Craig Jacobs
Will Covid Make Hospitality Stronger?
Craig Jacobs | March 18, 2021
By Craig Jacobs Profound change in the Meetings and Hospitality Industries is on the verge. Hybrid conferences, food and beverage offerings and new cleanliness and service protocols will scramble current standard operating procedures, profit and loss statements, staffing, pricing and the definition of Luxury. While change is difficult, the final outcome is going to be an improvement for clients, staff and ownership. Values like quality, efficiency, productivity, and profitability are never-ending quests and the pandemic has provided us with a clean slate to start from scratch. The following list is just the beginning: Worth ...
Leisure in the Time of Covid
Craig Jacobs | March 5, 2021
By Craig Jacobs Competition for local and regional leisure business among hotels is unusually intense for the painfully obvious reason that COVID has curbed everything else. To generate leisure demand, properties invest in digital marketing including social media, SEO, paid search, and display advertising. They also engage with on-line travel agencies to capture discounted business. While there are reliable key performance indicators to measure results from these marketing tools, creating an acceptable financial return on investment is challenging. Keeping up with the latest trends surrounding marketing technology requires a major commitme...
Hybrid Meetings Impact on Group Business
Craig Jacobs | March 4, 2021
By Craig Jacobs Who could have predicted a year ago that Zoom would be a major disruptive influence in the Meetings Industry? Years of speculation about the threat to hotels from videoconferencing was much ado about nothing until the Pandemic. Now, conventional wisdom suggests that Hybrid Groups, which combine teleconferencing with person-to-person meetings, will be prevalent for the foreseeable future and a permanent part of the new normal. NEW PARADIGM, NEW CHALLENGES The same forces (perceived cost savings, enhanced convenience, health concerns,) that have exalted the benefits of working from home also wreak havoc on in-person eve...
Hybrid Meetings Impact on Group Business
Craig Jacobs | February 2, 2021
By Craig Jacobs Who could have predicted a year ago that Zoom would be a major disruptive influence in the Meetings Industry? Years of speculation about the threat to hotels from videoconferencing was much ado about nothing until the Pandemic. Now, conventional wisdom suggests that Hybrid Groups, which combine teleconferencing with person-to-person meetings, will be prevalent for the foreseeable future and a permanent part of the new normal. NEW PARADIGM, NEW CHALLENGES The same forces (perceived cost savings, enhanced convenience, health concerns,) that have exalted the benefits of working from home also wreak havoc on...
Light at the End of the Tunnel
Craig Jacobs | January 13, 2021
By Craig Jacobs OPPORTUNITY FOR IMPROVEMENT As we recover from the ravages of the Pandemic and the hospitality industry re- emerges from its devastation, the good news is that there is unprecedented opportunity for improvement. Much of the upcoming change is directly related to the virus and is well underway; improved cleanliness standards, solutions to minimize germ spreading, and the re-invention of hotel dining among them. One school of thought is that business will naturally return to 2019 levels eventually. While that may be true, now is not the time for passivity. This crisis has been shocking and painful, and while it has brought...
