The number of customer touchpoints between a hotel and its guests only continue to increase. In reviewing some of those touchpoints, one better understands the expertise needed to manage those moments and how hotel brands use varying methods to bring together skills sets for optimal (digital) customer experiences. How brands determine to manage the increasing touchpoints for optimal connection, will help distinguish them from the competition as they strive for continued excellence in customer contact. READ MORE

Form and function are two critical components of building design. That statement might be a no-brainer for some, but we often fail to connect how this relates to our experience of a space. It's safe to say we have all reaped the benefits of experiential design, but it was most likely unknowingly. Scott Acton, CEO and founder of Forte Specialty Contractors, shares his thoughts on experiential design and how its changing the hospitality and entertainment sector. READ MORE

In the first two articles in this series, we looked at how independent Quality Assurance programs have fallen into a conventional wisdom and modus operandi that is out of touch with their clients' and their guests' needs and then examined the challenges and relevance of QA in helping their client's assess their performance in a world increasingly guided by the megaphone of social-media reviews. In this third and last article, we look at what an ideal QA program would look like, in the hope that third-party QA companies, and/or internal QA programs are listening and decide to upgrade their assessments and programs. READ MORE

Assessors across the thousands of taxing jurisdictions in the United States are calculating the value of hotels for tax purposes. Often the most complicated part of determining the value of a property is how to include capital expenses. This problem is worsened by the lack of information assessors usually have on such expenses and projects, and the complicated rules around brand standards. In this article, Altus Group's hospitality tax specialists explore how to manage these situations through communication and information sharing through their combined seventy years of experience in property tax. READ MORE

"Experience" is the watchword for the Hospitality sector, but there is hidden exposure, both financial and physical in every operating property. As assets work to differentiate themselves by amenities, physical attributes and "one of a kind" offerings, there is the constant exposure to financial risk caused by natural and man-made physical damage to the asset as well as potential injury to guests and employees. This article identifies key issues in all of the phases of an assets operations: Development; Operational and Post-Loss Recovery. READ MORE