Office to hotel redevelopments accounted for a fifth of the £2.4 billion invested in the UK hospitality sector in 2023, according to data released earlier this year. Following the news that London’s iconic BT Tower will become a hotel, this trend is transforming cities and its increasingly vacant spaces.
From Dylan Thomas, I quote: "Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light." You my hotel friends are “the light”.
In a previous contribution to EHL Insights, we elaborated on the parallels between the hospitality and healthcare industries. We looked at what hospitals can learn from the hospitality industry at a strategic level. In this follow-up piece we take a look at the potential for learning at the operational level. Like hotels, hospitals have a back-of-the-house and a front-of the-house logic.
A strategic look at what hospitals stand to learn from their neighboring industry, hospitality. Though serving different purposes, both sectors share potential success factors. In terms of developing a stronger sense of customer satisfaction for the patient, many lessons can be learnt from analysing what hospitality strives to do well.
We all remember those days in March 2020 when we realized that Covid 19 was going to be different than anything we had experienced in our lives. Almost overnight, the entire country shut down. As we dealt with the unknown, reports informed us that the virus could be transmitted by touching surfaces that had been touched by infected people. Personally, I remember driving to Florida from Ithaca to see my daughter, who was "trapped" there, wearing gloves when touching the gas pump and fearing even stepping into the gas stations’ bathrooms.
In a world where your weekend getaway could come with hidden cameras, choosing between Airbnb and traditional hotels is an important decision. In recent months, there have been news reports about Airbnb guests secretly recorded by the hosts of the properties they’ve rented. This blatant invasion of privacy is very concerning, and it’s important to consider the potential outrage if this had occurred within a well-established hotel brand. Yet the hospitality industry remains relatively silent on this issue.
There is no single dress code law that hoteliers can look to for guidance when it comes to dress code policies, which can make their drafting and enforcement tricky. However, employee dress codes can be a valuable tool for hotels. They can help hotels make a positive first impression and set the tone for a pleasant guest experience.
We have all heard of the Wow Factor. We see it in architecture, the view, the interiors of a resort or in a sensational meal. We feel it in the smallest and most unexpected touches and gestures.
Welcome to a collection of insights and learnings based on the lived experiences of some of the many hospitality managers encountered at EHL. Based on practicing a set of key principles and behaviors, becoming an effective change leader is a skill that develops over time.
Not all of us can say they have a passion or a calling, but if you do, passion is a powerful force that drives you to pursue your dreams and achieve extraordinary goals. Whether it's a love for wine, art, science, or any other field, the journey toward mastering a passion is often filled with both thrilling moments and significant challenges.
Call it bleisure or hybrid travel; then look at emerging segments like the work-from-anywhere digital nomads or workcations. Overall, the hotel industry for the rest of the 2020s will see a demise of the days of wholly separated meeting and events (M&E) and leisure travel segments, giving away to a mixture of the two as travel becomes more experiential and purposeful. It behooves hotels to adjust their commercial strategy and property improvement plan (PIP) to meet this trend, with some guidance from what the Marriott team has observed to help you navigate this great shift.
A new and dynamic era has begun for the serviced apartment industry. Our latest Serviced Apartment survey reveals a landscape marked by robust performance, adept cost management, and a positive outlook. Profitability has not only bounced back to pre-pandemic levels but is also being driven by a surge in leisure demand and a booming interest in serviced apartments. This renewed enthusiasm is drawing significant investor attention, prompting both established brands and new players to expand and innovate, setting the stage for exciting growth and transformation in the industry.
In this article, we set out to find out what’s next for luxury brands in hospitality. What are the most promising examples and sectors that luxury brands are entering? The frontiers of how luxury can be experienced are being widened resulting in greater market presence and richer multisensorial experiences.
NBA legend Michael Jordan is famous for his thrilling game style, but he didn’t get there without mastering the basics of the sport. As he famously said, “You can practice shooting eight hours a day, but if your technique is wrong, then all you become is very good at shooting the wrong way. Get the fundamentals down, and the level of everything you do will rise.”
Parametric insurance dates back several decades. There was a need for more efficient and timely risk transfer mechanisms. A suitable parameter or index is any objective measure that is correlated to a specific risk and ultimately to a financial loss for the insured. This is a “measurable index” related to a “scenario”.
In this electoral period where everyone is predicting a devastating or transformative future, regardless of which side emerges victorious, we are entitled to wonder about the foreseeable consequences for the hospitality community.
The hospitality and tourism industry significantly contributes to the global economy. In 2022, the direct contribution of travel and tourism to the global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was approximately USD 7.7 trillion, representing a 7.6% share of the global economy, marking an increase of 22% from 2021 and a recovery nearing pre-pandemic levels (World Travel & Tourism Council, 2023). Looking ahead, the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) forecasts that by 2033, the tourism sector will grow its GDP contribution to USD 15.5 trillion, representing 11.6% of the global economy.
With the introduction of the 2024 Tripartite Guidelines for Flexible Work Arrangements (FWA) in Singapore, hoteliers need to adapt to new regulations that emphasize flexibility in work arrangements. These guidelines represent a significant shift towards promoting work-life balance and enhancing workforce productivity. Hoteliers are now required to accommodate various forms of flexible work, including flexi-time, flexi-place, and flexi-load arrangements. This article provides an overview of FWA, its importance, its impact on the hospitality industry, and actionable steps for compliance.
Your company may be looking to add a new property, updates, or an expansion. What would you do if you are asked to prepare an economic feasibility study on a new tourism and hotel development project in your area? What are the major steps that you would include in this economic feasibility study?
For most people we all have our song of life, that special time and genre, and maybe even a band or artist that really captures the essence of who we were then, and it marked a turning point in our younger lives. For me it was definitely Rush! I can vividly remember when I first heard the song from the same album titled 2112, and I have never really been the same since. If you have never heard it, stop right now and get on YouTube or Spotify and give yourself a treat.