Football and hospitality have a lot in common. For a start, there’s their ubiquity. Wherever you are in the world, you’re never too far from someone kicking a football (yes, I’m talking about soccer); just like you’re never far from a hotel, hostel or long-stay lodging.
I recently had the opportunity to collaborate with Karen Rubin, Managing Director of Karen Rubin Hotels and the moderator for my panel at the NYU International Hospitality Industry Investment Conference. As we discussed the central themes of our panel, "Driving Performance: Managing Costs to Enhance Profitability," there is a key principle that needs to be emphasized —technology should be leveraged to enhance the guest experience, with profitability as a positive byproduct, not the sole aim.
Insights from a recent EHL panel event on 'Managing Hotels in Times of War', where the spotlight shone on hospitality from a different perspective. What changes for a hotel General Manager when a crisis situation hits? What emerges in terms of new leadership roles and operational requirements? Dr. Inès Blal recounts the highlights from this moving and illuminating panel discussion with seasoned professionals in war zones.
The annual rankings of hotel groups make it clear that a large part of the hospitality “industrial” landscape is deeply influenced, even dominated, by American companies. They benefit from a huge domestic market to develop their model and then impose it on the rest of the world.
Businesses are embracing personalization and even micro-personalization. Examples include implementing concierge service to help guests plan their trips, customizing marketing messages, and availing the guest’s favored type of coffee in the room.
We define a Mille Club property as one that prices its guestrooms at or above the one thousand dollars per night level (mille being a thousand in Italian). While there are now numerous hotels around the world that are successfully achieving these rates year-round, all Mille members provide incredible lessons for any hotel or brand looking to grow its ADR, whether or not that includes reflagging and a renovation to move up half or a full star rating.
With nearly 20 years in hospitality sales, I’ve had the pleasure of working alongside many talented leaders, teams, and clients. If there’s one lesson I’ve learned along the way, it’s this: creating an environment where employees can thrive is paramount to having happy clients.
If you love hotels, then you will be glad to hear that they offer many amazing career paths. There are many diverse positions within a hotel but in this article, we will cover 10 possible career paths that hotel lovers should consider. From concierge to reservation manager, you have many key roles, all of which are vital to ensuring hotel operations run smoothly. With so many career paths available in hotels, it might be difficult to find just the right one. To help you get started, here’s a look at all the different jobs in this industry and the skills that will help you build a successful career.
For those who are unfamiliar, the Halekulani is (pardon the alliteration) a hallmark of Hawaiian hospitality, with the property acting as the keystone for the densely populated beach tourism area of Waikiki in Honolulu. At 453 rooms and suites, the luxury hotel has a time-honored history, first established in 1917 and now comprising five buildings and three signature restaurants, all with an unparalleled onsite experience. Further to this article, the property closed completely for an 18-month renovation at the outset of the pandemic in 2020.
Some regions of the world are experiencing wars and conflict, which have caused serious problems in supply chain management. For example, countries that import significant amounts of goods from Ukraine and/or Russia are highly affected by the war between those two countries. Over 50% of the domestic consumption of many African countries is supported by grains imported from Ukraine and Russia, and due to their lack of purchasing power, these countries cannot turn to higher-cost resources, resulting in grain shortages in Africa.
The idea of an urban hotel embedding itself into the surrounding community is nothing new, but for many properties it remains just that: an idea that’s talked about in press releases and on the website yet seldom woven into every aspect of the operations and amenities. When a hotel does in fact go through the meticulous process of creating a strong sense of community, the results are nothing short of magical, and this is reflected through a positive impact on guest satisfaction, demand and the ability to grow rate.
Inflation or no inflation, concerns about the economy or no concerns, overtourism is becoming the new normal.
‘Sense of place’ has long been a buzz phrase. Linked to a range of disciplines from urban planning to sociology, nowadays it is increasingly being used in the hospitality industry. It captures the physical aspects, culture and history of a place, as well as its impact on the senses, which can trigger emotions. Over time, it can create feelings of familiarity, comfort and security, as well as a sense of belonging: it’s a place where one feels, quite literally, ‘at home’. As we journey on, checking out brand identity examples will give us a better understanding of this concept.
It is not an exaggeration to state that the twenty-first century’s third decade has been one of challenges both for the tourism industry and for nations around the world. Security and safety issues, mixed with issues around energy, ecology, and sustainability have and will continue to play major roles in in the development of travel and tourism.
Amidst the current discussions about AI's transformative potential, there's a common industry misconception that it primarily benefits large-scale hotels and enterprises, leaving smaller and medium-sized firms behind in the dark ages. To shed light on the nuanced reality, we sat down with EHL’s Ian Millar, Senior Lecturer in Hospitality Technology, to discuss how AI is not just a tool for hospitality giants but can also be a game-changer for SME hotels and firms with an innovative mindset.
The luxury industry is undergoing a change. As a result, its products are reaching more and more people. In order to avoid losing exclusivity and uniqueness, many brands are now relying on ‘experiences’. These are enabling them to strengthen their relationships with their customers, offering them a unique experience without sacrificing status or reputation.
With a career spanning over three decades across the hospitality and technology sectors, I've witnessed the evolution of customer engagement and the pivotal role of PMS in revolutionising the guest experience. My experiences, particularly as the VP of Product and Strategy at Shiji Group and leading hotel consulting services for Opera at MICROS in the Asia Pacific, have provided me with deep insights into the importance of a 360-degree unified customer profile in PMS.
A few weeks ago, I had the unique opportunity to visit Switzerland to attend the Young Hospitality Summit in Lausanne, Switzerland. I spent my first two days wandering Zürich, the largest city in the country, and I encountered a completely different model of hospitality. The straightforward service was complemented by unique, heartfelt experiences, and all workers were attentive and professional. I found myself efficiently and kindly served, and I began to think that the Swiss-German model of service has something to teach other countries. I believe that the simplicity of the hospitality in Zürich could refresh the sometimes-overwhelming hospitality we experience here in the United States.
As my frequent readers know, I have been bemoaning the myths that are thrown out as facts at conferences, podcasts, and in books and blogs that, at best, mislead hospitality leaders and at worst, lead to discrimination based on birth year. Generationism is harmful, just like racism and sexism. Worse yet, many of those spewing these falsehoods are making a handsome profit by doing so.
In our fluid industry where it seems like a new hotel is opening on every corner and we are competing with short term rentals for business, hoteliers must become savvier about growing share. While there are an infinite number of ways to achieve this some of the tried-and-true measures still hold up with a few new ones in the mix. Let's take a closer look at just a few that stand out and a few more that have stood the test of time.