The traveling public has many different choices of where to spend their time and money. Great customer service can be the key to a traveler becoming a repeat visitor who recommends your property to others, while poor service can result in exactly the opposite. Staffing decisions are critical to a hotel's success. First, management must look for creative ways to attract top talent, as there is no substitute for a quality team. Once top talent has been secured, management must employ motivational programs to keep everyone at the top of their game. Peer recognition, financial incentives and employee awards are all ways to help your employees shine. READ MORE

For some hotel professionals, the Millennials, also known as Generation-Y, are an anathema; for others, they are simply a challenge to be met. However, whichever way you look at them, this generation is certainly different from all others. If you know which buttons to push, they can be extraordinary assets to your teams. Ignore them and they will leave. This article first explores the values and attitudes of these young workers, scans recent research detailing what they're looking for, then offers some practical, low- and no-cost solutions to help you truly capitalize on these talented employees. READ MORE

Log on to just about any hotel company's website and you'll find that they recognize the importance of social responsibility to their organization. While the language may differ from brand to brand, their commitment to the communities where they operate does not. When you give it some thought, it makes perfect sense: Hospitality and community service are a natural and powerful partnership. READ MORE

The internet has changed the way people around the globe research and book their holidays. There are more channels, more offers and more opportunities than ever before. Amidst all of this, how do you know where and how to connect with shoppers and get them to book your hotel? Hotel marketers can no longer ignore the reality that consumers are conducting extensive hotel research on multiple sites. Asking guests the age old marketing question, "Where did you hear about us?" doesn't give us the depth we need to know exactly how they came to book. It has become far more complex than that. READ MORE

Value Engineering has become a catch-all moniker for ways to reduce a project's budget even after the project is underway. Because of that, it's unfortunate that the term is rarely questioned when offered as a solution. In turn, the design can crumble into an unknown subject matter that hardly resembles the original, ending with a budget that works and a design that doesn't. In this article, we examine how all the pieces, including the vision, design and budget, can work together to satisfy the entire team. We highlight our initial approach when starting a project in order to avoid Value Engineering. READ MORE