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Smart Strategies
Fairmont Miramar Hotel & Bungalows Selects KEYPR as Exclusive Guest Experience Technology Partner
KEYPR | January 4, 2018
KEYPR®, the leading cloud-based technology platform for the hospitality industry providing an integrated end-to-end experience for guests and staff through embedded and mobile devices, announced today that Fairmont Miramar Hotel & Bungalows has deployed its expansive hospitality platform. "We pride ourselves on providing a luxury experience that is efficient and unobtrusive, and as our guest demographics diversify, we must find ways to cater to growing technological needs while maintaining the service we are known for," said Matthew Lehman, Fairmont Miramar's General Manager. "KEYPR addresses all of those needs in one neat packa...
KEYPR Announces Major Platform Release
KEYPR | January 4, 2018
Leading hospitality technology company releases major upgrade opening up advanced platform features and functionality KEYPR®, the leading cloud-based technology platform for the hospitality industry providing an integrated end-to-end experience for guests and staff through embedded and mobile devices, announced today the release of a significant upgrade to its platform including a variety of powerful new features and major enhancements to existing features. "The new platform dramatically increases our existing lead in hospitality guest technology by enabling the rapid development and deployment of new features, integrations and inte...
Hospitality Leadership in 2018
Robert A. Rauch, CHA | January 4, 2018
By Robert A. Rauch What will leadership look like this year? It's not always the same each year. Yes, leadership books might provide the same basics of leadership skills and yes, leading by example is a great foundation, but today I am exploring the combination of mentoring, coaching, leading and managing in 2018. I recently posted my top 10 trends in 2018. These include technology, lobby design, local food sourcing and more. Clearly, as leaders, we must be aware of trends in our industry. After all, many of us do not have someone to ask, "what's going on out there?" And it can be lonely at the top! I usually need a trigger to pen somet...
AT&T Hotel and Conference Center Raises Customer Satisfaction Ratings with Focus on Guest Experience
AT&T Hotel and Conference Center | January 4, 2018
Major Hotel and Conference Center Integrates Guest Service Requests, Guest Recognition, Maintenance Scheduling with Guestware January 4, 2018 – The AT&T Hotel and Conference Center in Austin, Texas is the meeting destination for hundreds of local, national and international companies. It offers 83,000 sq. ft. of high-tech meeting facilities and 297 guestrooms on site, with access to additional rooms through a collaborative partnership with surrounding hotels in Austin's high-tech Innovation District. The hotel understands how to use technology to elevate the guest experience and continuously improve and retain high TripAdvisor...
Boosting Employee Performance in Hospitality
January 3, 2018
Few industries make greater use of part-time and seasonal employees than the hospitality industry. But even as they provide extra hands in busy times and the high season, part-timers and seasonal workers are less likely to consider themselves to be 'insiders', who are generally more willing to suggest improvements or accept additional duties. For this reason, many employers go to some lengths to encourage all employees to regard themselves as insiders (for example, with pep talks or other employee events). With that goal in mind, a new study from Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne highlights the key elements that would encourage e...
Sustainable Hospitality: Catalyzing the Uptake
January 2, 2018
Sustainability has become a focal point for companies everywhere and the hospitality industry is no exception. Across the board, hospitality companies – and more specifically hotels -- are seeking ways to be more 'sustainable'. Yet this murky umbrella term is being used liberally these days to mean everything – and nothing. It begs a further definition: what does it really mean for a hotel to be sustainable in this day and age? And what are the ways in which sustainability can be implemented in hotels and other hospitality endeavors? Experts at the Young Hoteliers Summit staged earlier this year at the Ecole hoteliere de Lau...
Hospitality Financial Leadership – Financial Statement Analysis and Your Hotel Career
David Lund | January 2, 2018
If you google the words "financial statement analysis," you will get a long list of definitions like this one by Wikipedia: "Financial statement analysis (or financial analysis) is the process of reviewing and analyzing a company's financial statements to make better economic decisions. These statements include the income statement, balance sheet, statement of cash flows, and a statement of changes in equity. Financial statement analysis is a method or process involving specific techniques for evaluating risks, performance, financial health, and future prospects of an organization." What it will mean to you as a leader in the hospit...
In Hotel Valuation, Being Different Helps …
December 28, 2017
'Cookie-cutter' hotels are easy to build and operate profitably, but properties with unusual features often attract a premium on resale. For example, the Chinese insurance firm Anbang set a record when it purchased New York's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel from Hilton in 2014. Most hotels cannot match the Waldorf in value, but a new study finds that having distinctive attributes helps with hotel values for upscale properties, like the Waldorf. On the other hand, cookie-cutter similarity may actually enhance the value of midscale and discount properties. The study, conducted by Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne professor Prashant Das and h...
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 189; Hotel History: The Boar’s Head
Stanley Turkel | December 28, 2017
By Stanley Turkel, CMHS The Boar's Head (1834), Charlottesville, Virginia (175 rooms) On August 13, 2017, the New York Times wrote in "A Guide to the Charlottesville Aftermath": "On Saturday afternoon, President Trump met criticism for condemning the "egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides" without singling out white nationalists or neo-Nazis". My hotel research about the 183-year old Boar's Head Inn in Charlottesville reveals its relationship to the Boar's Head in London which has been synonymous with warm hospitality and good food since Shakespeare's day. In the 1730s, the Inn was the site of Terrell's...
Hospitality Financial Leadership – A White Paper on a 6-Month Client Workshop/Coaching Engagement – Part 3
David Lund | December 27, 2017
By David Lund The following is an overview of a six-month financial leadership project that I recently completed at a full-service hotel. The project consisted of six half-day hospitality financial leadership workshops delivered in house and monthly 1-1 leadership coaching appointments with the 15 managers assigned to the program. Each month of the project we completed a group workshop and each manager had a coaching meeting with me. The project goal had five measurable elements: Complete Forecasts—get the managers and leaders of this hotel to complete their monthly departmental financial forecasts. Track their results througho...
Hospitality Financial Leadership – A White Paper on a 6-Month Client Workshop/Coaching Engagement – Part 2
David Lund | December 19, 2017
The following is an overview of a six-month financial leadership project that I recently completed at a full-service hotel. The project consisted of six half-day hospitality financial leadership workshops delivered in-house and monthly 1-1 leadership coaching appointments with the 15 managers assigned to the program. Each month of the project we completed a group workshop and each manager had a coaching meeting with me. The project goal had five measurable elements: Complete Forecasts—get the managers and leaders of this hotel to complete their monthly departmental financial forecasts. Track their results throughout the month. ...
How Disruption is Driving Change for Hotels
JLL Real Views | December 18, 2017
By Natalie Holmes From the likes of Airbnb to growing competition in the food and beverage space, disruptive forces are striking the hotel industry from all angles. Yet this is far from being a bad thing, Arthur Adler, Chairman of JLL's Hotels & Hospitality Group – Americas, believes. Instead, disruption is driving innovation across the industry as hotel brands and operators implement new concepts to improve their offerings and keep their guests coming back for more. "The guest experience and profitablility is really what's driving all of this innovation," says Adler. "As travelers' preferences for their lodging changes, the h...
Private Equity Secondaries
December 18, 2017
By Stuart Pallister Private equity (PE) transactions hit their highest levels since 2007 in the US and Europe in the first nine months of the year, according to the Financial Times citing data from Thomson Reuters, with the value of deals amounting to some 212 billion dollars, partly on cheap debt. At a conference on private markets, held recently at Ecole hôteliere de Lausanne, senior PE executives and academics discussed buyouts and the 'booming' secondary market for PE fund stakes. Professor Ludovic Phalippou of Saïd Business School at Oxford University, named in 2016 by RealDeals magazine as one of the 20 most influential...
Thor Equities Acquires The James New York – SoHo
Thor Equities | December 18, 2017
New York, December 18, 2017 – Thor Equities, a global leader in urban real estate development, leasing and management, has closed on its acquisition of The James New York – SoHo, company executives announced today. Thor Hospitality Group, a newly formed division of Thor Equities, is planning substantial renovations and upgrades to the property. Located at 27 Grand Street on the corner of Thompson Street, The James New York – SoHo has been named one of "The Best Hotels in New York City" by Travel + Leisure. The 18-story, 75,800-square-foot boutique property features 114 guest rooms, three food and beverage outlets, and ...
Say Hello to Intelity’s New ‘Voice Request’
Intelity | December 14, 2017
Amazon's Alexa enhances the guest experience by giving guests immediate access to room controls, hotel services, restaurant information and more. [Orlando, Fla. – December 14, 2017] — Intelity is unveiling yet another tool designed to enhance guest experiences. Intelity Voice Request is a product that leverages Amazon's Alexa to give guests immediate access to room controls, hotel services, restaurant information and more. The hands-free device, powered by the cloud-based digital assistant, enables guests to speak to their room with voice-activated commands. "Voice Request acts as a personal butler for each guest," s...
Why Customer Experience Is (Rightly) Such a Hot Topic in Travel
MyTravelResearch.com | December 14, 2017
Companies that anticipate and deliver what travellers want, when they want it, are more likely to command loyalty – and profits By Carolyn Childs Why is customer experience such a hot topic and buzz phrase in the travel industry (and others)? Answer: because in the age of the experience economy the quality of customer interactions at each stage of the path to purchase builds customer loyalty and advocacy. Both are closely aligned to profits. The reality is, big data and technology have enabled brands to understand us better – often better than we understand ourselves (I sometimes joke that Google knows me better than my part...
Serviced Apartments: Innovative Approaches
December 13, 2017
By Stuart Pallister, EHL Hospitality Insights When it comes to the serviced apartment sector, as land prices rise, the trend is for smaller size units – and that's posing a challenge for designers: what to keep within the room or apartment, and what to move into possible communal areas. In a panel discussion held at the Serviced Apartment Summit Europe (#SASEU) staged in London, business development executives from SACO, BridgeStreet, Adagio and Frasers discussed the sector's current directions in the context of innovation and concept development. Eric Jafari, Managing Director of SACO Apartments, acknowledged that, from a design ...
Hospitality Financial Leadership – A White Paper on a 6-Month Client Workshop/Coaching Engagement – Part 1
David Lund | December 12, 2017
By David Lund The following is an overview of a six-month financial leadership project that I recently completed at a full-service hotel. The project consisted of six half-day hospitality financial leadership workshops delivered in-house and monthly 1-1 leadership coaching appointments with the 15 managers assigned to the program. Each month of the project we completed a group workshop and each manager had a coaching meeting with me. The project goal had five measurable elements. It was to get the managers and leaders of this hotel to complete their monthly departmental financial forecasts, track their results throughout the month, adju...
CEO Pay: Analysts’ Forecasts and Compensation
December 11, 2017
By Giuliano Bianchi CEO pay is a controversial topic as some executives have benefited massively from stock options even when their firms have not been performing well. Over the past three decades or so, firms have increasingly looked to stock options as an incentive for executives to make decisions which will enhance the performance of businesses. While there has been a great deal of adverse publicity and shareholders have expressed concerns about excessive pay, shareholders also want to make sure that the interests of management are aligned with their own. In a recent article in Applied Economics, I analyze the effect of share price t...
How Africa’s Hotel Market is Entering a New Chapter
December 7, 2017
By Natasha Stokes Africa's maturing hotel sector is no longer all about the luxury properties catering for high-end travelers. A new wave of domestic visitors and the continued growth of international tourism are fueling demand for mid-market options, along with niche segments like serviced apartments, in the continent's bustling centers such as Lagos, Nairobi, and Johannesburg. "The hotel market in Sub-Saharan Africa has evolved in the last decade with many global operators opening quality hotels in key markets like South Africa, Mauritius and Kenya," says Xander Nijnens, Executive Vice President, Hotels & Hospitality Group Sub-Sah...
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 188: Hotel History: The Pierre Hotel, New York City*
Stanley Turkel | December 7, 2017
Hotel History: The Pierre Hotel (1930) 5th Avenue and 61st Street, NYC Did you read last year that the penthouse triplex at the Pierre Hotel in New York City was for sale for $125 million, the highest price ever listed for a New York hotel residence? At 13,660 square feet, that works out to $9,150 per square foot. The major feature of the triplex is the 3,500 square foot Grand Salon which originally was the Club Pierrot, an exclusive supper club when the hotel opened in 1930. But in the depths of the Depression, the Club was disbanded soon thereafter. Later, the Pierre Roof ballroom was the favored site for debutante receptions, wedding...
Hospitality Trends 2018 – What’s Happening in Hospitality
Robert A. Rauch, CHA | December 6, 2017
By Robert A. Rauch Each December, we come out with my trends for the following year. Last year we led with Artifical Intelligence and Robotics. In May, 2017, we hired our first robot as Employee #25 at our Fairfield Inn & Suites. Designed by Savioke, Relay the Robot (we call him Hubert) has been a big hit! This year we are leading with the lobby design side of the business—every hotel seems to be doing something to encourage the "millennial mindset" traveler to "hang out!" So, feel free to comment, here are our picks for 2018: Hotel lobbies become the center of the hotel universe akin to those found in communal work spaces s...
The Swiss Tourist Happiness Index
November 30, 2017
By Dr Yong Chen How should we measure the tourist experience? Material well-being, or GDP, is regarded by some as insufficient to measure our quality of life and the evaluation of specific services in terms of customer satisfaction may also be somewhat lacking. For various industries that cater to tourists and practise the essence of hospitality through nurturing host-guest relationships, tourist happiness may be a better measure of service performance and destination competitiveness as it takes into account not just lobbies and facilities or services provided, but also factors in the whole tourist experience. What then are the factors...
CSR: Make It Real and Tell Your Story
November 29, 2017
Many of the world's corporations engage in charitable projects. Some do so because they sincerely want to improve the world, but others create programs due the expectations of customers, owners, and other stakeholders. A pair of studies from Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne point to a key group that pays careful attention to corporate social responsibility: employees. The studies, by EHL Professor Steffen Raub – together with Stephan Blunschi of the Swiss retailer MIGROS in one case – investigate the mechanism by which CSR increases employees' loyalty and effectiveness. In recent years CSR has become a focus of many ...
