In the hotel industry, the quality of your staff and the services they provide directly affects your bottom line. As your frontline brand ambassadors, your employees' performance is what drives your organization's true competitive advantage. To succeed, you need to attract, develop and retain competent, enthusiastic and accountable employees, and keep them engaged and motivated. This article examines the value of talent management to the hotel industry, and focuses on three key talent management practices that have a major impact on the bottom line - goal setting, pay for performance and coaching. READ MORE

Speed. Innovation. Change. These are the demands of the 21st Century organization. But the very fuel that feeds these critical mandates inevitably produces conflict. The challenge for organization leaders is to create an environment that stimulates ideas and interaction without provoking destructive battles that destroy self-esteem, fracture teamwork, and thwart productivity. A leader's ability to manage conflict effectively is essential to leveraging its value and creating dynamic results. READ MORE

A passion for excellence pervasive in a hotel's service culture makes stunning settings, beautiful architecture or the physical attributes of a great hotel only secondary to the overall experience. It is the staff and their extraordinary skills that personalize the guest experience by delivering signature care and facilitating every aspect of a hotel's passion to please. The best hotels focus on hiring people with great character and a desire to create phenomenal experiences, not just for guests, but for their fellow Associates as well. This is most effective when programs are in place that drive Associate satisfaction. READ MORE

It is better to give than to receive...right? What happens when hoteliers give a complimentary stay or experience, a "comp", to support a special program or fundraiser and the recipient, the lucky "comp" winner, shows up to experience their reward? When that guest begins to make their arrangements, are they treated the same as other guests, better or worse than other guests? And, what value does this guest have for the hotel and the employees if that guest appears to be there 'for free' and not directly contributing to the bottom line? How can hoteliers harness the power of gift certificates and communicate their potential to hotel employee teams? Based on my survey, I am amazed at how differently properties treat this issue. READ MORE

The traveling public has many different choices of where to spend their time and money. Great customer service can be the key to a traveler becoming a repeat visitor who recommends your property to others, while poor service can result in exactly the opposite. Staffing decisions are critical to a hotel's success. First, management must look for creative ways to attract top talent, as there is no substitute for a quality team. Once top talent has been secured, management must employ motivational programs to keep everyone at the top of their game. Peer recognition, financial incentives and employee awards are all ways to help your employees shine. READ MORE

For some hotel professionals, the Millennials, also known as Generation-Y, are an anathema; for others, they are simply a challenge to be met. However, whichever way you look at them, this generation is certainly different from all others. If you know which buttons to push, they can be extraordinary assets to your teams. Ignore them and they will leave. This article first explores the values and attitudes of these young workers, scans recent research detailing what they're looking for, then offers some practical, low- and no-cost solutions to help you truly capitalize on these talented employees. READ MORE

Log on to just about any hotel company's website and you'll find that they recognize the importance of social responsibility to their organization. While the language may differ from brand to brand, their commitment to the communities where they operate does not. When you give it some thought, it makes perfect sense: Hospitality and community service are a natural and powerful partnership. READ MORE

The internet has changed the way people around the globe research and book their holidays. There are more channels, more offers and more opportunities than ever before. Amidst all of this, how do you know where and how to connect with shoppers and get them to book your hotel? Hotel marketers can no longer ignore the reality that consumers are conducting extensive hotel research on multiple sites. Asking guests the age old marketing question, "Where did you hear about us?" doesn't give us the depth we need to know exactly how they came to book. It has become far more complex than that. READ MORE

Value Engineering has become a catch-all moniker for ways to reduce a project's budget even after the project is underway. Because of that, it's unfortunate that the term is rarely questioned when offered as a solution. In turn, the design can crumble into an unknown subject matter that hardly resembles the original, ending with a budget that works and a design that doesn't. In this article, we examine how all the pieces, including the vision, design and budget, can work together to satisfy the entire team. We highlight our initial approach when starting a project in order to avoid Value Engineering. READ MORE

New employees receive a lot of training in a short period of time and have little opportunity to retain the knowledge to its fullest. Among longer-term employees, trained behaviors often give way to speed in the name of efficiency. If left unchecked, employees in both situations risk sacrificing revenue and customer service. Help your employees avoid these potential issues and maintain your hotel's standards by implementing an effective ongoing training program that takes your staff to the next level. READ MORE

Here are some fresh ideas and politically incorrect suggestions on the biggest expense (and loss) for hoteliers: personnel and their penchant for quitting every 18 months or so. Perceptions and expectations have changed over the last couple of decades: loyalty and longevity used to be a given virtue and now, fabulously enough, have become signs of a "loser." Resumes of inveterate job hoppers, once frowned upon, now signal a person with "ambition and drive," someone to have on the team. Thus looking after #1 has become a virtue and the company is somehow expected to flourish when peopled by a preponderance of team members who aren't. The other side of the coin, of course, is what on earth have corporations been doing to so alienate their best resource? Two thousand years ago, slaves could rightly complain of many things, but job insecurity was not one of them-that's reserved for today's lonely employee. READ MORE

The economic challenges of the past four years have led many companies to re-examine the ways in which they do business and how they deploy talent. In many cases, the work did not go away and fewer people were left to carry on the tasks that had previously been shared among many. As we work our way out of the recession and look forward to a healthier economic environment, there is an understanding that despite recovering business levels, we may never see the return of former staffing levels. This "new norm" of operating with leaner teams has led Human Resources professionals and people managers to look at career development and growth opportunities in a new light. READ MORE

To reach a market of increasingly jaded consumers, Service becomes the new marketing. By delivering extraordinary experiences worth talking about, companies can stand out from their competitors, encourage positive word of mouth, and build memorable brands. READ MORE

What would you do if you knew one in three of your employees was hoping to exit your organization within the next twelve months? Would you pull the blanket over your head and pretend you were having a bad dream? Or would you take off your blinders and be willing to stare reality in the face? Your answer to this question could determine the fate of your organization, as employees begin expressing discontent with their feet. This is your wake-up call folks. Where you go from here is up to you. Read more to learn what you can do to prevent your best workers from exiting. READ MORE

More than two-thirds of employers have a formal employee referral program in their organization. When considering the cost of recruiting, many employers rate employee referrals as one of the leading sources for candidates and a cost-effective complement to an organization's recruitment strategy. A successful employee referral program will not only bring in qualified candidates, it can also build employee loyalty, help reduce employee turnover and enhance your overall employment brand. Read this article and see how the power of employee referrals can help build a better workforce. READ MORE