Insights

MurphyÕs Law of Hospitality

The word ÔhospitalityÕ might as well be another name for MurphyÕs Law because everything that can go wrong in a hotel will and at the worst possible time! Having spent the past two decades working up the ladder of the hospitality sales and revenue management departments, IÕve seen a lot of crazy and truly absurd happenings.

Coffee
Insights

Get in the green game and get ahead

In our hotel industry, there is an abundance of data available to measure performance and rankings among peers. There are real-time guest ratings and reviews, competitive set performance indexes, hotel star ratings to mention a few. One area that is gaining traction among guests and performance is sustainability best practices.

Digital thermostat
Insights

Questions hoteliers should ask before making a technology purchase decision

ÒAll the world’s a stage,Ó Shakespeare famously wrote, ÒandÊallÊthe men and women merely playersÓ. In many respects, Guest Experience Management is strikingly similar to a stage production. To bring each scene to life, the cast and crew Ñ and, also, the set design and technology Ñ need to come together in a highly-orchestrated manner.

Purchasing decision
Insights

Hotel management agreements and the confusing agency cases

In 1991, a California court, applying California law, in the Woolley versus Embassy Suites case sent a startling message to hotel management companies. At the time, those of us who follow these kinds of cases thought the holding was a one-off, quirky decision that is not likely to be followed and may be overturned in subsequent decisions. It held that a hotel management agreement is not only a commercial contract that sets out the rights and obligations of the parties, but it also gives rise to an agency relationship.

Hotel management agreement
Insights

How to update your companyÕs PR outreach

In the past, when most people thought about the public relations profession, they thought of two things: spin and propaganda. Today, some people still hold the outdated view that PR professionals are just paid Ôtalking headsÕ with questionable morality. Being a PR professional myself, I object to this incorrect portrayal of a career IÕm passionate about. That being said, I do understand where this misconception came from.

PR outreach
Insights

Hospitality financial leadership Ð Welcoming imperfection

To maximize your effectiveness with your leadership team around the money you would be well advised to accept the fact that itÕs an endless exercise. We must see that the idea of mastering the numbers is elusive. This imperfect reality is comforting and seeing the challenge we have as just another endless mountain to climb is very healthy.

Financial imperfection
Insights

Drive direct bookings without using direct links

Increasing traffic to your own website is one of the most important factors for a hotelÕs success, as 100 per centÊof all revenue from direct bookings are paid to the property withÊno acquisition cost. It is possible to increase your propertyÕs website traffic by establishing direct links to your site so customers can reach yours via other sites. While this method is efficient, building direct links can be time-consuming and expensive.

Direct bookings
Insights

Which revenue management technology is best for your property?

For many hoteliers, there is a great deal of confusion about the different revenue management technologies available on the market today. ItÕs hard to remember which technology calculates rates, which manages inventory, which updates the new prices to the online distribution channels, or if they do both.

Revenue management
Insights

How to get started with big data in your hotel

The whole conversation around big data is exhausting. The possibilities are endless. But here we are, every day, worried that we are sitting on a mountain of data but doing very little with it. But is it paralysis caused by these overwhelming possibilities? Or do you just think big data is best left to big hotels and chains?

Big data
Insights

The how to versus the want to

The business of managing the hotel finances is not terribly technical or complicated. What makes it challenging is that itÕs usually a very large job involving many people. In a 500-room hotel, you can easily have 20+ forecast contributors. The communication system in the hotel is the key to both smooth management and predictive financial results. This is the how to.

Managing numbers
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