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Smart Strategies
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...
THE LONG READ Key Pillars of Luxury Hospitality: Service and the Emotional Connection
June 29, 2017
by Suzanne Godfrey In a series of pieces on luxury hospitality based on interviews with leading hoteliers in Paris, Suzanne Godfrey examines the key pillars that define the luxury hotel, or more specially, the Palace. Here she explores the need for service that goes over and beyond … to create an emotional connection. "That's when you win in services, making you feel at home" - Aaron Kaupp, General Manager, Le Royal Monceau Raffles, Paris "We want to have a private home feeling" - Jean-Pierre Trevisan, Director of Operations, Ritz Paris Around three-quarters of the 526 standards that the influential Forbes Travel Guide u...
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 180: Hotel History: Roosevelt Hotel (1893) New Orleans, Louisiana (504 rooms)
Stanley Turkel | June 28, 2017
by Stanley Turkel, CMHS 1. Roosevelt Hotel, (1893), New Orleans, Louisiana The original Roosevelt New Orleans Hotel was built by Louis Grunewald, a German immigrant, as the Grunewald Hotel. In 1908, it was expanded with a fourteen-story 400-room annex. The expansion was designed by the Milwaukee architectural firm, H.C. Koch & Sons who also designed the Pfister Hotel and the City Hall in Milwaukee. The Grunewald was the site of The Cave, one of America's first nightclubs. The subterranean supper club came with waterfalls, stalagmites, stalactites and a line of chorus girls dancing to a Dixieland jazz band. The Cave remained in o...
Branding and Hospitality: What’s Your Differentiation?
June 28, 2017
By Grace Goni Not a week appears to go by without the opening of a luxury hotel somewhere in the world. Just take a look a consumer travel magazine and you'll see all sorts of new concepts and offerings flooding the market. Until about 15 years ago, the differentiation between luxury hotel brands was clear. Guests knew who was who and what was what. Today, the market is saturated with many different hotels, brands and offerings. If you factor in the disruption of new entrants due to technology, it is not surprising that customers are confused. As client demands are also changing, is it any wonder then that many luxury hotels are struggl...
Hospitality Financial Leadership – Separating Group and Local Sales in Banquets
David Lund | June 28, 2017
By David Lund If your hotel has a reasonable amount of meeting space (+10,000 ft) and your banquet business is a significant contributor in your Food and Beverage Department (+20% of F&B revenue), you are going to want to separate local banquet business from group banquet business on all of your financial statements, forecasts, budgets and daily reporting. At this moment you may be asking, "Why would I want to do that? That sounds like a lot of work." There are some very good reasons to make this practice a standard in your hotel. I see many hotel financial statements and most are missing the boat because they do not separate group ...
Your Wi-Fi Is Hot! Better Get a Cold Drink out of the Minibar
Minibar Systems | June 26, 2017
Most minibar installations today are cutting the cables and going wireless. Minibars have officially become unplugged. It's about time! Many minibar installations today are cutting the cables and going wireless. Hotels are happy to have the flexibility to install minibars anywhere in the guestroom, without being restricted to the traditional armoire. This is one of the newest trends in guestroom design – put the minibar in the entryway, snacks on the desk and spa tray in the bathroom. "Having all these in-room retail devices operating wirelessly creates a nice sense of space and access to cold drinks, snacks and sundry items", say...
Hospitality Financial Leadership – What’s the System?
David Lund | June 21, 2017
By David Lund When we are creating financial leadership in our hotel we're focused on the system we use. When I say "system" in this context I am not talking about a computer system. We may use a computer and software when we construct the forecasts and budgets. What I'm talking about in this article is the Financial Communication System. What's my system for creating financial information in my hotel? How does it work and how can I enhance the system and get a better result? This article focuses on creating and maintaining an effective business system in your hotel. "Systems are everything to a business. Don't change the pe...
The Top 5 Questions Hotel Companies and Tech Suppliers Need to Ask When Looking for a Development and Consulting Partner
Andrew Sanders | June 20, 2017
By Andrew Sanders, VP, Travel & Hospitality - North America for DataArt Long gone are the days when a company would "off-shore" its software development requirements as a regular course of action - especially within the travel and hospitality industry. As our industry becomes increasingly dependent on technology to support operations, there is now the need to find a technology and consulting partner that understands not only the inherent complexities but also has the development resources required to truly deliver. Our industry can be viewed, at times, as being somewhat 'Schizophrenic' due to the influx of new platforms and ...
How Boutique Hotels are Delivering Their Own Brand of Luxury
JLL Real Views | June 19, 2017
By Maggie Nichols Travelers searching for a luxurious hotel stay don't have to look far in cities like New York, Chicago and San Francisco. Hotels that include world-renowned spas and five-star restaurants are not hard to find in these primary U.S. markets – but in secondary and tertiary markets, the hunt can be a bit more challenging. "Luxury hotels have historically been located in cities like New York and Chicago because that's where hotel owners can charge room rates high enough to offset the hotel's higher operating costs," explains Lauro Ferroni, Global Head of Research at JLL's Hotels & Hospitality Group. "Running a Rit...
Why Hotels Are Setting up Shop in Suburban Shopping Centers
JLL Real Views | June 15, 2017
By Laura Agadoni Imagine stepping outside your suburban hotel, and instead of jumping in a car to shop or eat, you can easily walk to all your favorite stores and restaurants. Across the U.S., new hotels are enabling their guests to have local amenities on their doorstep – by backfilling vacant shopping center space. It's not just an arrangement that benefits guests and the hotel chains; it's also helping to revitalize American shopping centers that may have lost a middle-market anchor. Over the past two years, large format anchors have closed. JCPenney, Macy's, and Sears and Kmart are shutting down 324 stores between them across ...
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