With 2018 underway, we know that travelers will increasingly be looking for ways to extend their business trips into personal vacations. Not only does this cut costs for many travelers since they are already there for business, but it enables them to get out and explore more places than they would get to otherwise. With “bleisure” rising in popularity this year, it's imperative that hotels take advantage of this growing trend and put strategies in place that target the appropriate demographic, boost occupancy levels throughout the year and encourage guest loyalty. Let's take a look at how hotels can help convert business travelers into bleisure travelers. READ MORE

Hotels spend a lot of time, money, and resources to ensure the satisfaction of their guests. Commercials insist that a certain hotel knows what their guests want before they themselves do, or that they offer customizable amenities to keep their guests feeling right at home. But are these tactics more lip service than customer service? Is there a better way to build customer loyalty? For a growing number of hotels, the answer is “yes,” and surprisingly, their focus isn't on the customer at all. The following article presents three reasons why customer satisfaction shouldn't rely on pleasing guests, where the focus should be, and the most effective way of doing that. READ MORE

Internal communication is vital for all businesses, particularly in the hospitality industry where constant communication between the staff is crucial. Furthermore, choosing the right communication tools is just as important as the communication itself. Today's mobile technology development has made it possible to use smartphones for a real-time instant communication just like a radio-based walkie-talkie. One of the most obvious benefits of a walkie talkie app is practicality since users don't need to carry around multiple devices to perform different functions that are required to get the jobs done. That said, there are several important things you need to consider first before deciding to switch to a walkie-talkie app. READ MORE

Travel is inherently mobile. It is, thus, no surprise that mobile technology has come to play a critical role within the hospitality industry. At the very least, our constant connection with home, work, friends and family is an absolute necessity no matter where we are in the world. But as our mobile technology dependency increases exponentially, so does our expectation as to what this technology can do for us. From tactical to exploratory, the hotel industry is constantly trying to adapt mobile technology to enhance the guest experience. That guest experience is multi-faceted, and the technology applications are accommodating accordingly. READ MORE

The digital revolution is upon us. If you are still in doubt about the truth of that statement, just look around (or up from your phone) and the evidence is all there in front of you. Everyone is constantly connected, seeking immediate access to whatever information, product or service they want and need. No longer do questions or requests go unanswered - every answer is available in the palm of your hand. In this article we will examine this consumer shift in the hotel industry and provide a few predictions for the future. READ MORE

Mobile geo-targeting is enabling the hotel industry to experience its own “Just in Time” revolution. Its use helps craft more accurate consumer profiles through location and behavioral data, which can amplify the effectiveness of current marketing efforts and open up an avenue for new efforts. And if hotels can successfully use mobile geo-targeting and clever marketing, they might be able to drastically improve their ability to fill vacant rooms—even, in some cases, at the last minute. This article delves into mobile geo-targeting and puts it in perspective for the hotel industry. READ MORE

Over the years, the pool of data sources hotels utilize within their business strategies has grown exponentially larger. The propagation of its importance within the development of short- and long-term vision and strategic planning has also become more commonplace than in years past. Innovative breakthroughs in technology and analytics mean organizations continue to see more opportunities to leverage data in meaningful ways. However, the alternative side is the steep volumes of data can be dauntingly large and intricately complex. Organizations that focus on using the right types of data -- with an infrastructure that can effectively leverage it -- can confidently reach ambitious profit goals. READ MORE

Do you know at what point your hotel is neither making money nor losing it? Do you know what fixed and variable costs are in relation to total sales, room revenue, restaurant seats sold, rooms sold and occupancy? If you answered no to any of these questions, you need to understand how break-even analysis can aid in determining your hotel's short and long-term financial profitability. . This article will provide a definition of fixed and variable costs so as to aid in the calculation of a hotel's break-even point. READ MORE

For hotels, motels, and resorts, insufficiently insulated windows can be a serious problem that literally sends profits “out the window” in the form of excessive heating and cooling bills. Additionally, hotels located near noisy streets, highways, train tracks, airports or urban city walks, keeping external noise from penetrating into what should be the quiet, peaceful sanctuary of the guest room might seem an impossible task. Whether hotel owners seek to reduce heating / cooling energy costs or protect their customers from invasive external noise or both, soundproofing existing windows rather than replacing them, is now an option. READ MORE

It's easy to feel intimidated by today's travel distribution landscape. Travelers are changing the way they buy, new players are disrupting existing monopolies, OTAs are buying each other, and hoteliers have access to so much data that it's become a full-time job to interpret it and put it into use. The key is to find ways to interpret this data, act on it quickly and leveraging technologies that can help with this. As long as you continue to strive to understand the market - and, most importantly, your guests - you'll be able to tap into the opportunities that, as a whole, make all the difference to your bottom line. READ MORE

First it was bookings, then it was mobile, and now it's the Internet of Things (IoT) - a trillion dollar consumer market that is poised to disrupt the hospitality industry. Hotel chains such as Marriott, Hilton and Best Western are already piloting IoT initiatives in the pursuit of improving their guests' experiences and reducing energy and maintenance costs. Some are even building custom Alexa devices to fundamentally change the way guests communicate with their staff. But IoT doesn't need to be complicated or eat up an entire hotel budget - boutique hotels can also leverage IoT strategies and see quick return on their investments. READ MORE

Technology impacts every facet of our lives. From smart devices to mobile apps, we rely on innovative products to provide convenient and valuable services each day. Not surprisingly, the application of technology has made its way into the hotel industry. Technological integration has become an expectation of hotel guests and an opportunity for hotel managers to improve their bottom line. Well-known technological applications such as mobile check-in, smart TVs, enhanced Wi-Fi and mobile room keys are already present in many hotels. However, there are other ways to use technology in hotel settings that are less well known. READ MORE

What's the next big thing in a hotel room? For today's hotel guests, casting personal content from their smart device to the hotel TV is the “next big thing” in innovative technology. It's been proven to work, and better yet, it's been proven to be affordable. Today's hotel guests want their in-room entertainment to be as good or even better than their home experience. They want to watch their own content from all their devices, whether iOS or Android, and most importantly, they want it to be easy. It falls to the hoteliers to keep casting as simple as possible. READ MORE

Despite all the recent hype around influencer marketing, it is really nothing new. In fact, I ran my first influencer marketing campaign for a large brand in 2006. We did not call it influencer marketing, it was called blogger outreach, but the premise was the same. We developed relationships with bloggers who had a large following and wrote about our niche. In this particular case, it was about cars. At the time the goal was to increase awareness. Our efforts were similar to a traditional media pitch and blogs were seen as “new media.” READ MORE

If hoteliers want a lesson regarding how drastically dining trends have evolved over the past 40 years, they need to look no further than the history of Howard Johnson's. A welcome respite for vacationing families and interstate road warriors in the mid-20th century, those orange-domed waystations dotted nearly every highway across the country. At HoJo's zenith, the chain numbered than 1,000 restaurants and 500 motor lodges. READ MORE