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2012 North America Hotel Guest Satisfaction Index Study Jul 31, 2012: News Story recap

While the hotel industry continues to gradually recover from the economic downturn, guest satisfaction with the underlying hotel experience continues to deteriorate as hoteliers fall further behind guest expectations, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2012 North America Hotel Guest Satisfaction Index Study^SM released today.

5 Ways For Hotels To Increase Bookings Without Resorting To Flash Sales Jul 31, 2012: Certainly, a flash sale can be a good way to fill a room that would otherwise go vacant. But hoteliers may be best served redoubling their efforts with tried and true marketing techniques that come at significantly less cost.

Losing the expectation of privacy bit by bit, byte by byte Jul 24, 2012: Hotels and restaurants are among many other businesses that monitor employees at work through video surveillance, and through employees' use of company-issued computers and smart phones. While employers gain benefits such as reducing theft, decreasing liability and ensuring safety procedures are followed, employees can feel that this electronic monitoring violates their privacy. In his article below, Mark Adams, a litigator in JMBM's Global Hospitality Group®, shares with us how courts are ruling in lawsuits that deal with electronic surveillance of employees. He also gives employers advice on how to prevent these lawsuits from happening.

The Terrifying New York Definition of a Franchise Jul 21, 2012: The Terrifying New York Definition of a Franchise

DO's and DON'Ts of Hotel Technology v3.0 Jul 3, 2012

International Hotelier Terence Ronson shares his ideas on advances in technolgy that affect almost every department in a hotel in his "Pertlink BLOG"

Can you pass this ADA Quiz? Jun 20, 2012: Can you pass this 3-question ADA pop quiz?
By Jim Butler and the Global Hospitality Group®
Hotel Lawyers | Authors of www.HotelLawBlog.com

Successful joint ventures for hotel development, acquisition and financing May 30, 2012: At JMBM's recent hotel finance conference in Los Angeles, a panel of experts talked about how well joint ventures are working to provide financing for hotel development and acquisitions.

Hotel Managers Labor To Control Labor May 21, 2012

Coming out of lodging industry recessions, we have historically observed fairly significant increases in hotel operating expenses. Since the initial revenue recovery is typically driven by occupancy, variable expenses naturally rise with the increased volume of rooms occupied and guests served. In addition, hotel managers desire to reinstate the services and amenities that were discontinued during the downturn contributes to above-average expense growth. On the revenue side, the industry recovery observed in 2010 was "typical". In aggregate, the participants in PKF Hospitality Research's (PKF-HR) 2011 Trends® in the Hotel Industry survey saw their rooms revenue (RevPAR) rise 5.3 percent, the result of a 6.2 percent increase in the number of rooms occupied and a 0.9 percent decline in average daily room rate (ADR). One would expect such an imbalance of occupancy and ADR to cause a sharp rise in operating expenses, but that was not that case.
Robert Mandelbaum is the Director of Research Information Services for PKF Hospitality Research. He is located in the firm's Atlanta office. For more information on PKF-HR benchmarking reports, please visit www.pkfc.com/store. This article was published in the December 2011 issue of Lodging.

The 8-Letter Word that Spells Either Boom or Doom for Your Business. May 14, 2012

ATTITUDE: The 8-Letter Word that Spells Either Boom or Doom for Your Business. By Eric Chester

I'd challenge you to find a kid over the age of 8 who hasn't been lectured to death about the importance of a positive attitude. They get it from their parents, from their teachers, from their coaches and, yes, from their employers.

Why then do managers struggle relentlessly to keep their front lines staffed with friendly, cheerful, enthusiastic young people?

The following is an excerpt from Eric's forthcoming book, REVIVING WORK ETHIC - A Leader's Guide to Ending Entitlement and Restoring Pride in the Emerging Workforce.

L-E-A-R-N, T-R-U-S-T, M-E-N-T-O-R , E-M-P-O-W-E-R = S-U-C-C-E-S-S May 3, 2012: As we rebuild our focus into an anticipated recovery over the next 6-24 months (depending on the particular forecast for specific markets), those practical industry leaders will recognize that NOW is the time to pay attention to those professionals in our organizations that are the key components of why guests will stay with our businesses.
There are many issues facing the diverse world of hospitality and today’s managers need to be aware of that diversity, regardless of their own special focus As an individual who has been involved with well thought-out learning as both an academic and a corporate educator, I have come to recognize that delivering a balance of real-world business skills and comprehension with structured learning is essential to long-term success.
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