With spring right around the corner, now is a great time to determine what needs to be done around a hotel's property to make it ready to blossom. In the article "Hotel Garden: Spring Your Hotel's Landscape Into Bloom with these Easy Maintenance Tips," U.S. Lawns President Ken Hutcheson discusses essential tips such as ensuring the irrigation and drainage systems are working properly, that pruning and mulching are done correctly and the best suited perennials for the property are in place to provide a burst of seasonal color, creating a healthy and attractive landscape can create a pleasant and welcoming environment sure to attract guests and will help hotel owners maximize the value of their properties. READ MORE

As analytics become more accepted, more visible and more desired across hospitality organizations, analysts and IT departments are challenged to deliver data to a wider range of personas. In this information-hungry atmosphere, the key to gaining support and inspiring action across the organization is the ability to "tell a story" with the data. It's not just about presenting rows and rows of data, or charts of results, but rather, using that data to support the story you want to tell - in a highly visual and accessible format. READ MORE

Gone are the days when hotels can take a shotgun approach to mobile marketing and be effective. With all of the latest advancements in mobile technology hoteliers are able to target their guests through utilizing a wide array of mobile engagement strategies that are hyper targeted to the individual user and establish brand differentiation, build loyalty and increase revenues resulting in a higher ROI for the hotel. Staying ahead of the market with innovative mobile/social/digital solutions can mean the difference between acquiring that new guest, wedding or corporate retreat, and missing out on the opportunity all together. Mobile Engagement is the result of sending the right mobile offers to the right people at the right time thus building one-on-one relationships between hoteliers and guests by offering mobile experiences that drive desired behaviors. READ MORE

The hospitality industry is facing material challenges directly relating to the practice of revenue management that must be acknowledged and addressed. Most alarming is the very real problem of a widening spectrum of sophistication levels between organizations that can effectively develop and implement advanced techniques and those that are relegated to the basic fundamentals. An emerging talent gap, and dichotomy of the need for both specialized expertise and the convergence of revenue generating disciplines compound this challenge. These issues and more are discussed with key industry practitioners. READ MORE

Forecasters are predicting a "partly sunny" travel season this summer - and for hotels this means an expected rebound tempered by consumers' worries about their financial stability. What can hotel loyalty program managers do to make the summer season a more successful one? In his latest column, Kobie Marketing's, Bram Hechtkopf, offers some helpful suggestions for driving loyalty and ROI. Engaging members across all their preferred channels and offers of genuine experiences along with points-for-rewards are just a few of the topics discussed in this article. READ MORE