Editorial Board   Guest Author

Mr. Armbruster

Dennis Armbruster

Vice President and Managing Partner, LoyaltyOne Consulting

As Vice President of LoyaltyOne Consulting Dennis Armbruster leads the development of innovative, analytics-driven loyalty strategies for clients throughout North America. He has more than two decades of consulting experience in the retail, financial, airline, hospitality, telecommunications and pharmaceutical sectors and is an expert in CRM and customer-centric strategy, operation and implementation. He draws from his extensive background to direct a team of internationally recognized practitioners working with companies across the business spectrum, including Walgreens, Hertz, Best Buy, Canadian Tire, Tim Horton's, Kellogg's, Saks Fifth Avenue and Visa International. By looking at loyalty from an enterprise-wide perspective, Mr. Armbruster helps cultivate LoyaltyOne Consulting's leadership in sophisticated analytics, financial modeling and concept innovation to develop breakthrough initiatives in customer strategy and experience design. The solutions Mr. Armbruster and his team deliver are grounded in deep consumer insights and custom-tailored to create new economic opportunities. In addition to his role as Vice President of LoyaltyOne Consulting, Dennis is also COLLOQUY's Editor-at-Large where he oversees the editorial direction of the COLLOQUY's resources devoted to the global loyalty-marketing industry. Prior to his role at LoyaltyOne Consulting, Mr. Armbruster developed his loyalty marketing acumen with Carlson Marketing Worldwide, rising to the position of Vice President, Customer Loyalty and CRM. Dennis is also a former Partner at Peppers and Rogers Group. Most recently, he was Vice President and General Manager of Business Development for Lifetouch Inc., where he guided the photography company's rapid retail expansion across the U.S. Mr. Armbruster also currently sits on the board of the Direct Marketing Educational Foundation called 'MarketingEDGE,' which works to educate, develop, grow and employ students in the field of marketing.

Please visit http://www.loyalty.com for more information.

Mr. Armbruster can be contacted at 416-228-6500 or darmbruster@loyalty.com

Coming up in March 2019...

Human Resources: An Era of Transition

Traditionally, the human resource department administers five key areas within a hotel operation - compliance, compensation and benefits, organizational dynamics, selection and retention, and training and development. However, HR professionals are also presently involved in culture-building activities, as well as implementing new employee on-boarding practices and engagement initiatives. As a result, HR professionals have been elevated to senior leadership status, creating value and profit within their organization. Still, they continue to face some intractable issues, including a shrinking talent pool and the need to recruit top-notch employees who are empowered to provide outstanding customer service. In order to attract top-tier talent, one option is to take advantage of recruitment opportunities offered through colleges and universities, especially if they have a hospitality major. This pool of prospective employees is likely to be better educated and more enthusiastic than walk-in hires. Also, once hired, there could be additional training and development opportunities that stem from an association with a college or university. Continuing education courses, business conferences, seminars and online instruction - all can be a valuable source of employee development opportunities. In addition to meeting recruitment demands in the present, HR professionals must also be forward-thinking, anticipating the skills that will be needed in the future to meet guest expectations. One such skill that is becoming increasingly valued is “resilience”, the ability to “go with the flow” and not become overwhelmed by the disruptive influences  of change and reinvention. In an era of transition—new technologies, expanding markets, consolidation of brands and businesses, and modifications in people's values and lifestyles - the capacity to remain flexible, nimble and resilient is a valuable skill to possess. The March Hotel Business Review will examine some of the strategies that HR professionals are employing to ensure that their hotel operations continue to thrive.

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