Archive for the ‘Operations’ Category

Tom’s Take: Profiting from Multi-Family Ind. Problems

Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010

There is a lot of doom and gloom talk in the media, and in our industry on what lies ahead for 2010. I try to follow it all. WHY? To identify where the hidden opportunities are.

None of us can afford to waste time waiting for the government to bail us out. It’s never happened yet. The business world is always responsible for our own “bail outs.

I just read an article on the bleak outlook for multi-family sector of our industry. Their problems open opportunities for Extended Stay hotels in our industry to take some of the multi-family business. Is it great business? Maybe, maybe not. But it can provide a base of business. It can also be an option for some older hotels that are struggling and can’t afford a renovation.

Luxury Extended Stay Opportunity: Many major corporations maintain corporate apartments their employees use when coming to corporate or regional offices. High-end extended stay properties can compete very effectively for this business. Whether it’s business related travel, or temporary housing for relocating employees.

Mid-market Extended Stay Opportunity: Seek out mid-market companies. Ask if they have corporate apartments for transferring or traveling employees. Perhaps you can provide the services less expensively. Mid-market full service hotels can also provide a service to these companies by offering use of F&B outlets. Include the price of 1-3 meals a day into the price of the suite. This can benefit your F&B facilities as well as benefit the customer, especially those with children.

Basic Extended Stay Opportunity: There can be opportunities to make multi-month rentals/leases to people displaced from their apartments. You can determine the types of long-term rental customers that best meet the needs of your property. Long-term rentals to guests with pets might be excellent market for ground level units that have patios/exterior entrances. Or for rentals to guests with special needs.

Resort Opportunity: Resorts close to headquarters for companies may be able to pick up relocation stays. Many companies would rather put their employees up at nice resort than some apartment/hotel in town. Should resort be lucky enough to attract several stays from a corporation at once, offer to provide basic transportation back and forth.

Opportunity for Hotels in need of restoration or who are being pressured by franchisors or financial institutions: Evaluate your physical plant to identify opportunities to convert rooms to studio or one bedroom apartments. Then identify if the revenues you can generate can provide a better ROI than the current use. At very least it might provide a base of business to cover the basics.

There are always opportunities. Watch and listen for them. Then encourage your employees to contribute their ideas.

Have a profitable week.

Posted in Leadership, Operations, Sales & Marketing, Tom's Take | No Comments »

“Less Worse”-Most People’s View of 2010

Monday, February 1st, 2010

Thanks to Jim Higley and HotelNewsNow.com for the excellent summary on where people think our industry is heading in 2010.

Blog: These conferences reveal some interesting trends
Posted by Jeff Higley at 12:00 AM

The best part of back-to-back conferences at the beginning of the year is they provide a gauge of what’s in store for the months ahead. It was no different last week as the Americas Lodging Investment Summit in San Diego and the Hotel Brokers International annual meeting in Las Vegas provided more than just a glimpse of what’s going on in the hotel industry:

“Less worse” is how most people are looking at 2010. It’s not going to be great, but it will be less worse than 2009.
Insurance companies such as Pacific Life are beginning to dip their toes into the hotel-lending space, and that’s a good sign there’s at least something positive starting to happen. Of course, these loans will mostly be for big-box hotels that at one time had a value of more than US$100 million. Therefore, we’re still waiting to hear of a mass of lenders interested in jumping in for properties previously valued at US$20 million to US$80 million.
Regional banks will start foreclosing on hotels this year as they will get pressure from FDIC regulators to shore up their books.
A number of companies, including HEI Hotels & Resorts and Richfield Hospitality, have money to lend to hotel owners who have troubled assets. The companies want to lend what essentially is mezzanine financing, but instead of having the money paid back, the companies want an ownership stake in the troubled asset.
In general, as long as hotel owners are meeting their operating expenses and can meet debt interest obligations and have a penny to pay the bank, they won’t receive too much chin music from the bank.
Any banks lending money are requiring 50 percent equity for the discussion to even get started.
There’s belief that the long-awaited increase of the Small Business Administration loan limit to US$5 million is around the corner. The increase has been talked about for more than a year. The limit currently is US$2 million. When it is increased, lenders such as PMC Commercial Trust (which hasn’t stopped giving SBA loans during the downturn) will find plenty of borrowers in line.
Regardless of the reason for gathering—a general session, a panel discussion, networking events or late-night rendezvous at the lobby bar—there is a firm belief that the industry has hit bottom. No one is sure if there’s going to be a W recovery—which will mean an increase then a decrease—but there’s a strong belief that the bottom has been reached in operating performance and transaction activity.
Most executives I talked with are budgeting for RevPAR to be between -6 percent and +3 percent. The more optimistic groups are convinced there will be a huge uptick in the industry following a tough first quarter. Those with a more pessimistic view think the comeback won’t start until late in the year.
One of the more interesting approaches to what the recovery might look like was presented by a couple of attendees who said they expect it to look like a square-root sign. That’s some ups and downs and then a long flat recovery. I tend to think it will have the look of a Nike swoosh—a steady gain in momentum beginning late in the third quarter of this year.
Hotels took a beating during request-for-proposals season as clients were looking to save money any way they could. A number of people told me they took the approach of, “Hey, we can make this cut now, but if we do this for clients, we won’t be here next year. So, for long-term considerations, don’t try to squeeze every cent out me for rates.” Most of the people said the clients were understanding. My question: When good times return, will we remember those clients when we’re raising rates?
In pre-ALIS polling, 38 percent of attendees said a turnaround will occur in the third quarter of this year, Jim Burba told attendees. Seventy-five percent said it will come sometime this year. What’s more encouraging is that 60 percent said their companies will grow this year.
The biggest worry for conference attendees clearly were the lack of debt and the lack of group business.
A stark statistic from Mark Lomanno’s Smith Travel Research presentation: On an average day, the hotel industry sells 215,000 fewer rooms (US$42 million in revenue) than it did 18 months ago.
Also from Lomanno: High-end hotels were affected by rate more than demand, and low-end hotels were affected more by demand than rate.
The quote that best sums up the transaction environment comes from Arthur De Haast of Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels: “There’s a lot of stress on the system, but not as much distress, and that’s what the buyer is looking for.”
It was no surprise when the 1,001-room Hilton Orland-Bonnet Creek and the 498-room Waldorf-Astoria Orlando took home the Development of the Year honors at ALIS. The US$550-million project developed by KUD International LLC and Brooksville Development Corporation was among the most impressive hotel projects that opened last year. … Other ALIS award winners included the US$44.24-million purchase of the iconic 322-room Windsor Court Hotel in New Orleans, Louisiana, as the winner of the Single Asset Transaction of the Year Award. The Berger Company and Crow Holdings paid about US$137,422 per room to Orient Express Hotels for the property. … Ron Danko, executive vice president of CBRE Hotels, won the Jack A. Shaffer Financial Advisor of the Year Award. … And Randy Smith, founder and CEO of STR, was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Society of Hospitality Consultants at ALIS.
There is some sentiment that top assets in certain markets are ready to start pushing rate.
There is more demand than ever for a broker’s opinion of value—especially as more banks take back hotels. They’re looking for some consistent valuation, and it appears brokers can provide that stability for lenders looking to unload assets from their balance sheets.

Posted in Finance, Industry News, Leadership, Operations | No Comments »

10 Online Marketing Tips for 2010

Saturday, January 23rd, 2010

I’m just getting caught up. Tail end of December Ryan Bifulco had following excellent article on HotelInteractive.com. If you don’t subscribe to HotelInteractive.com, give it serious consideration.

There are countless studies and reports touting how critical it is for hotels to be active with blogs, search engines, e-mail and social networks. Yet many hoteliers are still very skeptical about new media and Internet advertising. With empty rooms to fill in 2010, perhaps more hotels will warm up to these online hotel marketing programs:

Rethink your Distribution. Partner with people that produce results. Grow your bookings through a combination of targeted banners, text links and e-mails. Distribution does not just mean listing on Expedia anymore. Look at meta search players and travel sites to fish in new ponds.
Stop Ignoring the Power of Viral Marketing. This year it’s about engaging potential customers using online videos, podcasts, blogs, games and social networks. All of these areas allow users to spread the word about your hotel as they share it with their friends.
Participate in Social Networks. This doesn’t mean slapping up a Facebook page without also having a fan page and group as well as the right audience as friends. Having a Twitter page with 50 followers won’t do the trick, so be an active part of the conversations to boost your following (audience) and make sure you know the Twitter lingo such as “#traveltuesday.”
Fuse in Digital PR. It used to be important to just have your hotel featured in the Sunday section of The New York Times. Today it’s also vital to have your hotel show up on popular online sites like About.com, which coincidentally is owned by The New York Times and draws in 60 million unique users a month.
Retarget Travelers. 98 percent of the users that visit a Web site leave without buying anything. But hotels can use retargeting to have a second shot at advertising to that same potential visitor even after he has left your site.
Revisit your SEO plan. SEO has changed more in the last year than in the last five years. SEO does not mean buying your way into Google (we call that SEM, folks). It means making your site as friendly as possible to the search engines. It also means doing more with blogs, bookmarks, social media, video SEO and audio SEO.
Shoot an HD video. Time to upgrade those hotel photos from five years ago!
Package your Hotel. You need to offer more than the traditional “breakfast package.” Get creative and sell the experience. Why not put together a “Thrill Seeker Package” which includes the room and a day of skydiving. And don’t be stingy on your room rate, as you can mask it within the total price of the package.
Publish your own E-mail Newsletter. When guests register online or at the hotel, ask them for their e-mail address and see if they might be interested in receiving a monthly newsletter filled with interesting information about the hotel, specials, packages, seasonal menus, etc. Building this internal database of travelers interested in your hotel brand is priceless and an excellent way to market your hotel throughout the year.
Develop a Digital Strategy. Brainstorm with your team and work with experts to understand how to tie all these things together in a way that fits your brand. The items listed above are all related and must be harnessed together to really get ahead.

Posted in Operations, Revenue Generation, Sales & Marketing | No Comments »

5 Questions Every Revenue Manager Should Be Asking

Monday, January 4th, 2010

Following is one of the most helpful articles I’ve seen for Revenue Enhancement for 2010. Patrick did excellent job. Here’s the link if you have not subscribed to this excellent publication.

http://www.hotelnewsnow.com/UserRegistration.aspx

04 January 2010 9:03 AM
By Patrick Mayock
Associate News Editor
patrick@hotelnewsnow.com

REPORT FROM THE U.S.—While presenting at the Hospitality Leadership Forum in early November, Mark Lomanno, president of research firm Smith Travel Research, made a statement ominous enough to send chills up the spines of revenue managers everywhere.

“On an inflation-adjusted basis,” he began, “ … it’s going to probably take eight to 10 years to get room rates back to where they were in 2007.”

This assessment was more severe than the reality faced in the aftermath of 9/11, when it took rates six years to recover on an inflation-adjusted basis, according to STR. But then again, this downturn also has seen historic extremes in industry performance declines.

Still, not everyone agreed with Lomanno’s projection. Jim Rozell, senior director of revenue optimization at Carlson Hotels Worldwide, said that 2007 was an inflated benchmark to begin with.

“In 2008, portions of 2007, rates were not where they should have been,” he said. “They were well above where they should have been,” adding rates are now where they should have been.

For the industry to think it will recover to 2007 levels is probably unrealistic, he said.

Yet others, such as Bonnie Buckhiester of Buckhiester Management, a Seattle-based yield management consulting firm, concurred with Lomanno.

And whether you agree with the claim or not, it’s important to start thinking about recovering rates at the onset of the economic upturn. Here are five questions every good revenue manager should ask himself or herself to get started:

1. Have you forgotten your price point?

There’s a difference between slashing prices and making discounts look like promotions, Rozell said. The former implies cutting rates to establish the lowest competitive price point among your peers, assuming that guests’ booking decisions are based solely on price.

Promotional discounts, however, offer cost-conscious consumers a value-oriented deal that maintains a reference to the original price point. For example, if a guest buys two nights and gets one night free, they still know how much that third night is worth.

“The key thing is to keep that higher reference price out there, so that people being driven by value still realize this is a (US)$299 product,” said Chris Anderson, assistant professor for the Cornell School of Hotel Administration.

2. Are you using the right comp set?

Bonnie Buckhiester

“Revenue mangers have to go back and revisit their comp sets and determine if they’ve got the right comp sets,” Buckhiester said. This is especially important as revenue managers learn to navigate the new normal, in which five-star hotels are charging four-star rates, four-star hotels are charging three-star rates, and so on.

Read “It’s all about who is in your comp set.”

3. How often do you update your forecasts?

Monthly forecasts are great for C-level boardroom meetings, but they don’t provide the type of up-to-date information needed to make accurate, day-to-day decisions from the revenue management perspective, according to Buckhiester.

So how often is often enough? Track accuracy by the day, Buckhiester advised. This is especially important for hotels at which revenue management is not outsourced or automatic.

4. What’s your most profitable business mix?

It’s not enough to determine your most profitable business mix in general, Buckhiester said. You must determine the most profitable business mix for today’s market conditions, and then adjust it accordingly as the economic climate changes.

To do so, look at all revenue streams, all income, all internal and external costs, and really drill down into them to determine what mix of guests will generate the highest total revenue—not just the highest initial room rate.

5. Does the product match the price?

Price points shouldn’t be arbitrary; they should accurately reflect the product and demand, Buckhiester said. While this might sound obvious, far too many hoteliers aren’t analyzing where the demand for certain guestrooms and packages actually lie.

Buckhiester advised taking a month or two to track upgrades to see what guests want and are willing to pay for. Then, build in up-sell opportunities to capture that demand.

Kimpton Hotels, for example, offers guests upgrade opportunities in their confirmation e-mails. “This is what you bought … you can get this upgrade for (US)$10 right now instead of (US)$20,” Buckhiester said. “It may or may not be available when checking in, and you can change your mind.”

Posted in Operations, Revenue Generation, Sales & Marketing | No Comments »

Andrew Freeman & Co. presents hotel, restaurant trends for 2010

Tuesday, November 17th, 2009

Andrew Freeman’s Trends for 2010 are a must read. Excellent ideas for all types of business.

San Francisco, CA—November 16, 2009. Available exclusively to media today, Andrew Freeman & Co. (AF&Co.), a leading hospitality and restaurant consulting firm, is releasing their 2010 Trend Watch List. Tapping into the pulse of top restaurant and hotel trends to expect in the coming year.

The 2010 Trend Watch List was developed by AF&Co., from a combination of close industry observation, coast-to-coast travel, discussions with industry experts, meetings with hotel and restaurant clients, press contacts, conferences attended and media sources.

An industry veteran, prior to opening Andrew Freeman & Co., Andrew worked at legendary New York venues including Windows on the World, the Russian Tea Room and the Rainbow Room. Eventually Andrew left New York for San Francisco to become the Vice President of Public Relations and Strategic Partnerships for Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants. He spent ten years with Kimpton, launching over 40 hotels and restaurants as well as the global brand. While there Andrew was responsible for strategic development and execution of all public and media relations activities.

AF&Co.’s annual Trend List, now in its third year, has quickly become an industry standard in anticipating market demands and consumer feedback. Read on to review the complete list:

WHAT ARE THE TOP TRENDS FOR 2010 ACCORDING TO ANDREW FREEMAN?

Putting Off the Ritz – Keep it simple! Forgo the finery for now. Keep ambiance, service, and menu items simple and comfortable. Hotels can lose some of the in-room amenities; restaurants take a more casual approach with less white linen, simpler tableware and less decoration. Less is more, but choose wisely.

Examples: 400 thread count sheets are fine, and when it comes to relaxation, a good cotton robe goes a lot farther than a silk throw.

The Magic Touch – Hotels and restaurants operate touch-screen interfaces for check-in, placing orders end user-guided guest education. Everything is paid for with the swipe of a card. Reach out and touch someone.

Examples: Incentient electronic winelist at SD26 (New York, NY) and for in-room guest service in-face Ritz Carlton in Moscow; Virgin Air snackbar; Stanford Court Hotel touchscreen tourist maps (San Francisco, CA)

Guest Who’s Coming to Dinner – Create cache by offering guests something special and inviting. Celebrity yoga instructors, chefs, actors, singers, masseurs, bartenders and designers visit and do what they do well. Restaurants host Guest Chef Nights and visiting bartenders come in once a week or for a week at a time. Pop-up restaurant appearances expand outreach and help build support. Guest experts are great for sales and public relations.

Examples: The Tides Zihuatanejo’s Yoga Retreats with celebrity instructor Tom Morley (Zihuatanejo, Mexico); Tastemaker Dinners at étoile at Domaine Chandon (Yountville, CA)

Reality Bites – Bring reality TV to real life whether it is culinary showdowns in restaurants or behind the scenes glimpses into running an outlet in the hospitality business.

Examples: Sommelier Smackdown at Fifth Floor (San Francisco, CA); Deathmatch dinners (Portland, ME)

There Is Such a Thing as a Free Lunch– Bring in guests by giving out. Hotels offer added services at no charge. Restaurants drink up the profits by keeping guests on site and happily hydrated from beverage purchases.

Examples: River Terrace Inn offers guests complimentary DVD rentals, bikes and bottled water (Napa, CA); Palio D’Asti provides free pizza during happy hour (San Francisco, CA)

Everything Old is Indeed New Again – It’s the revival. Old-school ambiance rich with historical significance enrich hotels. While restaurants return to “classic” salad dressings and dips: blue cheese, green goddess, thousand island and louis dressing or pimento cheese and onion dip. Let’s go retro.

Examples: Hotel Shattuck Plaza (Berkeley, CA); Shrimp cocktail with green goddess dressing at PorterHouse New York (New York, NY)

Get Your Game On – The lobby as living room concept goes more casual and fun with pinball, pool tables, foosball or with theme nights like Movie Nights, Makeover Madness, “Dancing With the Stars” and “American Idol” viewing parties. Restaurant make dining fun with activity oriented events.

Examples: Pillar & Post (Niagra on the Lake, Ontario); “Golf & Grill” twilight golf games and dinners at Wente Vineyards (Livermore, CA)

Values Driven Incentives – Guests choose hotels and restaurants based on like-minded values. Hotels will donate a percentage of group business from group stays to the charity of choice, while building a strong relationship and being able to reach out to like minded businesses. Restaurants attract guests with conscious concerns seeking restaurants that reinforce their views.

Examples: Kimpton Hotels Shared Values Program; River Terrace Inn sponsors the Napa Valley Land Trust

HOTELS
The Discovery Channel – Guests are in search of experience vacations that allow them to get involved. Wise hotels bring the true taste to the table, or the farm. Farm stays, winery bootcamp programs, voluntourism, and cooking classes. Escape to an alternate reality.

Examples: Feather Down Farms (multiple locations, Europe); Stony Creek Farm (New York, NY), Liberty Hill Farm (Rochester, VT)

The Loyal Treatment – Guest loyalty programs give more out, more often, in efforts to boost business and keep a strong relationship.

Statistics: Loyalty is up 19% in a tough economy (Hospitality Technology)

I Heart Art –Say it with flowers and you’ll have to say it again and again. Art speaks volumes and doesn’t have to be replaced every week. It saves money, it can be a source of community involvement and it looks good. Art is smart.

Examples: Hotel Palomar, Art in Motion (multiple locations); rotating local art work at The Lodge at Sonoma (Sonoma, CA)

One Size Does Not Fit All – Small and quirky hotels offer a unique experience; often at a more budget friendly price. Loose the traditional hotel accoutrements and replace with an alternative vibe. Airstream trailers, unusual property conversions, small but funky is the rule.

Examples: Pod hotels, Micro Hotels, Hotel Airstream (Newport Beach, CA), hip/funky hostels.

Outside the Box - Open air or outdoor lobbies, independently situated bungalows or guest units set amongst landscaped areas. Outdoor massages and exercise programs. Urban adaptations feature mini-rooftop gardens. It’s the great, great outdoors.

Examples: Cottage Suites at The Lodge at Sonoma (Sonoma, CA), Bardessono (Yountville, CA), Apple Farm (Philo, CA)

The New F Words – Form. Function. Flair. Hotel guests demand fully functional work and relaxation spaces; from practical desks, focused lighting, adequate bathroom counter space, plenty of plugs and the latest tech equipment. Don’t let design be a detriment.

Examples: ergonomic chairs, spare desk-side outlets, wireless speaker phone, and in-room connection ports with USB outlets including direct connection capabilities to sync a laptop with the 32” flat screen TV at Wyndham Phoenix Hotel (Phoenix, AZ)

Let’s Get Really Personal – Show the love and appreciation with a completely personalized experience. Customization goes to the next level to create the at-home feeling. Design at every touch-point is being personalized.

Examples: Pre-loaded digital images of family photographs, customized playlists and magazine selections in every guestroom for return guests.

RESTAURANTS

Coming to America – International influences are ingrained. Sriracha (rooster sauce) is the new salsa, which replaced the old ketchup. Vietnamese Banh Mi is the new Ham & Swiss; and Middle Eastern spices and spreads go mainstream as pizza makes way for pide. Forget chicken noodle soup, it is pho; pho sure.

Examples: Short rib sliders with Sriracha aioli at E&O Trading Co. (San Francisco, Larkspur and San Jose, CA); Sourdough bread and lavash with feta walnut spread and Caspian tapenade at Zare at Fly Trap (San Francisco, CA)

This Is a Stick Up - Small foods on a stick. Skewers, satay, and yakitori; no ifs, ands or kebabs about it.

Examples: Satay at Pranna (New York, NY); Anticuchos at La Mar Cebicheria Peruana (multiple locations worldwide)

Use Your Noodle – Asian noodles including ramen, soba and pho; from basic broths to high-charged broths with barbecued meats and all sorts of additions.

Examples: Big Bowl (multiple locations, ILL, VA, MN)

Sandwich Smorgasbord – Enjoy a globally inspired buffet of sandwich style options including Scandinavian open faced, Indian Kati rolls, PLTs with pancetta or pork belly, international grilled cheeses and tricked out Mexican tortas bursting at the seams. There’s a reason why delicous begins with Deli.

Examples: The Sentinel (San Francisco, CA); Take a Bao (Century City, CA)

Love Shack Baby– Seafood shacks go upscale and mainstream, even in inland areas. Old favorites like oysters, fried clams, fish ‘n chips, lobster rolls, crab cakes and clam chowder, as well as fish tacos, clam bakes, lobster boils and all encompassing fish frys. We’re hooked.

Examples: Nettie’s Crab Shack (San Francisco, CA); Linda Bean’s Perfect Maine Lobster Roll (multiple locations, East Coast)

School of Fish – Pristine local organic produce is no longer enough, chefs and guests are casting their nets beyond small, local, sustainable and organic farming to demand sustainable seafood certified by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood watch and other eco-conscious organizations. So long snapper; make way for mackerel.

Examples: Area 31 (Miami, FLA); Fish (Sausalito, CA)

Dinner Theatre – Interactive entrees, apps and desserts create an experience not just a dish. From simple tableside preparations, mix it yourself tartar, sauces added at the table, build your own sundaes and ingredients that pop in your mouth; dinner is the show. We’ll all work for food.

Example: Cote de boeuf pour deux served and sliced tableside at Grand Cafe Brasserie and Bar, (San Francisco, CA); at home dessert kits from Mi2Sweets (San Francisco, CA)

One Plate Wonders – The carte du jour is combined for speed, efficiency, cost-savings and fun. It’s a completely fresh take on the blue plate special.

Examples: TV dinner at FIVE (Berkeley, CA); Quadrifoglio at SD26 (New York, NY), Red plate special at Red Star Tavern and Roast House (Portland, OR)

Suit-Your-Size – One size doesn’t always fit all. Entrees available in small and large sizes lets guests tailor the experience to size. Call it the shrinking waste-line.

Examples: Perbacco (San Francisco, CA) and Poggio (Sausalito, CA) offer pastas in half and full sizes; Hobson’s Choice (Williamstown, MA) offers most entrees and the Mudd pie dessert in full and half sizes.

Downsizing – Small is now smaller. With smaller budgets and more flexible menus we’ll see the equivalent of cocktail hors d’oeuvres; something to nibble with your drink before (or in lieu of) a full meal. Mini tacos, snack sized empanadas, finger sandwiches, sliders, and riblets. Equally approachable for the waistline and wallet these are the new essential handheld devices.

Examples: Best-O-Burger (San Francisco, CA); “Three bites and a flight” three mini tacos and a flight of paired wines Carneros Bistro & Wine Bar (Sonoma, CA)

Paint My Plate – Restaurants and art galleries merge as restaurants with art galleries attached open and art galleries bring in chefs and food for artistic food-focused events.

Examples: 18 Reasons (San Francisco, CA); Mua (Oakland, CA)

Garden Tap – Sausages and suds under the open sky. Beer gardens with good grub are spreading like Teutonic plague.

Examples: Charlie’s Kitchen, (Cambridge, MA) Café Berlin, (Denver, CO)

Eat Street – It’s the food truck tweet-up, a mash-up of narrowly focused food purveyors clustered together and sharing a communal seating area. Consider it the new block party.

If You’re Happy and You Know it… – Extend happy hours; start early, go late and offer a second late night shift. How happy can you get?

Examples: Postrio happy hour 2:30pm – 6:30pm (San Francisco, CA), Grand Cafe Brasserie & Bar happy hour 4pm – 7pm (San Francisco, CA)

Hot Foods:
Eggs: deviled, pickled and deep fried
Sous vide fruit, jam packed fruit with jolly rancher intensity
Pasta: ramen, soba and spaghetti
Legs & feet
You silly rabbit
Cassoulet and crock pots
Fritters and croquettes
Ceviche (moving east), fried chicken (moving west)
Polenta and grits
More than just your token tofu

Cool Drinks
Iced tea is the new water
Retro sodas
Red, white or orange – natural wines
Hard ciders and cask aged beers
Dessert drinks and spiked shakes
All tapped in: wine on tap
Beer cocktails
Flower power: rosewater, crème de violette and hibiscus syrup
Foam art and branded drinks on cocktails and coffee
Bitter cocoa and coffee tinctures in cocktails

This article is from Nov 17, 2009 HotelWorld Network. To subscribe:

http://www.hotelworldnetwork.com/magazines/hotelworld-network-subscribe

Posted in Industry News, Leadership, Operations, Revenue Generation, Sales & Marketing | No Comments »

Determine the Data You Need to Protect

Friday, November 6th, 2009

Cyper security is tough to keep up with. David Meizlik is web data security expert. This article identifies the 5 questions to answer before determining what security is needed.

Protecting essential information such as intellectual property and customer data is critical for businesses of all sizes. Small businesses deal with many of the same regulatory compliance demands as large enterprises, such as HIPAA, PCI, SOX, and state laws governing the protection of individuals’ personally identifiable information—but with far fewer resources than their big business counterparts. Before beginning a data security strategy, businesses must first decide how important data security is in relation to other IT goals, and define exactly what types of data need to be protected.

First, determine how important data-loss prevention is in comparison to other security concerns by asking the following questions:

1. What regulations involving confidential data must we comply with?

2. Do we know where all copies of confidential data are stored?

3. How is sensitive information being used and shared inside and outside our organization?

4. How do our employees exchange critical data with business partners and customers—and are these channels secure?

5. What would happen to the sales, customers, and reputation of our business if a data breach occurred?

Second, define what data are deemed sensitive. Once data protection is deemed a priority, the second step is to define what exactly constitutes sensitive data for your business. The definition of sensitive data can vary greatly across industries and will not be the same for a local credit union as for a midsize retail chain. Sensitive data can include customer lists, company financial data, trade secrets, intellectual property, marketing plans, credit-card numbers, employees’ social security numbers and more. It’s critical to review all functional areas—including legal, finance, human resources, marketing, sales, and others—to determine what types of data are essential to each area of the business and need to be protected.

Only after businesses have taken these initial steps can they begin to set policies that will protect their sensitive data, yet not impede their business processes. Ultimately every organization, no matter its size, must protect the information that is essential to its business.

David Meizlik
Director of Web and Data Security
Websense
San Diego

Article from Nov. 5, 2009 AH&LA Smartbrief ahla@smartbrief.com

Posted in Industry News, Leadership, Operations | No Comments »

What Candidates Want in Your Ads

Thursday, August 13th, 2009

All candidates want your ads to contain the following information. While it’s important for all, it’s imperative information when you are looking to hire candidates rated in the Top 1/3 in their job category.

We’ve said it for a long time. The best candidates are currently working. Employers need the candidates worse than the candidates need the new job. We would love to hear what you are doing to sell your company and jobs to candidates to encourage them to apply to your jobs.

Research, News and Information for Recruiting Professionals | August 10, 2009

Boomers and Gen Y’s, in Sync!

by David Earle

Sylvia Hewlett and two colleagues at the Center for Work-Life Policy in New York City have published new research on the attitudes and behaviors of Boomers and Gen Y’s. Her findings contradict the common assumption that these two groups approach employment very differently and must therefore be attracted with separate recruiting messages. Her conclusions dovetail neatly with research we published earlier this year in our Job Seeker Attitudes and Behaviors Report- Mastering Internet Recruiting.

Our Job Seeker research documented the importance of non-salary/benefit considerations to candidates considering your company. Hewlett’s new research, published in the current issue of the Harvard Business Review, reveals unexpected affinities between the candidate pools represented by Gen Y (roughly, ages 15-30) and Boomers (roughly, ages 45-63). Hewlett’s data show that although widely separated in life experience, these two groups share a group of common goals and attitudes that recruiters can capitalize on when trying to attract and retain them. Some of these are unexpected.

Posted in Industry News, Operations, Recruiting & Training | No Comments »

Tom’s Take: Using Facebook to Drive Business

Wednesday, August 5th, 2009

I don’t know about you, but I don’t have a lot of time to spend researching all the social networking sites. I want to use them to drive business…now, not three years from now.

Following is one of the first articles I’ve seen that gave me specific ideas.

Excellent ideas on how hotels, restaurants, lounges, spas and recreational facilities, etc., can use Facebook to quickly, easily drive revenues without increasing costs.

Businesses turn to Facebook for word-of-mouth advertising

Updated 8/5/2009 11:33 AM


Enlarge	By Jefferson Graham, USA TODAY

Bartender Beau Dieda, hanging with Michelle Hicks, helps drive traffic to Baja Sharkeez through Facebook. He lets 650 of his closest friends in on drink specials, discounts and events.

HERMOSA BEACH, Calif. — Bartender Beau Dieda does more than mix and serve drinks every night at popular nightspot Baja Sharkeez: He is also instructed to sign up friends and fans for his company’sFacebook page, as well as his own. Before he leaves the restaurant, he sends bulletins to his collective fan base inviting them back in for specials, discounts or events.

“It’s one of the best ways we can reach a vast audience,” he says. “After my shift, I can blast it to 650 friends in 30 seconds. I don’t have to go around to each person, or call them up.”

Facebook, with 250 million members, has gone beyond being just a place where you can alert friends about the music you’re listening to, who you’re dating or what movies you like. The social network’s expanded Pages feature lets businesses, organizations and public figures in on the action. They can create profiles that let them sign up fans, issue status updates and send messages. Businesses like Baja Sharkeez that cater to young people and big companies like Pizza Hut and Coca-Cola are finding it’s profitable to be your Facebook friend.

What also is enticing marketers: 120 million Facebook users log on at least once a day, and 30 million of them access Facebook on mobile devices. And those with major purchasing power — ages 35 and up — represent the fastest-growing demographic.

There are more than 100,000 small-business pages — 300,000 total business pages — on Facebook, says Tim Kendall, the company’s director of monetization.

Some large companies have attracted huge followings. Coca-Cola and Starbucks have over 3 million fans; Adidas shoes has 1.9 million. Pizza Hut is closing in on 1 million fans, whom it regularly updates about specials and new menu items.

“It makes us very relevant to the audience, and lets us communicate with them where they are, in a way that our website can’t do,” says Bernard Acoca, Pizza Hut’s senior director of digital marketing.

Sprinkles, a small chain of cupcake bakeries, is itching to get to 100,000 Facebook fans. Co-owner Charles Nelson started in April sending quizzes, free cupcake offers, contests and other enticements on Facebook to bring people in.

Back then he had 8,000 fans. Now he’s at 27,000 and is staging a contest to get to 100,000, offering free cupcakes and a trip to Beverly Hills to the winner.

“A website is you speaking out, but a Facebook page lets our customers come in and give their feedback,” he says. “It generates business, and it’s also a great community builder.”

Targeted advertising

In addition to a free profile page, Chicago-based T-shirt marketer Threadless uses Facebook’s advertising program. Advertisers can choose pay-per-click ads similar to Google’s auction-based ad program, bidding on words and paying when someone clicks on their ad, or traditional ads based on “impressions,” or the number of times an ad is presented.

Cam Balzer, director of marketing at Threadless, bids on words relating to video games, music and zombies. “This works phenomenally well,” says Balzer. “You can target your ad better on Facebook than anywhere else. I know my customers’ age, where they live, what their interests are, and only the people who fit my target see the ads.”

Facebook declined to disclose financial specifics, but Kendall says the local ad program is “ahead of expectations,” and the number of advertisers has tripled since 2008.

Marketers increasingly are gravitating to Facebook because they can advertise to a targeted audience, says Emily Riley, an analyst at Forrester Research. She says marketers can pick and choose consumers based on public information they share on their Facebook profiles, such as the city they live in, the college they attended, their group affiliations and their fan pages.

“You can literally find a book lover in New York who is a fan of Stephen King,” says Riley. “That is gold for a local book seller.”

To sign up (facebook.com/advertising), advertisers commit to spending a minimum of $5 per day. An ad campaign can be turned off and on with no monthly minimum. Kendall says businesses using the ad program successfully are those who depend upon word of mouth, like real estate agents and wedding photographers.

“Brides tell their friends they’re engaged, and wedding vendors can run ads specifically targeted to them,” he says.

Sharkeez doesn’t spend money on Facebook ads for its five Southern California restaurants. Jeffrey Tyler, director of marketing for Sharkeez, says Facebook attracts enough customers for free.

His restaurants — with 50 TV screens playing the latest sports, low-priced drinks and a young singles crowd — are usually busy, but Facebook has helped “tremendously” in the soft economy, he says.

Restaurant patron Amber Mather of Hermosa Beach came into Baja Sharkeez on a Thursday afternoon specifically because Tyler sent her an invitation with a 2-for-1 Happy Hour special. “You let your clientele know every day if something is going on — new deals, new specials. That’s how I know what’s happening at Baja Sharkeez,” she says.

Tyler agrees. “We can drive sales so much more. It’s probably the best thing that’s happened to us in the past 10 years.”

Contributing: Jon Swartz in San Francisco

Posted in Food & Beverage, Industry News, Operations, Revenue Generation, Sales & Marketing, Tom's Take | No Comments »

Nagib’s Corner: Ironing is Gaining Steam as a Perk

Wednesday, August 5th, 2009

Hello Ladies and Gentlemen,

Follow up from my last email, this amenity is gaining steam!

For anyone who has been on the road for a business trip (all of you), you know what a drag this is to the trip.

You can offer either a steam service or light ironing at limited cost and high value.

· Shoe shines – you can offer these with the help of your housemen who will be in the building, for the most part, in the evening/graveyard. NO EXTRA COST

· Ironing – offer this over a certain time period when you can retain a room attendant to stay over for an additional couple hours or so. Or ask another to come in for a couple hours in the evening. Imagine the impact with your corporate guest!

Test it for a Mon, Tue and Wed only and see how it works.
Make it a back to work special for September for all corporate clients who have a negotiated rate with you.
If you offer a manger’s reception (which I hope many of you are), you could offer this over that period which will really get them talking!
2 HOURS @ $18-$20 max total.
Offer some free ironing to groups or at least to the group organizers as a point of differentiation.

For those who try this, please let me know your comments!

Nagib.

More hotels get the wrinkles out for guests; Ironing is gaining steam as a perk in the USA
News from LexisNexis

Gary Stoller — USA TODAY, August 4, 2009 Tuesday FIRST EDITION

Owen Mekitarian checks into a hotel almost every week and faces the same problem when he unzips his bags.

“I arrive just about every week with wrinkled clothes,” says Mekitarian, 52, a Canadian broadcast engineering consultant who frequently travels across the border to visit U.S. radio stations.

Like Mekitarian, millions of travelers can arrive at hotels each year with wrinkled clothing. Many reluctantly reach for an ironing board and iron or call the front desk for the equipment.

That’s no longer needed at Omni Hotels. In late April, it announced that its 41 North American hotels are providing free ironing for frequent-guest-program members.

Omni joins a growing number of hotels offering complimentary clothing and grooming services. Complimentary shoeshines, for instance, are increasingly common. And more hotels are letting guests use washers and dryers for free.

But simply getting the wrinkles out is often the biggest concern, and free ironing remains a rarity. Looking for hotels with free ironing, USA TODAY contacted numerous chains, and the American Hotel & Lodging Association asked its thousands of members.

Two other hotels offer the free service: the White Barn Inn in Kennebunkport, Maine, and The Jefferson, a Washington, D.C., hotel that’s scheduled to open later this month after an extensive renovation.

The White Barn may have the most guest-friendly policy in the country. Guests can have as many items as they wish washed and ironed for free, and the inn provides free shoeshines, says spokeswoman Kristin Hutton.

The Jefferson will iron one item of clothing for free per stay and provide free shoeshines.

Omni irons two items for free per stay for most members of its Select Guest frequent-stay program, which can be joined without charge at check-in.

Select Guest black-level members — those who have 11 stays or spend 20 nights annually at Omni hotels — can have as many items as they wish ironed for free.

Omni estimates that 8% to 10% of its guests a week use the service, according to Vice President Caryn Kboudi. Excluding repeat guests, the chain says it has ironed more than 1,000 shirts a week for free.

Guests at 190 Hyatt hotels who pay a higher room rate for upgraded amenities can have one shirt or blouse ironed daily per room without an extra charge. The amenities are part of the Hyatt Business Plan available at participating Hyatt Regency, Grand Hyatt and Park Hyatt hotels.

Free ironing is more prevalent at foreign hotels.

The St. Regis Punta Mita Resort, north of Mexico’s Puerto Vallarta airport, offers free ironing of two items of clothing per stay and free shoeshine and button repair.

Hotel Missoni in Edinburgh, Scotland, washes and irons for free two items of clothing daily per guest room.

Many hotel guests despise ironing clothes in their rooms.

Omni announced in June that it hired a research company to survey business travelers and found that some would rather have their teeth pulled than iron clothes.

Mekitarian, the frequent business traveler from Canada, can relate.

“I do not really know how to iron a shirt,” he says. “I hate ironing shirts so much that I would rather do just about anything else — even torture myself on the treadmill.”

Mekitarian and Michael Lake, a business traveler from Auburn, Calif., say free ironing is a “great” policy.

“Most hotel irons do not work properly, leak or stick to clothing,” says Lake, who works in the transportation safety industry and spends up to 150 nights a year in hotels.

Packing dirty clothes

Mekitarian says he carefully packs his bags to keep clothes wrinkle-free, but they still wrinkle or are wrinkled during airport security searches.

To avoid ironing, he sometimes packs his bag with dirty clothes and pays for laundry service after arriving at a hotel.

Such a charge may be avoided at an increasing number of North American hotels that offer washers and driers for free for guests who do their own laundry.

All 213 Candlewood Suites hotels and all 155 Staybridge Suites properties provide washers and dryers without charge, but guests have to bring or buy detergent.

At AKA’s eight hotels in New York City; White Plains, N.Y.; Philadelphia; Washington, D.C.; and Arlington, Va., the use of washers and dryers is free, and complimentary detergent is provided.

Washers and dryers are in every room at the chain’s hotels in Washington and New York’s Times Square.

The laundry room at AKA’s Central Park hotel has a lounge area with a flat-screen TV.

Hotels’ free clothing and grooming services appeal to many travelers.

But Marla Juliano of Birmingham, Ala., says she travels three to five days a week, and they won’t influence her hotel choice.

“If they are going to send someone home with me to wash, iron, cook and clean after a long trip,” says Juliano, a sales director for a hair care manufacturer, “now, that is a different story.”

Nagib Lakhani-RevMax Hospitality Consulting Services
O: (425)677-7866 C: (425)445-7750 F: (866)508-7866

nagib@RevenueMaxConsulting.com
4313 245th Avenue SE
Issaquah, WA 98029

Posted in Nagib's Corner, Operations, Sales & Marketing | No Comments »

Nagib’s Corner: The Best $73 I ever Spent

Monday, June 15th, 2009

Hello Ladies and Gentlemen,

A truly do-able function with higher returns than other functions we may spend our time at. From the founder of Joie de Vivre Hotels.

As we work our way through his environment, it is the commitment of those who lift the load for us that will allow us to emerge on the other side with a minimal of bruising.

A simple technique I learnt from a veteran commenting on how little effort we spend on appreciating and thanking our teams:

Place 10 pennies in one pocket at the start of the day.

Every time you appreciate a team member, transfer one of those pennies to the other pocket.

Make sure you transfer all 10 by the end of the day. Surely you come across at least ten occasions to be grateful to someone on your team.

If you don’t, then you don’t have the right team!

Enjoy the day!

Nagib.

The best $73 I ever spent

By Chip Conley, HWN Contributor

Originally printed on The Huffington Post, Joie de Vivre Hospitality founder Chip Conley shares his beliefs on how to manage and properly treat employees

Close your eyes for a moment and consider the collection of bosses you’ve had since you joined the workforce. I remember my first boss, Mac, when I suffered through six weeks at the fries and shake workstation of McDonald’s. He helped me understand that “boss” was a four-letter word and spelled backward it’s what I felt like doing when I came home from work each day (SOB also is how I described Mac to my friends).

Chip Conley

But, I also remember Larry Keating, who mentored me with great patience and wisdom in my summer internship between college and business school. Larry helped me realize I had more ability than I thought I did so I could accomplish more than I thought I would.

My hotel company, Joie de Vivre, has a more than 10-year tradition of celebrating “Employee Recognition Week” just as we’re going into our busy summer season. We started this tradition as a means of helping our maids, bellmen, bartenders and managers realize that we truly appreciated how much life they gave to our enterprise. While we initially were thrifty with our expenses during this week, with time our generosity grew to include tickets to theme parks, baseball games or cruises on the bay.

More recently, we spent nearly $100,000 on these various recognition-week activities, which may sound lavish. But when you realize this is only about $35 per employee (or about $1 per hour that each of our employees worked that week), you come to realize the good feelings that are generated about our company culture are probably worth it. Heck, you could spend $100,000 in legal fees in California just settling one wrongful termination suit of an employee who didn’t feel properly recognized.

While employee recognition week may be a wise investment, this year we don’t have the cash to invest, and we’ve had to make cutbacks. Sound familiar? Does that mean we can’t recognize our people? Compensation is a right, but recognition is a gift. What gift could I give my staff that would be as meaningful as what Larry Keating gave me that summer 27 years ago?

Yesterday, I decided to write each of the 80 people who work in our headquarters a handwritten, heart-felt thank you card. For less than a dollar per card and about six hours of my time, I could give the ultimate gift that we all are looking for. Cancel your round of golf this weekend and plant yourself in your favorite chair watching the NBA Finals and pen some thankful prose to those who work for you. As William James once wrote, “The deepest hunger in humans is the desire to be appreciated.” I don’t know about you, but I’ve saved cards that old high school flames wrote me as well as those employees have written me over the years. The power of genuine, customized appreciation will never lose its value—even in a gloomy economy … in fact, it’s probably what we’re all thirsty for in this desert of a depression.

The Gallup organization found that the single most important variable in employee productivity and loyalty is not the pay, the perks or the benefits. It’s the quality of the relationship between employees and their supervisors. Isn’t it ironic that pay, perks and benefits all cost your company at the bottom line but authentic recognition, especially when it’s most unexpected, costs very little and gives the most impressive return on investment? The $73 I spent on those cards was the best investment I’ll make in 2009.

Chip Conley is founder of Joie de Vivre Hospitality. To read more of his thoughts, visit www.chipconley.com/musings/

Nagib Lakhani RevMax Hospitality Consulting Services
O: (425)677-7866 C: (425)445-7750 F: (866)508-7866

nagib@RevenueMaxConsulting.com
4313 245th Avenue SE
Issaquah, WA 98029

Posted in Leadership, Nagib's Corner, Operations, Uncategorized | No Comments »

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