While food trends may come and go, meeting planners always need to feed their attendees. With travelers' tastes expanding to more global flavors, today's successful meeting hotels must go above and beyond the typical banquet fare to wow today's finicky groups. As hospitality leaders, we have a responsibility to address health and nutrition concerns of our guests. In addition, we need to ensure that we are purchasing items from local vendors when possible and selecting items such as organic meats and sustainable fish. Aside from providing sustenance, culinary experiences for groups can be great team-building activities in both "Top Chef" and "Survivor" scenarios. The value of bonding over a home cooked meal cannot be underestimated. Read on to learn about five hot food and beverage trends in the meetings industry. READ MORE

While minor earth tremors are not unusual for California, in 1991, the California Appellate Court sent shockwaves across the fault line upon which Hotel management agreements rest when it issued its decision in Woolley v. Embassy Suites. The Woolley decision set the tenor for the way the courts, and consequently the industry, would view the legal relationship between hotel owners and management companies for the coming years. Essentially, Woolley stated that the relationship between an owner and its management company would be governed by principles of agency, where the owner is the principal and the manager is its agent. Over and above the contract relationship between them, the Court held the management company, like all agents, owes its principal fiduciary duties. READ MORE

The point of this article is that hotel executives and meeting planners can benefit from working with CSMs who have achieved the CMP designation, because they take pride in their work and are the best at what they do. ACOM's goal with every Hotel Executive article is to show how hotel executives and meeting planners can utilize and work together with CSMs to ultimately service the customer more efficientley. This quote used in the article pretty much sums that sentiment. Keith Patrick says: “We're all in the same little boat and the more we standardize meeting planning practices globally, the easier it is to produce consistent and efficient meeting planning results.” READ MORE

As competition in the hospitality industry intensifies, success becomes increasingly difficult to achieve. Therefore, it's more important than ever that FF&E selections be made intelligently and for specific business reasons. Color is one of those vital design decisions. Our world is visual, so color dramatically affects emotions and attitudes - attitudes which in turn affect guest satisfaction, brand loyalty, and return visits. While the fashion world sees a color palette change approximately every two years, the interior design color palette has a slower cycle, changing every three to five years. My article examines this "vocabulary of color" and how you can use it to most effectively speak with your guests. Enjoy these ideas and the benefits they can bring to your property. READ MORE

Raising awareness of and gaining additional exposure for your property is one thing. Being able to prove the efforts behind such an increase in market visibility and occupancy is a direct result of a public relations campaign is quite another. The difference lies in identifying and tracking the effect of a public relations campaign on your business, and the biggest factor is measurement. Public relations is a powerful tool in the hospitality industry. From establishing or repositioning a brand to drawing attention to a hotel opening or the addition of a new amenity, public relations can be one of the most value and credible communications tools around. Not only can a well-executed public relations program raise awareness, but it also can be a highly influential force with current and potential guests. READ MORE