Author: Guy Lean

Briefing: The importance of strong leadership

Posted on by Guy Lean

A new survey from Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI) has uncovered the work, challenges, and concerns of senior Revenue Management professionals. It found that critical thinking was considered an important or very important management skill by all respondents, as was business acumen by 98% of respondents. What else is required to be an effective manager and how much of a difference can the right leadership make to a business?

In these video, experts discuss leadership and management in hospitality:

The HSMAI survey shows that there is a desire from Revenue Managers to have more control to push businesses forward; the top-rated responsibilities the respondents said they would like to add to their duties were Sales and Marketing, and Strategic Planning.

The HSMAI survey found that revenue management professionals currently spend on average 5.5 hours per week on Human Resource Management, 14 hours on Strategy, and 5.6 hours on Technology Application.

The survey also covered the challenges that the Revenue Managers faced. The most challenging aspects of the revenue managers position was found to be; advancing the thinking & decision making in related disciplines, and elevating the strategic application of data throughout the enterprise.

If you’ve been sent to this page and you’re not yet on the circulation list to receive these regular briefings and you would like to sign up, you can do see here. It’s free.

Video clips produced by ybc.tv for the Hospitality Channel, including interview from industry conferences such as the IHIF conference as well as specific Hospitality Channel shoots.

Briefing: A good reputation goes a long way

Posted on by Guy Lean

A new study from Resonance Consultancy has named London as the World’s Best City Brand. The results were based on analysis of social media comments about cities, by both locals and visitors. So how important is it that people are talking about your brand online, and how far are hospitality companies relying on Social Media for feedback on their performance?

Four hospitality experts discuss word of mouth and building a loyal customer base:

Outside of Social Media, performance on dedicated review sites continues to have a great impact on a hospitality business. ReviewPro’s 2016 Top Luxury Hotel & Brand Report, found that Luxury Hotels receive 1,008 reviews on average per hotel per year. Within that, an amazing 83% were positive reviews.

China had the largest number of top of top rated luxury properties in ReviewPro’s report, and had experienced a dramatic increase of +46% reviews year-on- year, further reflecting the fast changing developments in China.

The UK had the third most top reviews and unsurprisingly the Maldives had the second largest number of top rated luxury properties.

To return to Resonance Consultancy’s Word’s Best City Brands Report, the full top 5 best city brands were found to b: London, Singapore, New York, Paris and Sydney.

 

If you’ve been sent to this page and you’re not yet on the circulation list to receive these regular briefings and you would like to sign up, you can do see here. It’s free.

Video clips produced by ybc.tv for the Hospitality Channel, including interview from industry conferences such as the IHIF conference as well as specific Hospitality Channel shoots.

Briefing: Hospitality professionals have rewarding careers

Posted on by Guy Lean

A recent Survey from Best Western has uncovered the worrying statistic that more than a third of parents (42%) say they’d discourage their child from a career in hospitality. However, a separate survey has found that in Scotland people working in hotels and lodgings ranked their happiness second highest of all industries. In Rwanda, Marriott has been working with the Akilah Institute for Women and other organisations to equip local women with business skills to aide in the opening of the Kigali Marriott Hotel.

Hospitality experts discuss why they are passionate about our industry:

Best Western found being a Hospitality professional was third from bottom in a list of parent’s preferred careers. Hospitality management is also included in the bottom 10.  This negativity about hospitality careers is despite the fact there are 90,000 jobs available in the industry. Other careers included in the bottom 10 were Journalism and Farming. Unsurprisingly being a Doctor is the number one career that a parent would want their child. Engineer, and Law professional were also listed in the top ten preferred careers.

In developing countries, tourism can have an immense impact on job generation. According to the World Travel & Tourism Council, Rwanda’s travel and tourism industry generated 7.1% of the country’s GDP in 2015 and is predicted to rise at 4.1% annually through 2025.

Marriott has partnered with the Akilah Institute for Women to recruit and train Rwandan women for supervisory positions at its Kigali location. Marriott International invited nearly 40 Akilah graduates to work and train in Marriott hotels in Africa and the Middle East, and after receiving on-the-job skills and leadership training, the first wave has returned to Rwanda to join the management team at the Kigali Marriott.

If you’ve been sent to this page and you’re not yet on the circulation list to receive these regular briefings and you would like to sign up, you can do see here. It’s free.

Video clips produced by ybc.tv for the Hospitality Channel, including interview from industry conferences such as the IHIF conference as well as specific Hospitality Channel shoots.

Briefing: Deal-making in today’s hotel market

Posted on by Guy Lean

Hotels are a strong commercial property asset class but there are many global factors at play changing the hospitality landscape. According to JLL, the first six months of 2016 saw Asia become the largest source of outbound capital flowing into global hotel real estate. The report also found that global hotel deal activity in the first half of 2016 declined 52% year-on-year to US$24 billion.

In these videos four experts discuss investment in hotels:

There are many great technological changes happening in the industry all the time, but as discussed in the above videos, investment decisions largely come down to profit and reliability.

This year there has been uncertainty in all markets causing a slowdown in deals. A report from JLL shows that overall Real Estate transactions in the first half of 2016 is 10% lower than the first half of 2015.

JLL also found that New York is the most liquid city in the world, with hotel transactions reaching US$2.3 billion as of June 2016. While in Asia Pacific, Japan is top with US$2.2 billion worth of transactions in H1 2016, and accounts for over half of regional transaction volumes. In China there has been an increased level of investment activity, up 118% to US$244.2 million.

If you’ve been sent to this page and you’re not yet on the circulation list to receive these regular briefings and you would like to sign up, you can do see here. It’s free.

Video clips produced by ybc.tv for the Hospitality Channel, including interview from industry conferences such as the IHIF conference as well as specific Hospitality Channel shoots.

Briefing: The opportunity and challenge of hospitality alternatives

Posted on by Guy Lean

A report by JLL has found that serviced apartments account for less than 10% of total room inventory in London – and in UK regions account for only 3.9%. This highlights that there is still a lot of opportunity for serviced apartments and other types of alternative accommodation to grow. But are these relatively new products less attractive to investors?

Four hospitality experts discuss the performance of hotel alternatives:

JLL’s report found that there are over 1,500 serviced apartment rooms due to open in London between now and 2019. This shows that the sector is only going to become more mainstream, and with that there will be more evidence on performance for investors.

As discussed in the above videos, some regions across the globe, such as the US, have a bigger alternatives market than others. JLL states that the number of serviced apartment rooms vs hotel rooms in Singapore is higher than in London with 10% of total room supply.

In Europe, the market is still developing. According to JLL, the key serviced apartment operators at the moment are AccorHotels, The Ascott Limited, BridgeStreet Global Hospitality, Frasers Hospitality, and Go Native. They also state that some up and coming operators are Staycity, Zoku and Starwood Capital.

If you’ve been sent to this page and you’re not yet on the circulation list to receive these regular briefings and you would like to sign up, you can do see here. It’s free.

Video clips produced by ybc.tv for the Hospitality Channel, including interview from industry conferences such as the IHIF conference as well as specific Hospitality Channel shoots.

Briefing: Appreciating data skill

Posted on by Guy Lean

Research from Tableau Software has revealed that just 40% of recent graduates believe data analytics skills are essential for their future job and only 30% believe data analytics to be critical in fulfilling their career goals. In every aspect of hospitality, workers need to appreciate the importance of data, although not everyone needs to be able to analyse it. Some will collect the data, and others will be using the insight it provides in their work.

Our experts discuss how understanding data can have a positive impact on business:

Organisations are continuing to invest in data, whether this means bringing in new skilled staff or creating partnerships with data specialist companies.

So what are some of the problems that arise when working with data?  According to a study by Xplenty, Over 30% of Business Intelligence Professionals say they spend 50% – 90% of their time cleaning raw data. Other challenges mentioned include, integrating data from different platforms and managing the sheer volume of incoming data at any given time.

The amount of data available for people to work with is only increasing, and this could mean great things for business. A report by Forbes, Data Elevates the Customer Experience, found that the growth of customer experience data increasing at rate of more than 25% a year.

If you’ve been sent to this page and you’re not yet on the circulation list to receive these regular briefings and you would like to sign up, you can do see here. It’s free.

Video clips produced by ybc.tv for the Hospitality Channel, including interview from industry conferences such as the IHIF conference as well as specific Hospitality Channel shoots.

Briefing: Holidaymakers value safety and security

Posted on by Guy Lean

Safety fears have a huge impact on consumers’ holiday choices. This is particularly apparent in light of events in popular destinations such as Turkey and Paris. In a UK survey by FamilyBreakFinder, 80% of people said terrorism, health scares or political trouble will affect their choice of holiday destination in 2017. But these are not the only fears people have when taking a break. A survey by Expedia also found that 42% of beachgoers are scared of sharks.

In these videos experts discuss dealing with safety and security fears:

When we go on holiday we want everything to run smoothly, so what would get in the way of this? Expedia’s survey found that that on a beach holiday the three biggest worries are having your wallet, passport or possessions stolen 39%, getting a Sunburn 17%, and experiencing bad weather that prevents beach time 14%.

There is also somewhat of a gulf between what people worry about and what the likelihood of it happening is. 6.6 million people are so afraid of sharks they don’t get in the water but the actual global odds of encountering a shark are 11.5 million to one.

Some holidaymakers are reassured by a focus on security. According to a survey by TravelZoo, when the French government announced in July that beaches in Cannes would be patrolled by armed police, over a third of British respondents believed the UK should follow France’s lead and deploy similar security measures.

If you’ve been sent to this page and you’re not yet on the circulation list to receive these regular briefings and you would like to sign up, you can do see here. It’s free.

Video clips produced by ybc.tv for the Hospitality Channel, including interview from industry conferences such as the IHIF conference as well as specific Hospitality Channel shoots.

Briefing: Trust issues hold back the Sharing Economy

Posted on by Guy Lean

New research shows that the Sharing Economy in the UK is being held back because of a lack of trust and understanding. A survey by Trust Pilot found that 29% of people have previously avoided using a sharing economy platform because of a lack of clarity on who would hold responsibility when something goes wrong. The survey also found that 42% of people would usually wait until a friend or family member has used a sharing economy scheme before using it themselves.

In these videos our experts discuss the impact of the sharing economy in hospitality:

A separate survey by Veridu also found similar results.  The survey states that ‘A lack of understanding of the Sharing Economy in the UK is impacting growth with 41% of respondents citing this as a reason for not participating.’ Other reasons given for avoiding participation were unwillingness to share possessions with strangers (41%), concerns for personal safety (34%), and worries that possessions would be damaged (29%).

Some Sharing Economy business have grown faster than others, and Airbnb is a clear success story, although it still has hurdles to overcome. Trust Pilot’s survey found that 58% of respondents had used property rental sharing economy services (e.g. Airbnb) whereas only 28% of people has used private car loan services or car sharing schemes (e.g. Zipcar).

With word of mouth remaining such a strong driver of growth, trust is sure to keep growing over time and emerging Sharing Economy business will continue to present competition to more traditional business.

If you’ve been sent to this page and you’re not yet on the circulation list to receive these regular briefings and you would like to sign up, you can do see here. It’s free.

Video clips produced by ybc.tv for the Hospitality Channel, including interview from industry conferences such as the IHIF conference as well as specific Hospitality Channel shoots.

Briefing: Millennial culture emphasises teamwork

Posted on by Guy Lean

According to Deloitte’s Human Capital Trends 2016, 80% of executives report that they are either currently restructuring their organization or have recently completed the process. The report states that the need for innovation and the growing Millennial workforce among other factors is driving a trend for businesses to be organised into ever-changing “networks of teams”. Another important finding is that 82% of survey respondents believe that “culture is a potential competitive advantage.”

In these videos our hospitality experts discuss the importance of strong teams and positive working culture:

Deloitte says that in the new “network of teams” structure, ‘companies build and empower teams to work on specific business projects and challenges’. The rigid hierarchies of business past are slowly disappearing and empowerment is now the name of the game.

Companies now want to focus on getting the right people for each job. Great culture will make a company more attractive to talent and will bolster the team to work hard and produce results. Deloitte say that 50% of companies are currently attempting to change their culture in response to shifting talent markets and increased competition.

But culture can be a hard thing to measure – the report says that fewer than 12% of companies believe they truly understand their culture.

If you’ve been sent to this page and you’re not yet on the circulation list to receive these regular briefings and you would like to sign up, you can do see here. It’s free.

Video clips produced by ybc.tv for the Hospitality Channel, including interview from industry conferences such as the IHIF conference as well as specific Hospitality Channel shoots.

Briefing: Digital or Detox? Finding your technology balance

Posted on by Guy Lean

A study by Expedia has revealed that 60% of travellers globally say they would be unwilling to go on holiday without a mobile device. Consumers are increasingly living  in the digital world. In order to connect with and provide for guests, hospitality leaders must embrace technology. But how much of this tech addiction is permanent and how much is just a phase?

Four hospitality professionals discuss changes in communication and what constitutes essential technology in hospitality:

Mobile technology is ingrained in our lives but does come with some negative side effects and there are rules to be followed. In Expedia’s survey, 58% of travellers say that they would consider it bad etiquette to play music, games or videos without headphones in public areas.

This constant connectivity is changing the nature of what a holiday is. According to the Expedia survey almost one-quarter (23%) of travellers have purchased inflight Wi-Fi on a leisure trip in order to connect to work.

Holidays should be a time to unplug relax and get away from it all right? Or is this ideal long gone? Well in Expedia’s survey, 35% of respondents claimed to use their mobile device more on vacation than they do at home. Even for those resisting the urge to check in with work, when less of their time is taken up by business, people have more time to explore the digital world on their phone. On top of this the phone can be an essential tool to help travellers discover new places to go, and use the map on their phone to get there and share their experiences with others. They may use a banking app to keep an eye on how much they are spending, even be able to use their phone to pay for items, and in some hotels they may be using their phone to unlock their room. With all this technology making peoples live less stressful, is it any surprise that 60% of travellers agree they never truly ‘’unplug’’ on leisure trips?

If you’ve been sent to this page and you’re not yet on the circulation list to receive these regular briefings and you would like to sign up, you can do see here. It’s free.

Video clips produced by ybc.tv for the Hospitality Channel, including interview from industry conferences such as the IHIF conference as well as specific Hospitality Channel shoots.

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