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What's in your mini-bar?

What's in your mini-bar?

Ask anyone in the hotel industry and they will tell you that the mini-bar is dead, a victim of its own arrogance, in pricing and in product.  The numbers don’t lie, mini-bar revenues are down and the guest has made it clear that this amenity is no longer as important as it once might have been.  However, some visionary and perhaps more entrepreneurial hotel operators have found a way to slow and in certain cases eliminate the financial bleeding taking place and actually break even or turn a profit from their minibar programs.  So what is their secret?

How are YOU going after today's on-demand meetings business?

How are YOU going after today's on-demand meetings business?

While the concept isn’t brand new, the practicality of getting into the “on-demand meeting space” arena is still quite new to many of us. New and creative ways of selling meeting space in our hotels translates directly into increased revenues and increased profits, yet renting our spaces for meetings is seldom a priority.  As technology evolves, the rules around this standard of our industry are changing a bit.  Today, meetings can take place almost anywhere at almost any time, and many of our hotels’ spaces, both public and private, can be ideal for this trend, with minor adjustments necessary from the hotel side of life.

Is the Marriott/Starwood transaction a cause for celebration or concern?

While this week’s news of Marriott’s purchase of Starwood caught many industry experts by surprise, focus has quickly shifted to the question of “what does it mean to me?”  Owners are asking this question, of course, and more & more customers are doing the same.  While of course we will all have to wait and see, here we will weigh some of the positives and negatives.

Hotel Fees; Stop The Madness!

In so many instances, consumers are asked to bear the brunt of strategic decisions made by brands despite the obvious flaws in these decisions.  It’s no secret that the hotel industry is no different. We have openly adopted an approach that involves imposing various fees on our customers in an attempt to recover revenue and profit that may have deteriorated for a variety of reasons.  Some of these reasons include increased competition, downward trends in market performance, etc.  And while no one can deny the math, (reflecting huge fee revenues being earned), what seems to have been completely forgotten in this equation is the customer’s expectation of value.