Which Customers Do You Want to Keep?
There is an old joke in the dental world that a patient asked his dentist, 'Which teeth should I floss?', the dentist answered, 'Only the ones you want to keep', customer service is the same |
The Personalized Service French Travelers Expect from Hoteliers.
France remains one of the world’s top tourist destinations, with the number of overnight tourist stays increasing by 3 |
The Dangers of A/B Testing.
An e-commerce manager recently got in touch, she runs the website for a group of 10 hotels and wanted to rollout our Direct Booking Platform, her goal was to reassure guests that booking direct is best but she had a problem |
Just Stop It!
There’s an old joke that goes something like this: A guy goes to the doctor, he raises his arm and complains, 'It hurts when I do this', the doc says, 'Then don’t do that |
The Role of Machine Learning Technology in the Hotel Sector.
Any hotelier will say it is their people that make the difference, hoteliers take pride in their ability to offer personalised experiences that rely heavily on human interaction; From making a restaurant recommendation when overhearing a gu... |
Hotel Cybersecurity: Protecting your Guests and Your Property from Vendor Data Breaches.
Hotels rely on third-party vendors to help run their properties efficiently, and often must give them access to sensitive guest data, this leaves hotels vulnerable to cyber attacks; they’re only as secure as their vendors are, and may... |
How to Build an Innovation Hothouse.
How is it possible to maximise creative potential in your organisation? This article explores how to identify, train and retain the best creative talent for more innovative results |
Crafting the Perfect Guest Experience, From Website to Hotel - Part 2 of 2.
Crafting the perfect guest experience: Nowadays, it’s no longer enough to simply provide a hotel guest with a room to sleep in, savvy hoteliers are realising that by creating remarkable experiences on property, guests are more li... |
Do You Trust Your Customers? Do Your Customers Trust You?
I just returned from Influence 2017, the annual conference put on by the National Speakers Association, my friend and one of the world’s authorities on trust, David Horsager was one of the amazing keynote speakers and he shared an exc... |
Crafting the Perfect Guest Experience, from Website to Hotel - Part 1 of 2.
Great guest experience should begin on your website: Gone are the days when a guest's hotel experience began with the doorman welcoming them into the lobby |
Quick Tips for your Hotel Pre-Opening in 2017.
Are you opening a hotel soon? This New Year, adopt the correct prioritization approach in your hotel pre-opening roadmap |
Bing is Bringing Bots to Local Businesses.
Here’s how hoteliers can prepare for this new technology: Chatbots allow brands to communicate and sell to customers in a way that’s informal, easy-to-use and fun and they’re quickly becoming a key information and sho... |
4 Things That Will NOT Happen This Year.
A great deal of what we read nowadays is predicting how the travel market will change and how hoteliers need to pre-emptively adapt in order to compete |
Sometimes Customers Don’t Know the Right Questions to Ask.
My brother, Rusty Hyken, was on a trip to Utah with his wife and two dogs, it’s a leisurely three-day drive for them; He made their hotel reservations, and for each hotel they planned to stop at on the way to Utah he asked, 'Is your h... |
Leadership Lessons Learned From Being A Guest When The Hotel Was Overbooked.
Earlier this month I observed a difficult situation playing out at hotel where I was a guest, and it provided an invaluable reminder of just how important effective leadership is when things go wrong in the hotel business |
What Makes Independent Hotels so Successful?
Independent and boutique hotels have a number of advantages over their chain competitors, of which owners can take advantage to achieve greater success |
Future Traveller Tribes 2030: Building a More Rewarding Journey.
‘What, When, Where, Who and How’ have been the strategic cornerstones of customer-centric organisations and for companies in the travel industry, answering these questions has never been more important |
Investors Give Tips to Startups: Think Big But Keep it Real as Well.
What a dream it would be, to unravel the complex, multi-layered decision processes that shape how and where investors devote their attention and, more importantly, funds |
Why the European Commission's Fine on Google Matters to Hotels.
Google has been hit with a hefty billion euro fine by the European Commission, after the regulator ruled that the search giant was employing unfair practices by promoting its own shopping comparison service at the top of search results |
CEO Talk: Daniel del Olmo, DineEquity.
Industry observers will have noted that restaurant organizations worldwide are facing a more crowded market space and with it comes a plethora of old and new challenges |
How Can Thinking Small Propel You to Greatness?
It was a major meeting for my friends at Volkswagen Australia, this was their Customer Experience Summit, and the theme for the meeting was 'Think Small: Big Differences Come from SMALL Details |
Complimentary Should Mean Free.
My buddy went to dinner with his wife to celebrate their anniversary, the server overheard them talking about how many years they had been married and was flattered they chose to spend their special night at the restaurant, so, he brought t... |
Creating extraordinary customer experiences with technology.
Recently, we have been fascinated by the possibilities of Virtual Reality (VR), as a result, when Joyce saw her friend Terry Brock’s blog and interview with Dave Hodgson, president of 3-D Solutions, discussing various business applica... |
Consumer Research Reveals Guest Preferences and Expectations for Direct Hotel Communication.
Once a traveler becomes a guest, the lines of communication open up: In this research, we sought to identify the guest’s experiences and expectations through the means of digital correspondence between guests and their overnight stay ... |
The Gay Travel Paradox.
A year or two after I graduated from college, I took a short vacation and went to Provincetown, Massachusetts, which I had heard was a gay destination (I was a late bloomer); On the first day there, I was riding my bicycle down Commercial S... |
How are China's Emerging Technologies Shaping The Future of Luxury Experiences?
Chinese consumers today spend over USD$750 billion online – more than the US and UK combined |
Does This Dress Make My Butt Look Big?
We must always be honest with our customers, even if it is something the customer doesn’t want to hear |
Just How Unique Are Luxury Hotel Guests?
Our latest hotel report, From Search Engine to Booking Engine, in collaboration with Google, garners a view of the hotel guest’s journey over the entire path to booking, however, not every guest and their pre-booking behaviors are ali... |
Hotel Sales Best Practices For The Era Of Electronic Inquiries.
As anyone who has worked in the profession of hotel sales and catering sales for 10 or more years knows, the skill-set required to be a top performer is quite different these days; Today’s sales superstars still have to have exception... |
What Has Changed in Customer Service?
Every week, I’m asked, 'What is changing in customer service?' The expected answer is that I’ll talk about all the new ways customer service and support is conducted – and I do: There’s self-service solutions that in... |
Legislating Against OTAs: Does It Ever Work?
The news broke recently that the American Hotel & Lodging Association (which counts Hilton, Hyatt and Marriott as members) are planning to lobby the US administration to limit the harmful duopoly on online travel held by Priceline Group... |
When Less is More in Hotel Design.
Wardrobes, trouser presses and fruit bowls have long been among the hallmarks of hotel bedrooms – but their days are numbered in many major mid-range chains, next time you stay in a hotel look at the length of the mirror in your bedro... |
A Brand Without the Branding: Dan Lynn and ZUZUHOTELS.
A chain hotel experience without the chain: The complexity of hotel distribution is almost unfathomable, small independent hotels often don't have the resource to manage it properly - but they also might not be in a position to join a... |
The Shocking Truth About Todays Hotel Industry!
After 3+ years as Chief Operating Officer of a fast moving, positively disrupting and creative Hospitality company, I decided to take a 4 month creative break spending my time travelling, searching for new inspiration, recharging and re-ene... |
The Force Within.
I’m often asked, 'How many people in an organization does it take to create a culture focused on Customer Amazement?' The short answer is: all of them, but, the process has to start somewhere |
Why Your Customer Service Should Influence Customer Engagement.
Engaged customers are extremely valuable, and can be described as those who have a personal connection to a brand, research from Rosetta found that engaged customers spend 60 percent more per transaction, while they are also three times mor... |
The Future of Meeting Rooms.
Sometime within the last year, The Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport went through a major renovation, the result is an exemplary convention venue with two new ballrooms, able to accommodate groups up to 2,200 |
'Fine' is the F-Bomb of Customer Service.
Not long ago I was interviewing Kevin Berk, founder and CEO of ServiceGuru, on Amazing Business Radio, we were talking about the word fine and he commented that it is a four letter that begins with the letter F that you never want to hear f... |
Hotels Take a Fresh Look at Communal Spaces.
From hip lobbies with a coffee shop ambiance to shared living spaces linking guest rooms, more hotels are turning their focus to providing inviting community areas |
How to Orchestrate Innovation: 3 Ways to Boost Creative Alignment.
Although having different perspectives is critical for innovation, diverse teams rarely run smoothly, so how it is possible to enable these teams for success? What needs to be done in order to boost creative alignment? Most musicians ... |
As Hotel Technology Turns the Corner, Properties Should Carefully Examine Systems.
Many hotels today are like older cars, in that technology has enabled them to really push their performance, but it also becomes a limiting factor if the existing structure cannot keep bolting on new solutions to old systems |
Leveraging the Franchise Lifecycle Model.
Mitigate risk and drive profits with the franchisor-franchisee relationship - The traditional franchisor-franchisee relationship is evolving in response to a riskier legal and regulatory environment |
The Millennial Traveller: Travel Must Set the Benchmark for the Future Working Economy.
Preparing talent for a new economy is a question that pervades every industry |
Paying the Intermediaries: An Analysis of Hotel Commissions.
The increasing incidence of intermediaries selling hotel rooms and other services is a major topic of discussion among hotel owners and operators; From online travel agents to convention housing companies, third-parties are placing themselv... |
Maybe the Best Customer Service Line Ever.
I recently had the good fortune to meet Frankie Saucier, the former director of social media customer service (also known as social care) for a major cable company, when the cable goes out, upset customers call, email, tweet, post on Facebo... |
I Love The Plum Guide of London.
I do not advertise any product; never did and never will, however, I am occasionally impressed with the way certain people do things, especially as compared to the way other people do it |
These Categories Are Most Positively and Negatively Impacting Hotel Ratings.
Friendliness of staff most positively impacts hotel ratings, while bathrooms are dragging hotel ratings down most often |
Tech Teams Falling Short On Enabling Personalization, Hotel Loyalty.
Any effective hotel loyalty strategy today starts with personalization, and often requires a broad directional shift to place the customer at the center of every transaction |
Direct Messaging Guests: The On-site Experience.
We have previously talked about direct messaging, so you might already know why it’s important to not be afraid of direct messaging your guests and the do’s and don’ts of the process and with technology... |
Ten Years After – Hospitality Technology 2017.
No, for those of you who appreciated Alvin Lee and Ten Years After as a kid, this is not about music, this is about the 10 year anniversary of the technology explosion caused by Facebook, Twitter, iPhone and Android |
Sky High Demand: The Surge in Skyscraper Hotels.
Hotels are well versed in making their guests feel on top of the world but a growing number are now allowing them to wine, dine and sleep hundreds of meters above ground level as well |
