This article is addressed to Hotel Executives in the process of hiring a concierge. It contains inside characteristics that will help the recruiter at finding the right candidate. Most of them are personality traits, since the essence of the concierge performance is highly personal: establishing powerful relationships with guests, coworkers and vendors. The concierge mindset directly impacts the hotel's overall objective to offer memorable experiences through personal service. READ MORE

“A hotel without its employees is nothing more than a building with beds,” states Niki Leondakis, president and COO of Kimpton Hotels. That's why it's so critical to retain the employees who make your guests feel like they have come home. Here's what you can do to make a lasting connection with those who matter—your employees. READ MORE

The key for the current concierge is to beat tech-savvy users at their own game. Concierges need to engage their arriving guests early in the process through the channels they are using, remain engaged through the stay and prime guests for the next stay by continuing to engage after departure. READ MORE

Pinterest recently updated their social network with Place Pins, which add a new layer of rich interactivity to location-based pins. Historically, Pinterest has been a great place to explore products and craft ideas. Upon noticing that many users shared travel photos as well, Pinterest developed Place Pins as a way to give users more context about the photos they're viewing. With this release, hoteliers can finally take full advantage of Pinterest's 70+ million users, at last making Pinterest a viable marketing solution that can rival Twitter and Facebook at driving new guests to your website and booking engine. READ MORE

The luxury travel market has remarkably transformed in recent years. One of the world's leaders in research for consumer regions throughout the world, Euromonitor has spelled out some of the stark changes. Emerging markets are growing faster than advanced markets to drive worldwide growth of the luxury segment. While traditional travel destinations (Italy, France and the U.K.) are still the most popular, Gulf countries and China are growing fastest. Today's luxury traveler considers the entire globe to be a potential destination; whereas past generations may not have looked past Western Europe. READ MORE