Stress is a significant problem in the hospitality industry, correlated with the onset and presence of physiologic symptoms and a myriad of health problems. Stress related health issues are associated with decreased productivity and increased health care costs for employers. Implementing an effective stress-reduction program can help alleviate these costs and lead to a more productive work force. In this article, we review burnout and stress in the hospitality industry and mindfulness meditation as a viable, inexpensive method to alleviate stress. READ MORE

Beyond the immediate security measures taken by hotels in the days and weeks following the Boston Marathon bombing in April 2013, the tragedy raised broader questions around crisis planning and response. Crises represent significant risk for a hotel's business continuity, public image, customer base and short- and long-term financial performance. This makes it imperative for hotels and other business to have a comprehensive emergency response plan that takes into account all type of potential crises, internal operations and available external resources. The plan should provide clear,detailed protocols for response and address key operational issues and communications. Only with a plan that is developed carefully, practiced and updated regularly, can hotels respond effectively in a crisis. READ MORE

Due to the near ubiquity of smart phones in America, there are roughly 150 million people in the U.S. alone with a GPS in the palm of their hands, and knowing where your audience is -- especially for a travel brand-- is invaluable information. It allows companies to customize content, be it mobile video, discounts, apps, sweepstakes, etc., and deliver it to a specific audience in a specific location where that content will be most relevant and actionable for the customer. READ MORE

Walk down almost any street, enter into any shopping mall, take a form of public transportation, go to various places of work and even be in some places of worship, in fact virtually anywhere in the civilized world where there are people, and the one thing that you'll find in common and very evident, is the fact that a great many of them are interacting with some form of mobile device. READ MORE

In the past two years, there has been a huge shift from the desktop to mobile and tablet usage. Nearly 22 percent of hotel web visitors are coming via “pure” mobile devices/smartphones (HeBS Digital portfolio). Yet the percentage of bookings we would expect to originate from smartphones, especially when compared to desktop and tablet, is significantly low. So, why aren't there more mobile bookings? This article describes the main reasons that account for the discrepancy between mobile web visitors and what we would expect to translate into more mobile bookings: the majority of mobile bookings happening via the voice channel, multi-device usage patterns for research and booking, and poor user experience on the mobile device. Read on for best practices regarding how to accommodate hotel website visitors on the “pure” mobile devices and how you can start closing the gap between visits and bookings. READ MORE