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.
News of the revocation of economic sanctions against Sudan by the United States government, is music to the ears of businesses and investors interested in Africa's third largest country after two decades of severe restrictions.
Earlier this year it was announced that the GCC states would introduce a value added tax (VAT) rate of 5% to be levied anytime between 2018 and 2019. The UAE Ministry of Finance has announced that it will be implemented as early as the 1st of January 2018.
In evaluating what you should do about the new furor over mandatory hotel charges, it would be helpful to have a clearer understanding of what the FTC seems to be saying on the issue. The chart below is our translation into "street English" of the FTC pronouncements discussed earlier. (See How Resort Fees became an explosive $2.7 billion issue which contains links to the original FTC press release of November 29, 2012 and the most recent FTC Economic Analysis of Hotel Resort Fees of January 2017.)
Today, a major part of distribution and commercialization is in the hands of the Web giants. The advent of Internet has turned away a large share of clientele who were originally attracted by the force of yesteryear's hotel brands. While it should have allowed for substantial savings on the costs of headquarters in terms of commercialization, it is very difficult to evaluate because hotel chains have also let go of their assets, and a majority of hotels are in the hands of franchisees, who have now become the market's main operators. It would have been better if at the beginning they had done like airlines did with IATA and got together and collaborated with all hotel groups in order to create a booking platform on the web. However, individualities and dualities have made it impossible to create a solid front, despite an initiative between all major players that quickly failed to materialize.
A commercial lawyer with experience in travel, tourism and hospitality issues, has shared with an online gathering of travel and tourism leaders her effective steps to dealing with negative online reviews.Addressing a 23 August MyTravelResearch.com webinar of travel industry leaders, many of them from small businesses, Alyssa Antcliffe, the principal of Antcliffes Legal, told tourism industry leaders and brand managers that having an online presence and being accessible through online platforms is essential in today's digital world.The digital economy has been built on ratings and reviews to enable people to 'window shop' online. However, it only takes one disgruntled former client or customer to ruin a good reputation by posting a negative review, no matter how false or misleading that review might be, she said.Antcliffe added that, usually, what is published online is not intended to be malicious, but is someone's honestly held opinion."In these circumstances, if a comment is substantially true, or represents the honestly held opinion of the reviewer, then a business will have difficulty in bringing a successful defamation claim," she said.Antcliffe suggested that if you believe that you or your business is the victim of unfair, untrue and or defamatory remarks as a result of an online review you should act quickly to minimise the damage.She suggested six strategies designed to help minimise damage and avoid costly legal proceedings:
A growing number of lawsuits alleging discrimination and harassment at some of the U.S.'s most famous restaurants have made headlines recently. To anyone who has worked in foodservice – front or back of house – this is not a recent phenomenon. Across all segments of the industry, allegations of discrimination and harassment are a daily challenge, which begs the question: why are managers, chefs and owner/operators still struggling with how to respond to, address, and resolve the allegations? Will there be lawsuits despite best efforts? Probably. Are best efforts actually always employed to address these issues? Unfortunately, not always.
The American Hotel and Lodging Association (AHLA) and the Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA) held their annual Legislative Action Summit (LAS) on May 17 and 18 in Washington, D.C. Year after year this event brings together a strong showing of general managers, owners, operators, developers, investors, asset managers, hotel employees, and government affairs experts to meet with congressional representatives from their respective states in their Capitol Hill offices to share stories and educate Congress on the issues presently affecting the hotel and lodging industry. The event included remarks from the respective organizations' Presidents and CEO's, briefings from political influencers and members of congress. During the first day, attendees were educated on how to effectively lobby Congress to discuss issues affecting the industry before heading to "the Hill" on the second day for the unique opportunity to meet with their Congressional Representatives and their staffs.
This afternoon in Brussels, GBTA met various leaders including Mr. Tim Figures, Head of the Competitiveness and Market department as part of the Permanent Representation of the United Kingdom to the European Union on this historical day in the future of Europe.
The digital world is a vast, Amazonian river of intellectual property (IP)—software, brands, photos, video clips, music, guest information, guest reviews—flowing quickly in every direction. Almost any significant issue arising in this space highlights the juxtaposition between an IP owner’s desire—in some cases legal obligation—to control and protect its content (i.e. intellectual property) with the desire to have content exposed to more and different consumers and potential consumers, across ever proliferating channels. Ruth Walters of the Seattle-based law firm Garvey Schubert Barer provides some valuable legal insights and advice for us in the hotel world.
We are fortunate to work with some of hospitality's most respected ownership groups, and over the years, we've learned a lot from each other about what makes an effective hotel owner/manager relationship. Certainly, delivering great bottom line results will make for a successful partnership, but here are a few other tips to pave the way for a smooth ride.
"We're kicking off our fun old fashioned family Christmas by heading out into the country in the old front-wheel drive sleigh to embrace the frosty majesty of the winter landscape, and select that most important of Christmas symbols," Clark Griswold. This is and will most likely be our wave this Christmas season, as we pack up and desert the humdrum cities to follow the magic path leading to our ancestral land, origin, history, culture, and behold our roots.
With Marriott`s $13.6 billion acquisition of Starwood Hotels now complete, Marriott chief executive Arne Sorenson will be contemplating how to capture as much value as possible from the deal. As with all such M&A activity though the apparent benefits will only be realized with a well-implemented plan when it comes to bringing together what may be very different corporate cultures.