How To Create Defining Moments Without Breaking the Bank.   In a world full of cell phones, crystal clear video, and instant gratification, creating an impactful guest experience is harder than ever. The good news is there are still ways to create defining moments that connect with your guests, are cost-effective, and create memories and experiences your guests can’t wait to share in their hotel reviews.   In Episode 39 we talk with Chip Heath, Stanford Business School professor and...

As a place of public accommodation, hotels have many legal obligations, as well as rights, when it comes to serving the public. We all have those burning questions about what our roles and rights are in the multitude of challenging and unique situations we face each day as hoteliers. As our guest on this episode says and as we all know, “people are normal until they check into a hotel.”   Knowing what’s legal and where our limits are can often seem to be one of those gray areas. But, legal...

Cleaning guest rooms with the door 0pen or closed? Hotel housekeeping can be a dangerous job.   A harmless ask. A simple delivery. General cleaning. Restocking rooms. Greeting guests in the hallway. These are all duties performed by hotel housekeeping staff every day in millions of hotels across the world. Tasks that seem routine and relatively safe. But the fact is staff puts up with a lot and often their safety can be at risk.   Take the example of the well-known Dominique...

AHLA’s GM of the Year, Craig Poole discusses his unique approach to maximizing hotel performance through community outreach and being a second chance employer where every employee is focused on creating an exceptional customer experience. “Whatever you do, do it well. Do it so well that when people see you do it they will want to come back and see you do it again and they will want to bring others to show them how well you do what you do.” Wise words once said by Walt Disney, the man who...

Deirdre McGlone from Harvey’s Point Discusses the Importance of Service Culture. Have you ever wondered what is in the secret sauce of an award winning hotel? How do they manage to win awards year after year? Is it their picturesque location? Is it their finely appointed guest rooms? Or, is it the genuine hospitality that exudes from their staff? Yes. The answer is yes to all the above. But only one of those elements has the power to negate the other two. And, it is the one element that...

Celebrate Service Week at IHG with Jon Wakeman The week of May 22, 2017, marks the 8th year of Celebrate Service week at IHG.  It is a week dedicated to recognizing and celebrating hospitality providers across the globe. As part of the week-long celebrations at IHG properties, staff will participate in various activities that are planned and coordinated by the hotel management or ownership. Jon Wakeman joins me in this episode to discuss the origins of this very successful program and to...

Preparing for Hurricane Season  – 2017 Update. ** SPECIAL NOTE:  This information has been updated based on May 25, 2017, predictions from NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center. Planning and preparing your hotel for hurricane season each year can be a daunting task.  But with a solid plan in place and an early start to your preparations, you will make the task of preparing for the hurricane season much easier.   This episode addresses some of the critical planning that every hotel that sits...

Seasoned hotel professional, Rocco Bova shares career advice for aspiring hoteliers. Whether you are new to the hospitality industry or have been working in the field for some time, if you want to advance your career, you will want to consider the career advice of someone who has already experienced great success and can share strategies that will help you to get to where you want to go.    Finding career success never follows just one pathway and is dependent on your own personal set of...

Effective Interviewing Techniques with Jody Rogers. The best candidate for the job takes more than just relying on your gut feelings or instincts.  Effective interviewing techniques are essential to making the right selection in the hiring process.  Your decisions can have long-lasting consequences, both good and bad.  With the right amount of planning, well thought-out questions, and careful consideration, you will have a much higher likelihood of hiring a great fit for your department....

If you could gain some hospitality career advice from the former Executive Vice-President of Operations for Walt Disney World Resort, what do you think you’d learn? You’re about to find out on today’s show! Joining us for episode 31 is Lee Cockerell, a man who worked his way from a banquet waiter at the Hilton in Washington DC to being in charge of everyday operations for Walt Disney World. Today, having retired from Disney, Lee runs his own business speaking and giving seminars around the...

Jerry Williams discusses the impact social media has on hotel marketing. On episode 29 of Hospitality Academy Amanda Singer talked about the importance of digital marketing, and today we’re digging in even deeper with Jerry Williams of IHG on the topic of hotel marketing. Jerry is a former colleague of mine, and he is here to discuss the influence of social media on hotel marketing. Specifically, he explains what hoteliers should do to maximize their efforts on social media and ensure...

Amanda Singer discusses the digital marketing strategy for hotels from both franchised and independent properties. In today’s world of websites, Facebook ads, email campaigns, and the Internet, how has marketing evolved in the digital age? And how has digital marketing evolved for the hospitality industry? On this episode of Hospitality Academy, Amanda Singer formerly with IHG joins us to talk about digital marketing, performance marketing and how they can and should both be utilized by any...

How confident are you that your hotel has the right policy in place with regard to ADA Laws on service animals?  Even if you think you are in compliance, you’ll want to listen to today’s guest, Soy Williams. Soy is an expert in the field of disability rights, and today she’s here to share the dos and donts of service animals staying in your hotel. On this episode of Hospitality Academy, Soy explains what you are allowed to ask a guest about their service animal and what the American...

Thanks to social media, reviews are available to anyone almost anywhere at the touch of a button. But many hoteliers and management staff in the travel industry don’t know how to handle both negative and positive online guest feedback. Our guest today, Daniel Craig, has the answers! Daniel spent most of his career in the hotel industry until he left his role as general manager to found Reknown. Reknown is a digital marketing and online reputation management consultancy for the travel...

If you’ve been in hospitality for any length of time you’ve probably been told the keys to exceptional guest service are things like anticipating the guests’ needs, showing empathy, creating a connection, etc. Our guest today, Sarah Pittson, says those things are all true but there’s a component some hospitality establishments are missing. On today’s show, Sarah shares what that component is, how to know if you’re missing it and what to do if you are. She also explains the difference...

What lessons in hospitality can we learn from the vacation home rental industry?  When most of us think of hospitality we think of hotels and restaurants. But an area that has become increasingly popular is the vacation home rental market. In all of these industries – hotels, restaurants, and vacation housing rentals – the guest’s happiness is what ultimately determines success. On this episode of Hospitality Academy, I brought in an expert on vacation housing rentals, Mr. Ross Twiddy. Ross...

One of the latest trends in hotel management is fulfilling guests’ desires for an authentic and “locals” type experience. Couple that with the growing popularity of AirBnB, some hotels are moving into and investing in urban neighborhoods. I could think of no one better to speak to this topic than Imran Jivani of Hotel Chicago – Illinois Medical District. On this episode of Hospitality Academy, Imran joins us to talk about how his boutique hotel has capitalized on this growing trend, some...

Working in the hospitality industry we all know reviews are critical. But do you know the specific ways to go from 3-star reviews to 4-star and even 5-star? Or what it means if you are regularly receiving below 3-stars, and what you should be fixing in your hotel in order to improve guest reviews? On this episode of Hospitality Academy, Tony Bodoh is here to answer those questions. He’s an expert on the subject of customer experience in the hospitality world. We will talk about why the...

Today more than ever customer service training is crucial to the success of any hotel, motel or other hospitality establishment. In an era of viral videos and online rating reviews, every guest can be someone who will sing your praises to thousands or create your worst nightmare. Here to help navigate these waters is Doug Kennedy, the founder of Kennedy Training Network. If you’re a regular listener of the show you will have heard Doug on episode 16. He’s our first repeat guest and I’m...

On one of the recent episodes of Hospitality Academy Conor Kenny spoke about his book, Dancing At The Fountain and the seven hoteliers he interviewed and learned from to write it. Today I’m excited and honored to bring you one of those seven: Mr. Philippe Leboeuf. Philipe is the General Manager of the Mandarin Oriental, Paris, and is the Area Vice-President of Operations. The Mandarin Oriental is the hotel group’s first destination in Paris and Philippe is utilizing his 25 years of senior...

You’ve heard the expression: “The customer is always right.” But is that actually true in hospitality? And even if they aren’t always right can you still satisfy them and make them happy? Joining us to answer those questions, and more, is Michelle Mitchell of IHG. She is the customer experience manager for IHG’s customer relations and customer care department. She has spent the last 15 years focused on guest relations in operations, and designing the customer experience. On this episode of...

Timothy Moser shares memory improvement techniques in episode 019. Have you ever wondered what it would take to be that person who can remember every guest’s name? Or to have your entire wait staff be able to remember every tables’ orders perfectly every time? Our guest is the expert who can help you with both of those scenarios, and anything else related to memory. He is Timothy Moser, language, memory and productivity expert. On this episode of Hospitality Academy Timothy will help us...