Jeff Hart, General Manager of the Los Angeles Airport Marriott shares tangible and practical insights and tips on how hotel executives can motivate and inspire the team during a hotel renovation. From facelifts to complete overhauls, properties must take the necessary steps to stay up-to-date with current trends, latest technologies, and the needs of today's travelers – which brings many hotels to renovation. Hart discusses the idea that during a renovation, emphasis must be placed on inspiring and uplifting staff, as it is their overall project knowledge, enthusiasm, and feelings towards the transformation that ultimately trickles down to the guest and the experience they have on property. Keeping the staff motivated, invested, and enthusiastic is a vital piece of the job when it comes to team leadership, and Hart shares nine tools in which managers can do so. READ MORE

Curiosity has been defined as the "disposition to inquire, investigate or seek after knowledge; a desire to gratify the mind with new information or objects of interest; inquisitiveness." It is our position that trait curiosity is critical to the new reality of continual innovation and has an increasingly important role in business success. While there are many environmental factors inside organizations that nurture or suppress an individual's curiosity, very little has been done to help hiring managers identify curious people. Moreover, we see little evidence organizations have done anything to improve curiosity levels across the business. That is until NOW…we've closed this gap and hotels that can effectively foster curiosity in their employees (and guests) will have the competitive advantage. READ MORE

The war over direct bookings has died down in recent months. Despite Hilton and Marriott's best efforts with their "Stop Clicking Around" and "IT Pays To Book Direct" campaigns, nothing much has changed. I still speak with properties on a daily basis who are 60%, 70%, or even 80% reliant on OTAs for their bookings. This not only eats into a property's profits but it also places them in a really risky position as we face a possible economic downturn,. Read more about the real danger of over-reliance on OTAs and how you can avoid falling into the same trap. READ MORE

Why do you travel? For the majority of people, a hotel is simply a place to sleep and keep their valuables while they explore new and exciting locations and activities. With the (possible) exception of a few ultraluxe all-inclusive resorts, nobody travels somewhere just for a hotel. They travel for the immersive experiences they'll have. A report by Google noted that 82% of leisure travelers don't consider choosing an accommodation provider when they first start thinking about a trip. This might strike many hoteliers as a harsh reality, but savvy industry pros will see it as an opportunity. Understanding a hotel's role in creating a guest's overall travel experience is the first step in delivering tangible value. READ MORE

Looking back over the history of hospitality and the evolution of hotel operations, it's fair to say revenue management is a relatively new discipline. After all, it wasn't so long ago that hotels changed their rates just for weekends and peak season. But times have changed, and today's revenue managers are no longer operating in a silo, stuck in the basement office. Today, it's more important than ever for hotel operators to install a holistic, coordinated strategy where revenue, marketing and sales teams are working together to build and sell a hotel's story. READ MORE