In October of last year, Pepsico started shaking things up with their digital marketing strategy. They decided to take the social media portion of their digital marketing in-house for the Pepsi brand. There was a lot of buzz about it -- questioning whether this was a smart move. Outside of the tremendous resources needed to have an in-house agency focused solely on social media, the concept of what Pepsi was doing intrigued me. In fairness and full disclosure, I work with a digital marketing agency for the hospitality industry. READ MORE

Historic buildings are a window into the past. Unfortunately, few of them operate today as they were originally intended to, and, of those that do, only a handful have been successful at it. Today, urban and resort hotels are thriving again. Some are renovations of long dormant properties. Others are down-sized urban grande dames whose owners sold off parts of the hotel as residences and reduced guestroom counts. My mission as a developer and hotelier is to preserve these touchstones from the past in ways that connect them to present-day users. If they are not kept relevant through use, they run the risk of becoming relics or museums. READ MORE

Every hotel needs to accept credit cards as a payment method, and to do that you need a credit card processor. As you select a processor, you should look at what they can do for you and how you will connect to them, because not all are created equal, and the choice you make could have a far- reaching impact. First, will you connect directly to them or connect through a switch, gateway or other intermediary? You may be constrained by the choices your property management system (PMS) or even your hotel brand offers, but it's good to explore those choices and make the decision that works best for you. READ MORE

Discussions of sustainability in the hospitality industry have focused mainly on strategies at the level of energy-efficient and eco-friendly adjustments to operations and maintenance. These "tweaks" can include programs to reduce water usage, updating lighting to LEDs, campaigns to increase guest participation in recycling, and similar innovative industry initiatives. Often overlooked-not only by industry experts but even by hotel operators and designers-are possibilities for hotel design and construction that can make a property truly sustainable from the get-go. READ MORE

Utility costs are the second largest operating expense for most hotels. Successfully reducing these expenses can be a huge value-add strategy for executives. Doing this effectively requires more than just a one-time investment in efficiency upgrades. It requires ongoing visibility into a building's performance and effectively leveraging this visibility to take action. Too often, efficiency strategies center on a one-time effort to identify opportunities with little consideration for establishing ongoing practices to better manage a building's performance ongoing. READ MORE