While we all enjoy a luxurious night in a hotel, we rarely think about how it might impact the environment. According to California's Waste Management Board, the average hotel purchases more products in one week than one hundred families typically do in a year. One room can produce up to 30 pounds of waste per day. With numbers like those, we're happy to see a trend of more hotels going green and implementing eco-friendly practices that can significantly reduce global pollution. For most hoteliers, going green doesn't mean you have to tear down your existing property and start from scratch. Here are a few tips that will help your hotel spare the environment, and spare your bottom line: READ MORE

Condo-hotels, also known as condotels and apartotels, are taking the hotel industry by storm. Initially made popular in the Miami area throughout the 1980s, these residences are back in a big way, allowing biggest names in luxury hotel brands to create a whole new real estate market. By uniting the public's desire to invest in real estate with the travel industry's quest for new properties, the condo hotel has reinvigorated the hotel construction business, altering the skylines of gateway cities from San Francisco and Las Vegas to Boston and New York. READ MORE

There are probably scores of inventions that were made by "accident." This often happens when scientists and engineers are trying to develop a product for one purpose but find that it could be used for something else, sometimes something entirely different than what was originally intended. This is essentially how the most effective system to test carpet extractors was developed, and it has allowed hotel housekeepers to keep carpets healthier, cleaner, and Greener. And in this case it came about with a touch of science fiction to boot. READ MORE

Even realizing that the costs of going Green can be negligible and likely to be recouped fairly quickly, some hotel chains and owners still believe the only true value in going Green is that it is "the right thing to do," amounting to little more than a public relations marketing ploy. However, a closer examination appears to indicate that hotel users are increasingly asking for and selecting Green facilities. While guests may not always notice Green measures incorporated into a hotel property, they do appreciate them, and many believe it is now a requirement that major companies be environmentally responsible. READ MORE

A system that was originally created to set some standardized expectations for the hospitality industry and inform and educate the consumer has now mutated into one that does exactly the opposite. While Mobil will proffer its Star system and AAA will offer the comfort of the Diamonds, the truth of the matter is that it's the wild, wild west out there. Any property with an overeager public relations firm and an on-call poolside perspiration valet can stake a claim to star-driven fabulousness. READ MORE

As the definition of "green" intersects with "sustainable" and both mature in the marketplace, and it becomes abundantly clear that a "green" hotel needn't detract from the guest experience, it will behoove hospitality professionals to a) Get on the bus, as sustainable practices will be a required "cost of entry" practice in the future, not a marketing initiative; and b) Figure out how "green" can actually enhance the guest experience. READ MORE

To begin with, please excuse my mangling of the time-honored maxim "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again" in the headline. I fear I have taken what once were innocent words of encouragement to 19th-Century schoolchildren and turned them into some vague threat. The potential menace in my message, however, pales in comparison to that posed by disregarding it. Ignore the first "touch" you have with your customers at your own peril. As those who have regularly read my articles know, my roots (and those of my business) are firmly in the hospitality industry. Of late, those roots have extended to other sectors where the concept of "customer experience" has proven intriguing. READ MORE

Recently released unemployment figures indicate a continued rise in that cheery metric to 8.5-percent, a 25-year high. Even in light of some modest signs of life, the credit and housing markets continue to limp along as well. And despite the OK from President Obama to pursue business travel and corporate meetings, the damage may have already been done and those markets remained strained. Human beings, however, must travel and, in fact, are traveling. READ MORE

Oh no, not another article on innovation, your brain is screaming from every synapse. Please don't subject me to another rapturous ode to Southwest Airlines, Ritz Carlton or - gasp - Disney. Innovation doesn't have to be a tired refrain, a four-letter word or an abstract, intimidating concept. It does ultimately have to bring value to the customer... without compromising the value that customer was seeking from you to begin with. READ MORE

In some instances, the lines between the home and the hotel have become quite blurred, with a reasonable chicken-or-the-egg argument regarding whether home design is driving hotel design...or vice versa. Delta Hotels, Canada's leading hotel management company, articulates the convergence of the home and hotel in a 2005 issue of its employee magazine, Connection, saying 'thanks to shows like Trading Spaces and magazines like Canadian House & Home people are increasingly thinking about good design in their homes. And since our hotels act as a 'home away from home,' we've begun to adopt a more residential look in our latest designs.' READ MORE

In the words of Jan Carlzon, the celebrated former CEO of SAS Airlines, "An individual without information cannot take responsibility. An individual who is given information cannot help but take responsibility." With that thought as the guiding philosophy, Carlzon took a moribund state-run airline and turned it into an industry model for service and profitability. By flattening out the carrier's management structure, he made every employee keenly aware of the impact that all company metrics - financial, customer service and otherwise - would have not only on the company but on them directly. Thus, the metrics in question became far more than disembodied scores on a balance sheet or year-end review - they became directly linked to flesh and blood interactions that each and every employee had each and every day. READ MORE

Tune in today to any presentation or article on business and the words "alliances" and "partnerships" are prevalent. The "Kayak Test" for partnerships reveals all. Partnerships that pass "The Kayak Test" will be the most beneficial to the planning and promoting of the spa. I never thought that a recreation that I enjoy could be a metaphor for goal setting and sealing a partnership, but I discovered it recently on a kayak trip with my husband and tandem Kayak Partner. When we paddle our 'spa kayak', all partners on board need to fully understand the end result, pace and capabilities to get there. Spa planning and promoting involves a solid partnership of experience, creativity, new ideas and defined goals. READ MORE

"Are product upgrades and renovations really needed during hard economic times?" - That's a question I used to get asked a lot. But, as always, things change-and, obviously, not for the better, at least economically speaking these days. And so the question has changed. In these almost unprecedented hard economic times, the question isn't so much whether a renovation is needed-rather, it's whether a renovation is, first, viable and, second, whether it's a smart thing to do. This is a question you absolutely must ask yourself, especially in this incredibly tough financial environment. As for the answer. well, here's what I think. READ MORE

Sticks and Stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me…unless the words hurt my experience and make me mad! The first part of this classic phrase, usually introduced to young children, teaches us to be tough and not easily offended by what others say. However, using or choosing the wrong words or even a single word in communicating with any guest, customer or client can disrupt service delivery, even though the intentions may be good. READ MORE

So often I hear from my colleagues in the hospitality industry, what is the value proposition in owning a timeshare. The question is raised on both sides of the coin. What is the value in it for the timeshare owner and what is the value in it for the developer and/or manager of a timeshare resort. READ MORE