National climate and energy policy has been batted around for the last several years. In 2009, Obama introduced a plan to cap carbon emissions and spend $15 billion on R&D in the clean energy space, but it was met with heated resistance. In early 2010 legislators went back to the drawing board, and created a new draft of an energy bill. Very little has been disclosed about the contents of the bill. However, we do know that it aims for a 17 percent reduction of 2005's levels of climate-altering gases by 2020. So why should hoteliers prepare themselves for effects of climate legislation? READ MORE

Nearly all hotel fitness centers have some type of staffing needs. The question often arises as to whether or not it is feasible to staff this type of fitness setting given the overhead involved and the non-tangible ROI associated with it. Although controlling payroll expenditures is an important consideration it is imperative to not loose sight of the overall mission of the hotel fitness center - In the broad picture it is one of many branches of your customer service which, unlike the others, specializes in offering your guests a safe, effective place to workout. To help fulfill this mission you need the right type of staff.more importantly the right type of personal trainers. In this article, I break down the different traits to look for when hiring a personal training, specifically targeting the different fitness certifications. READ MORE

Do you question whether your customers are loyal to your brand? Bringing customers back should be a top priority. The majority of your guests, while on-site at your property, spend most of their time in their guestroom. There are several ways you can enhance the guest experience, in a unique way, to make the most of their time in their room and get them to come back to your property the next time. Maximizing your guests' experience in the guestroom is an easy way to build the loyalty that will keep heads in your beds, night after night. READ MORE

Are you ready for some out-of-the-box ideas that won't cost you anything, yet will increase employee engagement and eventually your occupancy rate? These signature practices come from all over the world and are proven winners for the GMs who created and implemented them. You'll surely want to review this easy-to-read list of best practices from some of the most successful GMs in the world. As you read them, think about how you might apply these eight practices to your property to solve an issue you may be grappling with? Want to improve your guest scores, read on... READ MORE

A common mistake made in hospitality as it relates to the fitness amenity, is trying to offer a "health club" look and feel within the confines and constraints of a hotel or resort. Unless you have 40,000-60,000 square feet available, achieving health club levels of scope and segmentation are simply unrealistic. The solution is to provide your guests what they need while they are with you versus what they expect from a membership level facility they frequent at home. How is this achieved? Let's begin by focusing on what not to do. READ MORE

We are well into 2010 and perhaps still facing many decisions on whether or not to pull the trigger on possible technology purchases. So, if technology purchases of any kind can be made, then it is more important than ever that hotel companies make sensible choices with these purchases while still keeping a close eye on the bottom line. Therefore, what should be the guideline for selecting technology that is right for the times? Once that is determined, then the next question to answer is "What would be those best types of technology choices that are most likely to impact the bottom line and thereby influence a more positive cash flow for an operation?" READ MORE

I could just give you a big list of sites you should be involved in - but that's too simplistic. Instead, we must approach social media with the end goal in mind. Decide on objectives, and from there, pick tactics. Social media works best when it is closely aligned to the culture and values of an organization. There's no use forcing social media culture on a hotel where the guests will not embrace it. Social media should be a service, so selecting platforms to participate in must involve thinking through how your social media activity will provide better service. READ MORE

In the first two installments of this “Employment Classification Trilogy,” the focus was on hotel employers who improperly (and, generally, inadvertently) classify workers as exempt employees for purposes of federal and state wage and hour laws, or classify workers as independent contractors rather than employees. However, there is a third classification to be considered, only this time a hotel employer will not be affirmatively classifying anyone itself. Instead, employers need to consider whether unintended liability may arise under particular circumstances when a court deems the company to be a “joint employer." READ MORE

There are so many ways to engage a potential customer or a repeat customer. Any Web site must combine technology, content and creative in order to lead the consumer into the Booking Tunnel. It is how you apply the integration of these to support a guest experience focused on conversion at every phase in the consumer buying cycle. I would work on creating more of a vortex than a tunnel. READ MORE

Embassy Suites Hotels is an award-winning hotel brand recognized industry-wide for its customer service, satisfaction and loyalty. To reach this level of success, the brand created and instituted effective employment programs; The "Circle of Leadership" and "Make a Difference" initiatives for team members serve as an example of what this brand and others have implemented to enhance their service culture and bring visibility to established, accomplished leaders within the brand. Effective employment programs are key to retaining a hotel's most valued asset, its team members. READ MORE

To the great consternation of hotel owners, courts across the country have continually expressed a preference for the utilization of the Rushmore method to value hotel properties for real property tax assessment purposes. The values reached by this methodology typically result in higher values than if the other competing valuation approach, the Business Enterprise Approach, had been applied and thus yield higher tax bills. This is of special concern during difficult economic times. The disparity between approaches arises from the alternate treatment of critical hotel value components, which may very well be improperly included as part of the taxable real property value. Despite this seeming inequity, the Rushmore method will likely remain the favored approach in the context of hotel tax valuations. READ MORE

How do you find the right people for your sales team? Not everyone is cut out for sales, especially cold calling. And the answer isn't in their job history. In this article, I break down the five key qualities to look for in every sales manager you hire to bring you the most success. While experience is obviously a factor, the people who exhibit the following traits naturally are the ones who will bring you the most success. READ MORE

It seems as if the world of technology is not only taking over our vocabulary, but is engulfing our lives, both personally and professionally. As someone in the hotel business, this means that you have to think about how your property can integrate digital communications into its promotional strategy. This is no easy task. But it is a task that must be done because the technological genie is out of the bottle...and it's not going back in. So in a hats off to David Letterman, this issues offers a "Half Top Ten" list of key areas to consider as you begin this integration job. READ MORE

Hotel transaction volumes in 2009 increased by nearly 50%. Did your hotel realize a 50% increase in bookings as a result? Odds are, you saw quite a different picture. Odds also are, not only did you see fewer guests, but you also saw even fewer guests willing to pay what they would have paid in 2008. Consumer behavior is radically different these days and we're seeing the consequences. Processing anywhere from three to five billion transactions per month last year, Pegasus Solutions handled 48% more shopping transactions in 2009 than in the travel heyday of 2008. The reason comes down to one issue: changing online consumer shopping behavior, which ultimately affect your look-to-book ratio. READ MORE

Owners of luxury hotels and the branded management companies that operate them often find their interests in conflict. Because they bear all of the economic risk, hotel owners expect their operators to maximize revenue and minimize costs so that their hotels are operated profitably. Brand managers, on the other hand, typically earn the bulk of their fees on gross revenues, not profits. That is especially true in downturns when there is little prospect of incentive fees. The result of these "bottom versus top line" perspectives is that management companies are often reluctant to lower rates and cut costs because such measures will adversely affect the long-term value of their brands while providing no short-term financial benefit to them. READ MORE