When it comes to success in the hospitality industry we tend - quite rightly -- to focus on staff and guests. But there are five other categories of people who can influence whether your hotel succeeds or fails. It is easy to forget about them, or even to see them as a threat to your profitability. But if you treat them right, there are many ways they can help you. Building strong relationships with them - even surprising ones like competitors - can end up helping both your organization and theirs. In this article we'll explore who these oft-overlooked allies are, why they are important to your business, and how you can win their support. READ MORE

Travel industry marketers are setting their sites on the customer, following in the steps of other industries such as retail and using digital platforms to strategically target and message across the customer journey. The advances in customer experience we see today are the result of platform and technology availability. Knowing customers like to be treated as individuals is not a new concept in customer service. Not long ago personalized treatment was reserved for face-to-face conversations and luxury experiences. Digital has evolved, but the concept remains the same. To both the traveler and the marketer, customer experience is differentiation, timing, relevancy. READ MORE

To establish a good relationship you must first understand the foundation on which the relationship is built. For example, one of the greatest personal debates we face in the franchisor-franchisee relationship centers on character. Do you believe that it's possible for a person to possess both a public and a private character, even if very different? What you do in private is your own business, as long as it doesn't affect your public performance, right? Not necessarily - especially when your individual personal performance impacts your business performance. Those who build a business relationship on character will be those who swim upstream. READ MORE

It's easier to keep a guest smiling if you know a little something about them. Would you buy a gift for somebody without knowing anything about them? Of course not. So why try to service a guest that way if you don't have to. Collecting guest data is on the minds of many marketing and revenue manager these days. Not a day goes by that the term "Big Data" isn't mentioned in one of the many hospitality blogs or press releases. But what does it all really mean? But you don't have to have a data analyst on staff to make these simple things a reality. READ MORE

Twenty years ago, I read a story in a book by Peter Glen titled the story made such an impression on me in 1996 that I can still recall it vividly today: A customer became frustrated when he was unable to locate a salesperson at a hardware store and decided to resolve the situation by, at the top of his lungs, yelling a single word - “HELP!” - just once. Suddenly people appeared from remote corners of the store: salespeople, managers, maintenance workers, and even customers responded. Glen's story exposes the frustration that we, feel whenever we can't locate an employee to assist us. READ MORE

The interruption cultural norm makes its way to the workplace and causes a string of adverse issues. It can have a mammoth consequence on the hospitality industry where the human element is status quo and interruptions unavoidable. With the ubiquitous presence of technology, non-job related interruptions have been rampant. On the job task interruptions from within, like wavering of a thought or a preoccupied mind cannot be dismissed either. Bottom line - if one is allowing the undesirable interruption culture to seep through the organization there is an undesirable impact to one's profits. So why permit such ethos to churn within the enterprise? READ MORE

A hotel property in Kamloops, British Columbia decided to close a 5,000 square foot street-facing corner restaurant that was losing $500k per year. After four years of active marketing, they still could not find a tenant. Attempting to convert the eatery into a wellness space also didn't work. Following an unorthodox approach, the hotel transformed the space into a mediation and arbitration center called Centrepoint. This helped create symbiotic revenue as parties seeking Centrepoint's services would likely stay at the adjacent property in conjunction with freeing up hotel meeting space for larger events. READ MORE

Being a statistic seems to be inevitable in life. In some way, each of us will find ourselves on a statistical list of sorts. For over half the country one such list is a reality: the “first time job” list. At some point in our life we have held a job in the hospitality/restaurant industry, and if you throw retail into the mix, it is possible to cover most of all the country. READ MORE

No matter how hot storytelling is in brand marketing and building, it is often misunderstood. One of the world's greatest brand storyteller, Guido Everaert, reminds us that good brand storytelling is not about the language, it is about creating and telling stories in a compelling way. It is about finding the right metaphors, and structure in which to tell your story. By doing so, you create a part of life and generate a story that is unique to your brand and, more importantly, can easily be readily remembered. In this article, you'll learn about the Storied Six of telling your hotel's brand story. READ MORE

The hotel sector has never been a stranger to the winds of change. What was once considered leading-edge customer service practices, like offering free internet to guests or express checkout options, are now basic expectations that travelers view as standard services. Just as the hotel industry has evolved, so have the approaches that hotels have taken to attract the right guests at the right prices. The practice of revenue management, and the systems used to make accurate pricing decisions, have become even more precise and sophisticated in recent years. Most recently, these systems have begun incorporating data on competitor pricing activity and the pricing of services outside of guest rooms, like function spaces. Undoubtedly, the biggest change in revenue management today is the influx of large volumes of guest data and its impacts on future pricing decisions and hotel promotion. READ MORE

Many individuals and companies might not realize this, but social media is changing the face of recruitment in many ways, including a company's ability to secure the best talent. They are doing this by utilizing social media to provide incredible insights into candidates' backgrounds, personalities, the company they keep, and what their personal life looks like. Employers are looking at social media sites more and more as they check candidates to find out who they may know in common. READ MORE

The International Hospitality Industry is witnessing a growing surge of Millennials joining the workforce. These Generation Y employees have great potential to fulfill in terms of contribution to company success. Research shows that hotels still have problems defining and implementing approaches to talent and consequently, there can never emerge a strategy to effectively attract and retain the human resources for future needs and to fill emerging skills gaps. So, the key question is why can't we retain Generation Y talent? READ MORE

Hotels are interested in recruiting and retaining top talent to ensure high levels of performance. This requires the ability to tap into the motivations of your workforce, which is increasingly becoming more diverse. So, what motivates employees? The answer depends on who you are trying to engage and the process to do so. This article explores how workforce demographics are impacting employee motivation; what factors HR leaders need to address; and provides leadership tips to spark intrinsic motivators, specifically for different generations. READ MORE

The perception used to be that the purpose of a first interview is to get invited back for a second interview. This is because the decision for next steps then rests solely on the shoulders of the candidate, and options are limitless. But does every candidate who interviews with your organization want to be invited back for a second interview? If not, consider the possibility that although the interviewing process is designed to both screen as well as sell, there are ways to maximize the odds of candidates craving an invitation to return. READ MORE

Destination weddings have exploded into a $16 billion dollar industry. It's time to mine this booming sector, and the key is publicity. On average, couples spend $30,000 for a smaller destination wedding in a luxury resort and many lovebirds have a budget that is upwards of $100,000. Make sure to loop your travel PR firm into the process so they can get maximum exposure for your property and attract more of this lucrative business. READ MORE