LATEST NEWS
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LODGING LEADERS
October 23, 2019234 | More for the Money: Upselling generates significant revenue gains for hotels
Though average daily rate in U.S. hotels continues to grow year over year, hotel operators are not so eager to increase room prices these days. STR and Oxford Economics forecast ADR will increase by 1.9 percent this year and 2.2 percent in 2020. While an increase is usually viewed as a positive, the joy is read more
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LODGING LEADERS
October 9, 2019233 | How Does Your Hotel Rate? Smart pricing strategies key to winning in a downturn
It’s often said the U.S. hotel industry is a street-corner business. With that point of view, it may not take much for a hotel operator to panic and set off a price war on your block. The industry fell victim to mindless discounting in the days immediately after 9/11 and during the depth of the read more
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EMPLOYEE RECRUITMENT & RETENTION
October 2, 2019232 | Wage Pressures: How to plug cost leaks in your hotel’s labor pool (Labor and Hiring Part 2)
At the peak of a great upward climb from the Great Recession, the U.S. lodging industry is seeing a leveling off in business performance. During the 25th annual Lodging Conference in Phoenix last week, many industry experts talked about a new normal of muted revenue gains and thinner profit margins as expenses continue to grow. read more
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EMPLOYEE RECRUITMENT & RETENTION
September 25, 2019231 | Culture Club: Your hotel’s work environment may be bad for business (Labor and Hiring Part 1)
Is your hotel a fun place to work? Do your employees look forward to spending their day at your hotel? If the answers are no, then your business is in trouble. Do you have difficulty keeping good employees? Do you see staff members whispering in huddled groups? Do you or your supervisors work behind closed read more
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Feature
September 18, 2019Funding CapEx: New report tells what it takes for hotels to stay competitive
International Society of Hospitality Consultants, in conjunction with Hospitality Asset Managers Association, this year released “ISHC CapEx 2018: A Study of Capital Expenditures in the Hotel Industry.” The 276-page report details what it costs on average to keep a hotel property up to date and in good working order. One thing was overwhelmingly clear in report: the traditional recommendation that hotels set aside at least 4 percent in revenue for future property improvements is woefully underestimated. CapEx planning, say report authors and other experts, is so much more complex than it was two decades ago, when the first report was published.
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Feature
September 11, 2019Panic Buttons: Hospitality Workers Sound the Alarm (Hotel Safety Part 2)
When the American Hotel & Lodging Association in 2018 launched its Five Star Promise to improve safety and security for hotel workers, it acknowledged the influence of labor unions in its comprehensive plan that includes arming employees with safety devices by 2020. The time is right to focus on finding and providing solutions to sexual harassment and assault in the hospitality industry, say experts, as technology has evolved along with attitudes and awareness to provide the best available protection industrywide.
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ACTIVE SHOOTER
September 4, 2019228 | Run, Hide, Fight: How to prepare for an active shooter (Hotel Safety Part 1)
“Active shooter” is a term used by law enforcement to describe a situation in which a shooting is in progress. The classification calls into action protocols relating to response and reaction – not only by police but also by citizens, says the FBI. In the case of an “active shooter,” everyone’s response and reaction can read more
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CONSTRUCTION
August 28, 2019227 | Mass Appeal: Crowdfunding for hotel development mines new sources of cash
When it launched five years ago, crowdfunding for real estate development was a hot topic, especially among hotel developers seeking new ways to pay for their projects. Though it’s not creating the same level of buzz as it did when it first became a federally sanctioned option in 2014, crowdfunding remains a viable tool in read more
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HUMANS OF LODGING
August 21, 2019Master Story Teller
Historic hotels have years and years of stories to tell. A challenge faced by owners and operators of America’s landmark hotels is to educate the staff on the property’s history and train them to embody the hotel’s culture. One employee who doesn’t have to be schooled is Susan Stein. She’s the official historian at Grand read more
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Feature
August 21, 2019It’s A Long Story: Historic hotels gain new appreciation among travelers, brands
Historic hotels are popular across a wide range of travelers, including young adults. Historic Hotels of America, a division of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, is seeing its membership ranks grow as more developers either restore historically significant hotels or renovate landmark buildings into lodging assets. Also attracted to age-old lodging assets are hotel franchisers, especially soft brands. A study by the National Trust backs the organization’s belief that GenXers and millennials prefer to live, work and play in cities with historic buildings. That sentiment also goes for hotels with local stories to show and tell. Other research shows historic hotels generate more revenue than their contemporary counterparts.
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LEADERSHIP
August 14, 2019225 | LinkedIn Means Business: How to use social media to grow
It’s not what you know, it’s who you know. That career adage is about 100 years old, but it still rings true today, especially when it comes to social media. If you’re not tuned into social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn, it’s time to reconsider. With more than 3 billion people read more
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Feature
August 7, 2019Mixed Message: Multicultural and heritage tourism is big business
Most people the world over think of the United States as a multicultural melting pot. We are still quintessentially American, but from north to south and east to west, our cities and outlying communities are dotted with districts defined by residents’ ethnicity and culture. Today, the more developed and culturally defined areas are attracting visitors in search of new experiences and information. Multicultural or heritage tourism is good for the hospitality industry, and it is beneficial to a city’s economic growth, say supporters.
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Feature
July 31, 2019Grading Curves: NAACP diversity report card reveals weaknesses in hotel companies
“Equal opportunity for people of color in the United States remains an unrealized goal.” That is the opening statement in a recently released study by the NAACP. The 2019 study titled “Opportunity & Diversity Report Card: The Hotel & Lodging Industry,” not only shows stagnation in racial equality in hospitality workplaces, it reveals African Americans have lost ground over the past decade in their climb to the top in U.S. hotel companies. NAACP representatives attended NABHOOD’s summit to share the report’s results and find ways to reverse the trend, engage hotel companies and come up with clearer data, including counting the number of minority franchisees.
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DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT
July 24, 2019222 | Flying Solo: What it takes to go from franchised to independent
Independent hotel supply in the U.S. has decreased in the past 10 years, reports STR. The lodging-data company reports independently owned and operated hotels account for less than 40 percent of all hotels. About 1 percent of those close each year. But that trend may take a turn. It appears more and more hoteliers who read more
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HOME SHARING
July 17, 2019221 | Home Sharing’s Heavy Hitters: Airbnb’s genius is branding (Part 2)
Last week, part one of our report on Airbnb looked at the home-sharing giant’s impact on hotel business performance. We reported on a study that shows for every 100 percent increase in Airbnb accommodations in a market, hotel RevPAR declines by an average 3 percent. We also reported a growth in the number of whole read more
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HOME SHARING
July 10, 2019220 | Disruptive Innovator: Measuring Airbnb’s impact (Part 1)
More than 10 years ago, the short-term home rental industry began to shapeshift with the birth of Airbnb. The technology company has quickly grown from a small peer-to-peer home-sharing platform into a virtual behemoth with more rooms than any hotel company on the planet. Today, Airbnb has more than 4 million listings in nearly 100,000 read more