Human Resources

If you're like most hotel managers, chances are you are highly focused on securing more direct bookings and thus reducing the costs of customer acquisition. If so, here are some train-the-trainer style tips for providing your reservations and/or front desk colleagues with the skills they need to covert today's over-informed, channel surfing callers.

As anyone who has worked in the profession of hotel sales and catering sales for 10 or more years knows, the skill-set required to be a top performer is quite different these days. Today's sales superstars still have to have exceptional 'people skills', which today is more formally referred to as emotional intelligence.

Australia’s peak hospitality organisation, the Australian Hotels Association (AHA), and tourism accommodation body, Tourism Accommodation Australia (TAA), welcomed the certainty provided by the Fair Work Commission (FWC)’s announcement on the transitional arrangements for penalty rates.

The Weatherdon Project scholarship is awarded each year to a hospitality student of the International College of Management. Presented by the Weatherdon Corporation in association with the International College of Management, Sydney (ICMS), the scholarship is a testimony to innovation in the hospitality industry. This year it was presented to Norwegian student, Marius Lie. Mr Lie came up with the …

The International Travel Management Study (ITMS) for 2017 has revealed almost half of business travellers worldwide have already made mobile payments (44 percent) and business travellers in the Asia Pacific region are even further ahead with 62 percent of all business travellers using this technology. However, although 44 percent have paid with a mobile device significantly more have made those …

Abrupt news today as prime minister Malcolm Turnbull announced plans to eradicate 457 visas for temporary workers. TAA and AHA offered differing opinions on how this decision will impact accommodation sector employees and employers but both emphasised the need for federal government to support regional hospitality. Tourism Accommodation Australia (TAA) said it welcomed the “revamp”, hoping it will “address genuine …

As I often say in my hospitality workshops, we in the hotel industry are in a very unique business of selling space and time, so we had better be REALLY good at the intangibles. Although we charge them for rooms, the guests are buying an overall experience that is made up mostly of human interactions. With hotel brands so quickly …

Based on what I hear from the hotel sales and catering sales managers I train each month, the vast majority of inquiries for groups, meetings, conferences and catering events are being received electronically. Some come in via direct email; others arrive after a planner completes a “contact us” inquiry form at the hotel’s website. Most, however, arrive via third party …

Since commissioning acclaimed Australian street artists Rone, Fintan Magee, Numskull and Beastman during its development in 2014, TRYP Fortitude Valley Hotel, Brisbane has become a well-known supporter of the arts. Its striking murals can be seen blocks away from its location on Constance Street. Now, in an interesting twist, the hotel’s management has discovered that its own maintenance manager is …

According to the J.D. Power 2016 North America Guest Satisfaction Index, the hotel industry may be reaching a customer satisfaction plateau as hotel guests come to expect amenities that used to be special perks, such as free wifi, complimentary breakfast and premium bed linens.