How many couples are engaged in your local market?
There are over 4 million engaged people on Facebook and Instagram right now in the United States. You might even know a few.
By Thomas McDermott, CMO, Tambourine
Opinion Articles
Is marketing giving your hotel sales team MQLs or SQLs?
Today, we’re talking about… The difference between Marketing Qualified and Sales Qualified Leads. Let’s be clear. Every lead is a good lead.
By Thomas McDermott, CMO, Tambourine
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 259: Hotel History: The Greenbrier, White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia
Hotel History: The Greenbrier (682 rooms). The original hotel, the Grand Central Hotel, was built on this site in 1858. It was known as “The White” and later “The Old White”. Beginning in 1778, people came to follow the local Native American tradition to “take the waters” to restore their health.
By Stanley Turkel, CMHS, Hotel consultant, Stanley Turkel, MHS, ISHC
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 258: Hotel History: The Willard Hotel, Washington, D.C.
Hotel History: Willard Hotel (394 rooms). The Willard InterContinental Washington, commonly known as the Willard Hotel, is a historic luxury Beaux-Arts hotel located at 1401 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in downtown Washington, D.C. Among its facilities are numerous luxurious guest rooms, several restaurants, the famed Round Robin Bar, the Peacock Alley series of luxury shops, and voluminous function rooms.
By Stanley Turkel, CMHS, Hotel consultant, Stanley Turkel, MHS, ISHC
Nobody Asked Me, But…. No. 257: Hotel History: El Tovar & Hopi Gift Shop
One hundred and sixteen years ago, two architectural jewels opened in the Grand Canyon National Park: the 95-room El Tovar Hotel and the adjacent Hopi House Gift Shop. Both reflected the foresight and entrepreneurship of Frederick Henry Harvey whose business ventures included restaurants, hotels, railroad dining cars, gift shops and newsstands.
By Stanley Turkel, CMHS, Hotel consultant, Stanley Turkel, MHS, ISHC
The 4 Key Trends for North American Travelers in Q3
The latest Travel Recovery Trend Report from Expedia Group Media Solutions highlights how the industry has maintained its momentum during Q3, despite emerging COVID-19 variants and other factors impacting traveler behavior. Here we dive into the insights learned about the North American (NORAM) travel market, and compare these trends to what we see happening on a global scale.
By Erica Eyring, Director, Business Development, Expedia Group Media Solutions
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 256: Hotel History: Severin Hotel Indianapolis, Indiana
The original Hotel Severin opened in 1913 when it replaced the Grand Hotel of Indianapolis. Its location directly across Jackson Place from the Union Station made it the favorite hotel for passengers on the 300 daily trains. It was built by Henry Severin, Jr., the heir to a wholesale grocery fortune, with help from real estate developers Carl Graham Fisher and James A. Allison, who had built the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
By Stanley Turkel, CMHS, Hotel consultant, Stanley Turkel, MHS, ISHC
Shifts in Marketing Department Expenditures Reveals Changes In Tactics During Recession
According to the 2021 edition of CBRE’s Trends® in the Hotel Industry report, total operating revenue for the average hotel in the sample declined by 62.2 percent from 2019 to 2020. This is by far the greatest decline in revenue recorded during the 84-year history of the Trends® survey. For reference purposes, operating revenues declined by 18.4 percent during the Great Recession in 2009.
By Robert Mandelbaum, Director of Research Information Services, CBRE Hotels
Travel Agency Survey Results: From Survival to Revival
On a quarterly basis, Jim Schultenover of Strategic Solution Partners and JDS Hospitality surveys travel agencies to get a sense of trends and topics that the hospitality industry should be paying attention to. Our most recent survey, completed in May 2021, had 279 responses, comprised mostly of travel advisors from small- and medium-sized agencies.
By Jim Schultenover, Consultant, Strategic Solution Partners
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 255: Hotel History: Shelton Hotel, New York
Few skyscrapers were as admired as the 1924 Shelton Hotel, at Lexington Avenue and 49th Street, now the New York Marriott East Side. Critics agreed that its picturesque 35-story façade and unusual setback design pointed the way of the future for the skyscraper.
By Stanley Turkel, CMHS, Hotel consultant, Stanley Turkel, MHS, ISHC
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 254: Hotel History: St. Regis Hotel
Hotel History: St. Regis Hotel (550 rooms) : In 1904, Colonel John Jacob Astor broke ground for the building of the St. Regis Hotel at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 55th Street, in the most exclusive residential section of New York at the time.
By Stanley Turkel, CMHS, Hotel consultant, Stanley Turkel, MHS, ISHC
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 253; Hotel History: Hotel Pennsylvania
Hotel History: Hotel Pennsylvania (1704 rooms) : An iconic hotel in mid-town Manhattan is closing its doors for good. The Hotel Pennsylvania will not reopen, succumbing to this past year’s Covid 19 pandemic and years of narrowly avoiding the chopping block. The fourth-largest hotel in New York City was well situated, right across from Madison Square Garden and Penn Station, making it a natural and affordable stop for travelers and concert-goers alike.
By Stanley Turkel, CMHS, Hotel consultant, Stanley Turkel, MHS, ISHC
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 252: Hotel History: Libby’s Hotel And Baths
Hotel History: Libby’s Hotel and Baths, New York, N.Y. In the late 1920s, the stock market was soaring, businesses were enjoying record profits and developers were constructing new buildings at a rapid pace. Mortgage companies began offering mortgage-backed securities, a new type of investment.
By Stanley Turkel, CMHS, Hotel consultant, Stanley Turkel, MHS, ISHC
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 251: Wish You Were Here: A Tour Of America’s Great Hotels During The Golden Age Of The Picture Post Card
Hotel History: “Wish You Were Here” by Barry Zaid (1980) : In February 2000, there was a unique exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York: “Walker Evans and the Picture Postcard”. Evans was a titan of 20th-century photography who portrayed broken-down plantations, sharecropper families and bone-dry Southern farms during the Depression, grimy factories in the North and the facial expressions of New York subway passengers.
By Stanley Turkel, CMHS, Hotel consultant, Stanley Turkel, MHS, ISHC
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 250: Hotel History: Mohonk Mountain House, New Paltz, New York
In 1869, Albert Smiley, a nature-loving Quaker schoolteacher, bought a property at a good price; 300 acres surrounding a lake and a tavern in a spectacular natural setting in the heart of a 26,000-acre area in the Shawangunk Mountains, New York. Alfred and Albert Smiley, devout Quaker twin brothers, created the resort in 1869 when they bought Mohonk Lake from John F. Stokes. As the Smileys expanded the hotel, they operated in accordance with their Quaker beliefs: no alcohol, dancing, smoking or card playing. The hotel offered concerts, prayer sessions, lectures as well as swimming, hiking and boating.
By Stanley Turkel, CMHS, Hotel consultant, Stanley Turkel, MHS, ISHC
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 249: Hotel History: Ocean House At Watch Hill
Hotel History: Ocean House at Watch Hill (49 rooms) : Ocean House is a large, Victorian-style waterfront hotel originally constructed in 1868 on Bluff Avenue in the Watch Hill historic district of Westerly, Rhode Island.
By Stanley Turkel, CMHS, Hotel consultant, Stanley Turkel, MHS, ISHC
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 248: Hotel Theresa, New York, N.Y. (1913)
Hotel History: Hotel Theresa, “The Waldorf of Harlem” (300 rooms) : On September 18, 1960, four months before the United States severed diplomatic relations with Cuba, Fidel Castro arrived in New York City for the 15th session of the United Nations General Assembly. He and his staff first checked into the Shelburne Hotel at Lexington Avenue and 37th Street. When the Shelburne demanded $10,000 for alleged damage that included cooking chickens in their rooms, the Castro entourage moved to the Hotel Theresa in Harlem.
By Stanley Turkel, CMHS, Hotel consultant, Stanley Turkel, MHS, ISHC
Pandemic practices we want to keep
It has been noted that the pandemic accelerated existing trends that had previously advanced at a leisurely pace. Although there's much about the pandemic we want to leave behind, it's hard to ignore the innovations and incremental improvements to daily life that are byproducts of the Covid era.
By Arnie Weissmann, Editor in Chief, Travel Weekly, travelweekly.com
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 247: Hotel History: Driskill Hotel, Austin, Texas
Hotel History: Driskill Hotel (188 rooms) - The Driskill, a Romanesque-style building completed in 1886, is the oldest operating hotel in Austin, Texas, and one of the best-known hotels in Texas. The Driskill was conceived and built by Col. Jesse Driskill, a cattleman who spent his fortune constructing “the finest hotel south of St. Louis”. Flush with cash from his service to the Confederate Army to which he supplied beef throughout the Civil War. In 1884, Driscoll purchased land in downtown Austin for $7500 and announced plans for a new hotel. Today, the Driskill remains one of the premier hotels in Austin, featuring lavish bridal suites, two restaurants, and a grand ballroom.
By Stanley Turkel, CMHS, Hotel consultant, Stanley Turkel, MHS, ISHC
It Is Time For Hotel Marketers To Evolve Past ROI
If you are measuring your marketing success today the same way you did last year, you are not providing the value that your external stakeholders and ownership expect and that your internal business partners, like sales and revenue strategy, deserve. It is not enough anymore to measure how many guest rooms are booked per dollar spent on your paid marketing. Instead, focus your attention on two specific areas:
By Stephanie Sparks Smith, CEO & Digital Matriarch, Cogwheel Marketing, Cogwheel Marketing & Analytics