My new book has now been published !
Inspired by the principles developed in the “Service Profit Chain”, Mike Hohnen takes you through each of the steps needed to create an outstanding service business.
You will find it here on Amazon
Best!
We live in a world of abundance – there is plenty of choice everywhere. And since 2008 we have experienced significant drops in demand as consumers became more careful. The result is a widening gap between supply and demand in virtually any category you can imagine.
When that happens, many companies have a knee-jerk reaction, and the recipe is more or less always the same: initiate rigorous cost-cutting programs, reduce staff and/or services, offer discounts in many forms, and increase advertising aggressively.
This, however, is the equivalent of trying to steer and brake as your car begins to skid on black ice while going through a sharp curve.
As you hit that declining demand curve, you need to perform what at first seems like a counterintuitive move: hold your price, increase your services, improve your quality, and narrow your focus in the market.
In this book, you will not only understand why but also see how you can do that.
When guests need to stay in hotels in 2030, they will still want a good night’s sleep in comfortable surroundings. The key difference is that the experience will be personalised to their individual needs and taste via virtually invisible technology. This technology will monitor and anticipate physical, emotional and mental needs and desires for a healthier and happier state of being.
Almost any surface or fabric in the 2030 hotel room will be capable of electronic enhancement, whether it is scent production, acting as a visual display or speaker, or as a source of ambient sound.
Read the full article her
This caught my eye today:
Banish the Boring Banquet Room.
As hotels compete with increasingly novel offsite venues like galleries, pop up stores, and unconventional public spaces for events, traditional meeting rooms are being designed with flexibility and flair. Cool amenities like open kitchen bars, living room-style set-ups, and more residential and intimate settings are paving the way to bespoke events.
Interesting because for years and years the traditional banquet room has been a ‘set piece’ and precisely for that reason something one tried to avoid for anything remotely creative..
Read more trends from the article: Hotel Trends Driven by China’s Next Generation of Travellers
Mobile ready websites are no longer emerging trends in the travel industry. They are now a force to stay and have forever changed the way travel shoppers search, book and interact with properties. With millions of travelers connected to the Internet via smartphones, your hotel needs to consider how to reach potential guests at each phase of the buying cycle via the mobile web.
Ensure your property can be reached in the fastest growing sales channel, with a revenue-driving mobile website. With more than 15 million people projected to book hotel rooms on their mobile devices in 2012, the time is now.
Read the full article on Hospitalitynet
From : The Future of Tourism | Envisaging a 2011 scenario | By Chris Luebkeman
Read the full post here
While the fundamentals of hospitality remain steadfast, the
context wrapping around the offer of hospitality services has
changed tremendously, and it will continue to change. In looking
to the year ahead, there are any number of possible, and even
a few probable, futures that we should consider. As we do this,
it is vital that we do not ignore the forces of change around us
that are constantly molding our story of tomorrow as we write it.
In the article Chris Luebkeman asks some poignant questions that are suitable for your next future scenarios planning session :
• What if energy were free ? What if it were rationed ? Or each
individual had a personal resource account ?
• What would happen if oil hit US$ 200 per barrel ? What will
happen when carbon is taxed ?
• What if wealth continues to flow East and South ? What if
disposable income continues to disappear in the US
and Europe ?
• What will the new wave of tourists bring ? What will the
growing middle-class Indians or Chinese expect in a hotel ?
• What does a property look like that is fit for Korean
teenagers ?
• What if the « staycation » replaces the global grand tour ?
As you answer each of these questions, consider how our industry will not just survive, but thrive
About The Hotel Yearbook: The Hotel Yearbook is a uniquely forward-looking annual publication. Each year, dozens of CEOs and other senior executives from the hotel industry worldwide, as well as leading analysts and observers, use this platform to share their expectations for the coming twelve months. Each of the 70+ contributors looks specifically at his or her area of expertise, describing the likely developments for the year ahead. As a whole, The Hotel Yearbook thus offers readers a comprehensive overview of the trends and factors that will have an impact on the performance of the hotel business in the year to come – as perceived by the industry’s leaders themselves. For more information visit www.hotel-yearbook.com.
