A smiling face behind the check-in desk. Prompt and unobtrusive room service. Eager hands to help with luggage. A friendly greeting. “It's my pleasure.” “You are quite welcome.” “Please, let me help.” These are just a few of the personal touches that define exceptional guest service. Human interactions are indeed the cornerstone of the guest service mission at most hotels. Get those human interactions right, and you have a satisfied and loyal guest who is likely to sing your praises to others. Get those human interactions wrong, and they can damage your reputation and your business. It's often the negative voices that ring the loudest and get the most attention. READ MORE

Hoteliers can gather endless amounts of data from analytical tools but the real challenge is knowing what to do with it. Today, savvy hoteliers are using Guest Intelligence to motivate each department and get the most out of individual teams to improve overall guest satisfaction and boost revenue. By creating a guest-centric culture, employees at hotels are empowered to make a difference. At the end of the day, your employees are representatives of your brand and those responsible for offering remarkable guest service. READ MORE

Research shows that positive engagement with hotel employees has a major impact on guest satisfaction, creating a distinct set of challenges for properties of all sizes. Carlsbad, California, located along the Pacific Ocean coastline north of San Diego, is home to a range of accommodations, from boutique inns to some of Southern California's most luxurious resorts. Where a larger hotel may benefit from best practices in training and hiring, an intimate property may be able to offer highly personalized service - how are hotels in Carlsbad responding to these challenges to ensure guest satisfaction? READ MORE

Do you really need all of those Standard Operating Procedures? Are Standard Operating Procedures throttling your business growth, stifling your team's development and diminishing your guest experience? We'll explore these questions in the piece that follows.. There's no standard that could possibly apply to every guest experience that you or your team will encounter. While this discussion doesn't mandate that you cease and destroy all SOPs, it will equip you to elevate your business, team and guest experience by thinking twice about the standards that you've set. Most important, it will get you thinking that there could be better ones out there. READ MORE

Managing supply chain and procurement is one of the best ways a hotelier can increase profits and minimize losses, but it's tough to do it well. A hotel must manage hundreds of SKUs. With so many products to buy, it's challenging to find the best sources. Hotel procurement is further complicated by fragmented operations. Bring together franchisees, owner-operators, and multiple brands under one umbrella, and it can be impossible to keep up with procurement. Without centralized processes, managers and operators are more likely to make multiple small-scale purchases from numerous suppliers, making it difficult for corporate officers to ensure hotels purchase high-quality items at the best prices. READ MORE