With the millennial generation leading the charge in striving to be the most exercise-obsessed demographic to date, it would seem as though a fitness center is primed to become a major selling feature for hotels beyond the cursory amenity addition that it is often inscribed for most properties built during the 20th century.
Committing to preventive maintenance in the hotel industry involves an extensive knowledge of the hotel's systems, equipment, and utilities, as well as the most effective routes of intervention. Above all, care must be taken not to interrupt the flow of hotel guests. Out of all types of existing maintenance, preventive maintenance is the most effective asset of hotel managers, as well as, directly related to satisfaction of the guests.
Great news came out of the Annual Conference of the Leading Hotels of the World held in Shanghai earlier this month: a distinguished hotelman was picked by the membership and the board to be given the 2018 Leading Legends Award. Congratulations PAUL ZUEST.
On a basic level, the hospitality business is simple - as is often said, it amounts to putting heads in beds. But finding the heads to put in the beds is a complex process and requires hotel companies to find out a great deal of information about their guests. Gathering and processing that information provides not only opportunities, but creates obligations, one of the most basic of which is ensuring the security of guests' personal information.
In life, few things make us less productive and more distant than other people's expectations of us. Expectations are everywhere, at work and at home. People detest others expectations.Uncommunicated expectations were not productive, especially when real work and strong relationships were required. Yet uncommunicated expectations were cast everywhere and they were weak.If I had a complaint in my world, it quickly became an expectation that someone else needed to fix. I tended to fixate over the injustice and in doing so I created my expectations. What I saw was that this was completely ineffective for getting things to change. Complaints were very easy to ignore and diminish; however, requests were not easy to ignore. Once we made a request we were heading in the right direction, because on the other side of a request we now have the ability to make an agreement.Let's take a hotel example. Currently, I was having a very hard time getting other managers to prepare detailed monthly forecasts and get these to me by the 30th of the month. I sent a schedule and reminders. I spoke at the department head meetings about the deadline, but I still didn't get a high success rate on submissions. It was always a struggle to get others to do what I expected. Without the forecast, I was left with two very unattractive options: do it myself or go without it. Both options meant I was shortchanged because others were not living up to my expectations.Now, I had two alternatives: 1) Complain about it, which I had done for years without results, or 2) Make another request. This was the pivot point.If I was willing to admit that my current status was due to my expectations, and I could bring myself to ask the other party for agreement, the conversation might go something like this."Peter, will you help me? I want to include your numbers, not mine, as part of the detailed forecast. Will you complete your part and get it to me by noon on the 30th?"Now it might not be easy for Peter to say, "Sure, no problem."But now the exact expectation was known because it was what was asked for. Or the request might get reviewed in a different light like, "I could, but that means I'm going to have to rearrange my week because my assistant is on holiday and our second office computer is dead."This was what I wanted to hear. This was the foundation of an agreement as now both parties asked for something. It was no longer the case of my having a single expectation. Now there were multiple balls in the air; some were mine and some belonged to other people.Turn the unmet expectation into a request and the request into an agreement like this: "OK, so I will send the systems person to your office today to switch out the second computer, but I'm not sure what I can do to help you rearrange the rest of the week."To which Peter replied, "No worries, with the computer replaced I can manage. I will gladly get you my forecast by the 30th."Let's break it down and figure out what happened in this example:
The housekeeping department more often than not represents the heart of a hotel's operations as a clean room is an essential part of guest service delivery. Moreover, it's backbreaking work with wages that aren't exceedingly high, while the room attendants themselves can be put in compromising situations as they roam the corridors by themselves.
Although a layman's perception of hospitality is overwhelmed by the notion of "guest-oriented services", the scope of hospitality management in India has drastically expanded in recent years. There must be more to an industry with an annual revenue worth $1 trillion and over 8 million employees globally. The share of travel and tourism within the Indian economy is around 10% and steadily growing. More importantly, the industry claims to create nearly 8% employment in India which is expected to grow in the future. Within the next ten years, the hospitality sector will create nearly 70 lakh new jobs directly and nearly 1 crore jobs indirectly.
There are plenty of industries that appear to be slowing down in the world today. Hospitality is not one of them. According to last year's global travel report by the research firm Deloitte, global bookings surpassed AUD $2.1 trillion in 2017, with continued growth projected through 2018 and beyond. Influential factors include greater competition amongst airline companies, a renewed focus on face-to-face business meetings, and a growing preference for experiences over things.
Meet the Money® is a productive conference with a casual atmosphere; the executives and other hotel industry representatives who attend often speak candidly about their expectations for hotel finance, development and investment throughout the upcoming year.
Just like every other business organization, it is essential for hotel management to truly care about their staff in order for them to be as engaged, productive, and as happy as they can be. Happiness in the workplace is important because a happy employee will go to greater lengths in order to accomplish their tasks and satisfy their managers.
For many years, businesses operating in California have been plagued by "bounty hunter" and government lawsuits brought under Proposition 65 — the California law that requires warnings about hazardous substances. The technical disclosure requirements have bedeviled many legitimate businesses for some time. From our continuous interaction with members of the hotel industry, it appears to us that many are not aware of new requirements they must meet by August 30, 2018.
Every GM knows the equation for implementing new hotel services. Benefit must be greater than the cost. In 2017, the most popular new craze for hotels was text messaging guests. The cost was low and the benefits were high. But in 2018, that cost is going to sky rocket, thanks to the GDPR or General Data Protection Regulation. If your hotel hasn't heard of the GDPR yet, you better learn fast, because it's going to change how nearly every hotel around the world does business. At its core, the GDPR is the strongest consumer privacy and protection laws in history. Though the GDPR was created by the EU, it's not limited to Europe, its Global. And starting this May, the GDPR goes active. So why will the GDPR affect guest text messaging services in hotels? Because the GDPR has 4 requirements that text messaging just can't accomplish, leaving a legal liability with penalties of up to 4% a hotel company's entire annual revenue.
GDPR is designed to give people better control over their personal data, so important question is does your hotel and management software comply with the recent GDPR rules?
Vehicle rental is a competitive business sector that promises opulent rewards, as more and more customers are turning to it in order to cover their transportation needs. At the same time, many aspiring entrepreneurs are launching their own businesses with little more than a shoestring budget, a couple of cars, a phone number and a computer.
Hotels operate strictly with the aim of increasing guest traffic and generating more revenue, therefore, all the attention usually goes upfront, i.e. to a luxurious and welcoming lobby and highly comfortable rooms and amenities. What's often left in the background is the storage space, which is what suffers the most when the hotel business is growing and expanding.
California has enacted a number of new regulations related to labor and employment that go into effect when 2018 begins. Hotels owners and developers with properties in California need to be aware of how these rules apply to their workforce so they can meet their legal obligations and remain in compliance with the law. A round-up of upcoming changes, written by the JMBM Labor & Employment group, is below.
Allow me to begin this article with a true story: In 1994 I took over a hotel as General Manager and immediately was called upon to attend a jury trial where a jewelry designer was suing the hotel because of a $500,000 jewelry theft from his room at the property. Without going into details of the cases, the suit became a "he said, she said" battle of whether Innkeepers Law was posted on the back of the entrance door. The jury found the hotel to be 30% negligent.
On October 26, 2017, a judge dismissed 99 ADA lawsuits, ordered an in forma pauperis plaintiff (a person without funds to pursue the cost of a lawsuit) to pay filing fees of $38,300 and authorized the defendants to file fee and sanction motions.
While most regions endeavor to close their borders, Africa is striving to do the reverse by incessantly implementing an open-border-policy and enhancing collaboration. Towards the African Union (AU) Agenda 2063 policy document that outlines seamless borders, the launch of the African passport in July 2016 allowing holders to travel visa-free to all 53-member states, is a milestone to behold.
Hotels rely on third-party vendors to help run their properties efficiently, and often must give them access to sensitive guest data. This leaves hotels vulnerable to cyber attacks; they're only as secure as their vendors are, and may find themselves directly liable for a data breach. My partner Bob Braun, senior member of JMBM's Global Hospitality Group® and co-chair of JMBM's Cybersecurity and Privacy Group, discusses recent hotel cybersecurity breaches and how hotel owners can protect themselves.