In 1991, Meeting Professionals International introduced the concept of Meeting ROI to their membership, with the goal to elevate "meetings as investments", including metrics to define and measure success. Well, here we are 20 plus years later and corporate and association planning teams are just starting to pay attention and take ROI seriously. What took so long, you ask? READ MORE

Pressure to get more done in less time is changing the way we do everything - including how we use media. A recent study shares some changes in consumer behaviors regarding our use of four primary screens - television, PC, smartphone and tablets. The results of this research may impact your digital marketing plans for 2013. Do you need to invest in a separate mobile and tablet site or should they be the same? What do people do differently on a smartphone than they do on a PC and why? We will explore what some of the statistics reveal and how that could impact your allocation of digital resources. READ MORE

Parlez vous hotel? Sprechen sie hotel? Habla hotel? Do you speak hotel lingo? When you travel to a foreign land it is important to learn a few key phrases in order to make your communication with the natives more pleasant and to break through the barriers created by different cultures and languages. Industries each have their own lingo and key phrases as well. When breaking into an industry, it is important to know the lingo in order to make your communication with the natives more pleasant and to break through the cultural and language barriers. Our article in this week's Hotel Business Review, "Understanding Hotel Lingo - From ADR to Z Hotel" will define a few of the key phrases commonly used in the hospitality industry from ADR to Z Hotel. READ MORE

With so many hotels vying for potential guests' attention, it can be a challenge for your property to stand out in the digital landscape. With technology and consumer behaviour changing at an ever increasing speed, it is easy to lose out to your competitors without the proper resources and knowledge. Digital marketing is becoming increasingly complex, especially for hotels, who now have to think about how to compete for guests in new channels. They also need to be prepared for the emergence of a variety of tablet devices and digital communities that are constantly changing, while managing their core business day-to-day. This article will examine various opportunities for hotels to improve their digital marketing strategy. READ MORE

The evolution from newspapers, brochures, and magazines, to commercial and cable television channels, to PC-based search engines, has shifted consumer reliance to mobile devices. Smartphones, like the iPhone and Android phone, have access to application software capable of altering guest behavior and experiences. Given the explosive evolution of social media channels, mobile services appear to have unparalleled potential for the hospitality industry in that they provide a platform for marketing appropriate goods and services, at a most relevant time. READ MORE

Smart hotel property owners are taking advantage of the growing list of incentives available for energy efficient buildings and upgrades. If you've ever considered installing energy efficiencies, you owe it to yourself to find out what rewards may be available to you through smart tax strategies; local, state and federal incentives and other funding programs such as grant and rebates. Extensive documentation and research from reliable sources is readily available to hotel owners to help ensure that your energy efficient building project has a positive impact on your bottom line along with the environmental impacts. READ MORE

There's one lesson in hospitality marketing you don't want to learn the hard way. Operating and marketing in the new and social media spheres is absolutely essential in hospitality. It's no longer optional and for this reason alone: There's a good chance your greatest competition has a well-established social media presence and a strategy designed to take away business from you. Whether it's appealing to your customers through social networking or undercutting your prices through online distributors, unless you get in the game and get on board with new media, your marketing strategy will prove unsustainable. READ MORE

A spa project within a hotel or resort is very different from a standalone day spa. The latter is a much more challenging investment with low margins and profitability. A spa facility within a hotel or resort on the other hand is indeed a good addition to the facilities that the property offers. It can enhance rooms and catering revenues apart from its own operation. However, this will depend upon the quality of the facility itself and how well the spa is positioned in the market it operates in. Repeat clientele is paramount in a spa business and measures to confirm future bookings before the end of the current treatment session will drive incremental revenues and profits. The wellness of the project can be ensured through a well thought out and executed spa project within the hotel or resort which creates synergies with the facilities that the property has to offer. This is the ultimate strategy that will massage spa profits. READ MORE

One size does not fit all when marketing across multiple generations. Personalization is paramount. For the DOSM marketing the next AAA package, you cannot afford to simply have one advertisement created and distributed to the masses. Rather, you should become familiar with your audience - know their demographics and psychographics - and then consider creating separate messages tailored for each generation you are targeting. READ MORE

There is a perception that green hotels are more expensive for hotel guests than conventional hotels, and many survey results say that guests are willing to pay more - up to 10% more - to stay in a green hotel (e.g., LEED certified). As a hotel guest, would you be willing to pay more money per night to stay in a green hotel? As a hotel manager, would you be willing to charge your guests more to stay in your green hotel? Or, perhaps the question is, are hotel managers taking advantage of the opportunity to charge more (since guests are willing to pay more) for their green hotels? Read on to find out… READ MORE

Hoteliers often find it desirable to classify certain workers as independent contractors. Payroll tax benefits, labor cost reduction and business expense management are enticing for many companies to take the risk of classifying an individual as an independent contractor when the independent contractor/employee distinction is blurred. Employers that hire independent contractors must be extra cautious to ensure that these workers are classified correctly, because federal and state governments have signaled their intent to more seriously investigate misclassification issues. Employers that run afoul of the relevant statutes and regulations will face regulatory fines, back tax implications, wage and hour claims, workers' compensation issues and a host of other problems. The following article provides a background on what conditions must be satisfied to properly classify an individual as an independent contractor. READ MORE

Like it or hate it, social media is here to stay and is becoming one of the leading ways for companies to engage customers. You can put your head in the sand and hope that this “social media madness” will go away, but that is not going to happen any time soon. Instead, embrace the genre, find someone who is great at it, and start engaging. Social media is the perfect way to stay in touch with a guest once they have checked out and to motivate and inspire guests to come plan a stay with you in the future. And once you start the conversation, you may be pleasantly surprised at the results. READ MORE

It's the age-old question for a sales person…where do I invest my time to get the biggest return? While the local market sales effort is still high on the list, there are now many online efforts that must be addressed as well. It is imperative that hotels look at all of their online and offline sales and marketing initiatives and prioritize them. Then employ the 80/20 rule. Spend your time on the 20% of the accounts that give you 80% of your business. READ MORE

In an increasingly competitive global hotel environment, it is more vital than ever that hoteliers understand industry best practice and the latest supporting technologies to drive revenue performance. As such, many are turning to revenue management for accurate and detailed forecasting, so they can make optimal pricing decisions and grow revenue as a result. However, if hoteliers make the most of forecasting data, they can not only increase revenue, but also decrease costs across a hotel's entire operations and, as a result, bolster profitably. Having the ability to account for periods of higher or lower demand enables hoteliers to make better operational and staffing decisions and match their ordering from external suppliers to ensure wastage is minimized. READ MORE

Mobile technology is no longer the future of marketing: it's the present. App platforms are evolving to become more user friendly, there's no longer just one type of mobile website and the idea of mobile advertising is no longer a concept, but a practice. With all of this evolution it can create a constant battle between what your hotel should be doing and what you are actually doing. Depending on what type of property you manage, the type of mobile strategy you should have will vary. Throughout this article we will discuss different types of properties and the strategies that are working well for them. READ MORE