Hotels Blogs
By Design, Or Unintentional?
Nightly strolls around Manhattan offer unpredictable viewpoints and mesmerizing backdrops that we can record with our cameras. In the first picture below, I find the light, grandeur and mostly the energy behind the windows awe-inspiring. The building in the background is the new Standard Hotel, beneath which on any given night you will find on-lookers expecting some form of entertainment from the ... More
About this blog
Members of the Champalimaud design team will be posting here ideas and thoughts on trends, what's motivating people, what's keeping them going and what's soothing their nerves. Where we have insight, we'll contribute thoughts on the state of our industry, why people travel today and prioritize between the things that they want and the things they need. In all respects, we'll address how the role of design is evolving through this period. CHAMPALIMAUD is a full service interior design firm specializing in distinctive hospitality design, and providing residential and commercial design on a selective basis. Established 27 years ago in Montreal by Alexandra Champalimaud, the firm is now headquartered in New York. We firmly believe that successful design must be rooted in the characteristics unique to each property. Guided by the goals and aspirations of the client and the cultural context of each property, the history and location, our completed work includes from the most respectful of historic restorations to highly contemporary renovations and new constructions. Ours is a body of work uncommonly diverse and indicative of a guiding ethos that distinguishes Champalimaud from all others.
Marketing Benefits Of Social Media
This comparison chart from CMO.com looks at the marketing benefits of each major social networking tool on (1) Customer communication, (2) Brand exposure, (3) Traffic to your site, and (4) SEO. It’s a great way to quickly align your marketing goals with the networks you need to focus on. (Or to explain your strategy to someone else in the organization.) [click image for larger version] ... More
About this blog
This blog covers the new media landscape of today, exploring ways hotels can attract guests and build loyalty. Blog postings focus on direct online channel strategies, SEO, SEM, eCRM, email marketing, social media and mobile marketing, as well as on providing concrete, ROI-focused recommendations for hoteliers to follow.
An Example Of A Hotel Wave
When I recently wrote about how The Allison Inn & Spa is using Google Wave to facilitate communications between staff, several readers asked for a visual example of how this actually looks. With the help of Director of Rooms Steve Hurst and project manager Michael Hraba, here is a screenshot of an actual Wave from February 28. Guest names have been redacted, for obvious reasons. ... More
About this blog
HOTELS Associate Editor Adam Kirby highlights the hotel industry's most interesting people and ideas.
Before You Turn Down Business, Read This...
If you have ever tried to book at meeting in Washington, D.C., for a September date with a rooms pattern for Monday or Tuesday arrival, you may have heard the words “no” uttered from your sales contact. Historically, this has been one of the busiest time periods in the nation’s Capital. A good sales person will ask if you are flexible with your dates. A GREAT sales person w ... More
About this blog
Sales and marketing incorporates service and respect with creativity and an ability to "check your ego" at the door. Bart Berkey tells us how our business is only difficult when we don't do it well. When performed correctly, unique experiences are delivered for customers and clients alike.
Innovations To Compete Today
I didn’t spend big bucks to get the complete report, but I want to share what PhoCusWright sees as the top 10 travel innovations trends for 2010. It says these 10 game-changing innovations will forever alter the way consumers search, shop and buy travel. 1. Alternate Distribution Systems: The Next Round of Attack on GDSs 2. Mobile: Going Where No Platform Has Gone Before 3. Communicating A ... More
About this blog
HOTELS magazine Editor-in-Chief Jeff Weinstein offers his thoughts on hotel industry breaking news and issues of the day.
Green Hotelkeeping Can Be Habit Forming
Hello. My Name is __________ and I am a Green Hotelier. I met Ms. Hema Patel, president of Courtesy Management this past year at the Hunter Hotel Investment Conference in Atlanta. She approached me after we concluded a panel discussion regarding sustainability in hospitality and said that her company was building a Holiday Inn & Suites in Columbia, South Carolina, and that she wanted it to b ... More
About this blog
One of the world's strongest and clearest voices on the subject of sustainable practices in the hospitality industry, Lyndall De Marco, formerly executive director of the International Tourism Partnership, a leadership organisation founded by HRH The Prince of Wales, has established a consultancy focused on the belief that sustainability and profitability can work hand in hand. Ray Burger, president and founder of Pineapple Hospitality Inc., has over 30 years of experience in the lodging industry and has provided the lodging industry with environmental products, programs and services for over 12 years. These two leaders speak out on best practices, as well as the challenges and opportunities for hotel companies to become environmentally responsible businesses.
Caution = Successful Restaurants
In the last two months I feel as though I have moved from a gentle jog to a full-on race against time. Proposals are going out right and left. We are finally switching gears from slow to fast, and the problem is that everyone wants a deal. I think we are starting to arrive at the real new economy; one where clients want more, faster, and want to pay less on a longer payment plan. This is the ... More
About this blog
Concept creator and restaurant consultant Bob Puccini discusses the state of the hotel food and beverage world, along with insights to success. His discussion topics include hotel food and beverage concept creation, operational issues, challenges, opportunities and solutions.
Michael Shindler's New Gig
We at HOTELS are happy to congratulate former Deal Tracks blogger Michael Shindler on his new position, announced this morning, as executive vice president of hotels and casinos for Hard Rock International. Shindler will oversee global development of Hard Rock’s hotels and casinos, as well as strategic and day-to-day management of existing assets within the brand’s current licensed a ... More
About this blog
Commentary, observations and questions arising from the state of the hospitality transactions marketplace, including financing, purchase-and-sales, new development and anything else that suits my fancy.
Hotel Restaurants Get Recognized
Esquire magazine’s Best New Restaurants of 2009 list appears in the November issue, and the "restaurant of the year" is none other than a hotel restaurant: The Bazaar by Jose Andres at SLS at Beverly Hills, a Luxury Collection Hotel. Also on the list are five other hotel restaurants: - Area 31 at Kimpton’s EPIC hotel in Miami - Pacci Ristorante adjacent to Hotel Palomar Atlant ... More
About this blog
In this blog, I’ll share the best or most compelling piece of information I get each day (sometimes augmented by a bit of insight or analysis). Whether it’s a list of trends, a set of facts and figures, or even insights into great marketing strategies, look no further for ideas you can borrow and build upon to grow your business. We’ll call it “news you can use.” Exactly what you do with it is up to you, but if nothing else, I hope to give you something to talk about.
Magic Carpet Ride: The Modern Wing
This past Saturday, May 16, the long-awaited, super-hyped new Renzo Piano Modern Wing opened at the Chicago Art Institute. It goes without saying that my love for Chicago’s architecture is what lured me to set up shop in Chicago with my three founding partners back in 1988 following graduation from Cornell. All these years later, it is endlessly inspirational to see our skyline co ... More
About this blog
In this blog, we will constantly be considering the business of design. We will be discussing ideas and issues that will help readers manage and maximize today’s current business climate to the benefit of their properties. Topics such as the economy, natural disasters, deal-making, going global, sustainability, design technology and more will be discussed, as these, among others, are the issues that affect us all as we try to maintain our designs on profitability.
It's All About Supply
It has been a year since the first glimmerings of economic problems surfaced to the public at large. Some ignored the issue while others thought any problems would be local and limited to a small section of the housing market. The international community assumed that this was now a global economy with the new engines of economic growth making everyone else independent of the vicissitudes of the U. ... More
About this blog
Outspoken, very relevant and always ready with a cogent message for and about the global hotel industry, Laurence Geller, president and CEO of Strategic Hotels & Resorts, uses humor and controversy to get hoteliers to listen. His HOTELS' Insider blog is intelligent and revealing.
