<iframe src="//www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-MK28RS" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden">
 
   hbc_logo
Hamilton Beach Commercial Blog

Hospitality

Is Your Hotel Tired? Pro Tips for Updating FF&E

In the late 1960s, the height of hotel interior design (in Wisconsin, at least) was a collision of rough stone walls, purple wall-to-wall carpet, smoked-plastic chairs and circular waterbeds. The home of this mind-boggling décor was named the Gobbler, and it was “the ugliest, and somehow coolest, motel in America,” according to author James Lileks, who compiled a detailed tribute to the Gobbler on his website.

Your hotel probably isn’t that outdated. But is it time for a refresh?  

We spoke with Nicole Gould, Director of Interior Design for Vertically Integrated Projects, to get her advice on how to give a hotel property a fresh look while minimizing disruption to hotel operations. Vertically Integrated Projects is a North Carolina-based company that specializes in furniture, fixtures and equipment (FF&E) design for hotels throughout the southeast and mid-Atlantic.

Best Western Plus in Winston-Salem, NC (Photo courtesy of Nicole Gould)

Read More

Topics: Hotel Management, Featured, Hospitality, Design, Renovation

Hotel Branding for Millennials: What Works (and What Doesn't)

GLō. Tru. Vīb. The hospitality industry is filling up fast with new hotel brands — almost all of them offshoots of large chains — that cater to millennial travelers. But reaching this coveted demographic requires more than a hip, monosyllabic name.  Here's a look at the hotel branding and service strategies that are most likely to succeed with millennials. 

Read More

Topics: Millennials, Hospitality, Design

Three Fun Hospitality Jobs — And How to Get Them

Even the most seasoned hospitality pros sometimes get weary of the same routine. Spending day after day parsing data and solving guests' problems can make you forget why you began working in the hospitality industry. That's when you begin to daydream about donning your Stetson and working at a ranch resort. Or managing animals instead of staff. Or.... becoming a professional marshmallow roaster? Here are three of the most fun (and unusual) hospitality jobs we could find. 

Duckmaster Anthony Petrina escorts the famous Peabody Hotel ducks (Photo courtesy of the Peabody Memphis)

Read More

Topics: Hospitality

2016 Hospitality Trends: Mobile, Millennials and Market Share

Curious about the hospitality trends shaping 2016? Come, peer into our crystal ball — although with all the shakeups in the industry, it's looking more like a crystal snow globe. From the growth of AirBnB to the explosion in hotel brands, here's what you need to know for the year ahead.

Read More

Topics: Trends, Millennials, Hospitality

Eight great hospitality blogs to follow

Managing one property (or more) is hard enough. Keeping up with all the news and trends in the hotel industry is almost impossible. The solution is finding great hospitality blogs to follow — not dry, press-release-heavy newsfeeds, but sites that are entertaining and offer valuable insight. Here are eight of the best hospitality blogs we've found.

Read More

Topics: Marketing, Hospitality, Best Practices, Industry News

Eight unexpected ways small hotels can attract business travelers

Is there any better guest than the business traveler? They stay mid-week. They have expense accounts. And it doesn't take too much to make them happy (more on that in a moment).

Read More

Topics: Room amenities, Hotel guests, Hospitality

Teakettles, Slippers and Wi-Fi: How Hotels Are Courting Chinese Tourists

The global tourism industry experienced a seismic shift in 2014, when a record 109 million Chinese travelers went overseas. China has overtaken the United States to become the world's largest outbound tourism market, spending $165 billion in 2014. The wealthiest 10 percent of Chinese travelers wield formidable buying power; they spend more than US $2,000 per day (including on accommodations) according to Hotels.com's 2015 Chinese International Travel Monitor report.

How are hotels adapting to the surge in Chinese travelers? Here's a summary of the latest trends. 

Read More

Topics: Tea, Hotel Management, Hotel guests, Hospitality, Chinese travelers, Hotel News Now

The Sustainability Strategies of Green Hotels

Hotels are facing a green-tinted dilemma. Guests now expect hotels to operate some kind of sustainability program, but they remain motivated more by price and convenience than concern for the environment, according to a 2015 study by Cornell University's Center for Hospitality Research. And "the link between environmentally sustainable programs and improved customer satisfaction is weak compared to standard drivers like facilities, room, and food and beverage quality."

In short, guests want green hotels, but they're not going to pay any extra. Not only that, but if sustainable practices cause them any inconvenience, they'll be upset. The question for hotel operators, then, is how to shift toward sustainable operations while saving money and keeping guests happy. Here are some ideas and sustainability best practices from leaders in the industry. 

 

Read More

Topics: Hospitality, Sustainability, Green Hotels

Beyond room service: wowing guests without the silver tray

In the summer of 2013, the New York Hilton Midtown—the largest hotel in New York City—announced it would no longer offer room service. The decision shocked some guests who have come to associate the silver tray with luxury hotels, but it only confirmed what hospitality professionals have known for some time: room service is rarely profitable.

Room service contributes just 1.22 percent of a hotel's average revenues as of 2012, according to PKF Hospitality Research. That represents about $3.25 per occupied room. Not only that, but room service requires a significant staffing commitment.

Guests still need to eat—and they don't always want to commit to a full-service meal. But large hotels in urban environments, where takeout choices abound, can step back from their obligation to provide 24-hour dining, HotelNewsNow.com's Jeff Higley told Entrepreneur magazine. Hotels are coming up with novel ways to give business travelers and others easy dining options.

Read More

Topics: Trends, Room Service, Hotel Management, Hotel guests, Featured, Hospitality

How to help guests rest easy about hotel room cleanliness

 

Hotel owners and housekeepers know that hotel rooms are often cleaner than guests' own homes. But that doesn't help allay the fears of guests who have seen one too many TV exposés on dirty hotel rooms.

In response, hotels are adopting extreme measures to calm guests' fears. In 2012, Best Western International rolled out a new cleaning program in which housekeepers use black lights to find invisible biological matter and UV-light wands to disinfect things like remotes. The new policy works, Best Western says: guest satisfaction for room cleanliness rose 12 percent. What else can a hotel do to reassure guests its rooms are clean?

Read More

Topics: Room amenities, Hotel room cleanliness, Featured, Hospitality, Customer Service

Join the HBC Community

Subscribe to this blog

Recent Posts

Posts by Topic

see all
New Call-to-action