Sales & Marketing USA & Canada Opinion Articles - Hospitality Net

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Opinion Article

June 5, 2011

Potential Business Lost by Hotel Sales Department interruptions and Lack of focus | David M. Brudney, ISHC

One of the things I love about my solo consulting practice is that I'm rarely distracted during the course of a typical workday. Okay, I can hear you saying, "Brudney, that's because your phone never rings!" But seriously, while I'm busy making proactive sales calls - - yes, I'm still very much in a selling mode - - and creating time-sensitive documents, I typically will leave my cell phone in the off position and check incoming e-mails and texts only on the hour.

By David Brudney, ISHC, David Brudney & Associates

Opinion Article

May 27, 2011

The biggest opportunity to increase engagement and loyalty is in customer experience management

It is imperative for travel companies to make the most of website personalization solutions. Overall, ecommerce businesses are increasingly recognizing that conversion rate optimization and personalization are critical to online marketing success. These companies need to make individual user experiences more relevant and boost engagement, conversion rates and repeat visits.

By Ritesh Gupta, Reuters Events (former EyeforTravel)

Miami, United States

Opinion Article

April 13, 2011

How are progressive small luxury hotels starting to take their marketing to a higher level?

Hotels must find a balance between friendly, informative messages and sales messages. Resource allocation is a major issue for small and mid-sized hotels owing to a vast array of new media and channels and increasingly limited budgets. Every hotel, according to Madigan Pratt, MD, Madigan Pratt & Associates, has to combat its own individual challenges and opportunities.

By Ritesh Gupta, Reuters Events (former EyeforTravel)

Miami, United States

Opinion Article

March 21, 2011

Benchmark Hospitality International’s Founder, Chairman & CEO, Burt Cabañas, Reflects on 30 Years in the Hospitality and Meeting Industries

Burt Cabañas came to the hospitality industry in 1961 as a 14-year old pool boy, following an unexpected exile in this country from Cuba in the aftermath of Castro's revolution. He became a general manager at 25, ran a multi-unit operation at 27, and headed a private management company at 34, purchasing it at age 39.

Pyramid Global Hospitality

Opinion Article

February 9, 2011

Understanding a guest’s expectation of brand.com web functionality in the mobile environment | Interview with Kerry Kennedy, VP e-Commerce, Omni Hotels

Omni Hotels & Resorts is currently upgrading its mobile website. In an exclusive interview with EyeforTravel’s Ritesh Gupta, Kerry Kennedy, VP e-Commerce, Omni Hotels, mentioned that the company is integrating all essentialbrand.com data and navigational elements into its existing mobile site, upgrading the GUI and expanding the reach to more mobile devices.

By Ritesh Gupta, Reuters Events (former EyeforTravel)

Opinion Article

January 19, 2011

Meeting Planners Optimism Rising

As U.S. lodging industry performance has turned positive in 2010, so too has the attitude of meeting planners, though not quite to the same degree. While the temperament of association, corporate, government and independent planners cannot be characterized as exuberant, the emergence of optimism provides hope for hoteliers that the group demand segment is now on the path towards recovery.

By Robert Mandelbaum, Director of Research Information Services, CBRE Hotels

Opinion Article

December 16, 2010

Recession Lessons – Post Recession Hotel Sales & Revenue Management

As the dust settles and the sun begins to rise again on the hotel industry, it is clear that hotel sales and revenue management will be different than it was in 2007, the last good year before the industry and economy tanked! This time the differences will be driven by customer behavior in all segments. “The way consumers think about, plan and purchase travel has altered dramatically.”(Peter Yesawich, HotelNewsNow, 11/17/10)

The next-gen metrics that move hotel P&L

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Why Hospitality Net Leads B2B in Hospitality

Learn what makes us the industry-leader in what we do.

Hospitality Net

Opinion Article

December 16, 2010

Recovery ahead | DAVID KONG, President and CEO of Best Western International shares his thoughts on what to expect in 2011

To get an idea of the most significant issues confronting the American hotel industry in 2011, we asked DAVID KONG, President and CEO of Best Western International to share his insights with us. Not only does David head “the world’s largest hotel chain”, but also, having dealt with a number of industry concerns and initiatives as the Chairman 2010 of the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA), we thought: who would better have a finger on the pulse of the US lodging industry? Herewith his thoughts on 2011.

Opinion Article

December 7, 2010

Interview with Barbara Pezzi, Director Analytics & Search Optimization, Fairmont Raffles Hotels International

The lack of social media ROI standards unsettled many marketers and even organisations on the whole, preventing any form of experimentation, in the last few years. But with companies, including ones from the travel sector, starting to measure the social media ROI in several ways - be it for setting up their own metrics to working on monthly reports to evaluate exposure and revenue generated through such efforts - social media marketing is becoming an integral part of Internet marketing.

By Ritesh Gupta, Reuters Events (former EyeforTravel)

Opinion Article

November 19, 2010

Can you risk a downgrade of your AAA rating? | The dilemma of going from 3 Diamonds to 2 Diamonds

When is the right time to worry about your rating? I believe the best time to begin to worry, or at least to be concerned over the potential loss of a Diamond is when you first earn the rating. It is usually easier to prevent the loss of a Diamond or the loss of your AAA approval completely than to earn it back.

Nobles Hospitality Consulting

Opinion Article

November 17, 2010

No Show – No Problem | Hotels Profit from Attrition and Cancellation Income

One of the lessons learned by hotel management during the 2001 to 2003 industry recession was the importance of attrition and cancellation clauses in group contracts. Because of 9/11 air travel stigma and the ensuing economic recession, meetings were canceled and attendance dwindled. All of the sudden, those attrition and cancellation paragraphs in the group contracts that were frequently viewed as "boiler plate" were rediscovered and helped to salvage some degree of revenue.

Opinion Article

October 29, 2010

Meeting Planner Voices Concern over Demand Return

More on this return of meeting demand . . . Readers have responded to my recent articles where I’ve been writing about the return of demand, group bookings are up and the window for bookings is getting longer. HotelNewsNow.com’s Patrick Mayock’s recent series about group recovery served as additional validation, pointing out the improvement in group demand in 2010: 5 million more roomnights sold in March than February “with promising monthly upward bumps through June and strong numbers throughout the summer, according to Smith Travel Research.”

By David Brudney, ISHC, David Brudney & Associates

Opinion Article

October 27, 2010

The Art and Science of Killer Sales Prospecting

Now more than ever, most hoteliers are searching for demand generators and are relying on direct sales to impact revenues to fill the significant void left by the ailing economy. Depending on the type of property i.e. transient vs. group-based, direct sales could be responsible for as much as 50%-90% of the occupancy. But many times, the sales person or sales leader is at a loss as to find new prospects.

By Brenda Fields, Founder, Fields and Company

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Why Hospitality Net Leads B2B in Hospitality

Learn what makes us the industry-leader in what we do.

Hospitality Net

Opinion Article

October 6, 2010

The Hotel Sales Office of 2011 | 4 Processes to Fuel Recovery

Those hotels that are waiting for the recovery to make phones ring with inquiries will not be the market leaders in this economic recovery! Those that are aggressively using new processes to stimulate sales will be the winners! Steve Rushmore, President and Founder of HVS predicts that “Revenue per available room in the United States is expected to end 2010 up 4.3%, with jumps of 7.1% and 8.1%, respectively, during 2011 and 2012, Rushmore said. These increases follow a RevPAR drop of 16.8% during 2009,” (HotelNewsNow, 9/28/10).

Opinion Article

September 28, 2010

It’s OK to talk about bed bugs

Bed bugs are the industry’s favorite topic—to avoid. Hoteliers fear that talking about bed bugs—or even their bed bug mitigation efforts—will bring unwanted negative attention to their properties. The problem is that while we rather would change the subject, no one else seems to be able to keep quiet about it.

Opinion Article

September 24, 2010

Top hotel execs discuss key industry issues

Top hotel executives lamented the lack of new construction financing, discussed the comeback of luxury, and even dipped into politics during a CEO panel at The Lodging Conference Wednesday. The problem of rates kept arising. Speakers blamed online travel agencies for the problem. David Kong, president and CEO of Best Western International, said online travel agencies are “gaining more and more influence and control over pricing.”

Opinion Article

September 13, 2010

5 hotel things I’ve long wondered about

There are certain things that make us all wonder. We wonder why the heck something is done a certain way or why it is done at all. Here are a few hotel-related questions I’ve long wondered about—and in some cases, the answers. I wondered for nearly two years why the head honchos at Hilton Worldwide would give up the glitzy, warm confines of the 90210 ZIP code for the hustle and bustle of Washington, D.C. (Although technically, the company’s new digs in McLean, Virginia, are located outside of the Beltway so no one can say they are Washington insiders.)

Opinion Article

August 5, 2010

Surveys: Why guess when you can know?

On a scale from 1-10, with 1 being “I cried tears of pain and anguish” and 10 being “I cried tears of joy and happiness,” how would you rate your last survey experience? (That includes taking a survey or developing your own.) In general, how useful do you think surveys really are in accomplishing their objectives (which are normally something along the lines of “measuring attitudes and opinions” or “exploring the relationships between ‘x’ and ‘y’”)? Do you ever see any changes come about based on the results of a survey?

By Jim Hartigan, Orgwide Services, LLC

Opinion Article

August 3, 2010

Good News for Meetings-Driven Resorts: Site Inspections and Bigger Group Bookings are Back!

Professional meeting planners - - deferring, cancelling or drastically cutting back on both size and frequency of meetings for more than a year now - - are scheduling more site inspections and booking much larger groups for 2011 and 2012. This was confirmed during a long interview conducted this month with John Washko, V.P. Sales & Marketing, The Broadmoor, Colorado Springs, CO.

By David Brudney, ISHC, David Brudney & Associates

Opinion Article

July 28, 2010

Hotel customer satisfaction is a dickens

Halfway through 2010, the hotel industry has finally started to shows signs of recovery from the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. All three key financial indicators for the industry—occupancy, average daily rate and revenue per available room—decreased during every month of 2009, according to the latest STR data.