Lost in Translation - The Life of a Hotel Doctor
5:30 a.m. Saturday is an ideal time for a call. I had finished writing and was sitting down to breakfast. I told the dispatcher that I would be at the hotel in an hour.
Opinion Articles
A Medicolegal Housecall - The Life of a Hotel Doctor
Stepping out of the shower, a Doubletree guest stumbled and cut his leg. He had paid little attention, but now, two days later, the wound had grown painful.
A Better Medicine - The Life of a Hotel Doctor
A 2 year-old was ill with vomiting, diarrhea, fever, and a rash. That sounded bad.
Disaster Averted - The Life of a Hotel Doctor
"We have a situation with a guest…" explained the manager of the Georgian.
Are a Hotelier’s Expat Days Numbered?
While in Singapore in March of this year, I was fortunate enough to be given a tour of a newly opened, luxury hotel by the front office manager. As we wandered the halls it occurred to me that, while the demand for a beautifully designed, 5-star property overflowing with luxurious service and experience shows no sign of diminishing, the guy showing me around might be one of a dying breed. A German national, the front office manager had transferred to Singapore for the hotel's opening following several years working his way up the career ladder within the same group across three different cities and hotels in China. Our business is full of people who have made similar journeys away from home, exploring the world, leading an expatriate life. Indeed, for many, it is one of the appeals that attracts them to the industry in the first place. A good friend of mine in the business and I first met while we were both working in New York. In the ensuing 20 years that we have known one another, he and his family have worked and lived in six different cities across the United States, the Middle East and Asia.
By Chris Mumford, Managing Director, AETHOS Consulting Group
Easy Money - The Life of a Hotel Doctor
A Brazilian traveler had left her medication at home. Could I drive to Hermosa Beach and write some prescriptions? The caller was the guest's travel insurer.
Another Wee-Hour Call - The Life of a Hotel Doctor
It was midnight when the phone woke me. An Emirate flight attendant at the Hilton in Costa Mesa needed a doctor.
Fixing Your Washroom Experience
So much talk nowadays surrounds the concept of improving the guest experience. While this umbrella term applies to everything from the moment a customer discovers a property online to all post-departure marketing efforts, one area that doesn't seem to get the attention it deserves is how guests move about in each room's washroom.
By Larry Mogelonsky, Partner, Hotel Mogel Consulting Limited
Trusting the Guest to Take Care of Things - The Life of a Hotel Doctor
A guest at the Crowne Plaza was feeling under the weather.
Sickness Makes You Sick - The Life of a Hotel Doctor
"Normally I wouldn't bother you with this cough, but when I started to bring up green mucus I knew I had to do something….."
Luckless Americans - The Life of a Hotel Doctor
When US airline crew get sick, they're out of luck. They must find transportation to a clinic in a strange city, present their insurance card, and hope for the best.
In Search of Hotel Excellence: Hotel Hayden NYC
New York is not only a capital of commerce but also for hotels. With over a hundred thousand total guestrooms as well as properties that range from modern lifestyle and traditional boutique luxury to the monsters that abut Times Square, you can find just about anything on this empire isle. This makes a vibrant albeit cutthroat competitive environment, and tons of learning opportunities therein.
By Larry Mogelonsky, Partner, Hotel Mogel Consulting Limited
Hotel Franchise Agreements: What happened to my Area of Protection?
Brand concentration has intensified greatly over recent years and many new brands have been created. At last count (and the count changes often), Marriott owns 30 brands, Accor has 33, Wyndham has 18, Hilton has 14, IHG has 13, Choice has 11 and Hyatt has 10. For a hospitality chain, a portfolio of brands used to represent a customer and regional segmentation strategy designed to target buyers across the economic spectrum and resonate with local preferences.
By Robert Braun, Partner, Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell, LLP, JMM
All The President’s Suites
Encouraging guests to upgrade to a suite-tier inventory is a very lucrative goal for any hotel or resort property. However, there's one level that also merits your attention - the presidential suite (as it is so often called in the United States).
By Larry Mogelonsky, Partner, Hotel Mogel Consulting Limited
Tourism Tidbits - Celebrating Twenty-five Years of Tourism Security
In May of 1992 a visionary Las Vegas police officer, by the name of Curtis Williams had an idea that tourism to be successful needed to have not only protection but also regular meetings where ideas might be exchanged and new concepts would be developed. Curtis Williams and Peter Tarlow were able to get a small room and ran the first tourism security workshop. Since then, the idea of tourism security has become an important part of tourism. The then workshop, and soon to be full conference proved to be logistically too hard for Williams and Tarlow to do everything on their own, and in its second year, Don Ahl, of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, and the Las Vegas Chief's Association agreed to become co-sponsors. Upon Doh Ahl's retirement, he passed his baton to Ray Suppe of the LVCVA. Ray Suppe and Peter Tarlow than transformed the now national conference into an international conference with speakers coming from around the world. Since then, Las Vegas has held a tourism security conference for every year (except one) for the last twenty-six years. This year, its international tourism safety and security conference celebrates its twenty-fifth anniversary. This month's Tourism Tidbits focuses in on some of the major principles of tourism security. It is dedicated to tourism security personnel throughout the world, be they members of law enforcement, government agencies, or be they part of private security teams. Without these dedicated and hard working men and women, in today's violent world there would not only be no (or a greatly reduced) tourism industry, but the world would be a much darker and poor place. As a thank-you to all who work to make the world safe and secure for the millions of people who travel daily, Tourism Tidbits provides its readers with some of the basic principals of tourism security. -Tourism Security is an essential part of your marketing efforts. Once upon a time tourism professionals did not see the relationship between tourism security and marketing efforts. This is no longer the case, the public seeks out locations that are provide good service, high quality products and are delivered in a safe and secure environment. -No one needs to come to your locale. This principle was true twenty-five years ago with regards to the leisure side of the market. Today, with multiple internet system, meetings can easily be held on -line. The key here is that if your community is not safe, then the loss of business will be a lot greater than the cost of security. It is essential to remember that the lower the perceived safety the lower the relaxation and willing to spend. Good tourism security means that visitors are more likely to return to a destination and while there they are more willing to spend more money.-Tourism Security is much more than simply guarding a property. Today we live in a world filled with multiple threats, from the potential of a bio-chemical attack to cyber-attacks, from crowd control to the potential of a dirty bomb, from classical crimes such as pick-pocketing to room invasions, from food safety to disease control. Modern security analysis need to be aware of ever changing threats, to whom to turn and what are the proper questions to ask.-Tourist Geography matters. Tourism security specialists have learned through careful study that as tourism entities cluster, there is a higher probability of both acts of crime and terrorism. Thus, tourism centers that desire to be successful (and clustering such as in the world of casinos tends to increase profitability) also means that tourism entities must invest to protect these vital assetts. -The tourism public has a long memory. Tragically the further one is from an "event" the worse it seems and the longer it lasts in people's memories. Locals, including tourism professionals tend to forget past crisis, but these crises not only live on the internet forever but have long after-lives that impact a location's or business' bottom line.-Always ask yourself: what is the cost of a negative headline or headlines to my business? Tourism security is not merely about dealing with an incident after it happens, good tourism security is all about prevention and proactive behavior. A good rule of thumb is: the best crisis management is often good risk management.-Tourism security is more than dealing with crime; it deals with the total well-being of the visitor. That means that good tourism security means good communication and foreign language skills, and an understanding of cultural awareness, interpersonal psychology, and being able to differentiate local perceptions from visitors' needs.-Tourism security means understanding environmental needs and working toward local beautification. Although we should not judge a book by its cover, visitors judge a local by the way it looks. Good tourism security requires clean air and water, and streets that are free of garbage and graffiti. Beautification not only helps to bring down crime rates, but increases a visitor's proclivity to spend money. Locations that lack beautification end up with numerous other problems that range from potential diseases to the potential for gang violence.-Tourism TOPPs police units not only add to the bottom line but adds to the overall well being of a community. There was a time when the tourism industry shied away from police units. The fear was that tourists and visitors would see police officers, become scared and leave. The opposite has proven to be true. Visitors report that when they see well-trained tourism police units they have a higher tendency to enjoy themselves, they feel safer and they spend more money.
By Peter Tarlow, President, Tourism and More
Gaming’s top boardrooms of 2017
The gaming industry is one of the most regulated businesses in the world. With a colorful past, the industry has gone to great lengths to earn a reputation as "squeaky clean". But has that translated to the board room and corporate governance in general? We think so. Casino Journal and AETHOS Consulting Group have been analyzing board practices for more than a decade; rating gaming companies on how well they are organized, managed, communicate with shareholders and pay themselves and executives. This year's study included 26 companies that have significant business concerns in the gaming industry.
By Keith Kefgen, Managing Director & CEO, AETHOS Consulting Group
Messages for Hoteliers from the USS Midway
No trip to San Diego is complete without a trip to CV-41, also known as the USS Midway, the largest ship in the world until 1955. The carrier was since decommissioned in 1992 and has been turned into a floating museum. As basically an entire town in a boat, the sheer size of this craft defies imagination. Touring her decks and viewing the wide variety of aircraft and exhibits can easily take a full day. Not having a military background, I was in total awe and full of admiration all those who had boarded this great vessel and served in the Navy.
By Larry Mogelonsky, Partner, Hotel Mogel Consulting Limited
Restoring Balance and Protecting Value: Leveraging the Franchise Lifecycle Model
The franchisor-franchisee relationship is a model most people understand, and it has historically led to mutually beneficial success. The franchisor owns the brand and related intangibles such as recipes, processes, and technology. It sets the standards, provides support services, and takes a fee in return. The franchisee owns and operates the assets, employs the staff, puts in the hours, and earns a return as an entrepreneur.
An Innkeeper In The White House
To be for or against Donald Trump is now irrelevant: in January 2017, he will officially become our President and Commander in Chief. We may or may not like any of his policies, and have issues with his character. One thing remains: he is a Hotelman, an Innkeeper, and will have a natural tendency to see to it his/our industry prospers.
By Benoit Gateau-Cumin, Chief Recruiting Officer, The Boutique Search Firm
AETHOS Consulting Group CEO Shares Thoughts on Trump Presidency
"My hope is that Trump will be good for the economy and a voice for the hotel industry on Capitol Hill. Travel is a key indicator of economic health and I believe Trump's, low tax, small government is good for business. Fixing healthcare will also be a plus for the travel industry, as the system seems to be disliked by everyone. Immigration will be an interesting issue for our industry (including food supply chain) as we employ a great deal of first generation immigrants and undocumented workers. Trade issues with China and Latin America will also have an impact on our industry from an investment prospective. But travel could be adversely affected if relations get strained. I think our industry will be more of a bell weather for Trump's policy successes or failures than any other president in our history."
By Keith Kefgen, Managing Director & CEO, AETHOS Consulting Group