Contending with today's powerfully evolving mobile landscape, small chains to independent hoteliers are faced with a new challenge of quickly acquiring expertise in a 24/7 marketing environment, created by the rapid evolution of technology and the never-ending opportunities to deliver higher levels of customer-centric initiatives with more efficiently generated revenues. Now with the new year, it is apparent that a paradigm shift is happening in consumer-direct marketing, eCRM and alternative "hand held" distribution channels, due primarily to the immense popularity of smartphones. READ MORE

The key to success is in leveraging mobile technology to create highly targeted and customized messages for 1-on-1 personalized marketing, which the guests truly appreciate and value as thoughtful and meaningful, making their life easier and simpler. Any hotel company that is able to master this would emerge as a sure-shot winner with highly interactive relationships with their customers, resulting in deeper and more profitable engagements. The ringing phone with a telemarketer at the other end is passe. READ MORE

Right now your employees are using social media to share what's happening, what they think, and where they've been. They're engaged for both their personal use, and in some cases for their job. This article looks at ways to chart your hotel's social media governance, shares a database of 163 policies from a leading social media consultant, and checks in with a Director of Digital Marketing from a well-known hotel to find out his thoughts on the matter. One thing is for sure, when it comes to hotel social media policies, one size does not fit all. READ MORE

It's a competitive market online for hotels these days. What can you do to attract online travel shoppers, set your property apart and produce more hotel bookings? The answer, as a growing number of hoteliers have found, is to tell your story in a unique and compelling way -- tell it with video and get that video in front of as many shoppers as possible. Considering that hotel shoppers are clearly demanding video and your competitors are jumping in with both feet, it may be time to begin incorporating video and video syndication into your own marketing and e-business strategies. Such moves can generate impressive returns. READ MORE

If your would-be customer has started her hotel search by typing in a query to Google, Bing, Kayak, or another search engine, you need to make sure that your hotel comes up near the top of the search engine's results page. As you probably can guess, the reason you need to be near the top of the results page is that searchers rarely scroll down the page. In fact, in a study of web searchers' eye movements, a team at Cornell University found that the "hot spot," where users focus most heavily, is an area in the upper left corner of the page-essentially the top two or three of the unpaid, or "organic" hits. READ MORE

Hotel guest rooms are a critical area of focus under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Do not incorrectly assume your hotels are ADA compliant because they have designated "handicap accessible" rooms on a low floor with accessible showers. The standards for guest rooms are detailed and rooms that were formerly ADA compliant may have been rendered inaccessible due to alterations and renovations. Additionally, the new 2010 ADA regulations and standards impose significant requirements affecting guest rooms. Are your hotel rooms accessible and ADA compliant? READ MORE

One of the biggest challenges in hotel pantries and gift shops is that the people who are responsible for making it succeed have little to no retail experience. They are excellent at booking rooms, meeting the needs of guests, managing teams and budgets, but when I ask them how they went about selecting the pantry assortment they offer, they quickly confess that it is arbitrary at best: a combination of brand standards, sourcing availability, and whatever they were hungry for that day as they shopped the aisles of Costco. READ MORE

Another year for hotels has passed where little has happened in terms of the economy, but a lot has evolved in the spheres of marketing, communication, and the world of social media. 2010 marked the year of digital media in hospitality. While the industry was fairly late in adopting social media, hotels thankfully realized its potential and caught up relatively quickly. While I am unsure of specific numbers and statistics, hotels keep joining Facebook and Twitter everyday. And as they learn how to feed these monsters the right information that can make a difference in the guest experience, it's important to keep in mind what trends are forming as the economy picks up, albeit at a slow pace. Read my article on Boutique Hotel Trends for this year. READ MORE

Payroll is likely one of the biggest expenses your hotel incurs - and one that can cause the most headaches. It's one thing to have an unhappy guest, but an unhappy employee - or worse yet, a suspect government office - can have a significant impact on your business. Many of those headaches are avoidable by taking the appropriate steps from day one with the onboarding of a new hire to making changes to an employee's status, position or compensation level all the way through to retiring an employee from service. READ MORE

When it comes to thinking about giving good service, everyone in the hotel business talks about the importance of guest satisfaction. You have to satisfy your guests. You have to conduct surveys asking them, "Are you satisfied with.." Guest satisfaction is your number one goal. Bunk! Baloney! Hogwash! While satisfaction is certainly better than dissatisfaction, in today's competitive lodging environment, satisfaction doesn't cut it. Merely satisfying your guests will not be nearly enough to keep you growing and prospering over the long run. READ MORE

Committing to offering spa services within your hotel is just the first and easiest step to creating a guest experience that is memorable and pleasant. Spas within hotels are specialty amenities and need to be planned and managed accordingly. As a consultant I see a great many spas in hotels that just don't measure up. Read on for 5 big mistakes and a list of easy "do's" for making your spa facility more complete within your hotel. READ MORE

For hotel executives, managing stress levels is just as important as managing the hotel's business. Managing stress helps us become more efficient and better equipped to handle the daily onslaught of stresses and challenges with clarity and optimism. And at hospitality's fingertips is one of the best resources for stress reduction. Our spas realize that there are as many stress-reducing techniques as there are individuals and have built up a cadre of techniques, therapies and activities. Read further to see the great resources hospitality managers have in their own back yards. READ MORE

One might assume that the fitness center is likely among the healthiest places to be in a hotel or resort.or it could be the least. The virtues of providing your guests with a functional and well balanced fitness facility are plentiful and today well known. However, ensuring the safety of your guests while they use the facility goes beyond the simple maintenance of your fitness equipment. Today, the threat of wide scale microbial contamination is greater than ever. The gym environment presents a natural breeding ground for these contaminants. Understanding what the risks are, and what can be done to create a hygiene friendly facility will help you comprehensively achieve a most healthy fitness experience for your guests. READ MORE

Fostering a culture of innovation pays off handsomely in guest satisfaction and employee engagement. . . and those result in better bottom line performance. Ideas from Paris France, Cairns, Australia, Lagos, Nigeria, and elsewhere give you easy-to-implement insights. In this easy-to-read article, you'll see some terrific low- and no-cost ideas to help you mine the valuable creativity in your employees and improve your profitability. You will be inspired to put these simple suggestions into action and that will reduce employee turnover and increase morale. READ MORE

For travel marketers there is always a good reason to stay active in direct response TV. But the seasonality of most travel companies and destinations makes having a keen sense of the calendar extremely important to a successful direct response campaign. Of course, not all companies are seasonal. Cities like Las Vegas are year round destinations. But ski resorts, golf courses, and other destinations have ebbs and flows. Regardless, all travel companies need to be prepared. That preparation starts with an awareness of the range of TV advertising rates from month to month and season to season. READ MORE