After meeting my wife for a much needed jolt of Starbucks, we agreed to go our separate ways that afternoon so she could keep up with her Pilates routine at the gym while I sneaked in a few emails to the office. We were to reconvene at Central Park West… Read More
Iberonews reported that European boutique hotel chain NH Hoteles posted exponential growth in the first nine months of 2010, taking the industry by storm. The article (written in Spanish) cites many reasons for the growth, including references to the diversification and occupation of NH Hoteles in several emerging or recovering markets. … Read More
Over the past decade, the long-running cruise staple of black-tie formal nights has given way to freestyle cruising and its more relaxed dress codes. In doing so, cruise lines certainly were mirroring, if not themselves setting, trends in society at large, from the laid-back approaches to corporate dress and attitude… Read More
In the hospitality world where the internet has replaced traditional travel agents, cruise operators remain heavily reliant on personal relationships with travel agents to fill inventory. Coyle recently called several hundred travel agents were called within one week. Travel agents were asked a series of questions, and based on guest… Read More
Platter of Babel In this Wall Street Journal article, the research suggests that languages go beyond the function of conveying thoughts; they actually shape thoughts based on how a sentence is structured. For example, Spanish and Japanese speakers were less likely to remember who caused accidental events when compared to… Read More
In Kitchen Confidential and Medium Raw, Anthony Bourdain showed us that in order to be a respected chef, one had to be a relentless zealot who craved insane hours, low pay, peer abuse, and borderline alcoholism. I, like Tony, am generalizing, but the fact of the matter is that chefs… Read More
Royal Caribbean recently reported a strong turnaround in net profit, but optimism remains guarded for most travel businesses as reported in this Wall Street Journal article. Cruise lines continue to hold up pretty well through this difficult economic cycle for a few reasons. The first reason is cruise vacations remain… Read More
As Generation Y becomes more prevalent in the workforce, many companies talk about integrating social networking/technology into their employees’ modi operandorum. While the key word is ‘talk’ for many companies, savvier folks in this WSJ article like UPS have replaced textbooks and tests with videogames, a walking-on-ice-simulator, and an obstacle… Read More
In Diamonds in the Data Mine, Gary Loveman’s (CEO of Harrah’s Entertainment) quintessential article about customer relationship management (CRM), he showed how Harrah’s gathered data about its customers to market effectively to them, increasing revenues. Through effective CRM, Harrah’s was not only able to tap into customers and leverage their… Read More
Hospitality companies are continually evolving to rely on automated processes and technology to enhance the guest experience. Online reservations have been in place for several years now, but more and more hotels have automatic check-in kiosks. The in-room TV is now a place for guests to order room service, request… Read More
