rick garlick
Hospitality Industry Leaders Named Penn State Conti Professors for 2024-25
Penn State’s School of Hospitality Management | September 16, 2024
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Penn State School of Hospitality Management has named Alan Horowitz, vice president of enterprise sustainability at Aramark, and Rick Garlick, principal consultant of Richard Garlick and Associates Consulting and Research Services, as its 2024-25 Walter J. Conti visiting professors. The Conti Professorship program brings hospitality industry leaders and scholars to serve as guest lecturers and mentors with students in the Hospitality Management program and to connect with faculty members and researchers in the school. As part of its 36th anniversary, Horowitz and Garlick represent the continued growth and suc...
COVID-19 Recovery: How Hotels Can Reestablish Brand Trust
Dr. Rick Garlick | October 21, 2020
By Dr. Rick Garlick Fall is in full swing and as businesses continue to face myriad challenges related to COVID-19 and economic downturn, brand trust continues to stagnate across the travel, hospitality and leisure sector. As such, several behavioral and attitudinal shifts will have long-term impacts across the industry and cause recovery challenges as consumers resume travel – but there are also some bright spots on the horizon. Where does trust stand? The Magid data shows that, despite significant investments to assure travelers that various venues are safe, the needle is not moving. In April, the first wave of the study showed tha...
Learning From the Past: Inoculating the Incentive Travel Industry
Rick Garlick | June 20, 2019
By Rick Garlick It has been a decade since the recession of 2008-2009 painted incentive travel as an example of corporate excess and waste, and the impact of that shift in mindset continues to ripple through the industry. Incentive trips, corporate events, and meetings were not only cancelled that year, but companies continue to be mindful of this perception, being more budget-cautious less likely to reinstate or explore these programs. What was lost during this time was how well-designed incentive travel programs are profit drivers, rather than cost centers, driving productivity and revenue. It seemed like no one was able to effective...
Making Peace With Disruptors
Rick Garlick | August 2, 2018
By Rick Garlick, Ph.D., ISHC When TripAdvisor was first founded in 2000, it was created with the intent of being a travel information site. While the original focus was on professional content, it soon found itself to be the social media site of choice for user-generated travel reviews. Of course, this transparency was not always welcomed by hotel chains. It used to be that hotels could maintain control over the guest feedback process through their internal guest surveys, comment cards, and escalated complaint process. However, TripAdvisor was a very visible resource for guests to bare their hotel experiences, positive and negative, in ...
U.S. Cities Primed for Billion-Dollar Revenue Boost from Surprising Source: Slightly Happier Tourists
Rick Garlick | March 15, 2017
By Rick Garlick There is an inherent logic to the idea that U.S. cities that consistently impress tourists with one-of-a-kind activities, delicious food, great hotels and smooth infrastructure will be rewarded with increased travel and tourism revenue. But how much is that perfectly pressed Cubano sandwich in Little Havana or great seats for the hottest show on the Las Vegas Strip really worth? Try a billion dollars. That's the number we came up with at J.D. Power when quantifying the relationship between traveler satisfaction and vacation-related spending. On average, we found that when travelers are 'delighted" with their...
J.D. Power: Marriott’s Focus on Consistency May Boost Starwood Brands
Rick Garlick | November 19, 2015
By Rick Garlick, Ph.D., Global Travel and Hospitality Practice Lead for J.D. Power Marriott's acquisition of Starwood offers a number of interesting possibilities, particularly since there is quite a bit of overlap among their respective brands within tiers. For example, Ritz-Carlton and J.W. Marriott are both counted among the 'luxury' brands by Smith Travel Research, as are Starwood's W Hotels, along with St. Regis and The Luxury Collection. Similarly, full service Marriott Hotels, Renaissance, and newly acquired Delta Hotels are upper upscale brands, as are Starwood's Westin, Sheraton, and Le Meridian hotels; and ...
