The restaurant experience has gotten a lot of attention in the hotel space with the proliferation of lifestyle hotels and the desire of customers for local and authentic experiences. These demands have spread into the events space and they have gone beyond needing a few local items on the catering menus. It has spread into the design, programming and packaging of event experiences and how those play into the local community and regional products. Just as your restaurant needs to have an authentic story and position against the local community, your events experience needs to take the same targeted approach. READ MORE

Hotel beverage programs often fall into two categories: the "set it and forget it" model, where minimum brand standards are met and not much innovation happens afterward to keep it relevant; or the lofty, mixologist-driven approach focused more on the person making the drinks than whether guests actually want to buy and try those beverages. In-between those extremes is a profitable middle ground where a wide range of guest tastes can be satisfied, while those behind the bar have the freedom to create and attract customers with on-trend menus. READ MORE

Is food and beverage still a supporting amenity value business venture for hotels or now a designated revenue driving force? This article aims to show how food and beverage with hotels has dramatically developed, evolved and changed as a guest social experience to prove itself as a revenue driver for guests who now through immersing themselves in food education, culture, and local cultural experiences, look to the hotels food and beverage service and theme as a way to not enhance but define their stay experience. READ MORE

The relationship between wellness and hospitality is no longer a playful flirtation or a trend-enforced marriage. As wellness awareness increases at a great pace and as the power of leadership and authority in wellness moves from the hands of the wellness practice into the hands of individual consumers, there is a paradigm shift required in the way we think of spas and wellness facilities. With wellness trends, it becomes apparent that the ubiquitous 'hotel spa' as we got to know so well is now becoming an endangered species. The article also addresses trends in new hotel & resort development, stimulating fresh thought on the integrated hospitality investment methodology. READ MORE

Today's consumers want more than spa. They look for integrated wellness within hotels. U. S. Spas have a long history starting with colonial times when Europeans arrived on American shores. European customs included thermal or mineral spas. During the Civil War and the two World Wars, spas converted to military hospitals. As antibiotics evolved, spas closed for the "cure". Fast forward to the 1940s when Elizabeth Arden opened the first women's spa called "The Maine Chance" in Arizona and Deborah Szekely opened the first destination spa "Rancho La Puerta" in Tecate, Mexico. By the 1990s there were many independent day spas as well as hundreds of hotel spas. READ MORE