Hospitality Basics

The maintenance and housekeeping departments are the two most injury prone areas in a hotel with the labor intensity, physical activity and training being the main reasons. Housekeeping staff on a daily basis clean 14-16 rooms and make up to 8000 movements during an eight hour shift. It is a physically demanding job which primarily involves making beds, cleaning rooms, bathtubs, sinks, fixtures removing stains and vacuuming. It is a profession highly prone to sprains and strains and hoteliers must cultivate work practices that prevent injuries from occurring. Read more…

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A building set to house one of Beijing’s most luxurious hotels - The Mandarin Oriental scheduled for opening later this year was engulfed in flames from fireworks celebrations to mark the first full moon since the Lunar New Year.. Reports suggest that the fire may have been caused by the fireworks staged by China Central Television (housed in an adjacent building) to mark the end of the Lunar New Year. Some reports also suggest that the hotel had actually been used during the Olympics and the finishing touches were being put in place. Read more…

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Some hotels go to great lengths to celebrate the holiday season. I remember during my days at the Hay Adams Hotel in Washington D.C., the Christmas Tree Lighting was quite a ceremony accompanied by a full 18 piece band! The Hay – Adams staff would also happily place and decorate a Christmas tree in your suite; and these days guests can also enjoy decorating a gingerbread house with the chef amongst other luxuries… all parts of a five day package staring at US$8,800.  At The Gaylord Palm Resort in Orlando holiday bedtime stories are broadcast over in-room channels and for an additional fee Santa’s Elves will visit your room to tuck your little one in bed! At the Orlando World Center Marriott Resort holiday festivities start December 20th and include visits from Santa Claus and Christmas carolers. The Gaylord Opryland in Nashville, Tennessee has gingerbread making classes as part of their Annual Country Christmas Celebrations and guests have a choice of decorating either a miniature gingerbread house ornament or a gingerbread man. Read more…

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The mayhem in Mumbai is finally over and our thoughts are with those who lost their loved ones and who sacrificed their lives fighting for the freedom of others. Many sad stories of our fellow hoteliers caught in the crossfire are slowly emerging; a front office receptionist shot and killed while performing her duties, the hotel general manager who is left to mourn the loss of his two children and wife. There has never been a more pressing need for making security a top concern in our daily operations. Hoteliers must do everything in their power to protect guests and be proactive in implementing measures to prevent such incidents from occurring. As witnessed, no destination is immune to such acts! Watch how the events unfolded in Mumbai… Read more…

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Is guest information safe when they log on the internet service provided by the hotel? All fingers point to the direction that much more could be done to secure guest information. Hard to believe, but some hotels still do not use Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) which requires a password to get on to the network and this should without doubt be a required minimum standard. Internet security should be a top priority of hotel management! Read more…

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The cleanliness of drinking glasses in hotel guest rooms has been seriously questioned as evidenced in the video recorded in an investigation conducted by the hidden cameras of a TV station in Atlanta Georgia. Here are a few suggestions for hotels to ensure that drinking glasses are clean and sanitized. Read more…

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In United States, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean most hotels are Diamond or Star rated. MOBIL awards Stars and the American Automobile Association (AAA) awards Diamonds. Ratings are given from one to five with 5 being the ultimate in hospitality luxury and one providing essential, no frill accommodations. Both ratings are very prestigious and use a variety of evaluation criteria including unannounced physical site inspections. The higher the ratings, the more stringent and frequent the hotel inspections! The rating are then published in tour books and accommodation guides used to decide where to stay. Both MOBIL Star and AAA rated properties present more similarities than differences in facilities, service, price and atmosphere. Seeking the best? Look for properties that have been awarded both 5 stars and 5 Diamonds.
Conde Nast Traveler and Travel & Leisure both publish a Gold List and The World’s Best Hotels respectively based on a survey of their readers. Robb Report’s Best Luxury Hotels are also highly regarded by the industry. Read more…

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By B.W. Cook… On a recent Friday morning in Newport Beach, California at The Balboa Bay Club & Resort, Henry Schielein, the legendary Bavarian-born hotelier responsible for the posh club and hotel facilities on the bay was about to lead his weekly staff meeting. Some twenty well-groomed executives converged upon the meeting room. It was exactly 8:30 in morning. A light breakfast buffet, with the croissants and muffins arranged on silver trays in perfect order, awaited the arriving staff members. Read more…

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Positioning and effectively communicating that position to your target market is vital to the success of your organization. To maximize your marketing dollars, here are a few questions you should be asking yourself…

What is your current position now?
How are you seen by the market now? Your management may think that you have the finest rooms in the city, but what is most important is if the market supports this view or not! Are you perceived as up market, luxurious and service oriented?

* Are you perceived as being expensive?
* Are you tired, out of date, rundown or are you considered state of the art and cutting edge?
* What are your customers’ views? What do they tell you in their feedback?
* How is your repeat business? What are the reasons for guests returning to your hotel? Read more…

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Vancouver is an hotelier’s paradise! With so many new hotels under construction, it is hard to keep track! In the downtown core, it is almost impossible to find a street without construction taking place. New developments, refurbishments, up grades we have it all! For an hotelier seeking opportunity, it really doesn’t get better than this. Very few cities have so many new luxury hotels under development and most are opening their doors before 2010. Some major projects under development:

Hotel Georgia, 687 Howe Street, Vancouver

Hotel Georgia a historic landmark built in 1927 and a hotel of choice for many celebrity of the bygone era is currently undergoing extensive renovations and restorations. It will open in 2009 as a boutique 220 room property under the Valencia Group flag and will also have an adjacent 46 storey tower scheduled to open in 2011. Read more…

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