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
Hotel Co-Working on the Rise as 55% of People Struggle to Concentrate at Work
Guestline | May 20, 2019
Hotels set to revolutionize the way we work as almost half of people prefer to remote work in hotels. Over 55% of workers who also work remotely (either occasionally or full time) struggle to concentrate in the office for at least half an hour each day, according to a new study conducted by Guestline. People are therefore losing an average of 116 hours of work per year, which equates to almost 17 working days, due to a dip in productivity within their working environment. The study surveyed 2,000 people to understand what it's like to work remotely and use co-working spaces. The statistics unveil the challenges people face when co-worki...
RevPAR Is Only One Piece of the Picture
David Eisen | May 17, 2019
By David Eisen Imagine you're scouting a young baseball player or footballer—someone experts have pegged as the next Derek Jeter or Lionel Messi. You can't, however, just take their word for it; you have to see their performance for yourself and also dig into the numbers—into how they rate statistically. Now, imagine you are only allowed to consult one statistic, such as batting average (hits divided by at-bats) or goals scored. Then, imagine that within this context, our Jeter heir apparent is hitting a more-than-respectable .315, and our Messi-to-be is his team's leading goal scorer. Great news, right? Well, yes and no. ...
Independent Hotels: An Action Plan to Win the Direct Booking
Max Starkov | May 16, 2019
By Max Starkov With the explosion of the "digital way of life", the traveler's customer journey has become increasingly complex, which necessitates independent hoteliers to rethink and overhaul their marketing and technology stack strategies and investments. Today's online travel consumer is exposed to more than 38,983 micro-moments in any 60-day timeframe and visits an average of 18 websites via multiple devices across eight sessions before making a hotel booking (Google Research). Google defines this customer journey as a fluid series of interconnected stages: Dreaming, Planning, Booking, Experiencing and Sharing Phases, in which eve...
How Hotels Can Embrace the Experience Economy
David Millili | May 16, 2019
By David Millili Atif Rafiq begins his tenure at MGM Resorts this month. A departure for a casino hotel operation that would typically hire from within the industry, Rafiq's background isn't in hotels at all. Instead, his most recent position as chief digital officer and global chief innovation officer at Volvo Cars signifies a shift in the way MGM is thinking about hospitality, moving away from traditional approaches and toward digital experiences. As Rafiq tells Skift, "Being a Silicon Valley native in tech companies, I want to think about how to bring the digital and physical together. I'm looking at it how a tech company would look ...
Building Your Hotel’s Sharing Economy Defenses
Larry Mogelonsky | May 15, 2019
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.hotelmogel.com) While it is crystal clear to me and many other hoteliers that the sharing economy and all its resident internet-based service firms (IBSFs) have severely changed how customers perceive hotels, many outside of hospitality tout their successes and grander benefits for the community. Regardless of whether or not they are ultimately 'good', the rapid proliferation of all these sharing economy accommodations should not be mere doom and gloom for hotels, however, but an opportunity for you to improve your own product. As Airbnb is by far the largest among these IBSFs, I will use it as a p...
ALICE Named to Inc.’s Best Workplaces of 2019
ALICE | May 15, 2019
Recognized for Exceptional Growth, Benefits, and Employee Feedback NEW YORK – May 16, 2019 – ALICE, the hotel operations platform that empowers operational excellence and meaningful guest experiences, today announced its recognition as one of Inc. Magazine's Best Workplaces of 2019. The Best Workplace recognition is awarded to organizations on the basis of an anonymous employee survey, the number of employees who complete the survey, and an audit of the organization's benefits. This award demonstrates ALICE's commitment to creating a workplace that allows employees to achieve their ideal work and life balance – grantin...
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 213: Hotel History: Sheraton’s Classic Advertising Campaigns
Stanley Turkel | May 14, 2019
By Stanley Turkel, CMHS Hotel History: "Keyed-Up Executives Unwind at Sheraton" In 1965, the Sheraton Corporation of America, under the leadership of President Ernest Henderson, created a brilliant advertising campaign: "Keyed-up Executives Unwind at Sheraton". It was broadly promoted all over the U.S. in print media, TV advertising and locally by individual Sheraton Hotels. Among my collection of Sheraton artifacts is a translucent plexiglass paperweight which has a small figure of a businessman with a wind-up key in his back which says "Keyed-Up Executives Unwind at Sheraton". His picture was everywhere: on television, on posters, in...
Hospitality Financial Leadership: Engage Their Hearts and Minds First
David Lund | May 13, 2019
By David Lund Getting your hotel leadership team excited about accounting is like someone thinking it's fun to go to the dentist. Your average person wants nothing to do with it because they have a predisposed notion that it's yucky, boring and better left for someone who has a hard time walking and talking at the same time. What I have learned about getting your average hotel leader excited about the numbers is just the opposite. Let me explain. Hotel leaders ALL want to have the "financial where-with-all" to dazzle their peers. They know it's the secret sauce to propel their career. They all want their seat at the captain's table. Bei...
How Hotels Are Meeting the Demand for Quality Meeting Space
JLL Real Views | May 9, 2019
Whether they're hosting a conference for 300 out-of-town guests or an away-day for a 30-strong team from a local company, hotel meeting and event spaces are in high-demand. The global market for meetings and events is currently growing at seven percent per year, in turn driving up prices for meeting space across North America, Asia, and Europe. Yet not all facilities are in the same league. As hotels look to gain the edge in winning new and repeat business, many are considering how they can modernize, refresh or add to their meeting and events spaces to extend their appeal to companies and business travelers. "Tired, old facilities won'...
How Will the Hospitality Industry Benefit From the IoT
Ana Bera | May 9, 2019
By Ana Bera The Internet of Things (IoT) has the potential to be a gamechanger for those in the hospitality industry. Therefore, it is essential for managers, hotel owners, and other business leaders to try to make the most of it. However, according to research, 87% of people are not familiar with the concept of the Internet of Things let alone what this technology means for the hospitality industry. In this article, we have discussed this matter, and hopefully, you will learn more about the latest tech buzzword and how does it cater to client needs. What Is the Internet of Things? The term 'Internet of Things' refers to the idea of cre...
Angie Hospitality Acquires Roxy, Consolidating Advanced Voice-Enabled Solutions for the Global Hospitality Market
Angie | May 9, 2019
Creator of hospitality's award-winning guest room virtual assistant completes acquisition of leading competitor. San Jose, Calif. – May 9, 2019 – Angie Hospitality, developer of the industry's first 24-hour interactive guest room assistant purpose-built for the hotel environment, has completed its purchase of the assets of Roxy, a competing provider of speech-enabled virtual assistant technology for the hospitality industry. As part of the agreement, Angie Hospitality will assume management and support of all existing Roxy installations and customers worldwide. In an email to customers, Angie committed to a seamless experie...
Five Strategic Directions to Take Your Hotel
Larry Mogelonsky | May 8, 2019
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.hotelmogel.com) Value adds always become expectations. Such is the course for hospitality and if you aren't constantly evolving your brand then it will become stale. And in an overstuffed hotel marketplace, you need bold new directions to differentiate your product and drive rate. So, how do hotels adapt so that guests don't lose interest in any of these ostensibly great properties in favor of the 'next big thing'? How do you innovate a boutique property so that its repeat revenue figures will always be a healthy contributor to the bottom line? Broader still, how do lifestyle hotels continue to rei...
Why Lifestyle Hotels Are Not Just for Millennials
JLL Real Views | May 6, 2019
Lifestyle hotels may tick all the boxes for millennial travellers but they're not the only generation drawn to their mix of contemporary design, nods to local culture and good wifi connections. In recent years, they've become an increasingly popular choice among travellers across all age groups – by combining the personalised touches and high-quality service of a boutique hotel with the convenience and reliability of big hotel chains – while operating at a premium price point. As lifestyle brands such as Indigo by the InterContinental Hotels Group, Aloft, Moxy and W under Marriott, as well as Andaz by Hyatt pop up across the...
From the Experts: Digging for Data and Kicking out Competition
Holden Madison | May 6, 2019
By Holden Madison What does it take to efficiently work with data in hospitality? Four data experts weigh in. EHL recently welcomed three hospitality companies actively engaging in data science during a panel discussion hosted by Associate Professor Alessandro Inversini. Participants shared their experience working with data, its opportunity and its pitfalls. Checking in With Data Suzanne Ward, Director Enterprise Solutions Integration MEA - AccorHotels For a hospitality giant like Paris-based AccorHotels - which has 4,200 hotels, operating in 100 countries and a total room-capacity of 570,000 hotel rooms - data has been tapped into ins...
Hospitality Financial Leadership: The Financial Forecast Disconnect and How to Correct It
David Lund | May 6, 2019
By David Lund When I work with hotel clients around their financial leadership it's often centered on getting the team to do their monthly financial forecast. A greater interest in doing it produces better and more consistent results. When doing financial leadership workshops and individual coaching, I inevitably discover the same thing time and time again. It's the disconnect between the executive team/director of finance part of the operation and the department line managers. In this piece I am going to explain why this disconnect exists, how to detect it and what you can do to fix it. First, why the disconnect exists. It exists becau...
Ten Luxury Fashion Brands Venturing Into Hospitality
Chiara Eckenschwiller | May 2, 2019
In a world where everything has to be documented on social media, customers are increasingly looking for experience-related services. It is not enough anymore to wear luxury products such as a purse or shoes, customers now want to pair their products to an overall experience. Luxury travelers are craving luxury experiences As fashion brands are reinventing themselves, what better way to do so while at the same time facilitating the expansion of their empire? Luxury hotels are increasingly appealing to travelers, especially at a time when luxury becomes more accessible and diverse. Luxury travelers are craving experiences that go beyond...
Revisiting the Public Ownership of Convention Hotels
the authors | May 2, 2019
By Gregg Rockett and Jeff Sachs Part Two: In support of public authorities that choose to own convention hotels – from professionals in the trenches. Introduction Part one of this article reviewed the controversy surrounding the public ownership of hotels and highlighted the opposition's principal arguments, which has several decades of academic and journalistic documentation. One would think that a reaction to overwhelmingly negative literature would discourage the public sector from pursuing the outright ownership of hotels, and this may have muted some initiatives. However, municipal jurisdictions in the United States continue ...
Upselling The Frugal Guest
Larry Mogelonsky | May 1, 2019
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.hotelmogel.com) When applied to hospitality, the word 'frugal' can have a rather opaque meaning. It doesn't mean that guests are cheap, but instead they are discerning and hesitant to splurge without full justification. Every hotelier knows that guests are becoming increasingly tech-savvy with each passing week, but what this also means is that they are becoming exceedingly aware of channel price differences and marketing tricks used to cajole them into spending more than is absolutely necessary for a given service. And this is true for not just hospitality but practically every industry where the ...
Arrivedo Launches Routes Feature to Allow Hotels to Give Guests a Better Customer Experience
Arrivedo | April 30, 2019
Arrivedo self-guided walking routes let hotel guests personalize their trip when exploring a destination based on the precise experiences that they're craving. Lima, Peru. May 1st - Arrivedo, a content platform that collects recommendations and things to do around hotels, announces the launch of a new Routes feature for Arrivedo Neighborhood Guides with the purpose of giving hotels the ability to provide a better guest experience as part of the hotel's website. Arrivedo aims to give hotels the ability to compete with Airbnb by providing guests with more curated experiences at one-fourth of the cost of traditional competitors. They do th...
Hospitality Financial Leadership: Investing in Financial Leadership in Your Hotel
David Lund | April 29, 2019
By David Lund CFO to CEO: "What happens if we invest in developing people and they leave?" CEO: "What happens if we don't and they stay?" I found this exchange in, of all places, the internet. Go figure. It's an interesting back and forth that I know plays out in many organizations. Investing in anything training related in business is tricky. Not only when it comes to the money and resources it takes, but it's also the matter of finding the appropriate training. I also believe one of the biggest stumbling blocks to creating and investing in a culture where we train and develop our leaders continually, is the ability to have it result i...
New Research Study Explores Trends to Meet Consumer of the Future Needs
IHG | April 29, 2019
The end of room types, robots at the concierge and achieving 'cult status': new Amadeus-IHG research asks if this is the future of hospitality? New research study, Drivers of Change in Hospitality, explores the changes we can expect as guest insight, technology optimization and the ability to hyper-personalize take effect. Informed by over 7,500 consumers worldwide and industry experts, the study identifies three trends that the sector must respond to meet the needs of the consumer of the future. Traditional room types have been around forever - single, double, twin, suite or family room. It's a tried and tested format, beloved by hotel...
Transportation Booking Just Got Easier for Concierges at Firmdale Hotels
ALICE | April 29, 2019
ALICE, the hospitality industry's leading concierge and hotel operations technology, is newly-integrated with transportation automation platform Chauffeur Express. The integration, built via ALICE's Open API, is making it considerably easier for concierges to book guest transportation - and make transportation booking a better experience for guests - at Firmdale Hotels' eight London properties. "Today, when we talk about hotel operations, everything is about being efficient, in control, and reliable, while offering a great experience to guests," says Chauffeur Express CEO Alex Dicu. It's for this reason "the integration between ALICE an...
Data-Driven Content: The Metrics That Matter
HEBS Digital | April 29, 2019
By Gil Christenberry, Content Team Lead at HEBS Digital DATA: CONTENT’S BEST FRIEND Not everyone realizes it, but data is content’s best friend. This is because content creators use data to leverage their work. In fact, there are so many metrics available that instead of asking, “What metrics can we track?” the question becomes, “Which metrics must we track?” Answering that question involves understanding the goal of the content in question. Knowing what you want your content to do helps you identify which metrics matter. Data is important at multiple stages throughout the content-creation process. Of course, we use data ...
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 212: Hotel History: Hotel del Coronado, Coronado, California (1888)
Stanley Turkel | April 23, 2019
By Stanley Turkel, CMHS Hotel History: Hotel del Coronado, Coronado, California * The renowned Hotel del Coronado is a grand example of elegant Victorian architecture providing one of the most beautiful and popular beach resorts in the United States. The Del was conceived by two mid-western businessmen, Elisha Babcock, Jr. and Hampton L. Story who bought the entire undeveloped 4,100 acres on the peninsula of Coronado for $110,000. Babcock was a retired railroad executive from Evansville, Indiana and Story the owner of the Story & Clark Piano Company in Chicago. Babcock and Story hired the architectural firm of Reid & Reid consi...
