A Case Study in Optimizing Length of Stay From Wellness Capex
Adam and Larry Mogelonsky | April 17, 2024
IDeaS Releases 2024 Hotel Technology Predictions
IDeaS | November 15, 2023
Smart Strategies
Video: How Critical are Millennials for Hotel Brands?
Stuart Pallister | May 7, 2018
By Stuart Pallister The topic of millennials and hospitality was featured in a panel session during the 9th Young Hoteliers Summit at Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne. How critical are the millennials for hotel brands? Andreas Scriven - Head of Hospitality & Leisure, Deloitte. When it comes to millennials, it's about the way of doing things which may be linked to service but they're just faster. Things happen faster. Brands keep on coming again and again, so saying that millennials are different is completely wrong. However, they're born with a smartphone in their hands, so they don't have time for bullsh*t. What hotels need...
What’s the Value of Hotel Loyalty Programs?
Stuart Pallister | May 4, 2018
By Stuart Pallister While hoteliers grapple with how to win over that 'notoriously disloyal' generation, the millennials, what's the value of hotel loyalty programs? Major hotel chains such as Marriott and Hilton, with tens of millions of members, have been using such programs for decades to inspire feelings of loyalty among guests and fend off online travel agents or OTAs. However, not everyone in the industry is convinced loyalty programs work – especially in the luxury segment. At the recent Young Hoteliers Summit staged at EHL, loyalty programs came under the spotlight during a panel session focusing on the luxury sector. Dorc...
How Much of a Threat to Hotels Is Airbnb?
May 3, 2018
By Dr. Inès Blal with Co-Authors Dr. Manisha Singal and Dr. Jonathan Templin Since the entry of Airbnb into the hospitality industry in 2008, media attention has largely focused on the disruptive nature of the service. Industry reports, as well as lively debates at hotel, travel and tourism conferences, have kept the spotlight on Airbnb's growth and success. But despite all this attention, we still know little about its real impact on hotel sales. In our recent publication in the International Journal of Hospitality Management, we examined how Airbnb supply, price, and perceived quality affect the sales performance of incumbent h...
Health and Success in the Summer of 2018
Robert A. Rauch | May 2, 2018
By Robert A. Rauch, CHA I seldom write about success or health, typically favoring hotel operations, leadership, finance, marketing or forecasts. But today, I offer a summer check up on our success, health, wellness and overall fitness plan, one that I have just commenced. Because it is May, we have a full summer ahead of us. After reading Tom Brady's new book, The TB-12 Method, my colleague, Larry Broughton's book, Flashpoints for achievers and a book by Bob Burg and John David Mann, called Go-Giver, I decided this was the perfect time to set up a summer program for health and success. Brady's book is about pliability, flexibility, fi...
Much Ado About Millennials and Hospitality
Stuart Pallister | May 2, 2018
By Stuart Pallister Go to a hospitality conference or forum these days and the topic of millennials is likely to crop up, and more so at the Young Hoteliers Summit staged recently at Ecole hôteliere de Lausanne. At the heart of the issue is a fundamental question for hoteliers. Should you be thinking of changing your offering substantially to cater for this digitally-savvy generation in their early 20s to mid-30s, and, if so, what are they looking for? Are luxury hotels too stuffy and will they need to have a major re-think? In retail, leading designer labels such as Gucci are going all-out to woo these customers, even though they...
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 195: Hotel History: The Elephantine Colossus Hotel
Stanley Turkel | May 2, 2018
By Stanley Turkel, CMHS When Coney Island went from a sandbar resort in Brooklyn to the city's biggest beachfront playground in the 1880s, all sorts of attractions popped up. There were beer halls, roller coasters, so called "freak shows" and a one-of-a-kind gaudy structure known as the Elephantine Colossus. It was constructed in 1884 by James V. Lafferty (1856-1898) who thought that the next great architectural step was to design buildings in the shape of animals, birds and even fish. During the twelve years before it burned down, the jumbo-size hotel in Brooklyn was known as the Colossus of Architecture and the Elephantine Colossus. A...
Exploring Niche Markets in Hospitality: Seizing Untapped Opportunities
Dr. Meng-Mei Maggie Chen | May 1, 2018
By Dr. Meng-Mei Maggie Chen Distribution challenges for the hotel industry include the rising cost of customer acquisition, the ownership of customer data, the lack of loyalty from customers, and the growing popularity of Airbnb. The hotel industry is already struggling to attract, convert, and retain customers. Without major investment in marketing, convincing customers to switch from paid channels to the hotels' own channels is simply a mission impossible. Yet, some interesting players have taken a different approach by going after niche markets. For example, nhow Hotels (part of the NH Hotel Group) offer state-of-the-art music studio...
Hospitality Financial Leadership: Hotel Current Assets – What You Need to Know
David Lund | April 30, 2018
By David Lund When we cross the bridge in the hospitality financial world to the greater business world, the concept of an asset and how it is used comes full circle. I am going to explore what is unique about hospitality assets and how we record and use them. I am only going to talk about current assets in this article. First of all, an asset is something you have paid for or earned previously that can be used to generate more income. That is the critical test: Can you use this item to make more money, to create more economic activity? If you bought it or created it previously and can use it to generate more income, it is an asset. Ite...
Young Hoteliers Summit: Rankings Report Reveals Major Trends in the Industry
April 30, 2018
The YHS Rankings, a rating survey conducted by the Young Hoteliers Summit catches each year the latest trends in the hospitality industry by interviewing nearly 2'000 future hospitality leaders. The Young Hoteliers Summit (YHS) is a student-run committee, organizing an annual, international summit hosted at Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne. This year's topic revolved around the central theme: "Eyes on the Future: Following the Momentum of Growth". The report not only reveals the most popular employer of the year but analyses the motivations of young hoteliers to choose an international hospitality brand. It was found that career...
Hospitality Financial Leadership: Fixed/Variable Costs and Room Revenue Management
David Lund | April 23, 2018
By David Lund Lately, I have spoken to several revenue managers who have told me how much their cost is to take a room—to make that last sale of the day. What I heard concerns me because it tells me some people do not understand the fixed vs. variable components of payroll and expenses in their hotels. Quite simply put, one revenue manager told me his cost to take a room in his hotel in NYC was $290. "What?" I exclaimed over the telephone. "Yes, that's the cost." To which I replied, "That's the total cost of all your expenses, both fixed and variable?" Silence ensued for a moment and I said, "Let's slow things down and look at the...
Washington Court Selects KEYPR as Exclusive Guest Experience Technology Partner
KEYPR | April 20, 2018
Luxury Capitol Hill hotel goes live with the KEYPR platform, bringing the latest technology to guests and staff Los Angeles, CA (April 20, 2018) -- KEYPR®, the technology company whose enterprise cloud platform is the leader in guest experience and hospitality management, announced today that its system has been fully deployed at the iconic Washington Court Hotel located in the heart of Washington, D.C. "We pride ourselves in maintaining the highest service standard, and are committed to delivering a boutique hotel experience with all the modern amenities," said Washington Court's Operations Manager, Greg Askew. "The KEYPR platform...
Why Not List Your Hotel on Airbnb?
April 19, 2018
Ever since Barry Manilow's drummer, David Rozenblatt, convinced Airbnb to start renting out whole properties in 2010, it has been technically possible for a hotel to be listed on the platform. However, it was only recently that Airbnb began to actively court the hotel sector. The segment particularly targeted by the sharing economy platform is boutique hotels and bed and breakfasts (B & B's), which can offer the 'personalized experience' that Airbnb seeks to provide to its customers. By August 2017, Airbnb had listings for 15,000 boutique hotels, about 10 months after introducing them to the platform, according to th...
Intelity Solutions Helping Hotels Achieve Higher AAA Diamond Ratings
Intelity | April 17, 2018
Recent updates to AAA Diamond Rating Guidelines reflect the importance of connecting travelers and hoteliers via mobile technologies such as mobile apps, mobile keys, and mobile concierge Orlando, Fla. — April 17, 2018] — AAA has revised its Approval Requirements and Diamond Rating Guidelines to now "reflect the importance of connective technologies that allow guests and lodging operators to interact on an increasingly personalized basis." What this means to hoteliers looking for a higher AAA Diamond Rating is they will now be expected to connect their guests to hotel staff and services by smartphones and tablets and keep t...
Factors Driving Hotel Wellness, Asset Management and Revenue
Mia A. Mackman | April 17, 2018
By Mia A. Mackman This article reveals how spa and wellness aspects are disseminated throughout the whole guest experience, and how wellness motivated design and construction elements complement property development, enhance marketability and engagement and is spurring new growth across the hospitality sector. This article also examines how critical management adjustments, and product and service enhancements can significantly add value, increase RevPAR and improve average daily rate performance. Built-In from the Ground Up Hotel design aspects have lined up with wellness construction counterparts and evolved into a thriving wellness-...
Talent and Technology Go Hand-in-Hand in Contact Centers
JLL Real Views | April 16, 2018
Technology is transforming the way organizations interact with customers—but even the most promising digital tools still work best when paired with skilled humans. High-tech solutions like blockchain and automation will unquestionably reshape the contact center industry in the coming years. Yet this digital disruption is not expected to replace people entirely. Instead, contact center operators are seeking tech-savvy, customer service-oriented talent to work alongside robots. This dual focus on talent and digital strategy is fueling momentum in the U.S. contact center sector, where growth is currently outpacing the global industry...
Hospitality Financial Leadership – Catch Me If You Can: It’s a Game of Confidence
David Lund | April 16, 2018
By David Lund Frank Abagnale is arguably the world's most famous modern-day impostor. Leonardo DiCaprio played his character in the 2002 movie directed by none other than Steven Spielberg, with the same title as this piece. The movie was based on the 1980 book that Frank wrote. I am writing about Frank Abagnale because I had the pleasure of meeting him personally, and experiencing his trickery, just a little. Also, there is a direct link between what his story is all about and your own financial leadership journey. If you have not seen the movie, watch it. Tom Hanks plays the lawman chasing after Frank and it is a wild ride. The book is...
Is Your Hotel Booking Engine Destroying Your Profitability?
Vikram Singh | April 16, 2018
By Vikram Singh Almost every other day, I see a headline about the latest trend that is going to have a massive impact on hotels and travel. Some might even be worth exploring. However, the fact remains that if your hotel booking engine is hard to use, none of the trends will have any impact on your net operating income and profits. Having worked in hotels most of my adult life, and having traveled extensively, I have vast experience booking rooms every way possible: using phones, travel agents (yes, I am that old), OTAs, and directly from apps. The one consistent problem I find on hotel websites is a disregard for the basic usability p...
Tourism Tidbits: Celebrating Twenty-Five Years of Tourism Security
Dr. Peter Tarlow | April 12, 2018
by Dr. Peter Tarlow In May of 1992 a visionary Las Vegas police officer, by the name of Curtis Williams had an idea that tourism to be successful needed to have not only protection but also regular meetings where ideas might be exchanged and new concepts would be developed. Curtis Williams and Peter Tarlow were able to get a small room and ran the first tourism security workshop. Since then, the idea of tourism security has become an important part of tourism. The then workshop, and soon to be full conference proved to be logistically too hard for Williams and Tarlow to do everything on their own, and in its second year, Don Ahl, of the...
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 194: Hotel History: John McEntee Bowman (1875-1931)
Stanley Turkel | April 11, 2018
Hotel History: John McEntee Bowman Part 2 During his lifetime career as a hotel developer and operator, John Bowman was a horse lover and a thoroughbred racing enthusiast. He was president of the United Hunts Racing Association and the National Horse Show. For a time, he served as the president of the Havana-American Jockey Club that operated the Oriental Park Racetrack in Marianas, Cuba. In addition to the six Biltmore Hotels which I described in Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 193, here are the descriptions of ten more Biltmore hotels. Flintridge Biltmore Hotel- located in La Canada Flintridge atop the San Rafael Hills in Californi...
How Asia’s Old Buildings Are Changing With the Times: Hotel Operators Have Taken Note
JLL Real Views | April 9, 2018
It's Friday evening in Bangkok and a crowd has gathered at Warehouse 30, the latest project by celebrated architect Duangrit Bunnag. In the sprawling 4,000-square-metre space, fashionable locals flick through the glossy pages of coffee table books at Candide, a design-centric bookstore, shop for vinyls at Copperwired, or flesh out ideas for savvy tech-startups in the co-working space. When the curated space opened in 2017, it quickly became one of the hottest places in town to see and be seen. Only a few years before, however, the entire complex had been nothing more than two abandoned World War II-era warehouses. Across Asia, former d...
5 Ways to Build Soft Skills in Hospitality
April 9, 2018
A classroom can teach you hard skills that will help you land your first hospitality job. What's much harder to teach — and ultimately necessary to rise through the ranks to your dream job — are soft skills. Sometimes called people skills, soft skills address how you communicate, work with others, and handle the day-to-day aspects of your job. Try these 5 ways to work on your soft skills and impress your employers. 1. Listen to Others Active listening is key to success in hospitality. When you actively listen to a customer, you can not only understand what they need, but demonstrate that you hear them and proactively wo...
Hospitality Financial Leadership – Management Incentive Plans
David Lund | April 9, 2018
By David Lund Recently I have been working with a client who has four hotels and we worked on putting together an incentive plan for his executives. This is a story about how we structured the incentive and the goals around the plan and his business. Bonus plans or management incentive plans are nothing new. Even a recent client had almost always given his senior people an annual bonus, typically at the holiday time. When I asked him what it was based on, he said it was just the overriding feeling of his thanks for a job well done. We then discussed the very real fact that he had not shared his financials with his leaders and this was s...
Why France’s Hotel Sector is on the Road to Recovery
JLL Real Views | April 5, 2018
by Emily Perryman As tourists return once more to soak up the sights and tastes of France, its hotel sector is rebounding rapidly from its 2016 low point. Just under 89 million tourists visited France in 2017, according to French government figures, a five to six percent year-on-year rise that puts the country back on track to reach its ambitious 100 million target by 2020. It's a welcome turnaround from the previous year, when tourist numbers in the worst-hit region of Greater Paris fell by 1.5 million in the wake of a spate of terrorist attacks. By September 2016, hotel RevPAR (revenue per available room) was down almost 16 percent on...
Why A Mobile App May Be Key to Designing a Better Guest Experience
Terri Miller | April 5, 2018
By Terri Miller, Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder, Concilio Labs When was the last time you used an app? Today? An hour ago? A few minutes ago? For most of us, apps have become an integrated part of our daily life — we might not even realize the extent to which we rely on them. Our smartphone behavior is typically centered around the convenience and connection that apps readily provide. Despite this prevalence, there has long existed a trend of some businesses hesitating to break into the realm of mobile apps; a hesitation which may also extend to hotels. The push for technological innovation only continues to grow and, wi...
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