Making service sense out of those that manage the dollars and cents of any hospitality business is a key but often overlooked part of any service culture. Hospitality leaders may go out of their way to pay the bills, secure revenue, finance investments and get reimbursements but they need to ensure that the accounting department reimburses service too! READ MORE

Social media technologies have fundamentally and permanently changed the way the world communicates. Have you prepared your organization for this shift? Do you understand the impact of social media across all functions of your business? Will your social media policy actually protect your people and your brand? How are you training your people? How are you measuring success? READ MORE

Recently, New York City was co-host to the global conference Social Media Week. The unanimous answer this year: Return on Investment (ROI)! A thorough understanding of the top and bottom-line implications of social media is the most objective method of assessing its true value and is the key to a hotel's ability to leverage it for a competitive advantage. Thus, in this article we take a look at how to evaluate social media ROI and assign an actual dollar-value to some of the social media networks that hotels have established. READ MORE

Whether you try to manage social media in-house or it is outsourced, effective social marketing will require time, resources and professional skills. My following statements and recommendations are a result of years of working with all categories of hotels and resorts. This includes my personal analysis of industry surveys, daily activities and keeping up with never ending changes in the social websites and networks. The goal is to develop effective social touch marketing plans and initiatives with measured results. READ MORE

The understanding that customer loyalty needs to be at the center of a business strategy --- and not just a tangential strategy --- and realizing that loyalty is a dynamic and ever-changing process is crucial to success of such programs. This is because loyalty is no longer just about points --- but rather about the multitude of new technologies, touch points and interactions that a brand has with their potentially diverse and empowered audience. READ MORE

It is not uncommon to hear about companies learning from hotels. Hotels, particularly top-tier hotels like the Ritz Carlton provide an enviable standard of customer service. After a lot of hard work and focus on the goal, the four hospitals featured in this article have all earned the coveted Employer of Choice® Award. Each organization has created its own program that works for its stakeholders; each has remarkable results to share. These programs are low and no-cost and fairly easy to apply to your property. When implemented, these programs can yield great results for you, too! READ MORE

People are talking about your hotel on Twitter. Last year, tweet volume reached 25 billion. Twitter widgets are popping up on hotel websites everywhere and this social media powerhouse isn't slowing down. So what advantages can this micro-blogging tool offer you? This article shows hotel executives the benefits of adopting a real time mind-set, and how Twitter connects you with customer needs quickly so you can deliver value faster. Read and discover the style of a hotel twitter superstar, see 10 examples of community building tweets, and find out 5 tweet habits to break right now. READ MORE

The American writer, George William Curtis (1824-1892), was prophetic when he said: "It is not the ship so much as the skillful sailing that assures the prosperous voyage." Little did he know that in 2011, his comments would hit the hotel industry head on. In these turbulent economic seas, when guests are not traveling, new guests are harder to recruit, and operational costs are rising, hoteliers face unprecedented challenges today and uncertainty tomorrow. If you feel like you are shooting the rapids in a rubber raft, you are not alone. There are a lot of properties in the same type of raft. But is it too easy to be hypnotized by all the hazards in the water, to the threat of capsizing your hotel's ship? The short answer is yes. READ MORE

The first sign of the times, you ask? Perhaps it was back in 2006 when Ritz-Carlton looked in the mirror and realized that “Ladies and Gentlemen serving Ladies and Gentlemen” didn't exactly apply to a 32-year-old CEO in jeans and a t-shirt. In a nod to the changing demographics of those who consumed “luxury,” Ritz loosened up a bit, recognizing the need for a generational component to its time-honored and revered operational and guest service standards. That shifting mindset has only grown in our industry, as virtually every facet of a hotel operation has needed to step back and take a look at how it does business based on ever-widening generational needs. READ MORE

To create a service culture that will allow you achieve your bottom-line goals, you first have to be willing to acknowledge the trouble spots in your current service culture. Once you do that, you can develop the vision, mission, and values that will support you and your entire team as you work to realign aspects of management and operations, implement a successful culture-based training program, and measure your progress. Jesse Boles, Executive Director of Operations at FreemanGroup, offers practical advice and insights on how to go about implementing a service culture that will yield real world results. READ MORE

When it is reported that Queen Elizabeth is "tweeting", and a CEO of a five-star hotel company sent a "tweet", it is obvious that social media, when used unauthentically, comes off as nothing more than an ruse, without positively influencing business or creating a positive image. So how can hoteliers determine the best course of action to take, given the choices of social media platforms and the increasing popularity of them, including the corporate strength behind them? This article will address how to implement some good ol' fashioned marketing strategies to ensure that you can identify and implement the best social media platforms. READ MORE

Does your hotel have an effective, well-managed social media presence? Do you even need one? Do you feel like you're making the most of Facebook, but lost on YouTube? These are questions that hoteliers should have asked themselves, or been asked by their Internet marketing partners, at some point in the last two years. After all, during that time span, the use of social media by both leisure and business travelers has increased at a rate that cannot be ignored. In a recent survey from The Center for Hospitality Research at Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration, roughly 25% of business travelers and over 30% of leisure travelers said they use social media and review sites for hotel information. READ MORE

Long before CSR became a mainstream acronym and integral to the way business is done in the 21st Century, Loews Hotels Chairman & CEO, Jonathan Tisch, believed you could do well and do good at the same time. To realize this notion and affirm Loews' responsibility to the communities beyond our porte-cocheres, the Loews Hotels Good Neighbor Program was created. What began as the hospitality industry's first comprehensive community outreach program some 21 years ago, today encompasses a broad range of social, economic and environmental policies and initiatives. READ MORE

When businesses are going through hard times it's natural to look for ways to cut costs. But sadly all too often the things that get dropped are those that are essential for long-term prosperity and growth - marketing and training. Making cuts in these areas could certainly save a few dollars in the short-term, but it won't be long before the cracks appear. There are many reasons why hoteliers may be tempted to cut back on training. The commonest excuse I hear is " Well, what if I invest in their training and they decide to leave?" But what if you don't invest in their training and they decide to stay? Investing in training has so many benefits both directly and indirectly. READ MORE

As marketing is often driven by trends, it's easy to get caught up in the latest means of delivering your property message to an audience; but for some, newer is not always better. This particularly applies to those decision makers who book travel for businesses and groups. A pared-down approach to marketing to them, therefore, can win a big lift in bookings and revenue for a smart hotel that implements a few basic principles. This article examines 'best practices' in marketing to business and group travel bookers and provides tips on how to increase exposure to this valuable audience. READ MORE