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Smart Strategies
8 Steps to Transform the On-Property Guest Experience
August 29, 2017
Free guide from StayNTouch provides hoteliers with actionable tactics to create memorable moments during the guest stay that drive revenue, positive reviews and keep guests coming back Bethesda, MD (August 29, 2017) – Optimizing on-property guest experience is increasingly important. In fact, it frequently sits at the top of priorities for most hoteliers. Today, StayNTouch®, the leading innovator in mobile technology and Property Management Systems (PMS) for the hospitality industry, released a new guide titled, The 8 Steps to Transform Your Hotel's On-Property Guest Experience. Like most things in today's market place, guest ...
Hospitality Financial Leadership – Leadership and Technology
David Lund | August 29, 2017
By David Lund "Your success in life isn't based on your ability to simply change. It is based on your ability to change faster than your competition, customers, and business." – Mark Sanborn One incredibly challenging aspect of hospitality is the ever-changing technology. In a modern full-service 500-plus room hotel you have more than 50 different systems and apps to manage, integrate and upgrade. Most people do not see the massive amount of technology being used in hospitality and this article is about leadership in the face of that ever-changing landscape. I remember when we upgraded from Micros 4700 posting machines in the fron...
Airport Hotels: The Stylish New Models Near the Runway
JLL Real Views | August 28, 2017
Often dismissed as a routine pit-stop for travelers, airport hotels are increasingly refashioning themselves as stylish, amenity-rich places for a night's sleep or a board meeting. by Natasha Stokes At the Westin Denver International Airport hotel, the lobby is steps away from security screening but guest rooms feature floor-to-ceiling glass walls overlooking the cityscape and the famed peaks of the Rocky Mountains. In Singapore, passengers can stroll directly from Terminal 3 of Changi Airport to the Crowne Plaza, a luxury hotel with a gym, spa and courtyard pool surrounded by tropical greenery. "These hotels offer far more than just a ...
Business Model Innovation: Beyond the Traditional Way of Innovating in Hospitality
the Authors | August 24, 2017
By Margarita Cruz and Nicole Rosenkranz Innovations form a significant backbone to an organization's ability to secure a competitive advantage. While historically we attribute much of that innovation potential to product, process or service innovations, a study conducted by KPMG in 2015 revealed that three out of four executives believe their company's future competitive advantage would be challenged by a competitor's business model innovations (BMIs). When we talk about BMIs, we are referring to the basic logic in the way a firm does business: how the company is able to create value for customers, either by defining a new value proposi...
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 183: Hotel History: The Stanley Hotel (1909)
Stanley Turkel | August 24, 2017
By Stanley Turkel The Stanley Hotel, (1909), Estes Park, Colorado (140 rooms) A story in the New York Times on September 4, 2015, "Hotel That Inspired 'The Shining' Builds On Its Eerie Appeal" focused on the Stanley Hotel and Stephen King's novel that went on to become Stanley Kubrick's 1980 cult film classic. For years, operators of the Stanley Hotel have used "The Shining" and its paranormal plot as pure marketing gold. But there is a more accurate history of the majestic Stanley Hotel which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The hotel is named after its builder, Freelan Oscar Stanley (1849-1940) and his twin broth...
How Hotels Are Turning Day-Trippers Into Overnighters
JLL Real Views | August 22, 2017
Many travelers in the U.S. never set foot in a hotel during a business or leisure trip – even when it's several hours away from home. It's not just because of growing competition from home sharing platforms like Airbnb and VBRO. Whether they're driving or even flying to a nearby locale for a cultural event or for a business meeting, people often prefer to head in and out of their destination in one day rather than stay overnight. It's a familiar phenomenon to tourism professionals. In recent years, there were 12 million day trips to Denver, Colorado; and in Minnesota, 57 percent of travel was comprised of day trips—with 38.2...
Hospitality Financial Leadership – Creating Hotel Financial Policies
David Lund | August 22, 2017
By David Lund Having a policy manual that covers all the important aspects of your business that relate directly to the financial function is a mission-critical building block for your hotel company. Not too many people would argue with that statement. Why then do most small hotel companies still not have a financial policy manual for its hotels and what do they need to do to create one? In this article, I will lay out why this project is on the backburner, how to construct a policy and a process for getting this project completed in short order. There are two main reasons why the creation and completion of this policy manual are so elu...
Why Affordable Luxury Hotel Brands are Heading to Asia
JLL Real Views | August 14, 2017
By Serene Lim Yotel and CitizenM might be better known in Europe and the United States but it won't be long before they become familiar brands in Asia. These affordable luxury hotel brands are making headway in the region as they embark on a spate of new launches across many of its most popular destinations. CitizenM, which blazed a trail in European cities for its trendy vibe at pocket-friendly room rates has welcomed its first guests in Taipei this month and is already expanding its footprint with outposts in Kuala Lumpur and Shanghai next year. Meanwhile Yotel, which defines modern luxury as having everything guests need at their fin...
Hospitality Financial Leadership – Measuring Labor Productivity Part II
David Lund | August 9, 2017
By David Lund In food and beverage, you want to get obsessed about a similar measurement like you do in the rooms division. In F&B it is "hours per cover served." Right out of the gate you need to understand the definition of a cover and it has recently changed. A cover is now properly labeled as a "customer" and it is now calculated by dividing the total sales in all food and beverage items by the total number of customers. Before it was only food sales and you divided the number of people who consumed a food item by the total food sales. Now it is the total of warm bodies divided by total F&B sales. See Uniform System of Accou...
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 182: Hotel History: Eldridge Hotel (1855)
Stanley Turkel | August 7, 2017
1. The Eldridge Hotel, (1855), Lawrence, Kansas (48 rooms) The following historical marker was erected on April 4, 1940 by the Lawrence Rotary Club: "This marks the site of the Free State Hotel erected in 1855 by the New England Emigrant Aid Society. Destroyed by Sheriff Jones and his posse May 21, 1856, and rebuilt by Col. Schaler W. Eldridge. Quantrill and his raiders destroyed Lawrence August 21, 1863, burned the hotel and massacred the citizens. Col. Eldridge restored the hotel which stood until 1926 when it was rebuilt by W.G. Hutson." W.G. "Billy" Hutson was the grandfather of the well-known hotelier Michael Getto (The Hills Hotel...
The #1 Rule in Service Excellence: Keep the Customer
BW Leadership Academy | August 3, 2017
By Bryan Williams United Airlines is now a case study for how not to treat customers. Especially paying customers…who are about to receive the service they paid for…and are obviously unhappy about how they are being treated. There is so much to learn from this scenario. Horst Schulze, who is the former President and COO of the Ritz-Carlton (and one of my biggest influences) always said that rule #1 is to keep the customer. For any organization to be successful, they must become proficient at keeping customers (and not lose them). Keep them happy. Keep them engaged. Keep them so well that they eagerly look forward to return...
Summer in the City – or Outside a City: Enjoying Strong Market Revenues & Positioning for Fall Season
Robert Rauch | August 1, 2017
by Robert A. Rauch Yes, it's summer but you might be outside a city. Either way, enjoy the remainder of revenues if you are in a strong market or the opportunity to position yourselves for a strong fall season if you are in Phoenix like we are with some of our properties. We are excited about the growth and changes at RAR Hospitality so if we might toot our horn for a short paragraph, we will appreciate it. First, we are now recognized for our growth in San Diego, Phoenix and finally the U.S. Inc. 5000 will be recognizing us this fall for being one of the fastest growing companies in the country between 2014 and 2016. Recently, in addit...
Key Pillars of Luxury Hospitality: The Soul
Suzanne Godfrey | August 1, 2017
By Suzanne Godfrey In a series of pieces on luxury hospitality based on interviews with leading hoteliers in Paris, Suzanne Godfrey examines key pillars that define the luxury hotel, or more specially, the Palace. Here she explores the need for the soul – the tangible and intangible, something that's not wholly definable. So far we've examined two key pillars of luxury hospitality: quality and consistency; and service and the emotional connection. Here we turn our attention to the third and final pillar: the soul of the luxury hotel or Palace. It's a concept that's hard to define, a confluence of elements that uniquely come togeth...
Tourism Tidbits: Old-New Forms of Tourism Product Development
Dr. Peter Tarlow | August 1, 2017
by Dr. Peter Tarlow The famous French phrase: "plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose" (the more things change the more they are the same) is a good starting point for tourism product development. Often what is old becomes new, and what we see as innovative was always right before our eyes. Some basic principles of tourism product development are that "every community has a unique tale to tell, we just have not yet uncovered it". Another key factor is: "Be who you are, do not be what you are not". Finally, "what was "then", may well become what will be tomorrow". In other words things that were pedestrian a century or...
Hospitality Financial Leadership – How to Review a Hotel Budget
David Lund | July 31, 2017
Budget season is fast approaching and I am writing this article to highlight some areas to look at when you are reviewing a hotel financial budget. Maybe you want to make sure you have all your ducks in a row before you submit your 2018 numbers to the corporate office or perhaps you are the one doing the review. This article will give you some ideas of what you need for your review, what to look for and where to find it. The only thing we know for sure about the budget is, it's wrong. ~ Unknown Budgeting is first and foremost a business plan with numbers. It is the culmination of all the wants, wishes, aspirations and ideas laid out in ...
Winning Strategies to Bring in New Customers
July 31, 2017
by Elisa Chan and Meng-Mei (Maggie) Chen How should hotels be reaching out to potential customers? When it comes to distribution channels, the discussion should never just be limited to the hotel's relationship with online travel agencies or OTAs. In our view, hotels should deploy strategies with the right mix of information to allow potential customers to make informed choices. In addition, hoteliers should leverage services offered by indirect channels to win over business from their competitors. For many hotels, managing distribution channels is currently more of an administrative task than a strategic necessity. Most hotels add dist...
Revenue and Cost Strategies for Boutiques, Independents
Robert Rauch | July 28, 2017
Find the right tools and embrace the cost generators that best fit your independent property. By Robert A. Rauch With many moving parts and no brand systems or guidance to assist, it is essential to a hotel's revenue success to invest in the right tools, most of which will save dollars. Let's look at the revenue components of an independent hotel. A savvy sales team can make or break your hotel as group business generally books well in advance to provide the ideal base business. Without the power of a brand sales team and the tools that they provide, your independent hotel's sales efforts need to ensure that they are utilizi...
Who’s Afraid of Google?
Stuart Pallister | July 26, 2017
By Stuart Pallister Google, whose mantra used to be 'Don't be evil' (until it dropped it for the motto 'Do the right thing'), is almost omnipresent in our lives these days. We use it for all sorts of online searches, whether it's trying to access arcane information or find our way from A to B. The European Commission though recently took the giant to task --- slapping a 2.4 billion euro anti-trust fine on the internet giant at the end of June, following a seven-year competition investigation. It concluded that Google had "denied other companies the chance to compete" by placing its own comparison shopping service prominently and demotin...
Hospitality Financial Leadership – Outsourcing Your Accounting and Why this is a Stupid Idea
David Lund | July 24, 2017
By David Lund Stupid sounds like a harsh word. Webster's dictionary defines stupid as, "Given to unintelligent decisions or acts," along with a few other more colorful options. Outsourcing your hotel accounting is an unintelligent move, that is my opinion and I am going to make my case right here. When I refer to outsourcing, I am talking about a third party provider, not a centralized function. Any good decision comes down to more pros than cons I often work with clients on decisions and we often make two lists. Good things that can come from a decision and how we can amplify them, then the bad things that could and would happen and h...
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 181: Hotel History: Mount Washington Hotel (1902)
Stanley Turkel | July 18, 2017
by Stanley Turkel, CMHS Mount Washington Hotel, (1902), Bretton Woods, New Hampshire Ground-breaking for the new hotel was in 1900 and construction began in 1901. It was conceived and built by Joseph Stickney, a New York financier who owned the nearby Mt. Pleasant House. By the late 1890s, Stickney decided to build a more luxurious hotel opposite the Mt. Pleasant House. Two hundred fifty Italian craftsmen were brought in for the actual construction work. They lived in dormitories on the property, built for that purpose. Of the thirty grand resort hotels erected in the White Mountains between 1850 and 1930, only the Mount Washington Hote...
Hospitality Financial Leadership – Ego is Not Part of the Recipe
David Lund | July 18, 2017
By David Lund "If you want to be more than a flash in the pan, you must be prepared to focus on the long term. We will learn that though we think big, we must act and live small to accomplish what we seek. Because we will be action and education focused, and forgo validation and status in their pursuit, our ambition will not be grandiose but iterative—one foot in front of the other, learning and growing and putting in the time." Ryan Holidays – Ego is the Enemy In the financial leaders' world, ego will not serve them well. Ego will put distance between them and their audience. Ego would have a leader being the star of the sh...
Hospitality Financial Leadership - The Lily Pad
David Lund | July 10, 2017
By David Lund When you get promoted to a department head and executive committee position it's an exciting time in your career. This story is about my experience as a first-time controller. It all started when the phone in my office rang. At the time, I was the assistant controller at the world famous Banff Springs Hotel, The Castle in the Rockies. It was my "BIG" boss, the General Manager and Regional Vice President, on the line. It was about 10 a.m. and he asked me if I could come to the sister hotel in his region, Kananaskis for lunch. I said, "I think so, I just need to ask the controller here if it's ok." He replied, "Don't worry a...
Hospitality Financial Leadership – Measuring Labor Productivity Part 1
David Lund | July 5, 2017
By David Lund "It's not always that we need to do more but rather that we need to focus on less." — Nathan W. Morris In hospitality, the measurement and management of productivity is hit and miss and miss again. Time and time again hotels are using ineffective measures to try and capture labor productivity measurements. It is important from the beginning to establish the goals for measuring productivity in your operations. This article will focus on rooms and Part 2 will be F&B. The goal in measuring productivity in the rooms division is to see, monitor and ultimately improve on the number of hours of work it takes to service ...
Why Pop-Up Hotels Are In Fashion
JLL Real Views | June 30, 2017
By Laura Agadoni Staying in an air-conditioned luxury shelter at a music festival or a bespoke yurt in the Andes seemed like a distant thought even just a few years ago. Now, both experiences have become a reality for a small but growing group of festival goers and travelers thanks to pop-up hotels. "Pop-up hotels offer adventure seekers an exciting travel experience they can post about on their social media accounts," says Geraldine Guichardo, Americas Head of Hotels Research for JLL. "Music festivals in particular are driving the opportunity for pop-up hotels to exist." Marriott's partnership with Coachella, a California music festiva...
