The wellness experience in hotel amenity spaces can and should be developed to create a single total integrated health experience consisting of fitness cross-training, relaxation, nutrition education, entertainment, and spa. This experience should not only exercise and relax the entire body and mind, but it should also be easy to organize, schedule and partake in. Often however, these amenities, when they exist, are not well thought-out, are self-service and are poorly integrated into the guest experience. The wellness experience represents a unique opportunity to connect with the patron. When it is manifest in an afterthought, even an aesthetically well-designed one, it is likely a missed opportunity. Done properly the synergistic wellness experience generates revenue and changes the way patrons think of hotels and resorts. READ MORE

Adaptive reuse hotel projects have been increasingly popular the last few years due to growing competition for quality locations and with prime urban hotel development sites at a premium. But today, its not just hotel owners and developers proposing historic buildings as revenue generators, it's also customer demand, as consumers are hooked on the concept of unique travel experiences. This increase in interest from the consumers, Millennials in particular, is redefiniing and shaping the industry's approach to design, requiring us to be even more transparent about the historic adaptation process. Millennials don't just want to see a beautiful atrium and be told it's historic. They want to know who originally built it and why, what is it made out of; they want the story. READ MORE

Marketers and social researchers have long brandished labels like 'Silver Surfers', 'Gen X&Y' and 'Millennials.' More and more, these demographic terms resonate amongst savvy hoteliers who realise that each generation has very different ways they research, book and evaluate their stays. Hoteliers looking to maximise occupancy and revenues from an increasingly fragmented booking environment must understand what motivates each major generational demographic and understand how their property would be perceived by each generation in order to price and market themselves effectively. READ MORE

Weddings, often considered filler weekend business for hotels can be extremely profitable when the effort is made to turn a wedding reception into a wedding event for local as well as or out-of-town guests. With the upturn in the economy the spend on the Food & Beverage portion has risen by several percentage points which is always good for business. However, catering to the entire occasion by offering welcome baskets, turndown amenities, a flavored coffee with a croissant or bagel as a departing gift and planned recreational activities can mean thousands in additional revenue for a property. READ MORE

The prevalence of workplace violence poses alarming concerns. Consider the statistics: OSHA reports nearly 2 million workers annually claim they are victims of workplace violence, with homicides as the fourth-leading cause of workplace fatalities and the leading cause of death for women in the workplace; Justice Department statistics show non-fatal incidents are even far more prevalent with approximately 1.7 million workplace violence incidents between 1993-1999; and in a 2012 survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management, 36% of the entities responding experienced incidents of workplace violence. The good news is there are measures to curb these risks. READ MORE