The future of boutique hotels is bright. The traveling public continues to prosper and have growing discretionary dollars. It has demonstrated a strong appetite for experiential travel with an affinity for cities, architecture, and history that helps provide context for their present day reality. Product supply has not appreciably affected demand and increasingly should segment; as cities increasingly create differentiate their core into specific districts each with their own identity, so too will boutique hotels find new homes. As a product type, boutique hotels are becoming institutionalized with associational representation such as the National Trust's Historic Hotels of America. And finally, they are benefiting from an ever successful marriage of energized marketing and design focus on creating experiences. READ MORE

If being in the moment is so important, why can't or don't more of us do it more often? How come our minds keep wandering, we become impatient or angry with the person in front of us, or bored, or any other attitude? These are all a departure from being there comfortably in front of another person and really tracking with what he or she is saying, doing, and needing. Well, 20th Century pill-pushers have most of us convinced that these modern potions and elixirs will fix our wandering attention. Yet every single person I have seen on these legalized drugs or trying to shake their addiction is a mass of random thoughts and introversion that make it very difficult indeed to be in the moment, observing calmly, computing and acting rationally. With 80% of the US population on these drugs and the rest of us beginning to enjoy them in our water supply, I'd say we had one reason people's attention is not always in the moment. READ MORE

"The new year is expected to usher in a flurry of job hopping," announced USA Today. A large staffing firm quantified the percentage of disaffected employees as being "more than half," while a retained search firm put the number at precisely 42 percent. According to the Society for Human Resource Management, 38 percent of HR professionals believe employee turnover is increasing. To date, few if any organizations have seen a mass exodus from their ranks. In truth, talent shortages will begin to catch many employers unaware - but that problem is not across the board, nor will it happen all at once. As is often the case, the devil is in the details. READ MORE

In the fourth quarter, 2006, it was reported at the annual I-SPA convention in Las Vegas Nevada, that spa revenues had officially eclipsed golf revenues as a free standing revenue silo within the leisure and recreation industries. As hoteliers this is not just a red flag but rather a neon sign on The Follow the Money Trail. The depth of the industry continues to evolve. For instance, many spa treatments available at the ubiquitous strip-mall day spa have a comparable cousin offered at the regional resort, the experience enhanced with thicker robes, crown molding in the treatment rooms and more extensive landscaping to view from the pedicure thrones. Further, it is not uncommon to have a variation of either of the aforementioned treatments offered with a medical focus in the local medical spa. READ MORE

Unwittingly, hotels have found themselves amongst the best placed service providers to benefit from the emergence of men as beauty care consumers. Men's attitude towards beauty care has been transformed over the last decade and has fuelled high growth rates in the professional beauty market in that time. Men now account for more than half of salon sales while a fewer years ago they were not even considered as a category. This market has quite literally fallen into salons' laps as it was created mainly by the women who prodded and persuaded the men in their lives to use professional hair and skin care services. READ MORE

According to a recent study, the U.S. lodging industry continues to benefit from double-digit profit growth in 2006. The data suggests that the gross operating profit for the typical U.S. hotel increased 13.1 percent from the first half of 2005 to the first half of 2006. So, how as a hotel manager, can you make the best use of this profit to create greater value for shareholders? One answer is an upgrade to your property's landscape. An attractive landscape with vibrant plants, flowers and trees makes a positive first impression on hotel visitors. High visibility areas like driveways, paths and entrances are a great place to introduce new plant materials and reinforce your hotel brand through color schemes and/or other design elements. READ MORE

Evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of job applicants isn't an easy process. Conventional interviews and first impressions can often be misleading. The candidates you may have thought would be strong performers could buckle under pressure or be ill equipped to handle what you may consider the most basic tasks. So, what can employers do to "hedge their bets" and help ensure that they're hiring the best candidate possible for the job at hand? READ MORE

If, as most of us believe, it is just as difficult, time-consuming, and therefore costly, to service a small request as it is to negotiate a large one, why bother with the sardines when catching tuna is more profitable? When it comes to meetings, this is a ten billion dollar question. In a $124 billion industry, 80 percent of all meetings have 50 participants or fewer - a segment of the business worth $10 billion a year. Is the opportunity worth the trouble? To put it another way, the typical day-meeting generates approximately $4,000 to $6,000 in total revenue for a hotel. If property's small meeting bookings increase by just two meetings per week, the revenue impact could be over half a million dollars a year. And, because most small meetings are regional or local in nature, the chances of repeat business are high if the customer is satisfied the first time. READ MORE

For hotels, as with any business, getting positive coverage in the news media is a great marketing tool. Getting this coverage is not easy and takes regular on-going media relations efforts. Information abounds on how to go about doing this. However, the perception is often these tactics and strategies only work with media that cover travel, such as travel writers and travel magazines. But, if your media relations efforts start and end with travel writers you are missing countless opportunities to generate positive exposure and publicity for your property. READ MORE

With the price of natural gas predicted to be lower this winter than last year, you may be tempted to take your eye off the energy bill for a moment. Don't. The smart hotel executive knows that the search for ways to get more value from every dollar spent on energy-both natural gas and electricity-never takes a break. For the New Year, dedicate one of your resolutions to becoming more energy efficient. You'll find the payoff to be greater profitability for your company all year round. READ MORE

The conference center advantage is now a well-known fact. Thanks to our industry's successful outreach efforts, business clients understand that a conference center offers an unbeatable fusion of luxury amenities and sophisticated technologies. But a subtle, often overlooked element of that formula is now taking a front seat when marketing a facility to conference planners. Design innovation is fast becoming a pertinent, enticing amenity actively sought out for conferences thanks to the dialogue, functionality and the fun it inspires among conference attendees. Some call it "Feng Shui"; we call it thoughtful design. Our clients call it a welcome enhancement of the conference center approach. READ MORE

Partnering with companies in order to maximize various business processes is a topic top of mind across many industries. For years it has been done successfully with payroll operations (think ADP), various technology providers (EDS, IBM) and even more recently with human resource operations (Hewitt). Now, the concept of outsourcing various procurement functions is gaining momentum in a variety of hospitality-centric industries, like lodging, cruise, golf and gaming. What exactly is a procurement service provider? There are a variety of descriptions that these organizations take on - procurement service provider (PSP), group purchasing organization (GPO), purchasing consortiums - and so on. While their products and services vary tremendously - a fundamental goal of these organizations is to enable more efficient and informed supply chain management and purchasing behavior for its aggregate customer base. READ MORE

When it comes to most facilities, including hotel properties, hard surface floors and carpets can make a first-and lasting-impression. Glistening floors and clean and spotless carpets tell the visitor and hotel guest that this is a clean, well-maintained property. And when it comes to carpet cleaning, this can be more complicated because there are so many different methods to clean carpets, types of soils and fibers, an entire spectrum of carpet cleaning machines and extractors, as well as cleaning chemicals. A first step in clearing the confusion usually starts with a better understanding of the different types of chemicals now available for cleaning carpets and how to properly use them. READ MORE

As "green" options in the meeting and conference industry expand, environmentally conscious event planners, organizers and companies are finding that going "green" not only helps save the planet and resources, but also offers a wealth of other benefits and advantages. If you've ever considered having a "green meeting," or pondered the advantages of holding a conference or training session at an environmentally conscious conference center, there are a few things to consider before going "green." As the following questions and answers demonstrate, green meetings can help save the planet and yield real rewards for your attendees and your budget. READ MORE

One of the first things a guest sees when driving onto your property is your hotel's parking lot. A fresh, black coat of asphalt makes a positive first impression. A parking lot exhibiting signs of neglect or disrepair will have a profound negative impact on guests - even before they walk through the front door. Beyond appearances, a cracked parking lot can be a liability for hotel executives and managers if one of your guests becomes injured. So how can you, as a hotel executive, know when it is time to repair your parking lot? Besides planning for recurring inspections and maintenance, there are several trouble spots to look for. READ MORE