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
Online Networking: How to Build Meaningful Interactions Remotely
Dr. Sowon Kim | February 14, 2022
By Dr. Sowon Kim As part of EHL Research Day, Dr Sowon Kim and Dr Janet Shaner presented their findings on the impact of online interaction on our networking practices. What does networking really imply, what is amplified and reduced online, and how can the relational aspect be improved for online networking? These are just some of the questions addressed in this fascinating research project. The benefits of networking Covid-19 has triggered a massive shift in work practices. At the peak of the pandemic, over half of the workforce in Switzerland was partially working remotely and about one third was fully in remote mo...
First to the Finish Line: How to Attract Top Talent to Your Hospitality Organization
Court Williams | February 11, 2022
By Court Williams The hospitality industry experienced thousands of positions eliminated during the past two years, due mainly to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, organizations are embroiled in an executive hiring frenzy as they try to fill the gaps in their executive teams ahead of the post-pandemic recovery. The reasons for this “employees’ market" are complex, but companies are increasingly introducing innovative solutions that will, in many cases, change the face of the hospitality industry forever. Here are some ways to make sure you attract the best executive candidates for your organization. Facing the Recruitm...
Use Relationship Data to Build Stronger Connections
Shep Hyken | February 9, 2022
By Shep Hyken First, I hope the word “data” doesn’t scare you off. We’re not going to discuss the typical customer data that might bore most people, although I’ll admit that I get excited and geek out about the data, stats, and facts that show trends in business. Today we’re going to talk about relationship data. First, understand that relationship data is information you have about a customer that you can’t get by looking at a spreadsheet that includes information about all your customers. Even looking at buying patterns, how much an individual customer spends and other numbers related to business are more ...
Three Big Tips for Hotel Manager Productivity in 2022
Larry and Adam Mogelonsky | February 9, 2022
By Larry and Adam Mogelonsky While the pandemic is what it is at this point, one of the key changes that is becoming irreversible for hotel operations is the shift towards lean teams as supported by a backbone of automation. But in this new organizational model, it’s important that you also finesse some of the ‘soft skills’ of management so that your teams aren’t overworked and can focus on improving the experience or locking in bookings. For one, the financial reasons behind the shift to lean teams makes sense. With less overhead, hotels can derive positive net incomes off of lower occupancies – perfect for the erra...
Hospitality Financial Leadership: Why You Need a Month-End Schedule
David Lund | February 7, 2022
By David Lund If you complete a regular monthly close in your hotel, and I certainly hope you do. And if closing your books takes longer than three-five working days, then this is meant for you. Doing your month-end and having a final financial statement each month within one week is the benchmark for a team and system that works well. Taking any longer just means you are really wasting valuable time. If you are not the one who closes the books, but you would like the statement faster, then this is also for you. I vividly remember the good old days when we had the better part of 10 working days to get it done. I also know what it was li...
Okay Covid, What’s Next?
Larry and Adam Mogelonsky | February 2, 2022
By Larry and Adam Mogelonsky We’ve all witnessed multiple waves of COVID-19. The effects on our businesses have been as expected, with last minute cancellations exacerbated by pandemic-related staff shortages. Corporate and group sales have not yet returned. It’s exhausting and disheartening to most every owner and operator. But there is light at the end of this tunnel. The Spanish Flu of 1918 petered out after about two years, and this occurred without any vaccinations (and a truly globalized economy mind you). It just may be that the Omicron variant we are currently experiencing is the ‘flameout’ of this pandemic bec...
Why Human Trafficking Is Booming – And How Hoteliers Can Stop This Trend
TraknProtect | February 1, 2022
By Parminder Batra As of 2020, the International Labor Organization and Walk Free Foundation estimated that 24.9 million people are victims of human trafficking across both private industries and state-imposed forced labor per year. Of that bone-chilling number, 30% of the global human trafficking victims are children, and 49% of all victims of international trafficking are women. There is simply no denying it – human trafficking is a worldwide issue that cannot, and should not, be ignored. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated the human trafficking epidemic. As stay-at-home orders were issued around the world, t...
Mobile Technologies to Drive Operational Focus and ROI
James Houran | January 28, 2022
By James Houran, Thomas Mielke Odds are that your organization has relied on – or presently uses – two traditional business tools: (a) Psychometric Assessments for hiring, training, and development with mission-critical roles, and (b) Annual Team Member Surveys to monitor the engagement of organizational talent and the effectiveness of its leadership. However, many organizations do not suitably link these two approaches in a way that promotes operational excellence. This article therefore reviews the aims of these tools and suggests a simple step-by-step implementation that produces a crafty self-reinforcing loop of ongoing calibration...
Finance, Technology and Service Will Dominate
Bob Rauch | January 12, 2022
By Bob Rauch Interest rates are low, consumer confidence is stronger, oil prices are high and employment is very uneven. The Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) is at 58.7 in December 2021, down from 60 in November and 61 in October. Any number over 50 shows that the economy is expanding so the PMI is good news. Threats from COVID-19 variant Omicron should peak this month. Perhaps the biggest threat is inflation as that is starting to impact the middle class as well as the poor. The silver lining is that this inflation might cause hotel room rates to grow beyond the 6% inflation rate. Hotel Finances During most recessions, there is a signi...
Tourism Tidbits: Looking Back at 2021 and Hoping for a Better 2022!
Dr. Peter E. Tarlow | January 10, 2022
By Dr. Peter Tarlow Although 2021 was a somewhat better year than 2020, most people in the tourism industry will not be sad to say adieu to the year that has just ended. We might call the year 2021 a year of hope and despair, a year when we thought we might see an end to the pandemic and a year of false starts. This past year was not an easy year. We saw nations once again shutting their borders, Europe experienced a great deal of internal turmoil due to its being open and then closed to tourism. To add to the frustrations found throughout the tourism industry many nations suffered from supply chain failures, high inflation, and a co...
Why It Is Critical to Care About Your Employees’ Financial Wellness
UniFocus | January 6, 2022
By Mark Heymann As every hospitality leader tries to address declining employee satisfaction, one simple way to think about the problem is to spend two weeks in their shoes. Why two weeks? Because that’s typically the time frame that an employee is waiting for another paycheck to arrive, and those 14 days can feel like an eternity. According to research from PYMNTS.com, 125 million adults in the U.S. are living paycheck to paycheck. For hotels and all service-related businesses, what needs to change is clear: It’s time to eliminate that waiting period. At Unifocus, we teamed up with Rain to give all our partners who use our Labor Ma...
What Hoteliers Can Learn About the Tragic Mars Climate Orbiter Crash
Ryan Hamilton | January 5, 2022
By Ryan Hamilton Back in 1999, the trajectory of a NASA satellite made the news – and not for the reasons you might expect. When the satellite reached its destination (Mars) to begin orbiting the planet, the Mars Climate Orbiter deviated course and crashed into the planet due to a ‘data integration error’. As it turns out, a breakdown between two software programs caused the satellite to navigate too close to the planet. While this represents an extreme example of a technological breakdown, it speaks to a common issue that exists across countless industries – especially hospitality. In the world of hospitality, we talk a lot a...
Hotel Lawyer Labor & Employment New Year Round-Up: What to Expect in 2022
Jim Butler | January 4, 2022
Jim Butler Several new pieces of California legislation have either recently gone into effect or will take effect in 2022, impacting nearly all employers and how they handle employment agreements, disability related to COVID, training, rehiring and retention, and a range of other practices. A new presidential administration also means a shift in the political landscape and the role played by the NLRB, OSHA and other regulatory bodies. Our round-up will help you determine which key issues may impact you in 2022; contact us to be sure you’re ready for all these upcoming changes. Click the “read more” link for each topic to see a com...
Want to Win in Future Competitions? Invest in Data-Driven Decisions Now
Linchi Kwok | December 23, 2021
By Linchi Kwok Speaking of the permanent changes in the hospitality industry, many people will probably agree that demands for “bleisure”/“work-from-anywhere” travel and contactless self-service will continue to grow in the near future. Not everyone, however, realizes that data-driven decisions will become a key driver for growth in the industry, which has already affected how we do business now. Automatic service enables businesses to capture more operational and consumer data for business decisions One advantage of using automatic service comes from its ability to spontaneously capture and store real-time operat...
How Technology Is Combatting the Labor Shortage and Improving Guest Experience Heading Into the Holidays
Amy Jeffs | December 22, 2021
By Amy Jeffs Airlines and hotels could soon be enjoying a boost in bookings heading into the holidays. The increase in guests brings great opportunities for the industry looking to recover the nearly $300 billion in losses that were incurred during the pandemic, however, it also causes concern for those serving the influx in guests. After COVID forced the hospitality industry to shut down last year, many furloughed workers found new lines of work. This left a third of hospitality workers not returning to the industry. On top of this, hospitality workers quit their jobs in August at a rate of 6.8%, or more than double the record national...
One Simple Idea That Can Help You Retain Your Best Employees
Shep Hyken | December 22, 2021
By Shep Hyken We had some great feedback on The Three N’s of Employee Fulfillment article and video. Plenty of great comments. Here’s a very short refresher in case you missed it. Leadership expert Tim Durkin shared with us that our employees want to be needed, noticed, and known. We welcome him back this week with a simple feedback technique connected to his Three N strategy that will help you motivate and keep your best employees. The short version of this is to not just praise the performer, but also the performance. It’s very simple. You not only praise your employee, but you tell them why you appreciate what t...
10 Travel Trends That Will Happen in 2022
Bob Rauch | December 21, 2021
By Bob Rauch Travel is taking a new direction in 2022 and it’s important for hoteliers to continue adapting to the consumer changes for these travel predictions. Through a combination of technology, guest expectations, and employment, here are the most important traits to consider in your 2022 management plan. Enjoy reading these trends and have a spectacular and very Happy New Year! 1. The talent void – We furloughed and laid off the majority of our workforce, but we can fix it by recruiting those with strong communication, technology, sales and analytic skills. Yes, we will pay them more but they will perform better and will p...
Opportunity Analysis: An Effective 3-Step Approach
Jochen de Peuter | December 15, 2021
By Jochen de Peuter In the hospitality and travel industries, experts can perform an opportunity analysis of a hotel or property. This is a helpful tool that shows more about the value and risk of the property. Let’s take a look at what an opportunity analysis precisely entails and how to go about it through a three-step approach. What is an Opportunity Analysis? An opportunity analysis is an evaluation tool used when determining the viability and profitability of developing a new hotel or property, or expanding an existing one. It systematically looks at external environments with the goal of understanding demand, consum...
The Subscription Model Part II: Marrying the Benefits of Luxury Travel and Home Ownership
Brent Handler | December 15, 2021
By Brent Handler Luxury travel and real estate ownership are changing. To an extent, this is a byproduct of the post-pandemic era. For example, even as the advent of new built-to-rent communities provides incentives for renters, owners and builders, the Washington Post declared that “the post-covid luxury spending boom has begun, and it is reshaping the economy.” This includes how owners buy and market their properties for rent in the luxury vacation home segment. Smart owners anticipate the movement of cash flow and the creation of new markets – as many did in the last decade, getting in early on the creation of t...
As the Delta Between Higher Hourly Wages and Lower Payroll Expense Closes, Attracting and Retaining Young Talent Is Key
HotStats | December 14, 2021
It turns out that the Golden Rule is a maxim hoteliers need to pay heed to when it comes to their own employees. It’s an axiom that is even more glaring as hourly wages in the leisure and hospitality space climb against a payroll cost base that remains lower but is showing signs of growth. So say several hospitality industry professionals and educators when asked what it will take for hoteliers to attract and retain the younger generation of hospitality workers. It boils down to one central admonishment: treat young associates better. “Not only should a hotel care about customers, its number one target market is internal ass...
Understanding PIP Requirements Can Make or Break a Hotel Investment
Lauren Cicero | December 10, 2021
By Lauren Cicero NORTHBROOK, IL - December 10, 2021 - Stay-in-place orders, travel restrictions, and cancellations intended to control the spread of COVID-19 caused a severe drop in hotel occupancy and revenue. Even the best marketing has not prevented the most enticing hotels from becoming victims of the pandemic. Famed names like the Renaissance Grand & Suites Hotel in St. Louis, the iconic Fairmont Hotel in San Jose, Washington, D.C.’s century-old Marriott Wardman Park, and The Blakely New York have all fallen into bankruptcy. More hotel bankruptcies may be on the horizon as lenders lose patience with defaulting property...
Email Design Trends Ready to Take Over 2022
Chris Bram | December 7, 2021
By Chris Bram With 2021 nearly in the rear view mirror, it’s time to look ahead and get ready for a fresh start in 2022 – beginning with your email design. While several trends from last year are poised for growth in the months ahead (like dark mode and soft gradients), we are also seeing new opportunities for marketers to get creative and encourage guests to connect with your brand in new, exciting ways. So without further ado, let’s explore the design trends ready to invade your inbox in 2022. Trend 1: Soothe your audience with soft gradients We’ve seen this trend grow steadily over 2021 and for good rea...
Hospitality Financial Leadership: Top 10 List of Productivity Killers in Your Hotel
David Lund | December 6, 2021
By David Lund Productivity is like our health and fitness. We are never just staying in one place for long. You are either moving toward a better picture or you are moving away from the ideal shape you want to be in. In your hotel it is a never-ending journey that requires your constant and continuous attention. In this piece I am going to highlight the Top 10 List to avoid and best practices to adopt so you can stay in shape. And remember, just like guest services and your colleagues, your productivity will never be perfect, but you can always benefit from a regular work out. Number 10 – Being a Perfectionist Perfecti...
The Three N’s of Employee Fulfillment
Shep Hyken | December 2, 2021
In the best of times, it’s important to keep your best employees. In tough times, it’s even more important. Customers are beginning to feel the results of The Great Resignation, which quite honestly, is not so great. It has resulted in longer lines, longer hold times, and slower service – basically a lower level of customer service. So, how can you keep good employees, and keep them not only engaged with their jobs but also engaged with their customers? The best employees don’t just work for a paycheck. They also work for the company and the customer. Is there a way to keep good people? Meet my friend, leadership e...
