Maximizing Your Relationship With OTAs
Tim Lee | January 13, 2020
By Tim Lee The relationship between hotels (particularly major international brands) and Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) may sometimes seem an uneasy alliance. Major hotel companies, such as Hilton, Marriott and IHG, are adding policies on price match guarantees to encourage direct bookings and detract from the perceived value of OTAs. Meanwhile, OTAs push even harder for competitive pricing and invest hundreds of millions of dollars in Search Engine Marketing (SEM) to increase their market share. Due to acquisitions and mergers over the last two decades, most OTA brands are a part of, or work with the two largest players in the space: Bo...
Growth or Authenticity? A Difficult Choice for Rural Tourism
PolyU’s School of Hotel and Tourism Management | December 17, 2019
Owners of small business accommodation in rural China face a difficult choice over whether to expand or retain their authenticity, according to the findings of a study by Dr Honggen Xiao of the School of Hotel and Tourism Management (SHTM) at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University and his co-researchers. In a recently published study, the researchers aim to settle a long-standing debate over whether business expansion is beneficial or harmful to rural tourism businesses, and conclude that entrepreneurs must make a “trade-off” between “enhancing guest experience and achieving economic goals” because growth brings both advantages and disa...
The Hotel General Manager: Time for a New Job Description?
Demian Hodari | December 16, 2019
The hotel General Manager plays a crucial role in the hotel's performance. However his autonomy may vary depending on his education and the type of hotel he works in. By Demian Hodari The hotel General Manager (GM) is the person ultimately responsible for a hotel’s performance. A GM’s ability to make decisions and take action will thus have an important impact on his or her hotel’s operational and strategic results. GMs, however, may not always have the autonomy to make these critical decisions as the hotel’s owner and/or hotel management company (HMC) may in fact limit this through their own decision-making interventions. Th...
Hospitality Financial Leadership: I Never Worked a Day in My Life
David Lund | December 16, 2019
By David Lund That’s the calling card for a famous quote by Thomas Edison and a popular song by Tony Bennett not to mention a plethora of other pop culture about doing something with your life and choosing work that is not really work. That is what I found on the Internet when I went looking, however, for me it was a bit different. During my life— working in hotels for more than 30 years—I often told myself the same thing. I really felt like I had it all. A great job, a cool place to work, a solid group of people to collaborate with and above all the feeling that I was making a difference. That difference-making is what this piece...
What Existing Hotel Sales & Marketing Materials Are Lacking to Attract Luxury Weddings & Events
Lauren Grech | December 16, 2019
If a hotel wants to be considered a top event space, then at a minimum, they should have five pieces of criteria showcased on their website and within their sales materials. By Lauren Grech I first began writing an article that was supposed to be titled "The Top New U.S. Hotels For Your Destination Wedding." I thought it would be easy to find newly opened United States hotels to recommend for luxury weddings. My plan was to take five key points from the “LLG Standard,” an event evaluation that I developed over the past several years, and have applied to numerous hotels through onsite visits. This Standard resulted in me building and...
Study Reveals 77% of Travelers More Likely to Book When Business Owners Respond to Reviews
TripAdvisor | December 13, 2019
Ipsos MORI Survey Shows 79% travelers said Personalized Responses from Owners Make Reviews More Useful, Highlighting the Importance of Management Responses 89% of Travelers Said a Thoughtful Response to a Negative Review Improved Their Impression of a Business, Showing the Effectiveness of Owners Responding to All Types of Reviews 84% of Travellers Said Polite and Respectful Response from Business Owners is Important to Them When Reading Reviews, and as a Result, They Plan a Better Trip NEEDHAM, Mass., Dec. 13, 2019 -- New research released today from Ipsos MORI in partnership with TripAdvisor has revealed that customers are mo...
Standing Out in This Era of “Silent Selling”: Six Ways Hotel Salespeople Can Use Video Email to Engage Prospects
Doug Kennedy | December 11, 2019
By Doug Kennedy It is eerily silent in most sales offices these days. Whereas in the past the halls echoed with telephone conversations between sales managers and group or function planners, these days the only sounds you’ll hear are the clicking of fingers on a computer keypad. Nowadays, most leads are arriving via various “silent” channels. These include direct website RFP’s, leads forwarded from regional brand offices, app notifications coming in from lead generation platforms such as CVENT, The Knot/Wedding Wire, or digital notifications from the local CVB or DMO. Likewise, most salespeople respond silently by emailing st...
Hospitality Financial Leadership: Chapter Three – The Flags
David Lund | December 11, 2019
By David Lund The crap I must deal with never ceases to amaze me. The Stow sees many groups and we were preparing for an international political gathering and my country’s government was hosting the event. This meant lots of politics, decorum and protocol that all gets sorted out, or so to speak. It was nothing short of a cluster bomb and I had to stick-handle my team and the politicians. Our city and country have a colorful history and it is rich in its traditions and symbols. My phone rang late one afternoon as the summit was less than a week away. My secretary, notice I didn’t call her an assistant, she was a secretary and somewh...
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