Sales & Marketing USA & Canada Opinion Articles - Hospitality Net

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Opinion Article

August 24, 2009

Group vs. transient | Is group demand really that bad?

Throughout 2009, one of the hotel industry’s “givens” is that group business is down as much as 20 percent nationally while transient demand (which in STR’s data set is a combination of business and leisure transient travelers) is only slightly below last year’s levels. While there can be no doubt there has been an especially dramatic drop in the number of conferences and the attendance at those that actually take place, one begins to wonder whether the industry’s current pricing policies might not result in an underestimation of actual convention attendance.

Opinion Article

August 20, 2009

Distribution remains key for independent hotels

The way Tom Magnuson sees it, owners of independent hotels have two options when it comes to the downturn: They can sit back and wait for the cycle to run its course, or they can take charge through proactive distribution of their property. During the first in a series of regional meetings that will take the co-founder and co-principal of Magnuson Hotels throughout the country (he shares the titles with his wife, Melissa), he urged members in attendance to adopt the latter approach.

Opinion Article

August 18, 2009

Not all business is good business

Even when occupancies are at historic lows, not all business is good business. Hotels must establish sound pricing strategies to drive the right mix of demand to drive long-term success. At the steering wheel for that journey are revenue managers, whose expertise is more crucial than ever before, according to a breakout panel at the inaugural Hotel Data Conference presented by Magnuson Hotels earlier this month.

Opinion Article

August 13, 2009

Business and leisure travelers fear for the worst

Knowing your customer is more important than ever as the hotel industry tries to dig out from an economic downturn. Attendees of the Hotel Data Conference, presented by Magnuson Hotels, heard all about their target customers in a session called “Consumer Leisure and Business Travel Trends.” Moderator Nate Fristoe of RRC Associates summed up the reason for knowing these types of trends.

Opinion Article

August 12, 2009

Mastering The Art of Online Sales Through Hotel Website Content

The content on your proprietary website performs two separate, and extremely important, functions. The first is to attract visitors to your site through organic search; second, to generate interest and drive visitors to your site's booking page. Two reasons why hotel site content must be the primary focus of a site's design and why site content must be carefully shaped and written to produce sales.

Hotel Marketing Coach

Opinion Article

August 2, 2009

It’s all about who is in your comp set

In last week’s blog I discussed how important it is to have the right properties in your competitive set. Now I would like to address how which hotels you have in your comp set significantly affects an individual property’s evaluation of performance and also how it might affect brand or systemwide aggregations. As I stated last week, one of the most frequent questions we get at STR from industry analysts is how come it seems that virtually every brand/company seems to be able to claim that they are able to outperform their competitive set.

Opinion Article

July 29, 2009

The Only Differentiator Left In The Guest Experience Is Service

Nothing like a world-wide recession to expose our Brand vulnerabilities. Our advantages have been shed, slashed and even trashed. Everything has been discounted to leverage some type of parity and attractiveness. Now, value is seen as two-for-ones, 50% off, good through October, meals for two under $10, children and pets fly for free, upgrades in suites, cars and Loyalty points. What an uphill battle we face, when the economy does turn, as we try to reclaim our market posture. Some will never succeed; others will simply fall by the wayside.

By John Hendrie, Customer Experience Facilitator, Hospitality Performance, Inc.

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Opinion Article

July 28, 2009

Recognizing there is not only one approach to ongoing success in building revenues

In the past quarter, I have read at least 20 columns on strategies to encouraging revenue growth, with many of them offering contrasting opinions and options. This is the fourth economic crisis I have had to address with in my career. These crises have run the gamut from gas shortages to high inflation and unemployment, to the savings and loan equity/credit debacle to 911 to the current global economic meltdown. Each was painful at the time and both failure and success were part of the solutions for us all.

By John Hogan, CHA CHMS CHE CHO

Opinion Article

July 22, 2009

There’s No Recession on Guest Expectations

Recently released unemployment figures indicate a continued rise in that cheery metric to 8.5-percent, a 25-year high. Even in light of some modest signs of life, the credit and housing markets continue to limp along as well. And despite the OK from President Obama to pursue business travel and corporate meetings, the damage may have already been done and those markets remained strained. Human beings, however, must travel and, in fact, are traveling. I recently returned from business trips to Europe and South America, where most of the planes and hotels I saw were fairly crowded. I spoke with many folks genuinely excited to be on the road, scratching their burning itch to travel.

Opinion Article

July 22, 2009

Process vs. Personality: Achieving Balance in Your Guest Experience

Early in my career, while working as a young manager for a luxury hotel chain, there was one subject that I recall inspiring universal dread for staff and managers alike. Standards | From standards training, to standards meetings, to standards testing, to standards coaching, the perpetual emphasis on standards seemed all-consuming and perhaps raised as many questions as it answered. Was this rudimentary list of checkboxes the key to the sophisticated art of genuine hospitality? Exactly how many times could we inquire if a guest needed further assistance before sounding scripted and robotic? Where was the allowance for personalization and authenticity that might actually inspire a guest to return?

Opinion Article

July 20, 2009

Filling Rooms at Any Cost Is Not The Answer To Our Problems. So What Is?

This week’s news that Starwood Hotels & Resorts is slashing rates by up to 50% at nearly 600 of its global properties has put the many challenges facing hoteliers into a stark realization. We find it very troubling that such a large and brand-heavy operator would resort to extreme, across-the-board rate cutting in an effort to shore up slack occupancy. But we’re not alone: Starwood’s action has sparked an intra-industry debate over whether such overt price-slashing is actually good for business.

By Jean Francois Mourier, CEO of REVPAR GURU, RevPAR Guru Inc.

Opinion Article

July 16, 2009

How to get repeat guests for only 44 cents

When I found a handwritten envelope with the Best Western Napoleon Inn & Suites’ return address in my mailbox last week, my thoughts immediately turned to the worst. I had stayed at the modest property the week earlier after attending a country wedding in rural Northwest Ohio, and while the one-night stay went without incident, the business-sized envelope evoked a bubbling sense of cynicism. Was I being charged for something extra—running water, a broken keycard entry, a missing towel? No, I quickly assured myself. I had left the room in the same condition I had found it. I was sure of it. Wasn’t I?

Opinion Article

July 16, 2009

Conference Centers Cope

Amidst a crisis unforeseen one year ago and certainly not caused by our industry, most members of the International Association of Conference Centers (IACC) are fully in a coping mode having adjusted behavior and instituted expense controls in an exemplary manner. Looking back at 2008, we saw a year consisting of three parts; normal operations for two quarters, a transition decline during the third quarter, and a collapse of the core market for conference centers, business meetings, in the fourth quarter. Never has the conference center industry faced such a constriction in demand, even subsequent to 9/11. Prior recessions have always had a continuing core of corporate meetings, albeit with a change of meeting content from “long range planning” to “crisis management.” The media and political hysteria against corporate meetings in this cycle is truly unprecedented and unfortunate.

Opinion Article

July 15, 2009

Hotel Common Sense – Using Business Networks Productively Or Recovering Lost Customers After a Renovation

A recent column in this series titled “A Common Sense Review Process for Capital Investments” addressed the logic and an approach in planning and executing major projects. Both a certain financial amount and government regulations relating to depreciation tables define most major capital projects. These ventures usually have some sort of potential risk. The ROI (Return on Investment) is usually justified by an expected improvement in the profit potential, by complying with brand standards/requirements (if appropriate) or by introducing significant physical additions or improvements, such as adding a new wing, spa, meeting space, retail, etc. that should increase revenues and the overall value of the hotel.

By John Hogan, CHA CHMS CHE CHO

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Opinion Article

July 13, 2009

Value Place - A Hotel/Apartment Fusion

Hotel and Leisure Advisors has completed numerous studies for various extended-stay hotels over the past several years. My colleagues and I have noted that one new brand to enter the market – Value Place – differs notably from the other extended-stay brand offerings in terms of expense margins, amenities, cost to build, price point, and customer base. In short, Value Place looks like a hotel, but acts more like an apartment complex.

By Laurel Keller, Executive Vice President | Hospitality Gaming & Leisure Group, Newmark

Opinion Article

July 2, 2009

Midscale without food and beverage: Does location matter?

The current downturn has affected chain-scale segments across the board, but some more than others. Historically, the midscale-without-food-and-beverage segment has been one that tends to perform a bit better then the rest regardless of the economic conditions. This is true during the current downturn, and it appears location also plays an instrumental role in their performance. The STR-defined six location types are urban, suburban, airport, interstate, resort and small metro/town. Within these six location types, STR samples between 95 to 99 percent of the midscale without F&B room supply.

Opinion Article

July 1, 2009

Testing Times for the Cruise Industry | worldcruise-network.com

n the last ten years, cruising has become one of the fastest growing segments of the tourism industry, and many believe its reputation as a value-for-money holiday option will help protect it against the effects of recession. However, with consumers increasingly becoming cautious about spending, others consider these expectations too optimistic.

Deloitte Development LLP

Opinion Article

July 1, 2009

The Treasury Department wants to know: What’s luxury and what’s excessive?

On June 15th, the Treasury Department published the “TARP Standards for Compensation and Corporate Governance.” Of note is the provision for recipients of government financial assistance under the Troubled Asset Relief Program to establish an excessive or luxury expenditures policy, which mentions entertainment and events and regulates excessive expenditures to the extent such expenditures aren’t reasonable expenditures for staff development, reasonable performance incentives or other similar reasonable measures conducted in the normal course of the TARP recipient’s business operations.

By Jan Freitag, National Director, Hospitality Market Analytics, HotelNewsNow

Opinion Article

June 30, 2009

Serve With Verve!

When was the last time you used the word “verve” in a sentence? It’s not a word you often hear but is a great word to define customer service that is refreshing, memorable, and leaves a lasting positive impression. A quick search on Dictionary.com provided these definitions: (vûrv) n. 1. Enthusiasm or vigor, as in literary or artistic work; spirit. 2. Vivaciousness; liveliness; animation. How often do the employees who provide you with customer service, serve with verve? In a recent survey, customers described the majority of customer service experiences they have as “bland and uneventful.” And nearly 70 percent of customers cite “employee indifference” as their top reason for leaving a company as a customer.

Steve Curtin, LLC

Opinion Article

June 29, 2009

Thinking about the eventual recovery and what it might look like

During the past several days there have been a lot of stories in the lodging, and indeed the general, press about the decline in lodging industry room rates during the past eight or nine months and how long it’s going to take to recover to pricing levels that existed at the end of last summer. Those addressing this issue have used STR data from the last downturn as a guide.