Loyalty programs are a luxury that many take for granted nowadays. This wasn’t always the case, and much like the advent of the television, loyalty programs and their associative reward points are something that rose to prominence right as the baby boomer reached adulthood. I still recall the unveiling of the American Airlines AAdvantage program in 1981,...
I first met Chef Murray Hall at a conference last August and he enthralled me with stories of just how much the quality of foods can affect the productivity of meetings and conferences. Since that time, I’ve kept a keen eye on my own diet and how certain foods affect both mood and energy levels. Needless to say, Chef Hall is right, and during our recent cha...
Best practices in customer service will forever be theorized upon and debated, and it’s a potent soup de jour for hoteliers come 2013 and beyond. Consider guest services as the only true immutable pillar of any hotel. Strip away the technology, the perks, the amenities, the décor and the picturesque location, and what you have are people helping other peopl...
Cheese is often thought of as the lowly second-tier cousin to wine even though the two go hand-in-hand across the globe for fancy soirees. Take a closer look and you’ll see the craft and sophistication behind these semisolid dairy products goes just as deep as their alcoholic pairings. My appreciation for cheeses was sparked a few summers ago when I sojou...
How do you manage your electronic guest feedback? What’s your response rate? How do you interpret the answers? How do you translate numerical ratings into a targeted call to action? Or, do you disregard your own customer feedback model and opt to trust solely in the third-party deities of TripAdvisor, Travelocity and their ilk? All good questions, and indee...
When was the last time you had to ‘hunt down’ a server in a retail store, a restaurant or other service environment? Yesterday, last week, last month? Consider a guest while on vacation or after a day of meetings. Suppose this guest decides to relax near the pool or perhaps at the hotel’s secluded patio space. This tactic may ensure privacy, but it also m...
As a resident baby boomer writer, it’s time once again for me to chime in with a few thoughts on a great demographic shift unfolding before our eyes. First, a statistical recap: boomers born in the post-WWII years from 1946 to 1964 comprise a total of roughly 78 million Americans. Aging is inevitable and, if you’re lucky, you and your hotel may well find yo...
Are you aware of the term ‘drip pricing’ for hotels? Market and advertise the base daily room rate then divulge additional, and exceedingly compulsory, fees after a customer has signed on the dotted line. These extras might include anything from resort fees, housekeeping charges, fitness room fees (whether you use it or not) to amenity surcharges for local...
By now, I expect that you have a member of your staff dedicated to reviewing and responding to comments posted on your TripAdvisor listing. These responses are designed to do a number of things, from complimenting a reviewer to acknowledging a fault and addressing the issues. The practice of making these responses is pretty much ingrained in every property’...
When you think of Karachi, what image or emotion first comes to mind? For me, being in Toronto and inundated with the oftentimes hellfire and brimstone of American news media, this Pakistani metropolis doesn’t particularly evoke positive sentiment. I’m fairly geographically educated (I’m in the hotel business, after all!) so I know Karachi is a bustling por...
