The U.S. hotel industry has experienced 10 years of unprecedented growth. While not as strong as previous years, 2019 was still a healthy year. However, economists and experts agree it may be time to tighten our belts and prepare for a slowdown. Economic indicators that analysts commonly use to make predictions are mixed, making it difficult to predict the exact timing or the severity of a downturn. The Hospitality industry will be impacted as always by a slowing economy. Experienced Hospitality professionals know they can minimize economic disruption to a Hotel in difficult times by developing a foundation of reliable group business… Read on...

No business is immune to a cyberattack. Hotels handle guest personal information and credit card information. They also handle numerous transactions in person and via the Internet. If one hotel employee were to fall victim to a sophisticated phishing scam, the hotel's reputation and revenue stream could be deeply affected. To avoid this, hotel owners and operators need to identify and understand their risk exposures. As hackers get more sophisticated with each passing day, it's important to reevaluate a business's risk regularly. In this article, we discuss recent cyberattacks affecting hotels and the repercussions, as well as what hotel owners and operators can do about it. Read on...

The annual budgeting process should involve much more than preparing a simple operations budget. An effective budget is a tool to communicate both goals and expectations. Budgets provide operational objectives for your team and help them stay on track and they are both a standard for comparison and a baseline for future planning. A well-organized budget involves a business plan that includes marketing and new programming, as well as capital expenditures which contribute to the long-term vision beyond the next operational year. In this article I outline a plan of action that every hotel spa director can benefit from. Read on...

Google's continually evolving ecosystem presents both a challenge and an opportunity to business owners looking to maximize their impact and increase visualization on the web. Today, the algorithms behind Google are designed to make recommendations based on a user's intent rather than direct keyword matches, a trend observant hoteliers are taking advantage of. This article will outline the cornerstones of a strong search engine optimization plan, how business owners can adopt an intent-based search process, and why these strategies are integral to your future success. Read on...

Hotel executives realize that knowledge is the most strategic factor for empowering the capabilities of a hotel and improving its competitive advantage in the marketplace. Knowledge is shared and synthesized with an aim to providing higher quality services. However, this is still not enough for hotel executives because knowledge is quite elusive and is changing on a day-to-day basis with discontinued services and the ever changing vast array of environmental issues. The key is for hotel executives to integrate risk management, knowledge management and talent management within hotels so that information can be found and used instantaneously. Read on...