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‘Knock Their Socks Off Service’ Oct 25, 2012: Article by Alan Fairweather, International Speaker and the author of, 'How to be a Motivational Manager, ‘How to Manage Difficult People' and ‘How to Make Sales When You Don't like Selling'. Visit: www.themotivationdoctor.com, for more information.

Are You Still Discounting? Oct 21, 2012: You Might Gain Some Occupancy, But Lose RevPar to Your Competition

Full House full but pocket book empty? Oct 20, 2012: When a hotel booking site tells you that there is “No room available” at your favorite hotel, they will quickly steer you to several other hotels instead. Naïve travellers and vacationers may think that’s a good thing – the house if full so the site is directing me to another, albeit a slightly more expensive one. Well, if you believe that, then you may be in for a big surprise. A quick phone call or email to your favorite hotel may just indicate that there are lots of rooms available for you, your family and your entourage! So why would you empty more of your pocket book using an alternate site?

Revenue Grabbing Tips for Independent Hotels; Oct 14, 2012: Revenue Grabbing Tips for Independent Hotels;
Start Thinking Like the Chains

16 key insights about the American traveler Oct 12, 2012

HotelNewsNow.com, a division of Smith Travel Research, Inc.

Story Highlights

Eight out of 10 Americans took at least one leisure trip during the past 12 months.
Vacation is still viewed as a birthright.
Only 7% of Americans said their travel decision was based primarily on research or feedback from social networking sites.

Competing Against Yourself: Hospitality Sales Professionals Lesson #13 Oct 11, 2012

HOSPITALITYEDUCATORS.COM FACULTY MEMBER DAVID BRUDNEY HAS GENEROUSLY AGREED TO SHARE SOME OF HIS EARLIER COLUMNS THAT GENERATED READER FEEDBACK AND INTEREST

Competing Against Yourself: Hospitality Sales Professionals Lesson #13 from Olympic Gold Medalist Phelps

Hotels are failing to invest in training for Property Management Systems Oct 10, 2012

About 150 mid-scale and up-scale hotels around the world answered a questionnaire investigating the training on the PMS (measured by number of days, budget, and training provider) and performance (measured by occupancy, ADR, GOR). Most hotels (65%) stated that they had no budget for training on the PMS in 2011 and 32% of hotels offered no training at all to their employees on the PMS. 40% of the hotels surveyed provided up to 3 training days per year (Chart 2). Most of the training is conducted internally, rather than using the PMS providers. In cases where there is no training, the new employees are simply "shown the ropes" by their supervisors (Chart 3). As can be seen in chart 1 below, there is little/ no budget allocated to training.

This research supports that the (previously reported) under-utilization of the PMS may be due to the lack of training and budget! This research indicates that the training provided is mostly internal and not with the PMS supplier.

Don’t Let the Competition Steal Your Clients Oct 9, 2012: Charmed by Hospitality Marketing
Two of the biggest fears a hotel employee should have are, “Does our competition have better service than us to sway our best clients?” and “Does the competition’s customer service levels steal potential hotel group business?” The worst way to approach customer service is, “This is how we’ve been doing it for X years and it works.” Hotel guests want a “wow factor” and this applies to low-budget hotel accommodations too; most people enjoy being impressed. So, what can be done to improve hotel customer service from the top down?

Social Media Capture Personalized Hotel Experiences Oct 9, 2012: Social Media Capture Personalized Hotel Experiences

Marketing Is Not The Primary Thing…It's The Only Thing Oct 8, 2012: Positioning Your Hotel For The Next Marketplace

Marketing Is Not The Primary Thing…It's The Only Thing

What Not to Do in Revenue Management - Part Two | By Jean Francois Mourier Oct 8, 2012

What Not to Do in Revenue Management - Part Two | By Jean Francois Mourier

You probably saw Part One of this series run here in early September, but in case you didn¹t, I¹ll get you up to speed. ³What Not to Do in Revenue Management Part One² offered the following don¹ts:

DON¹T Think That Your Customers Know Anything About Your Comp set
DON¹T Use Stagnant Rates
DON¹T Forget to Replenish your Inventory Online
DON¹T Overcomplicate Your Job
DON¹T Be Afraid of Technology

Today, we¹re going to examine the rest of the cardinal sins of revenue management.

Corporate bookings through GDS 'still vital' Oct 7, 2012: Corporate bookings through GDS 'still vital'

By Travolution

Corporate bookings through global distribution systems remain vital to hotel chains despite the fact they now receive 75% of bookings through their own distribution channels, according to new data.