Cornell Hospitality Report Highlights Innovative Hospitality Concepts on Three Continents

Tips for improving hotel revenue include sustainable operations, employee engagement, and internet technology
 
Improved, profitable operations keynote ten case studies presented by Cornell's Center for Hospitality Research (CHR). The cases included in the third set of the CHR series include concepts for improving hotel revenue from sustainable operations, employee engagement, and internet technology. The authors are Cathy Enz, Rohit Verma, Kate Walsh, Sheryl Kimes, and Judy Siguaw. Enz, Verma, Walsh, and Kimes are members of the faculty at the Cornell School of Hotel Administration. Siguaw is dean of the College of Human Ecology at East Carolina University.


The Cornell Hospitality Report, "Cases in Innovative Practices in Hospitality and Related Services: Set 3," features Cayuga Sustainable Hospitality, Chic & Basic, JetBlue Airlines, Jumeirah Essex House, The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, Runtriz, The Seaport Hotel, Thayer Lodging, TripTelevision, and Xsense Experiential Design Consulting. The hospitality report is available at no charge, at www.hotelschool.cornell.edu/research/chr/pubs/reports/2010.html.

The cases are as follows:

•Cayuga Sustainable Hospitality has applied a sustainable management approach to remote lodges in Costa Rica, both to improve revenues and to ensure environmental protection;

•Chic & Basic has opened upscale hostels in Spain, with low-cost design and amenities unlike most of the typical dormitory-style facilities, including private rooms with baths, free internet, and plasma TVs;

•JetBlue Airways has adapted the net promoter score, a customer-satisfaction scale to measure its employee satisfaction, as a means of improving service throughout the company;

•As part of its property renovation, the Jumeirah Essex House hired a curator who created an artist-in-residence program that has resulted in installations in several media, all designed to reinforce the hotel's connection with New York City and Central Park;

•Building on its tradition of legendary guest service, The Ritz-Carlton Company has created a training program called "Radar On—Antenna Up," which is designed to improve employees' ability to anticipate guests' needs, even before they express them;

•Runtriz has developed an application that uses an interactive touch-screen technology to allow guests at luxury hotels to make service requests, get information, and order food via their mobile devices—thereby speeding employees' and concierges' responses;

•Boston's Seaport Hotel, a harborside convention property, has made a wide-ranging sustainability initiative into its chief competitive differentiation, both increasing revenue and cutting costs;

•Thayer Lodging has focused on offering Pure Air Solutions in guest and meeting rooms as a means of improving guest satisfaction and charging a premium, with such favorable results that it has increased the number of "clean" rooms;

•TripTelevision takes web video to its next logical level by connecting video clips of hotels and destination amenities with marketing analysis to improve travelers' knowledge and boost sales; and

•XSense Experiential Design Consulting uses intense research to help developers connect their resort properties to their location, so that guests gain a more favorable experience by immersing themselves in the history and culture of a destination.

Each case study in the hospitality report describes the innovation, gives details on its execution, reviews the outcomes, and offers insights, with a goal of helping all hospitality innovators.

Meet and interact with Professor Verma and Professor Walsh, active members of the executive education faculty at the School of Hotel Administration, when they present sessions in the Professional Development Program: www.hotelschool.cornell.edu/industry/executive/pdp/.

Thanks to the support of the CHR partners listed below, all publications posted on the center's website are available free of charge, at www.chr.cornell.edu.