Have you ever had an annual review and was surprised at the fact that your performance was not up to par? Have you ever given an annual review to a surprised and disappointed employee? All too often employees have no idea how their managers see them or what they can do to improve until it is too late. This practice of yearly or semi-yearly reviews that are subject to surprise is quite ineffective and uninspiring. Ongoing coaching is the perfect remedy. Many managers believe that they already coach, but all too often their idea of coaching is telling people what to do. Good coaching utilizes a specific set of questions and inspires self-discovery, resulting in employees taking personal responsibility for their behavior. READ MORE

More than ever the spa industry has embraced technology to create better guest experiences and maintain more efficient business operations. In this article, we look at what a spa operator should know and ask before deciding which spa software platform would be best for his or her spa. The key message here is to be prepared before you go shopping. READ MORE

The competitive environment in the hotel industry is undergoing increasing change. Beyond mergers and consolidations, hotel and management companies are seeking to leverage their existing brand portfolios through "brand extensions" or "co-branding" relationships, particularly in the luxury segment of the market. These new relationships will almost certainly have an impact on the so-called territorial restriction provision commonly found in a management agreement - the provision that most often dictates if, and how, a hotel operator can compete with a hotel owner. In considering what that impact might be in this evolving legal landscape, owners and operators should ask themselves three basic, but critically important questions. READ MORE

Bamboo is one of, if not the fastest growing plant on earth and wherever it grows it's been used as building material for as long as humans have been building. But now that it's been certified that properly treated Structural Bamboo meets international building codes, bamboo has become one of the fastest growing structural building materials in the worldwide sustainable construction industry. The largest modern bamboo building built so far: 55,200 Sq Ft. The International Code Council (ICC) certified in 2004 that Structural Bamboo Poles produced by Hawaii-based Bamboo Technologies comply with International Building Code (IBC), International residential Code (IRC) and Uniform Building Code (UBC) standards and since then over 100 building-code compliant bamboo structures used as homes and vacation resorts have been pre-fabricated and shipped from the BT factory in Viet Nam to be re-assembled on sites all around the world. READ MORE

Because parking is not a core focus in the hospitality industry, the strategic planning and analysis often found in other areas of hotel management are rarely found in parking operations. There is a tremendous opportunity to improve overall effectiveness and financial performance in every phase of the hotel life cycle. In this article we explain some of the mechanisms for improving your operation through strategic management of your asset. With the industry facing such challenging times, hotel parking is an unexplored area ripe for the financial gains desperately needed by most properties. READ MORE