The behavioral psychology principle of the 'Four Stages of Competence' described in the 1970s deserves special attention for hoteliers because of all the learned skills necessary to be successful in the hospitality industry. Whether you are active in the field as a leader, manager or ambitious team member, understanding these four broad phases of learning will help you achieve mastery in your desired profession. READ MORE

Satisfaction is in the emotional connection guests have with the hotel and service - lebua connects with guests emotionally and knows their mood and behaviors to best meet their needs and preferences. Emotional connection is everywhere at lebua. Our brand concept of service focuses on building emotional bonds with guests at every touch point, whether through language on our website, pre-arrival outreach, personal interaction with guests during their stay, the amenities we provide, or through the surveys we send them after their visit. READ MORE

The last few years have brought an explosion in the number of private lawsuits against employers for wage and hour violations and increased scrutiny by the federal Department of Labor and various other state enforcement agencies. The hospitality industry is not immune from these challenges. In fact, the Wage and Hour Division considers hospitality workers and other low-wage workers to be particularly vulnerable. Over the past year, the U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division has targeted hospitality employers across the country. Investigators often arrive unannounced and demand immediate access to payroll records and employees for interviews to determine whether employees are properly classified and properly paid. READ MORE

Online Travel Agencies such as Expedia, Priceline and Hotwire are extremely good at what they do: filling empty rooms. Unfortunately for hotel operators, they've become slightly too good at it, and travelers are now going straight to these deals sites for their booking needs. So how do hotel operators keep OTAs from cannibalizing business from customers that might have booked direct in the first place? This is one question I hear all of the time from companies that call me for advice on hotel automation systems. READ MORE

Sometimes, in the fast-paced world of hotel management it is easy to skip over some of the suspiciously simple aspects of our operations, like truly knowing our customer. Knowing who is in our hotels is the first step in the process, understanding their preferences and why they are staying there the second, and engaging or utilizing that understanding to capture more business, the final and most important. In this article, I share key strategies you can use at the hotel level to gather and leverage information about your guests to ultimately increase your bottom line. READ MORE