Upmarket Restaurants and Motivation to Post Content Online

The rise of social media continues with individuals sharing content and opinions, in the form of comments, pictures and video and other new more entrants in the supply market e.g. the arrival of Twitter. This has consequences for traditional marketing tools like advertising and word of mouth, tools that restaurants have traditionally relied on to promote their products and services.

Your hotel might be leaving millions on the table

BOULDER, Colorado—Our industry is accustomed to reviewing and measuring hotel performance in macro terms on a monthly, quarterly or annual basis. However, the industry is actually a micro market with a competitive product that perishes and renews every single night.


Much can be learned by measuring the individual competitive interactions between hotels on a nightly basis. Therefore, while owners, investors and lenders primarily are concerned with the performance of their hotel relative to macro market standards, hotel operators, brands and revenue and asset managers must focus on the interactions of occupancy, average daily rate and revenue per available room relative to their competition each night.

Cautious Optimism Returns as Hotel Operators Feel the Worst is Over | Horwath HTL Reports

Results from the latest edition of the Global Hotel Market Sentiment Survey shows that hotel operators believe that the worst of the crisis is behind them and that 2010 will be the beginning of the long road to recovery. The survey, carried out every six months by Horwath HTL the world’s foremost firm of hospitality consultants, concentrates on four key questions to gauge the level of industry feeling in the short term, and the key indicators driving the sentiment.


Robert Hecker who heads up Horwath HTL in Asia said “It is too early to say if this feeling will translate into tangible results this year, but if the market feels we are at the bottom and the only way is up, that can only have a positive effect on the industry”

Readers speak out about hotel VIP lounge closures in Marriotts, Hyatts, Sheratons...

Barbara writes some good stuff that can't be ignored..

Hotels: Here's a tip for you... Taking take away a VIP lounge from road warriors will be like trying to yank a juicy bone away from a dog.
The post I wrote yesterday about how some hotel are closing VIP lounges - some temporarily, some permanently - turned out to be a popular read with road warriors who've come to rely on the lounges. They say the atmosphere, service and food that the lounges provide can't easily be replicated with a coupon for the lobby Starbucks or a voucher for the hotel restaurant. Here's what they wrote.....

Going with GOPPAR? | Not so fast, RevPAR is still the best metric for revenue managers

There has been a ripple of interest lately in a new metric for the hotel industry, GOPPAR. (If it seems strange that an obscure ratio can spark an industry-wide debate, then you should start hanging out at the accounting department water cooler more often.) Proponents of the measure, which computes gross operating profit per available room, argue that it is a more effective benchmark for a hotel’s overall fiscal health than RevPAR is, because it incorporates all operating costs. After all, it is profits that matter most at the end of the day- not necessarily revenues- and having a day-to-day yardstick with which to measure those profits in terms of available rooms is both useful and realistic. The advantages of GOPPAR in this area are obvious; a hotel with both high ADR and RevPAR could, conceivably, still fail to turn a profit, but a hotel with strong GOPPAR will, by definition, be profitable.
For lack of a more original assessment, we like GOPPAR. It’s a great benchmark for overall operational soundness, and we feel that it may well be the metric of the future.

Market Metrix Announces Annual 2009 Hospitality Index Results

With occupancy and revPAR falling in 2009, customer satisfaction held its own during a tumultuous year (+0.4 to 82.8). Satisfaction with airlines increased slightly (+1.0 to 78.7) but declined among rental cars companies (–0.9 to 78.4). Oberoi Hotels and Resorts, Virgin Atlantic, and Enterprise Rent–A–Car ranked number one in hotel, airline, and rental car industry customer satisfaction, respectively in 2009.

With revenues plummeting in 2009, hotel companies focused on making their loyalty programs more attractive — and it worked. The percentage of rooms filled by loyalty program members increased 5 percent in 2009

'Lost Decade' in Overseas Travel to U.S. Cost 440,000 Jobs and $500 Billion in Spending

A new report by the U.S. Travel Association in conjunction with Oxford Economics reveals that the decline in overseas travel to the United States since 2000 has cost America 440,000 jobs and more than $500 billion in total travel-related spending.
According to analysis of international travel figures, the failure of the United States to simply keep pace with the growth in international long-haul travel worldwide has cost our economy..

AH&LA Releases Six Strategies For Doing More With Less

AH&LA has released its official guidelines for Doing More with Less in 2010 to assist hoteliers in rebounding after last year’s challenging business climate. This strategic campaign identifies six key areas where hoteliers can easily reduce costs and maximize revenue with little or no investment. Building off of last year’s award-winning 10 Things You Should do to Protect Your Bottomline, this informative campaign provides best practices, tips, case studies, and more.

The “New Normal” in 2010: five trends to watch

Following the severe drop in demand that the industry has been living through for the past year, what should we be expecting in 2010? Is recovery around the corner – and if so, what shape will it take for the US hotel business?

Riding High Through the Recession - What Jam Bands Can Teach the Brands

The first sign of the times, you ask? Perhaps it was back in 2006 when Ritz-Carlton looked in the mirror and realized that "Ladies and Gentlemen serving Ladies and Gentlemen" didn’t exactly apply to a 32-year-old CEO in jeans and a t-shirt. In a nod to the changing demographics of those who consumed "luxury," Ritz loosened up a bit, recognizing the need for a generational component to its time-honored and revered operational and guest service standards.

That's why they can have a Mowhawked Chef...It's a sign of the times...Changes...a successful hotel wil learn to adapt and compromise, but in the end a Standard is a Standard...and wether it is delivered by a JFK look - alike..or a member of The Clash...It's all about the service....Heck even I have relaxed...

U.S. Hotel Industry Pulse growth stagnant

Economic research firm e-forecasting.com in conjunction with Smith Travel Research announced HIP declined in January after improving 2.8 percent in December. HIP, the Hotel Industry's Pulse index, is a composite indicator that gauges business activity in the U.S. hotel industry in real-time, similar to a GDP measure. The latest monthly change brought the index to a reading of 82.4. The index is set to equal 100 in 2000.

The Recession Is Over!* Now What? |

In the December 2008, the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) made the official proclamation that the U. S. entered an economic recession in December 2007. As is sometimes the case, U.S. hoteliers began to feel the pain well before most other businesses. According to Smith Travel Research (STR), the U.S. lodging industry first began to show signs of weakness in July 2006, when year-over-year demand levels contracted by 1.4 percent. The following months were volatile – some good – some bad. Total demand declined 1.8 percent in 2008, and STR reported an 7.0 percent decline through September 2009. The December 2009 edition of PKF Hospitality Research (PKF-HR) Hotel Horizons® forecast report calls for a total year decline in demand in 2009 of 6.3 percent.

Getting Hired (Part 2)

My son applied for a job the other day online at a local resort to be a locker room attendant / janitor. He is 19 and in college, he also has been at the same job for the past 2 years. He was sent an automated response that told him that he didn't have the qualifications...In the old days we would take a kid (I was one) and hire them and train them, I think that many people had jobs like this, I had a former Hotel President tell the story that he was studying at Stanford for a degree in Economics, and took a Night Desk Clerk job to keep in school, while he searched for the right job, as Hotel President he joked that he hadn't found it yet...He rose to a VP of a prestigeous hotel company and onto the presidency of a luxury company.

If we took the time to develop and nurture our staff we would find a diamond in the rough or the mix so to speak..

The Three Headed Monster

I ran into that ugly 3 Headed Monster...A GM explained it to me this way...I have to meet my "Flag" obligations, and Standards, I have to keep in mind the Management Company Standards, and Keep the "Owners" happy and making money..  Talk about juggling ...Sometimes it is amazing the compromises that are made at the expense of the two most critical elements in the hospitality industry, the staff, and the guest...

Hotel Concierges Are There To Serve

I've worked with some of the best Hotel Concierges...They always amazed me...

A concierge is a hotel staff member who is paid to problem solve, or, as Josephine Danielson, chef concierge at the Four Seasons New York puts it, to "anticipate problems or needs of our guests that they themselves haven't even thought of yet." For business travelers whose schedules and needs can be erratic on a good trip and cataclysmic on a bad one, taking advantage of the help might just be life-changing.

As U.S. hotel chains expand internationally, Westin looks to become 'global powerhouse'

As U.S. hotel chains expand internationally, Westin looks to become 'global powerhouse'


http://ow.ly/16nW2

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Demand Management

Demand management involves dynamically managing overall demand by optimizing the use of distribution channels to reach target customer segments, leveraging and enhancing existing customer relationships, and taking effective revenue management (RM) actions. Demand for rooms, seats, cars and services by business, leisure and group customers come from a variety of sources. These include loyal or repeat customers, corporate customers with negotiated rate programs, and professional and casual event planners

The Ritz sports a Mohawk...What's next...???

I know that cutting edge is a part of being eccentric, and new wave, blah, blah, blah...yatta, yatta..
I know the rage used to be Ponytails...and yes I still want one down the road...A new twist on the Chef de Cuisine at he New Ritz Carlton at Dove Mountain in Tucson, AZ.  He is  a disciple of Dean Fearing, Dean is a great guy...creative and all...so here we go...

STR: US hotel industry ends '09 with double-digit RevPAR drop

Revenue per available room fell 16.7 percent to US$53.71 during 2009, according to year-end reports from Smith Travel Research.
The industry’s occupancy fell 8.7 percent to 55.1 percent for the year and average daily rate dropped 8.8 percent to US$97.51.
“Good riddance to 2009, a year which we believe will go down as the worst in the modern hotel industry,”

Marginal Analysis: Looking at the small picture

This a a good overview of what is happening today..

he Marginal Impact of Changes
Difficult trading conditions are good opportunities to reconsider basic business principles which have stood the test of time but have recently taken a backseat given the continuous emergence of new management techniques. Most hoteliers have understood that the current environment coupled with an uncertain future requires them to make appropriate decisions in order to mitigate the impact of soft demand and low yields on bottom line.

This is Some Good Reading...

I used this as a link when I sold food, it is one of the best, very helpful.  If you take the time, I hope you enjoy it as much as I do, and get as much out of it.

Managing Hotel Revenue and Everything That Drives It

Nick Salerno writes 5 consideration worth repeating...

And I had a similar conversation on this topic not half an hour earlier with an old friend Paul Upchurch from my days at the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel..So I think that this thinking has some ballast to it and is worh taking a deeper look at, and may be an area worth developing.

Menu Map Solutions

Joe Dunbar writes some good stuff..

Too often companies start out to achieve ambitious objectives and fall far short of the target. Since my background is in cost control and menu analysis, I frequently see advanced software sitting on a shelf, dormant on a hard drive or used in the most basic manner. The original wish list remains a pipe dream.

Why do many companies fail to achieve their goals? Most never commit the necessary resources to finish the job.

The Evolution Of Best Practices In Hospitality And Tourism (part 2 Of 2)

Part 1 is linked at the bottom...

The first part of this series outlined a number of service management issues I felt would influence the hospitality and tourism industry over the next decade. Recognizing that the hospitality industry in many ways has become a mature industry, that column suggested major areas of research and execution to address those issues in global trends and competitors:

Hotel Lawyer: ALIS brings optimists to earth. Lenders make new evaluations. Realism is cold and gray.

Hotel Lawyer: A new realism settles on the hotel industry. We've already given up 2010 and 2011 won't be that much better . . . then a long, slow "jobless recovery." "Realism" was the defining word for the ALIS conference held in San Diego on January 25-27, 2010. ALIS attendance was roughly half or less of last year, and the experts officially declared 2009 one of the worst years for the hospitality industry. They have already thrown in the towel on the industry for 2010, and look to an anemic 2011, with double digit growth in RevPAR after that . . . but we are so far down the hole now, that even double digit RevPAR growth will take years to reclaim the levels enjoyed in 2005-2007.
So what does this portend for lenders? And what is the smart money doing now?