It is no secret that how, where, and what people are eating is changing. The dining experience matters more than ever before as evidenced by the range of custom designed signature chef restaurants being created in multiple markets. The environment in which people eat, from lighting to carpet to wall coverings to proximity to other people, sets the context for the meal that either helps it sing or just satisfy. READ MORE

A leading source of employment law liability today flows from failing to comply with the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, the wage-hour law of broadest application. The number of FLSA lawsuits and U.S. Labor Department investigations has skyrocketed. Court complaints alone total in the tens of thousands over the last decade, and the most-recent reporting year's tally of more than 8,000 new FLSA lawsuits - nearly a 5 percent increase - has continued this trend. Furthermore, since at least 2010, the Labor Department has viewed hotels, resorts and other lodging establishments as presenting a high risk for FLSA violations. It is therefore more likely than ever that an industry employer will face wage-hour claims. READ MORE

In a Gartner survey on CIO technology priorities conducted last year, 55 percent of CIOs cited big data and analytics as the technologies they thought were most likely to be disruptive.1 This trend has continued into 2014 and many businesses, including gaming companies, are looking to information as the next frontier for competitive differentiation. Data has been critical to building market advantage for a long time, but until recently, most gaming companies focused almost exclusively on player value databases to guide differentiation strategies. READ MORE

The use of price and non-price information like user generated content (UGC) to make a purchase decision could vary by segment. Business travelers, for example, which represent a significant and valuable source of business for many hotels, could behave very differently than other segments, impacting how managers would price or position the hotel to attract this valuable segment. In this article, we will present the results of a study that investigates how business travelers tradeoff between price and non-price information, and compare that to a previous study in a leisure context. READ MORE

The revenue management industry within hospitality is evolving rapidly. Advancements in revenue management software have made it infinitely easier for hoteliers to understand, anticipate and capitalize on consumer behavior. Until now, however, revenue management concepts have primarily been applied to guestrooms. With group business representing up to 40 to 60 percent of revenue potential for many hotels, hoteliers know their catering and banquet profits are not as high as they could be, and that a more holistic approach to meetings and events revenues is called for. With function space revenue management systems in the pipeline, the time is ripe for hoteliers looking to optimize function space revenues to lay the groundwork necessary for effective implementation. READ MORE