Consumer expectations for accommodation are rising and new trends are surfacing to drive hoteliers to adjust their design strategies to attract more travelers. Specifically, millennials are traveling more than any other generation and have a strong desire for memorable experiences through unique design elements and customized, adaptable community spaces that elicit a positive and dramatic first impression. These concepts are already transforming multifamily and residential communities nationwide, and as the hospitality industry continues to experience rapid growth, similar strategies must be applied to stand apart from the competition. READ MORE

Recent independent research revealed that 59 percent of Americans will never buy from a company again if their first call isn’t handled to expectations. The telephone is often your company’s first interaction with potential customers and should be treated as instrumental in converting leads into sales and forging a positive brand image. Unfortunately, hoteliers can’t always answer the phone, first time every time. On-hold marketing represents a unique opportunity to provide an entertaining and informative experience that keeps callers engaged until they speak to a member of staff. Find out why audio branding should be integral to your hotel’s marketing strategy. READ MORE

The business case for reducing food waste is simple: Saving food saves money. WWF and other organizations have conducted research across dozens of different hotels that found curbing food waste delivers material returns on investment. In one three-year study, the average hotel reaped $7 for every dollar it invested in food waste reduction. WWF found that hotels could save money within weeks of implementing new food waste policies and practices. Hotels that addressed food waste also enjoyed improved staff morale and customer service. READ MORE

The uniqueness of your hotel’s offerings helps your property stand out in a crowded hospitality marketplace but could result in additional headaches when considering the best way to dispose of these goods. Hotel guests adore the varied accoutrements offered by accommodations big and small around the globe. But keeping an edge on in-room swag results in other considerations and complications—even when it comes time to trash the discarded leftovers. What are the most cost-effective, efficient and environmentally friendly practices when recycling amenity items guests leave behind? Here are 10 of the best ways to recycle. READ MORE

Sales professionals have the word "conversion" constantly ringing in their head because it is how we are measured, rated, and judged. If you say you converted 10 programs, the value is unequivocally higher than saying you got 100 or even 1,000 leads that led to nowhere. The word conversion not only brings healthy pressure to sales professionals but also is the key to longevity in the industry – or, perhaps, the key to standing out if your resume is filled with multiple short-term career moves. I believe site inspections and negotiations are the winning combination to conversion. Read on to see if you agree. READ MORE

The technology revolution is here, and event professionals have adapted to better utilize the tools available in order to enhance their event planning processes. These changes have also impacted the event professional and hotelier partnership. For hoteliers keeping pace with this move to digital, it is a great opportunity to grow group business. Technology is helping to drive greater transparency, offers more streamlined communication, and supports more targeted marketing opportunities. Those who are able to put technology to work will be best positioned to strengthen their planner relationships and grow their group business. READ MORE

We seem to be exposed to technology at every waking moment; whether at work, home, while traveling or in transitory periods in between. The question looms: what is essential for our need to communicate, learn, expand our trajectory and remain current? With webinars, trainings at work, newsletters beckoning us to open and schedule time, how important is it for us to attend conferences that require time, travel and expense. Do these events still have an impact? Are they worthy of our time? How does the design, format and conference offering impede or influence our decision to attend such events? READ MORE

Native advertising is not a fresh idea in the marketing space today. Native search however, may be. Native search is the search functionality inside different platforms or websites. It is used for top-of-the-funnel initiatives, often with the goal of increasing brand awareness. In this piece, I will explore what native advertising and native search is, as well as why every hotel brand should invest in it today. From enhancing the user experience, to generating a new revenue stream, to bidding on other hotel brand’s sites as a new traffic source, brands that invest in native search will see unparalleled results. READ MORE

The hospitality industry is experiencing a sea change, thanks to several brand disruptors at work. Think about the sharing economy, leading fashion designers entering the hospitality arena to extend their brands, including Karl Lagerfeld, the emergence of "boutique hostels," Airbnb and its upstart emulators, mega mergers, and the rise of hyper-local, micro-boutique hotels. And that's not all. Communal ironing rooms, triple-tall bunk rooms and 24-hour text service to stay in touch with the reception staff in place of a phone in the room, are among the features stirring the pot in the hospitality world as well. Read more... READ MORE

Personalizing the guest experience is all the rage right now, and hotels are eager to capitalize on opportunities to monetize. Loyalty programs are no longer just marketing initiatives but also revenue management strategies to control top- and bottom-line performance. As travelers demand more tailored accommodation experiences—blame the millennials, of course—a “customer-choice pricing” model may be the best way to deliver the ideal product to the ideal guest at the ideal price. READ MORE

Planning on expanding your hotel's rooms division? There are many questions which you must answer first. Will the expansion prove profitable? Will construction costs be manageable? Will the market respond positively to the expansion? Hotel operators must weigh the benefits and costs associated with such a daring move in expanding their rooms division. The decision to expand is a very expensive, and time-consuming venture. Considering the factors presented here may help hotel owners and operators to make their room expansion plans go as smoothly as possible. This article will discuss those benefits and costs so as to assist with this physically and financially oriented decision. READ MORE

What are your hotel's most recent challenges? Is the list too long to name? The struggle remains the same as your revenue remains flat. It's time to rethink your plan. Are you prepared to take on the new millennial traveler that is taking the industry by storm? Knowing how to market to this creative and driven generation is key to capturing their interest in your property. How will your hotel review, relate and connect to this new traveler to achieve this process successfully? The millennial group traveler has hit the market strong and they are willing to spend. Are you willing to prove to them you are the destination that is the "in the now" place to be? READ MORE

Ron Shah, the founder and CEO of Bizly, provides a glimpse into the future of hotel events & group revenue. With recent announcements from Marriott, Hilton, and IHG - the industry is facing tremendous change, and this article highlights some of the important considerations that hoteliers must make when strategizing for maximizing event & group revenue in the years ahead. Amongst the topics covered include the importance of ROI measurement, how to improve speed & efficiency, evaluation of technology considerations, and how to best stay aligned with hotel brands around growth in this critical category. READ MORE

"Without change there is no innovation, creativity, or incentive for improvement. Those who initiate change will have a better opportunity to manage the change that is inevitable." said English Quaker writer William Pollard. For over six years I have been passionate about creating solutions that eliminate friction for hotels and planners while delivering on the emerging expectations for online bookings for groups, meetings, and events. The entire industry is at such a pivotal point, and market forces are encouraging all of us to take a hard look at the Simple Meetings problem. At this stage, we have more questions than answers. However, we are about to embark on some exciting times. READ MORE

Today, with the advent of new meetings marketplaces, submitting multiple RFPs can happen in just a few clicks. Couple that with seemingly ever-growing group demand across markets, and it's easy to see why the hotel industry now finds itself drowning in a sea of RFPs. Luckily, while technology has created the RFP problem, it also offers some exciting new solutions hotels can use to capitalize on the influx. Here, we cover some of those technologies and the intelligent lead strategies that should be implemented alongside them. READ MORE