Hotel Business Review: Week of Jul 28, 2014

Max Starkov
  • Sales & Marketing
  • The Top Ten Questions to Ask Your Digital Marketing Partner
  • By Max Starkov, President & CEO, Hospitality eBusiness Strategies Inc

  • Any hotel that has a high revenue-generating website and a strong digital marketing strategy that drives direct online bookings needs a great hotel digital marketing agency behind it. It’s challenging to find a good digital marketing partner these days. As more and more companies join the market as ‘experts in hotel website design and digital marketing,’ hoteliers are faced with a difficult decision. With serious revenues at stake, here are some questions to consider when deciding on who to partner with, or whether or not to stay with your current agency. Read on...

Eric Rahe
  • Architecture & Design
  • Amenity Design – Evolution or Obsolescence
  • By Eric Rahe, Principal, BLT Architects

  • Guests are back even if rate is not. New construction in select markets has returned and significant renovations are occurring across all asset types. With each new cycle there is a need to refresh current amenities and at the same time incorporate changes to make amenities relevant and appealing to your guests. One challenge for operators and designers is how to understand how recent lifestyle and demand shifts are driving change. Read on...

Tom Conran
  • Guest Service / Customer Experience Mgmt
  • Engage Your Guest: The Best Practice in Guest Services
  • By Tom Conran, Principal, Greenwood Hospitality Group

  • The word “engage” has several definitions. However the one that best fits our objective as hotel owners is “”to get and keep someone’s attention or interest.” In order to do this we must create experiences that first gain our guests’ attention. We then must also implement them successfully. If we do these things effectively we draw our guests back time and again. At the same time, we can build a network of advocates. These supporters can become our fans and will attest to the fact that our hotel is much more than a merely a place to stay. Read on...

Albert Brannen
  • Human Resources, Recruitment & Training
  • Four Steps to Effective Performance Management for Hospitality Employers
  • By Albert Brannen, Managing Partner in the Atlanta office, Fisher & Phillips LLP

  • Getting the most out of employees has always challenged employers, and hospitality employers are no different in this regard. It is particularly difficult in today’s highly regulated business environment with changing employee attitudes. But, in the hospitality industry, squeezing out the very best performance from employees can dramatically impact guest satisfaction and ultimately profitability. Performance management is not just about dealing with poor performers. Instead, as explained in more detail in his article, it is a holistic process that begins with getting the right people, setting employee expectations, coaching employees to deliver efficient, high quality service and terminating the employment of the poor performers or employees who do not fit into the organization. Read on...

AUGUST: Food and Beverage: Investing to Keep Pace

Lynne McNees

According to the International SPA Association (ISPA) 2013 U.S. Spa Industry study conducted by PwC, 72 percent of American hotel and resort spas in 2012 offered 30-minute treatments. This figure shows how hotels are rapidly equipping themselves to cater to the spa needs of business guests. Business travelers are typified by little time and higher-than-average levels of stress – and spas need to adapt to their demands for short, simple, efficient and results-oriented treatments. Spa guests traveling on business are looking to find a balance they can squeeze into short breaks between meetings, presentations and travel time, and spas everywhere must learn to be flexible, customizable, succinct, connected, knowledgeable and memorable in order to attract and retain this increasingly important market. Read on...

Peggy Borgman

When you think of “wellness,” what comes to mind? A “healthy” hotel room? A holistic spa treatment? Vegan offerings on your restaurant menu? A morning yoga class? The word “wellness” is ubiquitous. Marketers are spreading “wellness” as thick as organic hummus on a vast array of consumer products, services and experiences. But has this word lost its impact, and heaven forbid—its cachet for the traveler? Is wellness…”over”? Read on...

Dale Hipsh

Is anyone else nervous leaving their mobile phone behind, in a locker, all by itself, TURNED OFF, when having a spa treatment? I know I should not be, but I am. Spa goers have traditionally visited with the intent to disconnect, to unplug if you will. At Hard Rock our goal for the Rock Spa experience is meant to plug you in, amp you up and maybe even turn you on. We began our re-tool from this perceptive. Times have changed and many spa operators have not evolved as technology and hospitality brands have. To this end we went about seeking to discover a new way forward to enliven the senses, instill wellbeing and infuse the spirit of rock and roll into our newly envisioned experience. Our objective was stated to energize and excite – we want guests to leave our bespoke treatments ready to hit the dance floor and show the rest of the band how it’s done. Rock Spa is where Zen meets Zeppelin. Read on...

Simon Hudson

An increasing number of hotels are responding to growing global demand for health and wellness and are catering to the physical and psychological needs of guests while promising enhanced wellbeing – benefits that visitors can take home when the holiday is over. A far cry from more traditional vacations spent lounging on a beach or poolside chair. Westin hotels, for example, recently launched a Well-Being Movement and even Las Vegas’s MGM Hotel has Stay-Well rooms. This article focuses on this trend and spotlights certain hotels around the world and the specific services they are providing for the growing number of health-conscious visitors. Read on...

Coming Up In The September Online Hotel Business Review


Feature Focus
Hotel Group Meetings for 2015
As the economy continues to improve, hotels are finally luring back business travelers, including those who are participating in group meetings and conventions. According to The Global Business Travel Association, group travel spending has grown 5.3% to $117.1 billion in 2014, a figure that well exceeds previous expectations. Given that group business accounts for as much as 30-40% of total revenues for a hotel operation, this is welcome news indeed. Still, this is no time for complacency. Savvy hoteliers are incorporating new creative ideas into their operations in order to satisfy their clientele and to differentiate themselves for their competition, with the ultimate goal of making meetings easier, more comfortable and even more fun. The emphasis seems to be on making group meetings “less institutional” and “more residential”. One hotel chain has created meeting spaces that are more like lounges than standard conference rooms. Another offers its guests unusual food options like make-your-own trail mix stations and smoothie bars. Still another provides its guests with mobile apps that will let them make requests — from ordering coffee and food to changing the room temperature — without ever leaving the meeting room. Technological innovations are also of paramount concern as meeting planners are demanding that the latest innovations be available to attendees including universal wireless Internet access, videoconferencing capabilities, charging stations, and a secure protected environment in which to conduct proprietary business. Finally, some hotels are offering more breakout rooms in order to encourage smaller and more intimate interchanges among attendees after long group sessions throughout the day. The September Hotel Business Review will examine what some hotels are doing to facilitate this segment of their business and to meet the expectations of their guests.