The American Hotel & Lodging Association has assembled a team of safety, security, and public relations professionals to provide insight and direction on crisis management, loss prevention, and internal and external communication strategies. Join them for an interactive Webinar packed with mission-critical information on Wedesday, September 24, 1:00 – 2:00 p.m.

WAYS TO IDENTIFY AND BUILD REPEAT GUESTS
The book “In Search of Excellence” in the early 1980s by Tom Peters and Robert Waterman presented numerous examples and statistics on the need to pay real attention to the customer’s needs and wants. This was a paradigm shift at that time, when customers in many industries were forced to choose from what was being offered to them, which was not necessarily what they were seeking.

The hotel industry has made adaptations over the past twenty five years with market and product variations. Most of the brands are currently focusing at least one initiative on customer service, but in these days of economic uncertainty, a reminder of the basics of customer service can be an amazing refresher for many hotel staff.

John Unwin, General Manager of Caesars Palace and NHLA Chairman of the Board, Cindy O'Keefe, Vice President of Hotel Operations for Caesars Palace and NHLA Board Member, and colleagues stop for a picture on the greens at Silverstone. Join us for golf, dinner, and live auction at Silverstone Golf Club on October 16th.

ORKIN PEST CONTROL CAUTIONS ON BED BUGS
A bill pending before the U.S. House of Representatives would help Americans sleep tight by eliminating bed bugs’ bite. Don’t Let the Bed Bugs Bite Bill, co-sponsored by Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.) would establish a matching grant program by the U.S. Commerce Department in consultation by the U.S. Travel and Tourism Board.

According the Orkin Pest Control, the number of bed bugs in the U.S. has increased 50-fold in the last five years. Females can lay up to five eggs a day and 500 during a lifetime. Federal funds would go to individual states to launch inspection, prevention and eradication programs. To qualify, states would have to require the inspection of at least 20 percent of its hotel rooms. The money would come from funds already allocated to Commerce. Hotels are a prime target because of the risk of transporting bugs to homes.

UPDATING HOTEL MARKETING AND SALES STRATEGIES MID YEAR NOW IS ESSENTIAL
Consider the marketplace, the competition and the overall trends and cycles if you expect to be successful.  In the past, this has usually meant creating an annual marketing plan and working that plan. Weekly and monthly action plans would lead to quarterly reviews and updates.   The next year’s plan would take those updates and trends and as a team or a corporation, the next plan of strategies and tactics are decided.

But consider these two interesting and disturbing point:

In late May, The Travel Industry Association ( the national, non-profit organization representing all components of the $740 billion travel industry) released what they called a “First-of-Its-Kind Study Demonstrates Travelers Changing Behavior Due to Immense Frustration with Air Travel Process”. This survey , which can be found at www.tia.org, offered some alarming statistics about something we all know: “...... Deep Frustration Among Air Travelers “. The results of the survey documented that a staggering 41 million trips were avoided, with a negative $26.5 Billion hit to our industry.

Representatives from the Freeman Decorating Company, a longtime NHLA member, pose for a picture.

HEARTS AND MINDS

Most executives would agree that change is no longer a luxury, but rather a necessity — or perhaps an inevitability that must be managed, not feared. How leaders can help their companies cope with the turmoil of transformation has long been the concern of Harvard Business School Professor John Kotter, whose numerous books on the subject include Leading Change (Harvard Business School Press, 1996) and Our Iceberg is Melting: Changing and Succeeding Under Any Conditions (with Holger Rathgeber; St. Martin’s Press, 2006).

Kotter’s new book, A Sense of Urgency (Harvard Business School Press, 2008), attempts to deconstruct change by focusing on what he believes to be the first step: driving an organizational culture built on the belief that change is not only desirable but must be pursued relentlessly. This alone can eliminate the risks of complacency, he argues.