HOTEL BUSINESS REVIEW
JULY FOCUS: Hotel Spa

Riding the Hotel Spa Roller Coaster

By Trent Munday Senior Vice President, Mandara Spa | July 2016

As I mentioned here once before, in an earlier article titled Demystifying the Hotel Spa , the hotel spa business has been a bit of a roller coaster ride over the past 20 years or so. Like all good roller coaster rides, the most exciting bit is when you start rolling down from the peak, zigging and zagging, twisting and turning, screaming with a mixture of delight, adrenalin and sheer terror - but that part of the ride is also what puts many people off. It's not for everyone.

In many ways, the hotel spa business today is on that same exciting part of the business cycle. Just like that crazy roller coaster ride, this part maybe isn't for everyone. Some may prefer to get off here. But for those who hang on and ride it through to the end, they'll probably be so glad they did.

The Great Hotel Spa Race

The hotel spa business as we know it today, really began in the early to mid-1990's, but the seeds were sown well before. Prior to 1990, if you wanted a massage in a hotel, it usually meant going down to the gym where they would have one or two small rooms off to the side with a massage table inside. The facilities were pretty basic, as were the treatments. No frills, no soft touches, no nice aromas. Instead, you got a hard table, with a thin sheet and the pervasive aroma of menthol sports oil in the air. Want some mood lighting? Sure. We have two settings - lights on or lights off. These were the days when hotel management knew little about spas and hotel guests knew even less. Yes, things were much simpler back then.

Then came the boom! Somewhere around 1995 hotel spas started springing up all over the place. The Great Hotel Spa Race had begun. In Asia, this coincided with the Asian Financial Crisis. This was a time when hotels all over Asia were being hit hard by unsustainably low occupancies and revenues. At a time when hotels were desperate for any additional revenue they could get, someone realized that if they took the bed, desk and chair out of a few guest rooms and replaced them with a massage table, then hire a couple of masseuses, they all of a sudden had a new service and facility to offer their guests - a spa.

A hotel that could offer a spa now had a true USP. Something that helped it stand out from the crowd. A genuine marketing advantage - and of course an additional revenue stream too. However, as the idea took hold, more and more hotels started to do the same. This is where the boom really began. Hotels were soon locked in a battle of one-upmanship in an effort to win the hearts and wallets of the new spa tourist (be it for business or leisure). And this is where things started to go wrong for hotels. Many of them drank the Kool-Aid. They bought into the belief that, to paraphrase Kevin Costner, ‘if we build it, they will come.'

Unfortunately, as a result of this, there has been a trend over the years of hotels overbuilding their spas. Usually this comes down to something as simple as overestimating the demand. Hotels, due in part to getting caught up in the euphoria of this mystical new thing called spa, often ended up with an unprofitable business unit. Before too long, these hotels are stuck in a bit of a downward spiral of trying to ‘fix' their spa business. For city hotel spas, a simple answer seemed to be getting more spa guests from outside the hotel. Local memberships, guests from other nearby hotels with a lesser spa offering, office workers coming in for treatments on their lunch break or after work were all thrown up as possible solutions. Invariably, whilst these initiatives certainly helped, they usually didn't provide a total cure for the hotel spa that had been overbuilt.

To Be the Best - Or Not

In this situation, your typical city hotel has two options. Firstly, they could double-down on the spa and set about making it truly stand out as the best spa in the whole city. If they do this, then maybe there's a chance they can attract the more spa savvy spa consumers in town. It could almost become a destination spa within a city hotel. The other option is to downsize and minimize. Reduce the spa offering and just have enough to satisfy the basic spa requirements of your guests.

Interestingly, hotels have actually been through all this before - back in the days of the Great Hotel Gym Race. The evolution of the hotel gym was very similar to the evolution of the hotel spa. A few hotels added them, they provided big competitive advantage, then other hotels decided they had to keep up, before long every hotel had one, until today a gym is no longer a USP. Some of the bigger hotel gyms have tried to compete with standalone fitness centers (and usually failed), while most have given up on the dream and just provide the bare minimum gym facility to meet the bare basic requirements of the few guests who actually use it and took back the rest of the space for something else.

The risk with the double-down approach is that it now becomes a more complex marketing challenge, with two main tasks.
Firstly, they need to make sure they have the right offering to be considered the best spa in town. The risk here, is with an industry that has historically been very fad and trend driven and is still a long way from maturity, to have the best often means having not just the greatest, but also the latest. So this will probably mean a big ongoing financial commitment to ensure the spa stays fresh and ahead of the curve in terms of facilities, treatments and products.

Secondly, they need to then spread the message that they do in fact have the best spa in town. Advertising, Public Relations, Branding, Social Media, Traditional Media all play a part in this task.

The risk now though, is that whereas before the market was everyone in the hotel, the market is now everyone in town. Previously, the hotel just needed to convince its in-house guests that an hour or two in the spa is a better use of time than sitting in their room watching TV or pretending to catch up on work. But now, the spa is competing for the attention of a city dweller who is probably so caught up in their day to day life that they don't even see or hear the message the hotel is trying to deliver. The competition is now not only every other hotel spa and day spa and salon in town, but also just about any other thing that city dweller has to or wants to do during the day - not just the lure of slightly uncomfortable armchair and a flat screen TV.

The risk of the downsize approach is that the spa might be seen as so basic that it shouldn't really be called a spa. In some countries there are active spa associations and bodies that set minimum requirements for a spa. If this is the case in your country, if you downsize too much, maybe you can't say you have a spa anymore. The knock on affect here is if your hotel ratings body requires you to have a spa to qualify for a certain star rating, you've just lost a star.

Doing the Double-Down

So which way will your hotel go?

If you decide to hang on for the ride, the good news is it might not be as complicated or expensive as you think - if you follow my lead. Instead of trying to become the biggest and best spa in town with all the latest and greatest gadgets, gizmos, treatments and products, why not try to re-invent what a hotel spa is? Stay with me here.

Why is it that the capture rates (i.e., the % of hotel guests coming to the spa) in most city hotel spas can be as low as 1% - 3%? Maybe it's price? Maybe it's location? Maybe. Or maybe it's simply because the spas are offering something that the guests just don't want. Ever think about that?

Here's a cray idea - why not spend some time talking to your guests. Find out what they want. Don't just ask what sort of massage or facial or manicure they want. Ask them about what sort of services and facilities they want in general while they're in your hotel. It always amazes me that hotels have at their fingertips, every night in the rooms upstairs, the best market analysis tool there is - the customer. Yet how many hotels really use it? I'm not talking about a generic Guest Questionnaire. I mean real discussions with actual guests about what they really want. Find out what your guests want and then ask yourself, ‘How can incorporate that service/offering into my spa?'

Confused?

Here's an example. Say a guest tells you he'd really love to get his shoes shined every night but the first thing he wants to do when he walks back into the hotel after a day of meetings is stop in the bar for a couple of drinks and then by the time he gets back to his room to take his shoes off housekeeping has already gone for the day so he can't get his shoe-shine. How can you give him what he wants? The simplest answer might be to just keep one shoe-shine guy on for a few extra hours in the evening.

But what if you could create a space where the busy corporate traveler could come back in after a tough day pounding the pavement, slip his shoes off and sit back with an ice cold beer, while getting a relaxing foot & leg massage, then when it's over, get his shoes back looking brand new, having just had a thorough polish? You've now solved the one problem the guest told you about - the inability to get a shoe shine after 6pm - but you've also helped solve another problem he didn't tell you about - relaxing after a tough day. And in solving these problems you've created another service that this guest will gladly pay for. So that's another revenue stream too.

Apply the same thought process to the morning ritual of your corporate travelers. Think about the female executive who has to spend time with the blow dryer in the morning, styling her hair, then put on some make up, then maybe touch up the nail polish. How much would she love your hotel if there was a place she could go in the morning to get that all done for her? We're not talking about your typical spa pampering experience. This is more a combination nail salon/hairdresser/make up stand. And all this in a place where she can also grab a cup of coffee and some muesli to kick off her day. Who needs a full buffet breakfast?

Instead of your hotel spa being a place for pampering, think about it more in terms of a functional service center. Just like you drop your car off for a wash and vacuum and have a coffee and donut while you wait, why not allow your guests to drop their body off for a bit of servicing and have some fruit, yoghurt and coffee at the same time.

The Downsize

Now, if you decide the more prudent option is to downsize and reduce your exposure to the high utility costs and payroll expenses of having a full blown spa in your hotel, what can you do?

Remember those early days of hotel spas we spoke about above? Back then, existing hotels wanting to get on board the hotel spa gravy train didn't have the time, money or space to build a dedicated spa facility. What did they do? Converted an existing hotel room into a treatment room, mainly by swapping out some furniture.

So maybe, for the hotel where the spa is just not working, for whatever reason, the best option is to close it down, take the space for something else - an F&B outlet, a mid-level executive lounge (think premium economy class vs. business class), etc. - and take over a few hotel rooms to convert into spa rooms. This way they can still offer spa treatments so they don't upset any guests or those sometimes pedantic ratings bodies, they can re-invent the old spa space with a concept that will work better for their market and create more value, and maybe they don't even technically need to lose room inventory to do it.

If they're smart in the way they do the conversion of guest room to spa room, it would be simple enough to re-convert that room back into a guest room again as, when and if needed. Take out the massage table and bring back the bed, desk and chair. Voila! Sure, in this case they run the risk of potentially upsetting a few guests that may want a massage during this period when the spa rooms are effectively out of order. However, if the hotel is running at 100%, that room will probably generate more profit for the 24hrs as a guest room, rather than a spa room.

This downsizing model can be even more efficient if the hotel can find an on-call massage service to provide the labor. Yes, in the past there has been a lot of negative connotations around on-call massage services, but remember in most of those scenarios, the ‘treatments' are happening in the guest room. In the model we have here, the therapists have a dedicated spa treatment room, properly set up, so there should be less of an expectation of ‘hanky panky'.

App based companies like Zeel and Soothe in the US provide a perfect solution for the hotel who wants to adopt this type of Spa-Lite model. And it's only a matter of time before we see other companies cloning these businesses in other countries around the world.

Here Ends the Lesson

In his play The Tempest, Shakespeare wrote, ‘what's past is prologue'. That phrase has been commonly interpreted as meaning the past determines the future. But what he really meant, in context, was it doesn't matter what happened in the past, it's only what we do in the future that matters. So, instead of worrying about how hotel spas have been done in the past, think about what is needed today. Talk to your customers today and find out what they want.

Henry Ford somewhat scoffed at the idea of market research when he supposedly said if he'd asked people what they wanted back in the late 1800's, they'd have said they wanted a faster horse, not a car. Steve Jobs apparently seemed to think the same way. So, if you think you're as smart and innovative as these guys, then fine, don't bother asking your guests. Alas, for most of us, it's probably fair to say the guest has a better idea of what they want than we do. So let's ask.

Spas have been an important addition to the hotel offering over the past few decades. They can continue to be so in the future. However, we need to remember that the spa industry itself is still relatively early on in its evolutionary path. As with all businesses, hotel spas will need to evolve and adapt to stay relevant.

Don't get too caught up on the past, focus on the now, the future will come soon enough.

Terms & Conditions

The following are terms of a legal agreement ("Agreement") between you and HotelExecutive. By accessing, browsing and/or otherwise using this web site, HotelExecutive, you acknowledge that you have read, understood and agreed to be bound by these terms and conditions, and to comply with all applicable laws and regulations, including U.S. export and re-export control laws and regulations. If you do not agree to all of these terms and conditions, you may not access, browse and/or use HotelExecutive. The material provided on HotelExecutive is protected by law, including, but not limited to, United States copyright law and international treaties.

These terms of access apply to your access to and use of HotelExecutive and do not alter in any way the terms and conditions of any other agreement you may have with HotelExecutive for products, software, services or otherwise, unless otherwise directed by HotelExecutive. If you breach any of these terms and conditions, your authorization to use HotelExecutive automatically terminates and you must immediately destroy any downloaded or printed materials and discontinue use of any hyperlinks to HotelExecutive.

1. USE RESTRICTIONS

Copyright. All Site materials, including, without limitation, text, pictures, graphics and other files and the selection and arrangement thereof are copyrighted materials of HotelExecutive © 1996-2016, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, or by the original creator of the material. Permission is granted to display and use the materials on HotelExecutive for private individual, educational and noncommercial use only, provided you do not modify the materials and that you retain all copyright and other proprietary notices contained in the materials. You may not, however, distribute, copy, reproduce, display, republish, download, or transmit any material on HotelExecutive for commercial use without prior written approval from HotelExecutive. You may not "mirror" any material contained on HotelExecutive on any other server without prior written permission from HotelExecutive. Any unauthorized use of any material contained on HotelExecutive may violate copyright laws, trademark laws, the laws of privacy and publicity and communications regulations and statutes.

Trademarks

The trademarks, service marks, trade names and logos (the "Trademarks") used and displayed on HotelExecutive are registered and unregistered Trademarks of HotelExecutive. In addition, all page headers, custom graphics, icons and scripts are service marks, trademarks and/or trade dress of HotelExecutive, and may not be copied, imitated or used, in whole or in part, without the prior written permission of HotelExecutive. You acknowledge that the Trademarks used and displayed on HotelExecutive are and shall remain the sole property of HotelExecutive or the Trademark owner. Nothing in this Agreement shall confer any right of ownership of any of the Trademarks in you. Further, nothing in HotelExecutive shall be construed as granting, by implication, estoppel or otherwise any license or right to use any Trademark used or displayed on HotelExecutive, without the express written permission of HotelExecutive or the Trademark owner. The misuse of the trademarks displayed on HotelExecutive, or any other Content on HotelExecutive, is strictly prohibited.

Hyperlinks

You are granted a limited, nonexclusive right to create a hypertext link to HotelExecutive provided that such link is to the entry page of HotelExecutive and does not portray HotelExecutive or any of its products or services in a false, misleading, derogatory, or otherwise defamatory manner. This limited right may be revoked at any time for any reason whatsoever. You may not use framing techniques to enclose any Company trademark, logo or trade name or other proprietary information including the images found at HotelExecutive, the Content of any text or the layout/design of any page or any form contained on a page without HotelExecutive's express written consent. Links to third party sites on HotelExecutive are provided solely as convenience to you. If you use these links, you will leave HotelExecutive. HotelExecutive has not reviewed all of these third party sites and does not control and is not responsible for any of these sites, their Content or their policies, including, without limitation, privacy policies or lack thereof. HotelExecutive does not endorse or make any representations about third party sites or any information, software or other products or materials found there, or any results that may be obtained from using them. If you decide to access any of the third party sites linked to HotelExecutive, you do so entirely at your own risk. You acknowledge and agree that HotelExecutive shall not be responsible or liable, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by, or in connection with the use of or reliance on any such third party sites.

Downloadable Materials

Any software, including codes or other materials that are made available to download from HotelExecutive, is the copyrighted work of HotelExecutive and/or its suppliers and affiliates. If you download software from HotelExecutive, use of the software is subject to the license terms in the software license agreement that accompanies or is provided with the software. You may not download or install the software until you have read and accepted the terms of the applicable software license agreement. Without limiting the foregoing, copying or reproduction of the software to any other server or location for further reproduction or redistribution is expressly prohibited unless otherwise provided for in the applicable software license agreement in the case of software, or the express written consent of HotelExecutive in the case of codes or other downloadable materials.

Limited Access

Except as otherwise expressly permitted by HotelExecutive, any access or attempt to access other areas of HotelExecutive computer system or other information contained on the system for any purposes is strictly prohibited. You agree that you will not use any robot, spider, other automatic device, or manual process to "screen scrape," monitor, "mine," or copy the Web pages on HotelExecutive or the Content contained therein without HotelExecutive's prior, express, and written permission. You will not spam or send unsolicited e-mail to any other user of HotelExecutive for any reason. You agree that you will not use any device, software or routine to interfere or attempt to interfere with the proper working of HotelExecutive. You agree that you will not take any action that imposes an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on HotelExecutive's infrastructure.

Additional Use Restrictions

You shall not post, transmit, e-mail, re-transmit or store material on or through any of the services provided by HotelExecutive (the "Services") which, in the sole judgment of HotelExecutive: (i) is in violation of any local, state, federal or non-United States law or regulation, (ii) is threatening, obscene, indecent, defamatory or that otherwise could adversely affect any individual, group or entity (collectively, "Persons") or (iii) violates the rights of any person, including rights protected by copyright, trade secret, patent or other intellectual property or similar laws or regulations including, but not limited to, the installation or distribution of "pirated" or other unauthorized photos or software products that are not appropriately licensed for use by you. You shall be responsible for determining what laws or regulations are applicable to its use of the Services. In addition, you may only use the Services in a manner that, in HotelExecutive's sole judgment, is consistent with the purposes of such Services. If you are unsure of whether any contemplated use or action is permitted, please contact HotelExecutive at editor@HotelExecutive By way of example, and not limitation, the following uses described below of the Services are expressly prohibited:

A. upload, post, e-mail or otherwise transmit any information, data, text, software, music, sound, photographs, graphics, video, messages or other materials (collectively, "Content") that is unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, tortious, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, libelous, invasive of another's privacy, hateful, sexually intolerant or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable;

B. impersonate any person or entity, including, but not limited to, a Company official, forum leader, guide or host, or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity;

C. forge headers or otherwise manipulate identifiers in order to disguise the origin of any Content transmitted through the Services or develop restricted or password-only access pages, or hidden pages or images (those not linked to from another accessible page);

D. upload, post, e-mail or otherwise transmit any Content that you do not have a right to transmit under any law or under contractual or fiduciary relationships such as inside information, proprietary and confidential information learned or disclosed as part of employment relationships or under nondisclosure agreements;

E. upload, post, e-mail or otherwise transmit any Content that infringes any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright or other proprietary rights of any party;

F. upload, post, e-mail or otherwise transmit any unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, promotional materials, "junk mail," "spam," "chain letters," "pyramid schemes" or any other form of solicitation;

G. upload, post, e-mail or otherwise transmit any material that contains software viruses, worms or any other computer code, files or programs designed to interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment;

H. interfere with or disrupt the Services or servers or networks connected to the Services, or disobey any requirements, procedures, policies or regulations of networks connected to the Services;

I. intentionally or unintentionally violate any applicable local, state, national or international law, including, but not limited to, regulations promulgated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, any rules of any national or other securities exchange, including, without limitation, the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange or the NASDAQ, and any regulations having the force of law;

J. 'stalk' or otherwise harass another user of HotelExecutive or Company employee or official;

K. promote or provide instructional information about illegal activities, promote physical harm or injury against any group or individual, or promote any act of cruelty to animals. This may include, but is not limited to, providing instructions on how to assemble bombs, grenades and other weapons, and creating "Crush" sites; and

L. effecting security breaches or disruptions of Internet communication. Security breaches include, but are not limited to, accessing data of which you are not an intended recipient or logging into a server or account that you are not expressly authorized to access.

M. advertising to, or soliciting any user of HotelExecutive to buy or sell any products or services through the unauthorized or impermissible use of the Services. You may not transmit any junk email or chain letters to other users. If you breach this Agreement and send unsolicited bulk email, instant messages or other unauthorized commercial communications of any kind through the Services, you acknowledge that you will have caused substantial harm to HotelExecutive, but that the amount of such harm would be extremely difficult to ascertain. As a reasonable estimation of such harm, you agree to pay HotelExecutive $500 for each such unsolicited email or other unauthorized commercial communication you send to each user through the Services.

2. DISCLAIMER WARRANTY

HotelExecutive, including all software, functions, materials, and information is provided "as is" without warranties of any kind, either express or implied. HotelExecutive disclaims all warranties, express or implied, including, but not limited to, warranties of non-infringement and implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, title, merchantability of computer programs, data accuracy, system integration, and informational Content. HotelExecutive does not warrant or make any representations regarding the operation of HotelExecutive, the use, validity, accuracy or reliability of, or the results of the use of the materials on HotelExecutive or any other sites linked to HotelExecutive. The materials of HotelExecutive may be out of date, and HotelExecutive makes no commitment to update the materials at HotelExecutive. HotelExecutive does not and cannot guarantee or warrant that the files available for downloading from HotelExecutive, if any, will be free from infection, viruses, worms, Trojan horses, or other code that manifest contaminating or destructive properties. HotelExecutive does not warrant that HotelExecutive, software, materials, products, or services will be uninterrupted or error-free or that any defects in HotelExecutive, software, materials, products, or services will be corrected.

3. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

In no event will HotelExecutive, its suppliers or other third parties mentioned at or in HotelExecutive be liable for any damages, including, without limitation direct, indirect, special, incidental, or consequential damages, damages resulting from lost profits, lost data or business interruption arising out of relating to the use, inability to use, or resulting from the use of HotelExecutive, any web sites linked to HotelExecutive, the materials, software or other information contained in any or all such sites, whether based on warranty, contracts, statutes, regulations, tort (including but not limited to, negligence) or any other legal theory and whether or not advised of the possibility of such damages. If your use of the materials or information from HotelExecutive results in the need for servicing, repair or correction of equipment or data, you assume all costs thereof.

4. REVISIONS TO THIS AGREEMENT

HotelExecutive may revise this Agreement at any time without notice by updating this posting. By using HotelExecutive you agree to be bound by any such revisions and should therefore periodically visit HotelExecutive and page to determine the then current Terms of Access and Use conditions of use to which you are bound.

5. TRANSMISSIONS

Any idea you transmit to or post on HotelExecutive by any means will be treated as non-confidential and non-proprietary and may be disseminated or used by HotelExecutive or its affiliates for any purpose whatsoever, including, but not limited to, developing and marketing products. You are prohibited from posting or transmitting to or from HotelExecutive any unlawful, threatening, libelous, defamatory, obscene, scandalous, inflammatory, pornographic, profane material or any other material, including but not limited to any material that could give rise to any civil or criminal liability under both domestic and international law.

6. YOUR WARRANTIES

You warrant to HotelExecutive that:

You are the sole owner of all rights in the materials posted or uploaded by you (including all related copyrights) or that you have the absolute right to license their use as provided in this section. While you will retain ownership of the copyright in the materials posted or uploaded by you, you agree that all materials posted or uploaded by you shall become part of a database, and that HotelExecutive will own the compilation copyright in that database. In addition, you hereby grant HotelExecutive a perpetual, worldwide, irrevocable license to use, reproduce, modify, publish, publicly perform, publically display and distribute such materials, and portions of such materials and any derivative works created from such materials, in print, electronic and other media, by any means now known or developed in the future. We may sublicense all of our rights and licenses or assign them to third parties. Neither HotelExecutive nor any third party using the materials in accordance with this section will be obligated to pay you any royalties or other compensation for use of the materials.

You will comply with these Terms of Access and Use including, without limitation, the USE RESTRICTIONS set out in Section 3 above;

You agree to indemnify and hold HotelExecutive harmless from any claim or damages (including any legal fees in relation to same) made by a third party in respect of any matter in relation to or arising from your use and/or membership arising from any breach or suspected breach of these Terms of Access and Use by you or your violation of any law or the rights of any third party.

7. ACTIONS WE MAY TAKE AT OUR SOLE DISCRETION

HotelExecutive may take any or all of the following actions at our sole discretion:

Remove any member profile (including photographs) or other material that, in our sole discretion may be inappropriate or we suspect to be illegal, subject us to liability or which may violate these Terms of Access and Use or where required to do so by law;

Issue members with verbal or written warnings and may take such further action as we deem appropriate if such warnings are not heeded;

Suspend or terminate a member's access to the members's area of HotelExecutive or a member's account without notice at any time;

Inform the appropriate authorities and provide them with information regarding any suspected illegal activity; or bring legal action against a member or other user of HotelExecutive in relation to any breach of these Terms of Access and Use or any illegal or suspected illegal activity.

8. GOOD SAMARITAN CONTENT AND COMPLAINT PROCEDURES POLICY

A. Policy

We have provided opportunities for you to contribute Content to our Site. It is our policy, however, not to allow any Content which may constitute intellectual property infringement; violations of federal, state, or local law; obscene or defamatory material, or may otherwise be unacceptable or inappropriate. Upon learning of such Content, we will attempt, and you hereby give HotelExecutive the right, to delete, edit, remove, disable, change, or restrict access to or the availability of the Content, which in our sole discretion, is otherwise unacceptable or objectionable. We may or may not notify you about what action we take with respect to the disputed Content. The provisions of this section are intended to implement this policy but are not in any way intended to impose a contractual obligation upon us to undertake, or refrain from undertaking, any particular course of conduct.

B. Complaint Procedures

If you believe that another user or other third party has posted Content which violates this policy or specifically the USE RESTRICTIONS in Section 3 above, you may notify HotelExecutive via e-mail at editor@HotelExecutive . In order to allow HotelExecutive to respond effectively, please provide HotelExecutive with as much information as possible in your correspondence, including: (1) the nature of the right infringed or violated (including any applicable registration numbers of the federally-registered intellectual property allegedly infringed), if applicable, or the unacceptable or inappropriate Content; (2) all facts which lead you to believe that a right has been violated or infringed, if applicable; (3) the precise location where the offending Content is located; (4) any grounds to believe that the party or user which posted the Content was not authorized to do so or did not have a valid defense (including the defense of fair use), if applicable; (5) if known, the identity of the party or user who posted the infringing, offending, or inappropriate Content; and (6) in the case of alleged copyright infringement claims, information sufficient to identify the work and your claims to ownership.

C. Indemnification/Waiver of Certain Rights

By contacting HotelExecutive and complaining of an alleged violation, you agree that the substance of your complaint shall constitute a representation made under the pains and penalties of perjury pursuant to the laws of the State of California. In addition, you agree, at your own expense, to defend and indemnify HotelExecutive and hold HotelExecutive harmless against all claims which may be asserted against HotelExecutive, and all losses incurred, as a result of your complaint and/or our response to it.

D. Waiver of Claims and Remedies

We expect all users of our Site to take responsibility for their own actions and cannot and do not assume liability for any acts of third parties which take place at our Site. By utilizing the Good Samaritan procedures set forth herein, you waive any and all claims or remedies which you might otherwise be able to assert against hotelexecutive under any theory of law (including, but not limited to, intellectual property laws) that arise out of or relate in any way to the content at hotelexecutive or our response, or failure to respond, to a complaint.

E. Investigation/Liability Limitation

You agree that we have the right, but not the obligation, to investigate any complaint received. By reserving this right, we do not undertake any responsibility in fact to investigate complaints or to remove, edit, disable or restrict access to or the availability of Content. We will not act on complaints that we believe, in our sole discretion, to be deficient, incomplete, or otherwise questionable. If you believe that Content remains on HotelExecutive which violates your rights, Your sole and exclusive remedy shall be against the user or other party responsible for said content, not against HotelExecutive. your sole and exclusive remedy against HotelExecutive shall be to terminate your use of HotelExecutive and service.

Digital Millennium Copyright Act Compliance. As set forth in Subsection (b), you must contact our agent if you believe that a work protected by a U.S. Copyright which you own has been posted on our Site without authorization or that our Site, in some material way, contributes to its infringement. It is our policy in appropriate circumstances, if possible, to terminate the access rights of repeat infringers and other users who use HotelExecutive in an inappropriate or objectionable manner.

9. COOPERATION WITH LAW ENFORCEMENT

HotelExecutive reserves the right to fully cooperate with any law enforcement authorities or court order requesting or directing HotelExecutive to disclose the identity or other information regarding any user or member alleged by any governmental entity to be using HotelExecutive or any Content or materials available in, at, through or in association with HotelExecutive in violation of any law or regulation, or in violation of this Agreement, including, without limitation, the posting of e-mail messages, or publishing or otherwise making available any such materials. By accepting this agreement you waive and hold harmless HotelExecutive from any claims resulting from any action by HotelExecutive during, or as a result of, its investigations, and from any actions taken as a consequence of investigations by either HotelExecutive or law enforcement authorities

10. APPLICABLE LAWS, VENUE, JURISDICTION & MANDATORY ARBITRATION

If any provision(s) of this Agreement is held by a court of competent jurisdiction to be contrary to law, then such provision(s) shall be construed, as nearly as possible, to reflect the intentions of the parties with the other provisions remaining in full force and effect. HotelExecutive's failure to exercise or enforce any right or provision of this Agreement shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision unless acknowledged and agreed to by HotelExecutive in writing. The section titles in this Agreement are solely used for the convenience of the parties and have no legal or contractual significance. This Agreement may be assigned in whole or in part by HotelExecutive. This Agreement may not be assigned in any manner by you without the express, prior written permission of HotelExecutive.

Any and all disputes or controversies of any kind, including but not limited to any performance, duty, obligation or liability arising under or related to this Agreement which are not first resolved informally, shall be determined by binding arbitration in San Francisco, California, in accordance with the rules of the American Arbitration Association. The final award in any such arbitration proceeding shall be subject to entry as a judgment by any court or competent jurisdiction, provided that such judgment does not conflict with the terms and provisions hereof. The jurisdiction of the arbiter (or arbiters) with respect to legal matters shall be limited only by the statutory and common law of the State of California and the United States.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, any and all disputes, which the parties cannot informally resolve, regarding the scope of issues or matter with the jurisdiction of the arbitrator, shall be resolved by a separate dispute resolution process whereby HotelExecutive, in its sole discretion shall elect the dispute to be resolved by either (1) a court of competent jurisdiction in the State of California or (2) a panel of three new arbitrators.

This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of California notwithstanding any conflict of laws provisions. You and HotelExecutive agree that the venue for all legal disputes, controversies, actions of any kind arising under or related to this Agreement shall be San Francisco, California. You and HotelExecutive further agree that in case of any litigation regarding this Agreement, you irrevocably and unconditionally (i) consent to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts in the County of San Francisco, California for any litigation or dispute arising out of or relating to this Agreement, (ii) agree not to commence any litigation arising out of or relating to this Agreement except in the California Courts, (iii) agree not to plead or claim that such litigation brought therein has been brought in an inconvenient forum, and (iv) agree the California Courts represent the exclusive jurisdiction for all litigation relating to this Agreement.

11. MEMBERSHIP FEES

Hotel Business Review Subscriptions

If you choose to purchase a subscription, member subscription payments can be made in U.S. Dollars, as well as a variety of international currencies. Membership terms are Annual Recurring, and Monthly Recurring. The Annual Recurring subscription is an annual commitment and subscribers will be charged each consecutive billing cycle. Annual Recurring subscriptions can be cancelled after the first billing cycle and within 30-days of the billing date for a full refund. Monthly Recurring subscriptions are ongoing and subscribers will be charged each consecutive monthly billing cycle. Monthly Recurring subscriptions can be cancelled after the first month and within 7 days of the monthly billing cycle for a full refund.

12. PAYMENT AUTHORIZATION

Payment for the services provided to you in, at, through or in association with HotelExecutive may be made by automatic credit card, debit card, direct debit, bankwire or Paypal and other approved payment means offered in, at, through or in association with HotelExecutive, and you hereby authorize HotelExecutive and its agents to transact such payments on your behalf.

You hereby authorize HotelExecutive's Internet Payment Service Provider to charge your credit card to pay for your membership to HotelExecutive. You further authorize HotelExecutive's Internet Payment Service Provider to charge your credit card for any and all purchases of products, services in association with HotelExecutive. You agree to be personally liable for all charges incurred by you in association with your access or other use of any content provided by HotelExecutive or any third party in association with HotelExecutive. You acknowledge and agree that your liability for all such charges shall continue after termination of your access or any type of membership arrangement with HotelExecutive.

In the event that you have chosen to have your membership automatically rebilled, unless and until you notify HotelExecutive that you wish to cancel or terminate your membership to HotelExecutive, you hereby agree and authorize HotelExecutive's Internet Payment Service Provider to automatically renew your membership to HotelExecutive on a continuing basis and to charge your credit card (or other payment means you have selected) to pay for the ongoing cost of your membership. You hereby further authorize HotelExecutive's Internet Payment Service Provider to charge your credit card (or other approved payment means you have selected) for any and all purchases of products, services and entertainment provided to in, at, through or in association with HotelExecutive.

13. PRIVACY POLICY

The following is the Privacy Policy for HotelExecutive

We can be reached via telephone, email, or online at our contact page. When you visit our site we do not log any information regarding your domain or email address. Information Sharing: We do not share user information with any third parties other than via press release distribution as described below.

Hotel Newswire is a newswire service that distributes press releases on behalf of our users. If you decide to submit a press release for distribution through our system we will transmit your entire press release including any personal information therein contained to our media contacts and online distribution points including search engines. This is the only redistribution of your information that we engage in. Your submission of press releases through our system indicates consent with this policy. The information we collect during your registration process is used to notify users about updates to our service and inform users of any special events hosted by Hotel Newswire. This information is not shared with other organizations for commercial or non-commercial purposes.

Cookies: Our system requires the use of cookies to enable the user to log back into our website to access information from the newswire, without having to log in each time using the required username and password.

If you do not want to receive email from us in the future, please let us know by following instructions included in our communication with you. Users who supply us with telephone numbers online may receive telephone contact from us regarding their account, or informing them of new products and services available on the HotelExecutive website. If you do not wish to receive such telephone calls, please edit your account and remove your phone number from your account profile. This can be done from your user account menu.

Ad Servers: We do not partner with or have any relationship with any ad server companies. From time to time, we may use customer information for new uses not previously disclosed in our privacy notice. If our information practices change at any time, we will post the policy changes to our website to notify you of these changes and provide you with the ability to opt out of these new uses. If you are concerned about how your information is used, you should check back at our website periodically.

Upon request we provide site visitors with access to all information (including proprietary information) that we maintain about them. Users can access this information by logging in to their account.

Security: We always use industry-standard encryption technologies while transferring and receiving user data exchanged with our site. We have appropriate security measures in place in our physical facilities to protect against the loss, misuse, or alteration of information that we have collected from you on our site. We do not store credit card information in our systems.

If you feel that this site is not following its stated information policy, you may contact us.

Receive our Newsletter

Aim for a Home Run and Do Not Settle for Empty Pearl Shells

By Laszlo Puczko, CEO & Co-Founder, Health Tourism Worldwide

Sometime along the lifetime of any hospitality project development or property refurbishment the potential role and scope of some sort of health, wellness or spa component is discussed. When to ask these questions and when to decide? How to choose? And, consequently, how to operate: as a satellite or as an integrated part? Familiar questions and decision-making points? Very likely so. Sometimes developers look for an off-the-shelf solution, e.g. let’s call it a spa unit. A unit that can be moved around on the drawing board and eventually locate it where it causes the minimal disruption to hospitality operations. Alternatively,...

The Rise of Integrated Communications

By Terri McCollin, Vice President, J/PR

When I started out in travel and hospitality public relations, it was common for publicists to separate what we do from marketers, asserting that ’marketing was paid-for activity while PR was earned.’ The implication was that editorial was more challenging than other communication disciplines, creating an environment for publicists to execute many responsibilities in a vacuum. This thinking was typical in travel and hospitality PR agencies too, including those with incorporated sales and marketing teams. Conversely, public relations professionals were rarely included in the development of marketing campaigns, instead focusing on message delivery. In today’s rapidly changing digital...

The Evolution of Celebratory Indulgence: Illuminating Customer Trends During Special Occasions Year-Round

By Peter Dougherty, Global General Manager of Hospitality, Lightspeed

In the aftermath of another enchanting holiday season, it's time to dissect the trends that illuminated the hospitality scene during moments of celebration, moving beyond the confines of New Year's Eve. Armed with insightful data*, which is based on a sample of thousands of restaurants and bars powered by Lightspeed Commerce across the U.S., let's unravel the essence of special occasions and explore how these trends shape the future of hospitality. Indulgence takes center stage as premium ingredients such as caviar, lobster, and steak surge, signaling a cultural shift towards elevated, experiential dining during celebrations. It's not merely about...

How Boutique Hotels are Using Micro-Influencers to Create Authentic Guest Experiences

By Angelica Olivas, Public Relations Coordinator, Crowe PR

Boutique hotels are now taking a unique approach to social media partnerships, discovering that bigger isn’t always better when it comes to the modern, social media-driven hospitality landscape. Rather than pursuing costly collaborations with celebrity or macro-influencers, many properties are now finding greater success by partnering with micro-influencers – content creators with followings between 10,000 and 50,000 – to showcase authentic experiences that resonate with audiences and potential guests. This strategic shift reflects a deeper understanding of how social media influences the booking decisions of today’s discerning travelers. While large influencers may offer broader reach, micro-influencers often deliver higher...

What Sustainability Means to Gen Z: Does Your Hotel Measure Up?

By Cynthia Mejia, Associate Professor, University of Central Florida Rosen College of Hospitality Management

Gen Z is the generational cohort born between 1997 and 2012, with a U.S. population of 67 million and a global population of over 2 billion. Millennials, or those born between 1981 and 1996, make up 72 million in the U.S. and represent the largest share of the workforce. While Millennials’ purchasing power is significant, having reached their peak earnings and spending years estimated to reach $3.4 trillion by 2025, Gen Z’s purchasing power will grow more rapidly. It is currently estimated that Gen Z has approximately $360 billion in direct purchasing power, and by 2025, this amount...

Slashing Hotel Energy Consumption Costs Through Modern Cooling Technologies

By Richard Halsall, CEO, Exhale Fans

Did you know that according to the World Sustainable Hospitality Alliance, the hotel industry alone accounts for around 1% of carbon emissions globally, with energy consumption, in many cases, the biggest cost of operations? Identifying the problem without a clear path to a solution is not what is occasioned here, as will be shown strategies available to easily reduce cost of heating and cooling. Despite the good intentions of companies within the industry – both large and small – hospitality has had a challenging relationship with sustainability, especially as massive energy consumers. There is likely a simple lack of...

How Sustainability Is Impacting the Hotel Industry

By Chintan Dadhich, Complex General Manager, Conrad New York Downtown & Tempo by Hilton Times Square

The term “sustainability” has continued to evolve and is a crucial factor in the hospitality experience. Starting, of course, with the guest, who’s environmental concerns are typically part of all of their buying decisions; this is a massive growing segment of opportunity for environmentally conscious travelers. The guests’ evolving consumer preferences also impacts how we manage sustainability in the hotel industry. On the hotel’s heart of house, it affects operational practices, how we deliver guest experiences, and overall business strategy. Sustainability can represent and impact a hotel’s brand reputation, and serve as a key differentiator from its competitors....

HOTEL BUSINESS REVIEW JULY FOCUS: Hotel Spa

Riding the Hotel Spa Roller Coaster

By Trent Munday Senior Vice President, Mandara Spa | July 2016

Terms & Conditions

Receive our Newsletter

HOTEL BUSINESS REVIEW
JULY FOCUS: Hotel Spa