What if I told you there was an easy and effective way to bypass the OTAs, reduce fees, and capture audiences you aren't currently accessing? And I'm not talking about a new idea or outrageous untested concept. I'm simply talking about a change in the way you think about digital marketing. It's a process that the OTAs have deployed for years that hotel marketers can do every bit as effectively as the OTAs. Hotels continue to confront a familiar problem: How to attract direct bookings and reduce the impact of OTA fees. We all know how profitable it is when bookings come straight through the hotel, but there simply isn't enough reach to drive the same demand as the OTAs. READ MORE

Hotel forecast magic. The how to vs. the want to. Have you ever wondered why it's so hard to get the non-financial manages in your hotel to do their forecasts? It's like pulling teeth, it's so hard to get the leaders in your hotel to willingly come to the plate. What if you're asking for their forecasts in the wrong way? Here is what I learned and I want to call myself out on this because it took me 20 years to figure it out. Maybe it will work for you too and you won't have to waste 20 years. READ MORE

Consumers in North America are exposed to approximately 30,000 brand impressions daily. During an average, day consumers are exposed to television commercials, radio advertisements, billboards and sometimes, direct sales, but more significantly are the thousands of readily identifiable brand impressions that we observe, but don't overtly consider. The car logo on our steering wheel, the MTA logo on the bottom corner of the New York City Subway map; the Apple, Google, or Samsung logo on your phone, and the interlocking “NY” of the person wearing a Yankees' jersey at a ball game are all brand impressions. Each of these items are cognitively processed and stored for a later date when marketers hope that you use your heuristic decision-making process to make a purchase without much apparent rhyme, reason or thought. READ MORE

The U.S. labor market continues to tighten with The Bureau of Labor Statistics reporting a decline in the unemployment rate to 4.6 percent in November of 2016. The unemployment rate is even lower in many states and metropolitan areas. Unrealistic expectations and increased stress, due to staffing shortages, is causing many employees to reconsider their current work situations. Many will soon choose to depart. This will only add to the need for organizations to involve more than HR, if they are to fill job openings promptly or at all. READ MORE

There is increasing awareness in the hotel industry that something intangible is missing in hospitality because generally speaking it is not making the sought-after emotional and energetic connection to the guest's heart, which will increase revenue and make guests flock to the brand. Hospitality still feels energetically and emotionally weak in spite of all efforts to change this, and I would like to shed some light on why this is so. In short, the hotel industry would make the connection and revolutionize hospitality by changing from the mechanistic Newtonian worldview to the energetic Quantum worldview, which replaced it in 1925. READ MORE