By Noelle E. Ifshin: All too often, restaurant owners take their employees’ job satisfaction for granted. They focus all their energy on achieving financial results, acquiring new customers, launching new marketing ideas, and driving guest satisfaction, but they forget about the people who actually turn all those HR action verbs into real-life actions.  Treating employees as internal customers is the first step in providing a productive, positive environment, which reinforces your company’s hospitality and service culture. Here are 4 reasons you should consider employees your customers.

By Dr. Jonathan Barsky and Frances Chiu: Travellers are looking for more innovation from the hotel brands they choose.  As hotels across the service spectrum, from economy to luxury, meet basic comfort needs, guests are looking for more.  Hotel operators should pay attention.  Many of these requests are becoming effective drivers of choice and loyalty.

By Bryan K. Williams: “How can I make my employees work like they own it?” That is the question I often get from well-meaning leaders who hope to create a strong service culture. Well, the honest answer is that you really can’t MAKE anyone work like they own it. You can, however, create an environment where they want to.

By Paul Dunay: We have entered the “Age of the Consumer,” an age according to Forrester where control has shifted to the consumer. Behavioural studies show that when an individual seeks information about something and is able to act upon it, the conversion of that intent will be 70 percent more efficient than a classical push ad. It becomes even more so if you add the ability to engage the user in a conversation about a product he is interested in or loves.

By Jim Butler and the Global Hospitality Group^®: As we reported in our 27 March 2013 blog, a New York Appellate Division court made it possible for the owners of the Eden Roc Renaissance hotel in Miami Beach to oust Marriott as its operator – despite the long-term hotel management contract between the two, which would have lasted another 43 years.

Recently, Jeff Hurt participated in the Convention Sales Professional International’s Annual Conference “Tool Box For Success 2013,” moderating a panel called “Current And Future Trends” with five other industry insiders. Here are the top five trends about convention centers that the panelists identified.

By Scott Parisi: The advancements in technology have been a huge driver for green hoteliers especially in the energy and water efficiency arena. How fast is technology evolving?

By Travolution: A system which allows hoteliers to check on their competitors via a ‘popularity index’ on TripAdvisor has been introduced by the reviews website.

If you find yourself becoming jaded with regular hotel experiences, try some of these refreshingly different options.