Are you a hotel eMarketer looking for ways to better communicate, educate and develop the role at your property/ies? This article explores some of the issues surrounding these efforts, complemented by a dose of perspective and a generous helping of best practices, all garnished, hopefully, by your own ideas and experiences. By Jitendra Jain

Finding Meaning: Wikipedia attributes the word ‘evolution’ to the Latin term ‘evolutio’ meaning "unfolding". While the tech and Internet revolution have anything but “unfolded” upon us (“exploded” would be more appropriate, given the short span of time over which most Internet-related developments have occurred), there is something to be learnt from the nature of these changes.

After a year of successful operations in India, Dynamic Vertical Software Pvt Ltd is all set to strategically expand internationally, and has come up with its new office in Dubai to service the Gulf, Middle East and North African regions.

There are discussions about implementing a voluntary bed tax in the Scottish capital. A mandatory bed tax has been ruled out but it is believed that if you ask in the right way and reassure visitors that the money raised will be spent on environmental and cultural initiatives some visitors will be happy to contribute. It is esimated that around three million pounds could be raised based a contribution of £1 per visitor.

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 14, 2006--Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. (NYSE:HOT) and Special Olympics announced today the launch of a three year, global partnership naming Starwood Hotels as the exclusive hotel sponsor of Special Olympics and the 2007 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Shanghai, China. The sponsorship includes financial and in-kind support from Starwood. In addition, Starwood will broadcast Special Olympics public service announcements on its internal television channel in its hotels.

Emirates airlines is now offering hotel bookings through the Lastminute.com engine on their official website.

Nearly everyone has heard of the Burj-al-Arab by now...touted to be the most expensive and possibly the best hotel in the world. Some say that the investment put into the hotel will never be recouped...but it still make great business sense, for the country...UAE...since it's yet another landmark thats put Dubai on the map. Burj Al Arab literally means "Tower of Arabia"

The Burj al-Arab does not have ordinary rooms; rather it is divided into 202 duplex suites. The smallest suite occupies an area of 169 square metres (1,819 square feet), and the largest one covers 780 square metres (8,396 square feet). It is one of the most expensive hotels in the world to stay in. The cost of staying in a suite begins at $1,000 per night and increases to over $15,000 per night; the Royal Suite is the most expensive, at $28,000 per night. The total cost to build and furnish the hotel has never been released. The Burj al-Arab features the tallest atrium lobby in the world (180 metres, or 590 feet). The atrium can accommodate the Dubai World Trade Center building, which, at 38 stories, was the tallest building in Dubai from the late 1970s to the mid 1990s. Source: Wikipedia

Intercontinental Hotels plans to create short web movies marketing hotels and resorts...much, I imagine, in the same spirit that the Starwood Hawaii post that was featured recently here.

"In the hopes of getting people into its swanky rooms, InterContinental Hotels and Resorts is aiming the camera at what's outside of them. Local online travel video producer and distributor TurnHere has begun producing short Web films about each of the lodging company's 140 worldwide hotel locations....The hotel's sponsored mini-movies will spotlight sights and places of interest surrounding each hotel. Keeping with TurnHere's mission to harness the charismatic appeal of neighborhood characters, the InterContinental flicks will be narrated by each hotel's concierge..."

Congratulations to Mr.Khemraj Lakai on winning the Talent Jungle Summer Competition! Khemraj is SSTH alumni and is currently engaged in the field of hospitality education and recruitment consulting.

You can read and comment on Khemraj's article on the Talent Jungle or the Tourism and Hospitality Diaries. Khemraj's prize was a lifetime email address with the Talent Jungle as well as a homepage on the portal, which will be put up at www.thetalentjungle.com/khemraj.

The Journal News reports that Starwood Hotels & Resorts may be looking for a new HQ. Currently the company is based in White Plains, New York.

"The company is looking for 400,000 square feet in the region to accommodate its 1,085 local employees. That would nearly double the size of the current 205,000-square-foot headquarters at 1111 Westchester Ave. in White Plains. Starwood will consider sites in Westchester County as well as Norwalk and Stamford, Conn., as sites for the headquarters, said spokeswoman K.C. Kavanagh. The company denied rumors that it might move to Orlando, Phoenix, Atlanta or another region."

Starwood searching for new headquarters

tags: starwood, white-plains, HQ, new-york, moving, shifting, relocating

Came across an interesting campaign by Starwood Hotels & Resorts for US and Canadian citizens - first prize is 600,000 Starpoints (about USD $15000 value)...now thats a LOT of starpoints!! Superb for that world tour you've always been planning! ;) Check out all the details here: THE STARWOOD GRAND TOUR

tags: starwood, grand, tour, starpoints, promotion, special-offer, campaign, SPG, travel

We're happy to announce the Summer Competition on the Talent Jungle Hospitality Alumni Site: www.thetalentjungle.com/alumni

The Competition: Share your views and experiences in the form of an
original article / story (minimum 250 words, maximum 2000 words) with or without photos / pictures on any one of the topics below:

• My experiences in the Hospitality Industry
• What makes a good Hotelier?
• Any Hospitality & Tourism related trend or innovation
• Hospitality education - a review of a school, university or a course you've taken
• Things to do / not to do when you're a ________ (job position in the hospitality / tourism industry)
• Career - tips / advice / experience for those choosing the hospitality or tourism industry
• The Hospitality Industry in pictures: ______________ (pictures or photos must be your own, and topic can be serious or humorous)

by Aditya Luthra

Today, tourism is among the world's largest industries. Millions of tourists traipse around the globe, visiting sites, taking photographs, reading guidebooks, straining to listen to tour guides and purchasing postcards and souvenirs. The past two centuries have witnessed an increase in the co modification of tourist sites across the world. Everything from historic monuments to exotic holiday destinations have been redesigned and packaged for mass consumption via various venues of mass media, scholarship and popular myth. As a result, the histories of specific structures, spaces and sites have been reconceptualized. Some have been preserved and celebrated, whereas others are left to decay. In this process of amplification and suppression, buildings, cities and entire countries have been remapped by Tourism initiatives to serve political, cultural, economic and scholarly goals.

Dear Blog members and users,

Due to the huge amount of comment spam received on the blog over the past few days, I've disabled the comments feature for non-members. This means that only members can post comments on the blog, when logged in.

Also, please restrict copying from source articles to a big extent...I know I've made the mistake quite a few times. This is to avoid any copyright infringements. It's ok to quote pieces of articles or to quote the content in your own words. Also, a link to the original source is recommended for any references and quotes.

Thanks for the great content, comments and your participation!

Best regards,
JJ

What is discretionary energy? Discretionary energy is the energy an employee uses when going above and beyond the call of duty to complete a task or get the job done. Every employee has discretionary energy. The amount of energy released and employed at work depends on their attitude, how well they enjoy being at work, how they are treated and how they feel about the company.

Discretionary energy can be the difference between doing what is expected and performing in an outstanding manner. Consequently, our people skills and leadership skills play a paramount role in determining whether employees give freely of their discretionary energy. Does that mean that we must let the inmates run the asylum and do whatever they want to make them happy? Of course not. But, it does mean that we must utilize effective leadership skills in dealing with issues, problems and just day to day training, coaching and mentoring.

Read the whole article: CEO Strategist - Release The Discretionary Energy In Your Employees

tags: hospitality

At the recent ISHC (International Society of Hospitality Consultants) Annual Conference held in San Diego, California, ISHC Members participated in a series of roundtable discussions to identify the ISHC Top Ten Global Issues and Challenges in the Hospitality Industry for 2006. While there were many issues discussed, in the final voting the membership identified the following top ten issues as the ones that can be expected to potentially have the greatest impact on the industry in 2006.

1.Changing Labor Conditions
2.Escalating Operating Costs
3.Impact of Rising Energy Costs on Consumer Travel & Hotel Demand
4.Escalating Renovation and Construction Costs
5.Havoc from Recent Natural Disasters
6.Growing Global Uncertainly About Safety and Security
7.Evolving Customer Expectations
8.Condo-hotels Growing Rapidly
9.Accelerating Change and Merging of Technologies
10.Increasing Consolidation of Hotel Brands/Companies

For additional information on ISHC or the ISHC Top Ten Global Issues and Challenges for 2006, please visit the ISHC web site at www.ishc.com

Read the article here: What's New

tags: hospitality