Verifying employment eligibility is a complicated task for all businesses but it poses particular difficulties for the hotel industry. As a high-volume and often seasonally driven business with very high turnover, juggling employment eligibility verification forms (also known as Form I-9) can be a deceptively tall order. Despite the challenges, taking the time to familiarize oneself with Form I-9 compliance is a worthwhile investment in order to avoid weighty fines or possible criminal penalties. READ MORE

It takes a lot of work to keep a hotel staffed with good employees and, as in any service industry, nothing is more pivotal in ensuring your guests' positive experience. Yet therein lies the challenge: finding, hiring and retaining those employees is no easy task. What's more is that this undertaking becomes more complex as the U.S. workforce grows increasingly diverse. There are certain guidelines regarding foreign-born labor that employers should keep in mind in order to protect their businesses from legal action while simultaneously fostering a friendly and tolerant atmosphere for all employees. READ MORE

As if hoteliers didn't have enough to worry about, a new concern can be added to their list: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been ramping up its investigations of foreign-born workers and their employers. If your hotel employs immigrant and nonimmigrant workers or, worse yet, undocumented workers, you should be on high alert. In the 2008 fiscal year alone, ICE made over 5,100 administrative arrests based on immigration violations and over 1,000 additional criminal arrests for charges like harboring or knowingly employing illegal aliens. READ MORE

Travel 2.0 means business. It is not like Web 2.0, which is primarily defined by social networking sites like YouTube, Facebook and Flickr. In Travel 2.0, additional sites such as TripAdvisor, Google Maps, Virtual Tourist, and TravelPost empower consumers with interactive tools to research hotels and plan their trips, comment on their recent stays, and interact with other like-minded consumers. Savvy hospitality operators are embracing all aspects of Travel 2.0 - and beyond - because of its ability to drive business, build community, and empower guests. What are the best ways to leverage it? Here are five strategies... READ MORE

To the misfortune of the designer many properties entering the market face considerable negative criticism due in part to many things like the shang-bang construction, ostentatious colorizing or architectural theme and even more caustic in today's market is the irresponsible landscaping surrounding the building. Creating unique, memorable and economically viable hotel environments is what hospitality designers do, however we are not the financiers of the dreams, we are merely the dream weavers that have the enviable task of creating the folly of others. As a designer my intent in this article is to pinpoint three very important considerations when working with an owner to build, renovate or re-flag a property. READ MORE

Having working in the Meeting and Incentive industry my comprehension of hotel design has been enriched. From the meeting planners perspective my consideration of the hotel facility was based on a properties flexability, and overall apperance. Pairing my meeting planner experience with my knowledge as a designer I am equally aware that the durability of the FF&E within a hotel property is paramount to the success of the hotel and I strive to place as much intelligently designed product within a property. In this article I bring to the forefront a few concepts designers should keep in mind when working with the operators of hotel properties. These considerations should assist in assuring that both the designer and the operator are working toward the same goal - to create spaces that achieve the greatest ROI. READ MORE

As a developer, real estate is, by its nature, an expensive non-liquid asset. It costs a lot of money to own it, and it can be difficult to sell. In development activity, there are also added costs of improvements and included are the fees of various consultants necessary to get the development work done, but with more than three trillion dollars annually feeding the global hospitality industry there remains considerable motivation for developers to continue to build. As a designer I am challenged daily with a multitude of new global projects, and though each project varies significantly in it's scope, - the five considerations highlighted in this article serve as guides in the design execution process. READ MORE

With the dizzying amount of environmentally responsible planning, development, and operational incentives currently offered by local governments, the analysis and decisions for how to engineer and operate your lodging property can feel like more of a hassle than a benefit. In this article, we will try to outline how local governments are streamlining this market and, especially for hotels, make the implementation of environmentally responsible polices and practices a faster and cheaper process. READ MORE

When faced with the task of implementing environmentally responsible policies and programs on the ground, many property and chain managers feel overwhelmed by all the options and considerations in greening their operations. The delivery of high quality hospitality services depends in part, on a property's dependence on suppliers for quality products and services. In the first half of this article, we highlight why greening your supply chain can be a benefit for you, your suppliers and local community. In the second half, we provide some key tools and points to consider when greening your relationships with suppliers. READ MORE

Now that being green is a part of your brand, you have opened the door to a variety of ways that you can re-position your property or chain with existing customers as well as within new markets. You now have a wealth of information you can use concerning how waste minimization, energy efficiency, fresh and wastewater management, and environmentally and socially sensitive purchasing affect your bottom line and improve the quality of the products and services that you provide at your facility. The first and most practical means of marketing your green operations is within your local community and supply chains. READ MORE

Today, with increasing public interest and awareness of the detrimental impacts human activity can have on the environment and society, consumers are more skeptical and critical of "green" claims being made about goods and services. The question facing them when they make purchasing decisions today is more graduated, and examines to what extent the production and use of a good or service is detrimental to the environment and society. Specifically within the hospitality industry, this question can now be phased as, How does the hospitality service promote sustainable development of its local community and other communities that it interacts with? READ MORE

Bathroom and facial tissue products are ubiquitous and essential elements of all property guest rooms. Despite their small size and lowly function, they have very significant environmental impacts. They are also to some degree associated with performance and quality issues, and many properties take considerable care in selecting them to conform with their standards or decor. This article will attempt to demonstrate how environmental issues can be addressed satisfactorily in choosing tissue products without sacrificing performance or quality. READ MORE

As bedroom services, hotel properties first and foremost are in the trade of changing linens and doing laundry. While many properties outsource their linen supply and laundering, they command a significant enough supply to exert an influence on their laundry service. They can, in short, seek to ensure that their most plentiful commodity is cleaned in the most environmentally responsible way possible. This largely concerns the selection of laundry detergent, the subject of this article. Certainly, hotel policies regarding changing linens for multiple-night guests can significantly affect the environment by reducing the load and therefore the energy, water, and waste produced. READ MORE

What characterizes full-service properties from a sustainability perspective compared to more limited-service properties is that, essentially, they have just more of the same. Except for restaurants, the additional facilities and equipment are similar to what most properties, however small, have in their guest rooms, lobby, and front office. The expanded dimension of full-service properties means more need - and opportunity - to apply energy- and water-saving operations, to eliminate waste and toxins, and generally to provide a healthful and vibrant guest environment. READ MORE

Nowhere does the conventional clash between comfort and guest satisfaction, on the one hand, and the stereotypical austerity of sustainability, on the other, become as intense as at properties designed as playgrounds and pleasure places for guests - resorts foremost among them. Does a concern with fostering human health and environmental quality have a role here? Given the title of this article and its author, you could presume we think it does. As with spas (described in an earlier article in this series), the concept of promoting a more healthful place in which to play, eat, and sleep is fully compatible with the goals of resorts. With people spending most of their awake time at resorts, in contrast to many other kinds of properties, and wanting to derive maximum pleasure from their stay, all the benefits of a greener environment come into play. READ MORE