HSIA Elevate Guest Experiences Through Relentless Network Monitoring & Management
Sunray | November 23, 2016
SAN DIEGO, CA — Sunray, the network provider widely regarded as the hospitality industry's HSIA visionaries, will unveil the next phase in hotel network management innovation in December, 2016. In addition to Sunray's Umbra service suite, this next phase includes real-time wireless connection quality monitoring and an intelligent auditing system. Hotel IT teams will now be able to receive real-time readings from thousands of devices across every level of their network. This provides accurate, easily digestible reporting, alerting and trending of events that can significantly disrupt network performance. The auditing system runs hu...
How To Serve A VIP: 30 Tips to Earn & Re-Earn Your Customers’ Loyalty
Bryan K. Williams | November 21, 2016
by Bryan K. Williams It's finally here! My latest book is called, How To Serve A VIP: 30 Tips to Earn & Re-Earn Your Customers' Loyalty. This book is designed for you and everyone on your team who loves to serve others. Each of the 30 chapters will reinforce the importance of giving your best service to all customers. Whether those customers are called colleagues, employees, guests, clients, tenants, patients, residents, students, visitors or customers is irrelevant. This book will highlight that the same caliber of service excellence must be given to all. Each of the 30 chapters ends with a powerful activity that is designed to...
Clean and Green: The New Energy of Choice
JLL Real Views | November 16, 2016
by Jim McClelland Hardly a week goes by without news of another record being broken for renewable energy generation. Take the REN21 global status report showing the largest-ever annual increase in power capacity for 2015; or the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) announcing electricity up year-on-year for every single month in 2016. Portugal even ran on nothing but renewables for four days back in May. Furthermore, despite clean energy investment in 2016 lagging behind last year's runaway success, recent International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) analysis still forecasts an ongoing upward curve, particularly for solar photovo...
Mobility and the Hotel Property Management System: Ending the Epidemic of Guest Experience Complacency
November 15, 2016
Jos Schaap, CEO, StayNTouch Hotel technology has come a very long way over the past decade and yet it still has a very long way to go in order to catch up with other industries. Companies such as SAP and Infor, in the ERP space, have taken the user experience to the next level by implementing social and mobile aspects to their platforms. This new movement ensures that the platform is truly engaging, the user is more productive, and the educational curve is largely diminished - resulting in cost savings. When we think about mobility within the hotel and travel industry, our minds immediately gravitate to the hotel room or air travel book...
Tourism Tidbits: Securing Our Ports for Safe Cruising, Part 1 of 2
Dr. Peter Tarlow | November 7, 2016
by Dr. Peter Tarlow In much of the world the month of November is a time when the cruise industry begins to enter into its high season, especially for those ships that frequent warm water tropical ports. Although the cruise industry has had its ups and downs, so far the industry's ports-of-call have avoided any major terrorism crisis. The same, however, cannot be stated with regard to issues of crime. Today's travelers and tourists seek out places/experiences where there is a sense of security and safety. Cruise liners bring thousands of people to a port of call, but if there is a perception that the port is dangerous, then passenge...
Nobody Asked Me, But…No. 169: American History: Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture; My Hotel Books
Stanley Turkel, CMHS | November 7, 2016
From the Editor: The award-winning hotel historian, Stanley Turkel, has an additional life as an American historian. The following article describes his recent invitation to the newly-opened National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. by Stanley Turkel, CMHS On September 17, 2016, I was invited to the Collection Donor Preview & Reception at the new Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. The invitation came as a result of my donation of 670 artifacts* to the Museum which I collected over a fifty-eight year period. My lifetime interest was triggered by a chance exposure. In...
Marketing Strategies for a Competitive Advantage in 2017
Robert A. Rauch | November 1, 2016
By Robert Rauch According to Geoffrey Moore in his book Living on the Fault Line: Managing for Shareholder Value in the Age of the Internet, stock price is a measure of future potential based on present competitive advantage. Competitive advantage consists of two components, GAP and CAP. The first, GAP, is the distance between your hotel offerings and your nearest competitors or the competitive advantage gap. The second is CAP, the competitive advantage period, that is the projected period a company can maintain its differentiated position. In other words if a hotel company has superior products and significant barriers to entry, it has...
