Our industry must especially adjust its FF&E design and purchasing to the values and habits of younger, more style-conscious travelers. While the older "baby boom" travelers take more trips and fill more rooms than their younger Generation X colleagues, it's the Gen X-ers who spend more money and use more services per stay. Some hotels are trying to straddle the fence with their FF&E decisions and appeal to both categories of business travelers, so that they don't offend either. Other hotels are taking the attitude that Gen X-ers are leading our country's cultural trends while boomers are following, so why not appeal to the cutting edge - and so far, boomers show no sign of backlash to the Gen X-inspired changes. Quite to the contrary, baby boom travelers seem to appreciate the fresh new wave of upscale amenities, comfortable colors and fabrics, and state-of-the art technology that are being offered by hoteliers. So exactly what are today's business travelers looking for? READ MORE

Why can the manufacturer of the Dr. Skud flyswatter, which was crafted by famous French designer Philippe Starck, sell five cents worth of plastic for $12? Why has the Motorola Razr V3 set sales records when it doesn't work any better or differently than other cell phones? Why does Apple's iPod dominate the MP3 player market when there are many similar devices available from other manufacturers? The answer to all three questions is the same - smart, striking design. Now, more and more hoteliers are coming to the same conclusion - that good design is good business. But it's been a long, slow process and some hotel owners are still reluctant to invest in anything beyond minimal design. To understand why, let's look at the difference between "design" and "purchasing." READ MORE

Quick - how much was the freight cost for your most recent FF&E order? You can probably remember the price you paid for each of your television sets or for the carpeting in each of your hotel rooms, but shipping is usually like sales tax - it's an "invisible" charge that seems to disappear or blend into the overall invoice. So how you can keep your freight costs reasonable, avoid shipping surprises, and stretch your FF&E budget? Consider these suggestions. READ MORE

Unfortunately, the advent of online reservation services and their increased accessibility to a traveling public with widespread access and greater comfort with Internet purchasing, has come at a time when the hospitality industry has gone through a major slump. Initially, faced with steep declines, many properties were happy to sell blocks of rooms at deep discounts to online resellers, who would then market and sell them to the public. But as travel industry began to recover, and these third party services began aggressively advertising and selling rooms at deeply discounted prices, the hotel industry quickly realized that they were, in effect, competing against themselves. How can properties adapt to this new reality? What issues should concern them and how should they deal with them? READ MORE

What once served almost solely as a waiting place - a place to kill the time before check-in or after check-out, the hotel lobby is now becoming a destination in and of itself. Many of the greatest moments in film and literature have taken place in hotel lobbies --- from the lazy summer days at The Plaza in The Great Gatsby, to The Graduate's Benjamin Braddock's realization that Mrs. Robinson was indeed trying to seduce him in the lobby of the Taft Hotel. And now great moments can happen again each and everyday, as lobbies are no longer just quiet waiting spots, they are becoming the "it" spots at the best hotels around the world. READ MORE