The Tricycle of Guest Service Excellence: A Perfect Model For Remarkable Experiences
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Veronika Mercier | August 14, 2024
Smart Strategies
Winning the Battle for Guests: Remaining Competitive in the Age of Airbnb
Roger Sholanki | July 22, 2019
By Roger Sholanki Short-term room rental sites like Airbnb are now firmly entrenched as competitors in the hospitality industry. Millions of rentals – Airbnb alone has grown to include 5 million listings – have intensified the competition for guests and disrupted the industry. Hotels must position themselves to compete in this environment by implementing strategies including using technology, personalization, experiences and amenities to provide a superior guest experience. Technology Embracing technology is essential for hoteliers to offer the customized, frictionless experience travelers want. Guests expect that technology will be se...
Hospitality Financial Leadership: How to Prepare a Financial Budget
David Lund | July 22, 2019
By David Lund Tis the season and most hotels are already well under way with their annual grunt work to prepare a 2020 plan for the regional and corporate teams to review and then it is onward to ownership seeking their approval. In most hotels, this process is a protracted drawn-out marathon of such epic duration that it leaves a streak of several weeks, if not months, for some to endure. Revision after revision is the norm and everyone along the path squeezes a little more until there is nothing left to give anymore. When we consider the goal of the budget it is pretty simple. Create a plan for the coming year that will provide eve...
In the Poker Game of Hotels, Resort Fees Are the Rake
David Eisen | July 18, 2019
By David Eisen Nothing irks people more than paying for something they don’t need or use. I once paid $50 for a pair of pants I never ended up wearing—but that’s on me. I’m to blame. It’s another thing altogether when you are forced to pay for a pair of pants that you didn’t want in the first place. What hotels call resort, or facility, or destination fees, are kind of like that pair of trousers you never planned on buying or wearing. Within hotels, those pants are things like the gym, beach chair use, pool towel service and other nonoptional charges to the guest that are not included in the initially quoted room rate. I,...
8 Must Follow Rules for Perfect Hotel Wifi
Kacey Bradley | July 18, 2019
For many hotel guests, Wi-Fi is a necessary amenity. It allows people to stay connected while traveling the globe with devices like smartphones, watches, tablets and laptops. A 2016 survey revealed 40 percent of people think Wi-Fi is more important than sex, chocolate and alcohol. And 72 percent of people have made a hotel reservation based on the wireless internet experience. If you want to be known as the hotel with perfect Wi-Fi — the one that brings all the tech-savvy travelers through the front doors — follow the eight golden rules below. 1. Consider Your Guests A quick, reliable Wi-Fi network is done wholly for the guest experie...
A Hotelier’s Guide to a Delectable Travel Trend
Kacey Bradley | July 17, 2019
By Kacey Bradley Food travel, also called gastro-tourism, is the pursuit of authentic culinary experiences across the globe. Everybody has to eat. But a gastro-tourist is looking for a unique adventure with local fare. Some popular food travel trends across the globe include: Farm-to-Table: directly sourced and locally grown food. Cooking Classes: an immerse, hands-on experience. Chef’s Table: a chance for guests to interact with the chef. According to research, 93 percent of travelers create fond, long-lasting memories based on experiences with an area’s distinct cuisine. Hotels can offer an immersive experience by pro...
Why You Need to Constantly Reinvent Your Hotel
Larry Mogelonsky | July 17, 2019
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.hotelmogel.com) In this current age of disruption, we are being challenged on multiple fronts for the hearts and minds of our consumers. While the hotel industry has been quite buoyant over the past few years, this does not mean that these numbers will continue perpetually. As the only constant is change, you need to start thinking of how you are going to profoundly upgrade the guest experience in order to make yourself future proof. For instance, you can longer myopically think that such factors like the growth of the home sharing economy have not had an effect on our businesses, especially when y...
Global Hospitality CEO Survey: What Trends Are Shaping the Hospitality and Leisure Industry?
Kimberly Yoong | July 16, 2019
Hospitality businesses must find ways to differentiate themselves to remain competitive against ever growing industry disruption, the PwC’s 22nd CEO Survey unveils. By Kimberly Yoong According to the 22nd Annual Global CEO Survey by PwC, the Hospitality and Leisure industry's success continues to rest on its ability to cater to individual consumers’ preferences and desires. As the 3,200 global CEOs interviewed for the survey put it: “People eat, sleep, play games, cement friendships and seek cures in hospitality facilities.” However, recent trends suggest that the industry has been losing that connection with their customers as...
How Grab-and-Go Markets Became Profit Centers for Hotels
Cicero's Development Corporation | July 15, 2019
PLAINFIELD, IL, JULY 15, 2019 -- Hotel pantries have long been discounted by owner/operators as oversized vending machines, essentially a guest amenity that they had neither the time nor the expertise to do right. All that changed during the Great Recession when RevPAR plunged and owners sought new cash flows. At the same time, budget-conscious business travelers were spending less money on room service and fancy restaurant dining. Seeing an opportunity, astute hotel owners quickly recognized that a lobby "grab-and-go" market could generate profits while improving guest satisfaction. "Hotel owners today understand that every square foot...
Hospitality Financial Leadership: The Basic Principles
David Lund | July 15, 2019
By David Lund Accounting was a trade that had a global language much like carpentry or plumbing. There were universal rules that applied and these principles were exactly the same in the hotel business. That was good news. Accounting principles are universal. The way in which accounting is done throughout the world is a direct by-product of these principles: “Accounting principles are the rules and guidelines that companies must follow when reporting financial data. The common set of U.S. accounting principles is the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP).” These principles are the very foundation that the business worl...
Are Social Influencers A Hotel Marketing Sham?
Larry Mogelonsky | July 10, 2019
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.hotelmogel.com) Miss Jane Doe has a hundred thousand followers on Instagram. She approaches your public relations or marketing manager looking for a full comp – a suite for three nights with her hubby/photographer in addition to all meals, some serious spa vouchers and transportation from the nearest airport. Boasting about her following, do you acquiesce and authorize this straightforward yet expensive, request? Sure, someone may argue that the room caused no displacement because it may have been midweek while the meal was merely food cost and so on. But there is a lot of staff time involved ...
The Impact of Technology on Hotel Sales and Marketing
Court Williams | July 8, 2019
By Court Williams and Rachel H. Levitt Gone are the days when travelers sought accommodations using the local newspaper or telephone directory, picked up the phone and called to make a reservation. Hospitality sales and marketing in the 21st century is a much more vibrant, complex activity, populated by multifaceted stakeholders at every level of the industry. This is complemented by a proliferation of new brands, ever-increasing rivalry, and a race to introduce new tools before competitors do. The Simplicity of the Past Achieving proper exposure was fairly simple in the past, although at the time it was considered as much of a sc...
Proactive Customer Support
Shep Hyken | July 8, 2019
By Shep Hyken Just last week I wrote about the concept of predictive customer support. Now, we take a slightly different angle with the concept of proactive customer support. The concept is simple. The company reaches out to the customer before the customer has a chance to reach out to the company. More often than not, the customer may not even know they have a problem. As an example, when does a typical customer find out their cable TV is out? Usually when they turn the TV on. Then there’s frustration and even anger. Typically, the customer will pick up the phone to report the problem and hope the customer service agent can help them...
Hospitality Financial Leadership: Why Financial Acumen Is So Important to Your Hospitality Career
David Lund | July 8, 2019
By David Lund It is common sense to know: With more knowledge and skills your career prospects and advancement possibilities are enhanced. In hospitality it is not quite as well understood. There exists a counter culture to growing up, to raising one’s self out of the guest- and colleague-only world into the financial arena. I know and have met many people who camp out in hospitality for this very reason. The idea that they will not have to deal with numbers and the black and white is part of our culture. In this piece I am going to examine why this exists and what you can do to rise up! The hotel world has changed tremendously in ...
10 American Brands That Get Patriotic Marketing
Michael Del Gigante | July 3, 2019
As Americans prepare for the July 4th celebrations this year, patriotism is on the rise. That’s not conjecture, but fact: According to a recently released survey of 5,862 US consumers conducted by Brand Keys, the share of people who consider themselves extremely or very patriotic increased across all age groups between 2018 and 2019. For marketers, this rising tide of patriotism presents powerful opportunities to connect with consumers. However, it also presents difficulties. As the researchers note in their report: “We live in an era of political polarization, consumer tribalism, and increasingly fervent social movements…Not onl...
How to Build Value Engineering Into Hotel Renovation Projects to Save Money and Improve Quality
Cicero's Development Corporation | July 2, 2019
PLAINFIELD, IL, JULY 2, 2019 -- The Society of American Value Engineers international defines value engineering as a “function-oriented, systematic, team approach to provide value in a product, system, or service.” In layman's terms, value engineering has always meant one thing: saving money without compromising quality. True value engineering is not simply a matter of cutting costs, but rather giving careful consideration to all options, always with the project's goals in mind. A well-planned and well-executed value-engineering process can improve a hotel renovation without sacrificing its essential integrity. Larry Miles, considered ...
Predictive Customer Support
Shep Hyken | July 2, 2019
By Shep Hyken In the old days – and even in modern times – if a customer wanted help or support, they picked up the phone and called for help. A (hopefully) friendly and competent customer service professional, also known as an agent or representative, would answer the question or resolve the problem. Today there are many ways to connect with a company. There’s the traditional phone call, email, messaging, instant chat, social channels like Twitter and Facebook, and many more. But there’s one mode of communication and customer support that hasn’t been talked about much. My prediction is that it will not only become popular, bu...
What Is “Hospitality Financial Leadership Anyway?”
David Lund | July 1, 2019
By David Lund This is a question I have been asked many times. Exactly what is financial leadership and why hospitality? Finding the three words together “HFL” in a sentence three years ago was not possible. I know because I tried to google them and came up with a bunch of leadership consultants and courses. Even the words “financial leadership” revealed surprisingly little. Some tidbits about CEO’s and their role but nothing any broader. Financial leadership is in my opinion the cornerstone of any manager, executive or leader’s business acumen. It enables the individual to see the importance of being plugged into the strate...
What Price Loyalty?
| July 1, 2019
Loyalty programmes have long been a feature of the hotel sector, but little evidence has traditionally supported whether they represent an operationally and financially beneficial form of investment. Yet a recent study by Dr Dan Wang of the School of Hotel and Tourism Management (SHTM) at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University and her co-researchers provides strong evidence that hotels are justified in making such investments, and provides suggestions for how hotels can further capitalise on the benefits. The researchers begin by highlighting the longevity of loyalty programmes – they were introduced almost forty years ago with American Ai...
Why Google Ratings Might Just Be Your Hotel’s Most Important Quality Metric
Daniel E. Craig | June 27, 2019
By Daniel E. Craig, Founder, Reknown Move over, TripAdvisor — there’s a new sheriff in town. Over the past couple of years, Google has revamped its review product, increased review volume exponentially, and made Google ratings more prominent in search, maps and hotel listings. As a result, Google ratings may have emerged as the most important measure of quality for hotels. Here’s why. In Search, Google Reigns Supreme Google’s role as chief gatekeeper to online travel planning difficult to dispute, but does it hold a monopoly on search? While company officials bristle at the suggestion, others aren’t so convinced. “Goo...
Q&A: Mike Hollman, VP of Mergers & Acquisitions and Capital Markets, on His Playbook for Success in Corporate America
Hilton | June 27, 2019
Two years ago, Mike Hollman was on a fast track in investment banking when he changed his career path to join Hilton. Currently, he leads the team executing corporate finance initiatives including public market offerings, capital allocation along with mergers and acquisitions. During his career, Mike has represented real estate and lodging companies in over $20 billion of transaction volume. We asked Mike to share his personal lessons for success in corporate America. Mike, you started your career consulting on projects in Ohio, Kentucky, Delaware and New Jersey. What did you learn from those experiences? I discovered early in my car...
5 Ways to Drive Incremental Revenue to Your Hotel
Patrick Landman | June 27, 2019
By Patrick Landman In last year’s article on hotel ancillary revenue we shared insider tips on how to generate extra revenue at your hotel or resort. We explained, among other things, how to upsell and cross-sell your services and how to leverage underutilized areas to increase revenue. These main strategies will stay relevant during the coming years, but there are now novel ways of increasing revenue per guest too. In this article, we will go into detail about these new methods of using the strategies mentioned previously and discuss other tips and tricks to supercharge your revenue by getting your guests to spend more. 1. New Wa...
Navigate the Pitfalls Motel Valuations – Part 2
Rod Clough, MAI | June 25, 2019
By Rodney Clough In Part 1, I discussed the importance of determining the true revenue and expense levels of a property, which may not be overtly evident by statements or tax returns provided by a motel owner. When reconstructing a true (or as close to true as possible) statement, this may diminish the reliability of the direct capitalization method and discounted cash flow in the reconciliation if these opinions are based on estimated statements. Conversely, this heightens the importance of the RRM if the rooms revenue is the most documented line item, as well as the importance of the sales comparison approach; moreover, these two may be ...
So You Want to Host a Webinar
Daniel E. Craig | June 25, 2019
By Daniel Craig I love giving webinars. Attendees can’t see me, so I can wear pajamas and drink wine. I can’t see them, so I don’t know when they’re rolling their eyes or falling asleep. And if anyone asks a hard question, I can just mute them. Try doing that at a conference. But seriously. Done well, webinars are a cost-effective way for companies to reach a large, global audience and drive sales leads without having to travel or pay conference fees. This may explain why it seems like everyone is doing webinars these days. Problem is, today’s corporate webinars are often poorly organized, sparsely attended, rife with tech ...
Great Teams Deliver
Roger Wolkoff | June 25, 2019
Roger Wolkoff You walk into the nearly completed grand ballroom. In one corner, you see a massive stack of yellow and orange pillows for the new guest rooms. Next to the pillows are the sleek glass and steel work desks you selected for the business center. You make your way over to the corner window opening where yet another forklift of furniture and carpeting makes its way into the building. "All hands on deck" is the mantra for you and your team. Everyone is available and ready to help - front desk clerks, facilities, sales, marketing, even the hotel manager. Everyone is on hand to put chairs in place, set up end tables, stock bathroo...
