If content is king, then strategy is his queen. It’s tempting to just simply post to your hotel's or destination's Facebook page, or shoot out an email here and there, without having clear and focused goals in mind. But by doing so, you could easily be wasting your hard-pressed time and energy on...read more

When faced with a Request for Proposal (RFP), the temptation is to pull out all the stops with bells and whistles so that you land a top spot in the review process.  Present a proposal with the lowest pricing, several choices and extensive line items, and within days you increase room block bookings...read more

The Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index closed Friday at 2744.70 reaching its highest number since October of 2007. Per an article by Shawn A. Turner of  www.HotelNewsNow.com, the hotel industry's most notable stock index is up 6.7% confirming that Investors believe the industry has not only survived the...read more

This week marks the anniversary of Alexander Graham Bell sending the message, "Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you" to his assistant using electricity to transmit speech for the very first time. I often wonder what he would think of the developments his ingenuity influenced. The article, "The...read more

The arrival of Daylight Saving Time and the sight of Mr. Robin puffing his bright red chest as he enjoys a budding limb signals the season for a good Spring Cleaning! Spring is the perfect time to sweep out the "we've always done it that way" and the "don't fix it if it's not broken" cobwebs.Today's...read more

In the wake of the third disaster at sea in 27 months for the Carnival Corporation, discussions of safety and disaster preparedness are at the forefront. In 2013, the safety of a venue is also advertising a venue. I am a Carnival Past Guest and have a cruise scheduled this year that I continue to...read more

President Abraham Lincoln has long been a favorite among Americans because of his gentle but wise and firm leadership. February 18, 2013, the United States is celebrating the leadership and dedication of our presidents, among them President Lincoln. What lessons can you learn from this sage...read more

In 2012 you promoted your hotel and may feel really great about the work you put into enhancing your social media and getting on the instant digital advertising train! Progress is good and you can pat yourself on the back for finally taking the step on that branding journey. You may be tempted to...read more

Remember when Grandma's telephone was a shared line with the neighbors (a party line) and the only computers were in big hidden rooms in banks and other businesses? Remember when you got your first cell phone and it stayed in the car because it was larger than a bread box? Remember your first...read more

The last few weeks demanded a great deal of energy and time from you as the revenue manager at your hotel, but the 2012 reports are on the books and you have done everything you can with your team to build the bottom line most successfully. Just when you thought you could exhale, the fiscal cliff...read more

The business teeter-totter from 2008-2011 really began to level off in 2012, giving relief and hope for a better bottom line. Time spent finding new ways to fill rooms, juggling dates and rates and scrambling to stay afloat creatively has defined a more streamlined approach to group rooms business....read more

Meeting planners are continuously seeking the next great idea to add excitement and ROI to their group events. Christine Born and Libby Hoppe discuss "11 Ideas Changing Meetings" in Connect magazine, some of which you can incorporate into your meetings strategy as a hotelier in 2013. Below are five...read more

Of all the social channels out there, Google+ is by far the least understood and the most troubling for hospitality marketing staff. There are no vanity URLs yet (troubling) and it is hard to understand how to get people into your circle (even more problematic).  That being said, Google+ is not a...read more

PCMA recently polled over 200 meeting professionals with the intent to understand how they believe hotel sales personnel size up their business. The findings are interesting to say the least and Cvent Hospitality would like to know your views on these findings.  One of the most interesting findings...read more

When you are trying to book hotel group business, there are some things planners will never ask you for in a RFP. However, these same planners are astutely aware and interested in the items below when they make their final hotel decision. Even though this may seem like common sense, it is always...read more

Business travel is glamorous right? Traveling to interesting and exotic locales, eating out every day, getting away from the office. Unfortunately, what a business traveler usually sees besides the landscape on the taxi ride from the airport to the hotel, is the inside of the hotel guest room. The...read more

Your sales managers have a full plate, right? Between developing relationships to get hotel group business, increasing group bookings, increasing room blocks and then maintaining those relationships, a sales manager is the definite revenue generator for your meeting venue. But, what if I told you...read more

Statistics are abundant showing that Internet usage, in particular social media, is growing by leaps and bounds all over the world! Internet Statistics shows an overall growth of over 12% between 2011 and 2012 of those using Facebook and a total of 835,525,280 users worldwide with more being added...read more

Have you ever wondered how a meeting planner's mind works? Why they chose a particular property? How you can win more business from them? As a meeting professional for almost 20 years, I can tell you it isn't really rocket science. But there is some methodology to the way planners think. The...read more

You finally earned buy-in to create a social media program with your thorough research and professional presentation to upper management. Those efforts are just the beginning! For your initiative to get off the ground and provide the best results, you need to build the program on a foundation...read more