Oh, so you fear terrible reviews by some of your guests, you have had dining guests complain their meal was less than stellar, your market share is below what's acceptable, and you have some staffing problems to boot? Throwing money at issues like these won't often result in the fix and if it does it certainly won't be permanent. Real issues demand real plans and a strategic smile - yes, a smile. A smile can do miracles and affect everyone around you in a very positive way. Every day we enjoy a hotel full of new reasons to smile. READ MORE

The pervasive hotel industry concept of SOP-Customer Satisfaction does not create authentic hospitality. It creates a largely mechanical and emotionless, but efficient guest experience, which not only makes it difficult for staff to be their true self, but it also does not meet the emotional, spiritual, energetic, and healing needs of human beings. The concept's inability to meet those needs is its Achilles Heel. Authentic hospitality is provided when the guest experience is rooted in and exudes the essence of hospitality, namely, loving kindness, compassion, and heart-warming care. READ MORE

Yes and no -If you try a Google search for apps that improve customer service you are going to find hundreds of possibilities. And they have the most clever names: ZenDesk (sounds very relaxing), GetSatisfaction (isn't that what we all want?) Loop, OfficeVibe, Nuance, IdeaScale and on and on. Each app has a variety of pretty cool bells and whistles, and each app could potentially help to improve your customer service. That explains the yes, but what about the no? Like most solutions, differentiating yourself from your competitors by delivering unusually good customer service can be accomplished through a holistic approach - with both online and offline applications. READ MORE

The hotel industry doesn't fall far behind in keeping up with the technological advances.. It wouldn't be favorable for any hotel within a contemporary city to not provide all of the conveniences today's traveler is accustomed to. Anticipating the needs of discerning guests should be one of the core principles of a successful hotel operator - and this does not exclude technological needs. Keeping up with this evolution of data and capture is not the hard part; the challenge lies in the ability to maintain the most basic standards of what it means to be a hospitality professional. READ MORE

Big Data will provide a complete "digital profile" of current and prospective guests, enabling hotel executives to create more effective marketing and communications campaigns. This opportunity, available for all and affordable to all, will transform the way hoteliers interact with travelers; it will revolutionize this relationship for the better by making outreach more direct, personal and relevant. Thus, these benefits are too important to ignore - they are too substantial to dismiss - since the result will be a more intimate and gracious expression of loyalty from hotel executives on behalf of their most loyal supporters. Welcome to the big dividends of Big Data. READ MORE