Hotel

Hoteliers are working in a new reality. The theme for 2004 is not about recovery; it is about managing fundamental changes in the travel market. When or even whether economies recover will not erase what the traveling public has learned since September 11, 2001: everything is negotiable; they can book at the last minute; and hoteliers still need their business badly enough to over-compete with value-added services and personalized attention. Put simply, the challenges of the last three years are not going away.

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https://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/local/sfl-sbwebstay08feb08,0,3531199.story

Once upon a time, a good or bad hotel experience might be passed along to a small group of friends. Now it gets posted via the World Wide Web on sites such as tripadvisor.com or fodors.com. For consumers, the sites are a back channel way to check up on the advertising and marketing claims put out by hotel chains.

For hotels, the benefits are more mixed. Comments like “God awful” and “Run away as fast as you can” can sour travelers and may not be objective, even as “Terrific” and “Great view and beach” could lead to bookings.

But hotel executives say they do monitor the sites, in part to uncover problems glossed over on guest comment cards.

Benchmark Hospitality, which manages 27 award-winning resorts, conference centers and hotels in the United States, Canada and Japan, announces its annual “Top Ten Meeting Industry Trends” for the new year, as observed by its properties.

https://hotel-online.com/News/PR2004_1st/Jan04_BenchmarkMeetingTrends.html

Beginning January 12, 2004, Holiday Inn(R) Hotels and Resorts will introduce two new offerings, called Low-Carb Inspirations(TM), to its award-winning “Best-4-Breakfast” menu. With an estimated one out of every four Americans participating in a low-carbohydrate diet, Holiday Inn is providing these travelers with an option to take advantage of the brand’s famous service and menu without altering their diet or sacrificing satisfaction.

https://hotel-online.com/News/PR2004_1st/Jan04_HIBreakfast.html

Service companies worldwide spend billions every year on customer-loyalty programs and other preferred-guest programs aimed at getting their guests to continue their patronage, although it’s clear that many customers defect to competitors. One way to improve customer retention is to analyze guests’ behavior according to four distinct guest segments, which are based on their staying or switching behavior. The four groups are satisfied switchers, dissatisfied stayers, satisfied stayers, and dissatisfied switchers. Two groups, satisfied stayers and dissatisfied switchers, generally behave as one might expect-either staying or defecting based on their level of satisfaction. The other two groups, satisfied switchers and dissatisfied stayers, do not conform to expectations.

Most confounding are satisfied switchers, [Read more…] about Understanding switchers and stayers

Hotels need to appeal to the meeting planner

December 17, 2003 | The hotel industry’s meeting business is finally bouncing back from 9/11, but many hotels could face an uphill battle in wooing back customers unless they appeal to the ultimate gatekeeper – the meeting planner – according to a new study from Maritz Hospitality Research Group.

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If you want to join a growing sector of the hotel industry, look no further than the two Bs, boutique and budget. A boutique hotel, sometimes known as a lifestyle hotel, is generally a hotel with about 50-60 rooms, and with a particular emphasis on design. A recent report on the sector from PricewaterhouseCoopers found that lifestyle hotel operators in Europe are planning to add nearly 5,000 rooms to their stock by 2008.

Leading players in the UK include Hotel du Vin, which has just opened its sixth hotel in Harrogate, North Yorkshire; Malmaison, which opens in London in November after a long wait; the Eton Group, which has just opened the Glasshouse in Edinburgh; Alias Hotels, which opened the Hotel Seattle in Brighton earlier this year and plans to open in Liverpool in mid-2004; Myhotels, which has properties in London’s Chelsea and Bloomsbury; and Firmdale, a well-respected group based in London.

Even the big chains are getting into this sector now, particularly Starwood, with its W brand. At the other end of the spectrum is the budget sector. Budget hotels are generally new-build hotels with few frills but an attractive price point. In the UK, the market is dominated by three players: Whitbread, with Travel Inn; Travelodge; and Premier Lodge.

Caterer & Hotelkeeper; 10/9/2003,

An new study of business travelers conducted by Lieberman Research Worldwide for Westin Hotels & Resorts finds that working out on the road is an excellent way to relieve stress, a powerful antidote for jet lag and good for your image among business associates.

However, many respondents stated that hotels do not offer adequate fitness facilities for travelers.

The survey of 300 business travelers titled “Road Runners: Working out on the Road,” illustrates just how important exercise is to hotel guests. For instance:

– 90% of travelers surveyed said exercise relieves stress on the road
– 60% of travelers surveyed said exercise helps alleviate jet lag
– 78% of travelers surveyed said workouts are a good way to get over a rough day
– 70% of travelers surveyed said that working out is a good way to bond with colleagues
– 53% of travelers surveyed said exercising is good for their image among business
– 62% of travelers surveyed said they check to see whether a hotel has a workout room during the reservation process
– 59% of travelers surveyed said that the quality of hotel fitness facilities is an important factor in their choice of hotel
– 69% said that a “state-of-the-art” fitness facility would favor that hotel in the selection process
[Read more…] about Survey: Hotel fitness rooms need to shape up