The Tricycle of Guest Service Excellence: A Perfect Model For Remarkable Experiences
Doug Kennedy | October 4, 2024
Crafting a Unique Employer Brand for Today’s Talent Market
Veronika Mercier | August 14, 2024
Smart Strategies
Industry Leaders Share Thoughts on the Future of Attribute-Based Shopping in Reaction to Stayntouch-NYU Tisch Center of Hospitality Report
Stayntouch | August 10, 2022
Experts reinforce study’s conclusion that hotel guest booking desires are evolving to encompass more control over the hotel experience BETHESDA, Md. — Aug. 10, 2022 — The hotel booking experience may never be the same. According to the 2022 report “U.S.Traveler Sentiments on Attribute-Based Shopping (ABS),” released by Stayntouch in partnership with the NYU Tisch Center of Hospitality, 85 percent of travelers feel some level of uncertainty that their guestroom will contain all the features and attributes that are most important to them. In a world of continued uncertainty, from rising inflation to airline cancellations, travel...
Personalized Prices – the Next Step in Hotels’ Online Presence?
Sergio Serra | August 5, 2022
By Sergio Serra Today, hotels are so ubiquitous that we rarely think deeply about them or their origins. But their history goes all the way back to ancient Greece as an “establishment providing accommodation, meals, and other services for travelers”. Naturally, hotels started off with very little technological support. However, in the course of their long history, hotels have been impacted by several technological breakthroughs - and in such diverse areas as transportation, energy, communications, and networks. One of these major breakthroughs was the Internet, which brought the web and then Online Travel Agents (OTAs). So what w...
Seven Ways to Handle Abusive Customers (And One Way Not To)
SHEP HYKEN | August 3, 2022
No employee should be treated poorly by customers. I feel bad for the people who work at the airport luggage office. The office is usually next to the baggage carousel, and the airline employees who work there interact with one passenger after another, all with the same complaint: My luggage is lost! Nobody ever goes into that office to say, “Thank you, my luggage is here. You guys do a great job!” Recently, the Edinburgh Airport in Scotland came up with a solution to deal with the many calls from irate passengers verbally abusing its employees. According to a BBC News story, the Edinburgh Airport decided to simply disc...
Why Wellness Versus Illness Matters as a Hotel Profit Center
Larry and Adam Mogelonsky | August 3, 2022
By Larry and Adam Mogelonsky The age old quote goes as follows: “If you don’t make time for your wellness, then you’ll be forced to make time for your illness” This quote highlights the notion of being proactive with our own bodies (wellness) instead of waiting until a debilitating disease strikes before seeking help from a medical professional (illness). To this end, COVID-19 served as a flashpoint, both for general awareness of wellbeing practices and for the acceleration of medical technologies related to antiaging. Where hotels come into the mix is as wellness centers to serve a growing clientele of longevity-seeking custome...
What Are the Trends Impacting the Hospitality Industry?
August 1, 2022
By Jeff Duncan, EVP and Head of Commercial Lines at AmTrust Financial There’s no denying that the COVID-19 pandemic greatly affected the hospitality industry, especially hotels and travel. Many hotels are still recovering from two years of reduced occupancy and revenue. In fact, AmTrust’s hotel clients saw a revenue drop of 25-50% during the worst of the pandemic, with some down as much as 70%. The good news is that the industry is beginning to rebound, with increases in both business and leisure travel so far in 2022. However, business-focused hotel properties are likely still struggling. Working remotely has grown in popularity, ...
Exit Interviews and Staying Interviews
Shep Hyken | July 27, 2022
By Shep Hyken One of my favorite sayings is, “What’s happening inside an organization is felt on the outside by the customer.” You can’t expect to consistently deliver a great customer experience if you aren’t creating a great employee experience. So, let’s examine the employee experience to find out what makes employees happy with their jobs. Some companies conduct exit interviews for employees who have chosen to move on. We can learn quite a bit from these interviews, including problems and shortcomings. Sometimes it’s not that our company isn’t a good place to work, but someone has offered an even better place to w...
Should Hotels Complete a Reserve Fund Study
Larry and Adam Mogelonsky | July 27, 2022
By Larry and Adam Mogelonsky One of the obligations of moving from a home to a condominium is to take your turn on the board of directors. Don’t let anyone fool you into believing that this is a simple, 10-hours-a-month task. The time investment is significantly higher, and even though there is no financial remuneration, your fellow unit owners will treat you as if you’re a paid servant. Perhaps this situation strikes closer to home for many of you already. As we’ll examine later on in this article, everything is up for grabs as inflation rolls through various sectors of the economy. This is a critical-yet-still-underappreciated v...
New Inclusive Travel Insights Report: Why Welcoming All Travelers Matters
Jenn McCarthy | July 22, 2022
By Jenn McCarthy Travel—by its very nature—promotes a greater understanding of people from different walks of life. Yet while the travel industry has made some strides toward becoming more inclusive, diverse, and accessible, there’s still work to be done. Expedia Group’s mission is to power global travel for everyone, everywhere. To help realize this vision, we started by looking inward to ensure that we are reflecting the diversity of our travelers and modeling the inclusive mindsets that make travel a force for good. We understand the importance of not only practicing inclusion, but also empowering our partners to do the same....
Tourism Tidbits: Attracting Visitors With Beautification Efforts
Dr. Peter Tarlow | July 14, 2022
By Dr. Peter Tarlow There is perhaps nothing more disappointing than entering a city or location for the first time and seeing garbage-filled streets, urban sprawl, and a lack of greenery. The physical appearance of a community impacts not only the way that both the local population and its visitors see the community and its image but also a community’s ability to market itself. Additionally, well-groomed locales tend to be not only safer locales but promote a physically healthier population. In this post-pandemic world where so many communities have suffered from the plague of Covid, beautification is an essential part of a locale...
Give Them Help Before They Yelp
Shep Hyken | July 13, 2022
By Shep Hyken Online reviews can work in two ways. For a company that provides a great customer experience, reviews can add credibility and bring in more business. But for companies that don’t provide an acceptable experience, online reviews can become the bane of their existence. And the world gets to watch how they handle the problems. But what if you don’t have the type of business that gets Yelp or Google reviews? It doesn’t matter what type of business or industry you’re in. You are not immune from bad reviews. There is a forum for every industry where customers talk. It may not be as public as Yelp, but it’s the plac...
Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts Launches New Study on The Future of Blended Travel
IHG Hotels & Resorts | July 13, 2022
ATLANTA, July 13, 2022 – With the arrival of the first peak travel season since the beginning of the pandemic, a new survey commissioned by Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts - part of IHG Hotels & Resorts and one of the world’s largest premium hotel brands - which polled over 1,200 US consumers, reveals Millennials (25 to 44 years old) (65%) and Gen Z (18 to 24 years old) (59%) consumers are more inclined to work for a company that offers frequent travel or flexible (work + leisure) blended travel possibilities as a perk. As many US businesses struggle to find and retain workers, employees are in a stronger bargaining positi...
Toxic Leadership: How to Spot It, Survive It and Thrive
Stefano Borzillo | July 7, 2022
By Stefano Borzillo Autocratic and overbearing styles of leadership were once considered socially and professionally acceptable in certain types of organizations. After decades of research, aspects of these management styles are now defined as 'toxic' leadership' and are provenly linked to staff underperformance and violation of the best interests of team members and stakeholders in general. What is toxic leadership? Researchers exploring the topic generally agree that toxic leadership comes from personality or behaviors that harm not only individuals but also the organization. Toxic leaders are “those individuals who by dint of t...
Seven Tips to Stop Associate Churn
Larry and Adam Mogelonsky | July 6, 2022
By Larry and Adam Mogelonsky Staffing, staffing, staffing. It’s a constant challenge, and a demoralizing one when you think about all the training that goes into a new hire only for them to leave a month after onboarding. The churn and retention rate problems at the associate level aren’t going away; we could get into the macroeconomic forces contributing to this, but let’s just say that hotels must find non-wage incentives to keep employees from hopping over to a competitor or leaving the industry altogether. The scary part is that this churn isn’t only at the associate level, as the term ‘the Great Resignation’ encapsulate...
Four Hotel Applications for NFTs
Larry and Adam Mogelonsky | June 30, 2022
By Larry and Adam Mogelonsky Yes, we know. The crypto bubble is bursting. But the dotcom bust didn’t end the internet, and likewise you shouldn’t ignore this technology. In fact, now that all the hype is dying down, now may be the perfect time to plant the seeds for the decade ahead. For those in need of a refresher, there are innumerous articles on how nonfungible tokens (NFTs) work and what the metaverse promises, but key to all this is the idea of ‘nonfungibility’ or specific points of access or asset governance that are unalterable due to their immutable recordkeeping on a blockchain. NFTs are simply digital identifiers ...
Saving the Planet, One Hotel at a Time
PolyU’s School of Hotel and Tourism Management | June 28, 2022
Despite the urgent need to reduce global carbon emissions, the hotel industry faces numerous barriers to implementing carbon reduction programmes. Why is it so difficult for hotels to reduce their carbon footprint, and why do so many hotel managers remain bystanders in the fight against global warming? To help answer these questions, Dr Eric Chan of the School of Hotel and Tourism Management (SHTM) at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University conducted in-depth interviews with senior hotel executives in Hong Kong. The findings provide novel insights into barriers to carbon reduction by hotels and – perhaps most importantly – strategies to over...
WTTC Publishes New Report on Destination Resilience
WTTC | June 17, 2022
San Juan, Puerto Rico: The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) today published a new report on practical guidelines and case studies to support destinations in becoming more resilient and sustainable at its Sustainability and Investment Forum taking place in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The report, ‘Enhancing Resilience to Create Sustainability in Destinations’, jointly created with ICF, WTTC’s industry partner and a renowned global consultancy and digital services provider, provides practical, structured insights, for destinations as they consider their resilience and sustainability. Following the last two years of chaos brought...
Why User Generated Content Can Benefit the Hospitality Industry This Summer
Adam Dornbusch | June 16, 2022
By Adam Dornbusch From weekend getaways to tropical escapes, hotels and resorts across the globe will see an influx in guests staying at their locations this summer. In fact, Expedia Travel Group predicts this summer will be the busiest travel season yet as consumers continue booking flights both domestically and internationally. Fortunately, this increase in the number of travelers also brings an increase in the amount of potential marketing content hotels and destinations can gather. As guests visit new locations, they’ll also be snapping photos and videos to remember their trip in key spots such as pools, spas, dining spots, rooms, an...
Booking.com Reveals the Challenges LGBTQ+ Travelers Still Face and Highlights Ways for a More Inclusive Travel Experience for Everyone
Booking,com | June 14, 2022
NEW YORK, JUNE 14 2022: The term ‘travel’ and its connotations should denote positive experiences, adventure and enjoyment. Yet for many LGBTQ+ travelers from around the world, the reality of traveling can often paint a very different picture, with new research from leading digital travel platform Booking.com revealing that 72% of LGBTQ+ US travelers have experienced less than welcoming, or uncomfortable, experiences when traveling. The most extensive LGBTQ+ travel research from Booking.com to date shines a light on attitudes, concerns and travel preferences, as well as past stay experiences, current realities and hopes for a more inclus...
Hospitality Financial Leadership: The First Fifty
David Lund | June 13, 2022
By David Lund As I write this piece, I am proud to say I am 58 years young. So far, my life has been great. Many challenges to overcome like anyone and many bumps in the road for sure. Someone once said that success is simply going from one disaster to the next and the trick with that is no stopping to lament on the carnage left behind. That might be a little tongue and cheek, but you get the point. Things happen to us all and our ability to move on and keep going without the permanent thoughts about what happened and why, I believe is the key to my life. That does not mean I do not learn from my mistakes, but it does mean I go easy on ...
Whitepaper Showing How Net Zero Model Brings Benefits for Hotel Sector Is Remodeled With New Data
IHG Hotels & Resorts | June 10, 2022
In May 2021, IHG worked with international property consultancy Gleeds, global engineering and design consultancy Arup and energy management and automation specialist Schneider Electric to co-author a whitepaper which revealed how the hotel industry can tackle the net zero carbon challenge. Entitled ‘Transforming Existing Hotels to Net Zero’, the team compiling the research used a real-life case study to consider what opportunities exist to decarbonise existing hotels and drive operational energy to net zero carbon. With energy consumption typically accounting for as much as 60% of a hotel’s emissions, the paper examined a range of i...
React Mobile to Bring In-Demand 2.0 Safety Platform to More Hotels With Help From Best Buy Geek Squad
React Mobile | June 7, 2022
To meet the rapidly-approaching 2022 deadline for implementing Employee Safety Devices at hotels, Geek Squad® will install 50% of all React Mobile 2.0 projects this year; As the industry’s most trusted provider of panic buttons to hotels, React Mobile will provide full system training and 24/7/365 customer support; Visit React Mobile in Booth 1638 at HITEC Seattle, June 7, 2022 — The pandemic has shifted the timetable for adoption of workforce safety technology from the end of 2020 to the end of 2022. To help hotel operators meet rapidly-approaching compliance deadlines – albeit AHLA’s 5-Star Promise initiative or state/local leg...
Tourism Tidbits: Getting Ready for the Family Vacation Season
Dr. Peter Tarlow | May 19, 2022
By Dr. Peter Tarlow Although most family vacations will not occur in the Northern Hemisphere until June - August, May is the month when families plan their vacations. The family vacation market is a huge part of the travel industry and in this period when families seek to get away after multiple lockdowns, the tourism industry would be wise to offer multiple alternatives, especially in this year of high inflation and transportation problems, especially in the world of air travel. Prior to the Covid pandemic lockdowns, tens of millions of families took family vacations and many of these people traveled with children under the age of 18....
Before Covid and After Covid
Larry and Adam Mogelonsky | May 18, 2022
By Larry and Adam Mogelonsky The terms BC (Before Christ) and AD (Anno Domini) define the numerical labels of the Gregorian Calendar that is in use in most of the Western World. For hoteliers, we need to adapt this approach to the world of ‘Before Covid’, which ended in 2019, and ‘After Covid’ which is unfurling before our eyes right now in 2022. The effects of the pandemic were of such significance that making comparisons of AC business to BC results are almost irrelevant. Given that the effects of the coronavirus can be seen as a direct result of the increasing globalization of the world, travel, hotels, restaurants, cruises a...
The Title and Role of Revenue Manager Should Be Transitioned to “Revenue Generation Manager”
Doug Kennedy | May 18, 2022
By Doug Kennedy If you asked most hoteliers to write up a job description for the position of Revenue Manager (RM), chances are the responsibilities listed would focus on controlling and “managing” revenue, as opposed to generating it. For example, the first tasks that most will think of would likely be setting rates and restrictions for transient segments, determining channel mix, calculating revenue-per-guest opportunities by segment, managing OTA’s and other electronic distribution channels, and providing sales staff with quotes for groups and functions. It is time for the lodging industry to reimagine both the title and role...
