For hotels, saving money can also help save the environment. They've done it with water, and now they can do so with another vital resource: food. About a third of all the world's food is lost or wasted, representing huge economic, social, and environmental costs. To help the hotel industry tackle this problem, World Wildlife Fund and the American Hotel and Lodging Association have developed an engagement platform and set of tools on HotelKitchen.org to provide hotels with a step-by-step guide to reduce food waste, cut costs, and enhance relationships with their staff, guests, and community. READ MORE

The story and characters that follow may be fiction but the performance improvement principles shared are very real. Too many managers define the totality of their employees' job roles strictly in terms of job function: possessing adequate job knowledge and demonstrating sufficient job skills. And success is determined by whether or not employees are capable of consistently executing assigned transactions. But little time or attention is paid to employees' job essence: their purpose - their highest priority - at work. Too often, employees are assigned routine tasks to work on, rather than an inspiring purpose to work toward. READ MORE

Working with the HEI Hotels portfolio of hotels to bring life to the brand principles and significant attributes (also called brand pillars), a primary goal is to build confidence in the hotel associates and reinforce the notion that empowerment means taking action any time you can to make guests happy. Equally important, is the associate environment where the correlation of a positive associate experience with a positive guest experience and having the tools, resources, and trust is critical to feeling empowered. The brand pillars must be pulled through internally and externally in order to ring true. This article expands on brand pull through and empowerment in the workplace. READ MORE

Altruistic behavior is associated with an act that is purely selfless and truly noble. An altruistic organization culture can beget quality service which in turn can beget opulent reviews. This behavior can also impact positive morale among guest service staff thus boosting overall work performance. Hiring front-line employees with certain personality traits can guarantee hues of selflessness on the job. It is an employee's inner desire to display selfless acts towards guests, and a leader's goal to cultivate organizational citizenship behavior among its employees. A hotel property that embraces internal and external altruistic behavior will truly reap its benefits. READ MORE

Both the business and leisure traveler utilize Google today when searching for a hotel. And those travelers are looking for what guests have to say about hotels online, in the form of online reviews. Hotel professionals must focus on the guest experience to build a positive online brand reputation so that consumers book a room or event. This article will discuss how to create an online environment in which it's easy for guests to leave online reviews - and for consumers to find you. It will also discuss why it's important to analyze guest feedback online to use to ultimately improve guest satisfaction. READ MORE