There is much discussion surrounding new hotel openings, design enhancements, room upgrades, guest perks, etc., all of which contribute to the continual revolutionize of guest experience. The hospitality industry continues to evolve as new trends surface and hotels undergo continual changes not only to accommodate the changing needs and expectations of guests – but to set new standards in how we serve our customers. In this article, I will discuss the emergence of new trends, shift in consumer preferences, and opportunities for continuous innovation to drive results. Read on...
When a hotel enters financial distress, the prospect that the owner may become personally liable for the property’s debts is often a source of substantial concern. This article addresses one potential source of exposure for a hotel’s owner: nonrecourse carve-out guaranties, often referred to as “bad boy guaranties.” In some circumstances, a nonrecourse carve-out guaranty can result in liability for the hotel’s owner up to the full amount of the hotel’s debt. Read on...
There has been a lot of talk about big data recently. Hotels are struggling to understand what this means for them. Revenue management in particular has always been a data intensive discipline, leading some to argue that revenue management is already solving a big data problem. With new data sources and faster analysis of that data, there are new opportunities in today’s dynamic market place to make better pricing decisions faster. In this article, I will outline the opportunities available to revenue management in today’s “big data” world and how revenue managers can determine the value that their “big data” provides. Read on...
How can hotel owners in California comply with 2013 updates to its Building Standards Code? This article will discuss how hotel owners are impacted by the CALGreen Building Standards Code update, when the deadline is, and what they have to change in planning and design, energy efficiency, water efficiency and conservation, material conservation and resource efficiency, and environmental quality. Read on...
Collaboration is vital to hotel success and a critical driver of improved operations and more valuable and meaningful customer experiences. But it won’t happen on its own and hotel leaders and HR professionals have an important role to play in engaging and connecting employees in new ways so they can share their knowledge, perspectives, and passion for unlocking the real potential in every guest’s visit. Read on...
At its pure essence, business is about people. No matter the industry, the product or the service, it is people who make the difference. A business’s success stems from aligning people against the organization’s strategies. Culture is the soul of alignment, and though it is shaped by leaders, it is nurtured and driven by Human Resource professionals. In her article, Renie Cavallari, CEO and Chief Inspirational Officer of the hospitality training and consulting firm Aspire, presents the findings of 18 years of field research about what works and what doesn’t to drive results in business. Her answer? Human development. Read on...
Managing employee leave and staying on the right side of the law is challenging for employers, especially as federal and state laws continue to be enacted and interpretations of laws change and evolve. Hotel human resources teams must be prepared to recognize when and which law applies to an employee request for leave and manage the leave process. But they can’t do their job if the employee’s leave request is never brought to their attention or brought to them too late. Employers must train supervisors and managers to recognize requests for leave or attendance issues that may implicate federal laws such as the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act or state laws that provide for leave for a variety of absences such as school visitation, pregnancy or leave for crime victims, to name a few. Hospitality employers should address attendance and leave issues from a centralized decision-making perspective to ensure consistent application of, and possible modification of, relevant company policies. Read on...
While some employee turnover is inevitable and even healthy for an organization, rampant turnover constitutes a challenge for even the best hospitality firms, given the expense and disruption caused when employees leave abruptly and new workers must be brought in and trained. For these reasons, human resources researchers at Cornell and other universities have targeted turnover in numerous studies designed to analyze the specific reasons that employees leave and, more important, identify the levers available for limiting unwanted employee turnover. The available levers include specific methods of employee compensation, paying attention to employees’ attitudes (particularly as a group), and allowing employees reasonable flexibility. Read on...
Home
Feature Focus
Hotel Newswire