BONUS SHOW: Hotel WiFi Strategies for a Data Dominant World
No Vacancy Live and No Vacancy News
Release Date: 01/26/2017
What Luxury Hotel Guests Really Want
No Vacancy Live and No Vacancy News
True luxury means not having to think about the details. Almando Rigby, general manager of Windjammer Landing in Saint Lucia, joins me on No Vacancy to explain why today’s #LuxuryTravel guest expects a hotel to understand what they want before they ever have to ask. That creates an interesting challenge. Hotels now have more technology, data and AI at their disposal, but Almando argues that the most memorable #GuestExperience still depends on something much more human. His perspective on what technology should do — and where people still make the difference — says a lot about where...
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What Hotels Stop Knowing After the Guest Checks In
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Hotels spend years collecting guest data, then lose sight of what people want the moment they’re actually staying in the room. Kevin Rohani, founder and CEO of Camo Hospitality, joins me on No Vacancy to talk about that blind spot. Guests order food, transportation, entertainment and other services during their stay, but much of that activity happens outside the hotel’s ecosystem. So the property sacrifices more than revenue. It also misses valuable insight into what guests actually want while they’re on site and how to create a better experience the next time they return. Kevin makes...
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Labor Day Flashback: Marriott Vacations Worldwide Launches Experience-Driven Ownership: Inner Circle
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Live experiences drive operating success because they create reasons to travel, reasons to spend, and reasons to come back. That’s why Marriott Vacations Worldwide is building Inner Circle around them. During , I talked with , President and COO of , about what changes when the offer expands beyond the villa and into the full trip. 🎟️ Inner Circle launches June 22 and centers music, culinary, sports, and TV experiences 🎸 Launch example: a Lee Brice show in Orlando for about 300 owners 📊 Only about 6% of eligible North American households own vacation ownership today 🏨 The ...
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Holiday Flashback: How Wyndham Uses Experiences to Drive Direct Bookings
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To ease us into the holiday weekend, here's a rerun of a fun video I recorded in a Puerto Rican rainforest! Wyndham Rewards pushes beyond hotel nights into experiences, and Michael Shiwdin, Global VP of Loyalty at Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, explains why: engagement drives direct bookings, and direct bookings drive owner value. I talked with Michael at Wyndham Grand Rio Mar Rainforest Beach & Golf Resort about how Wyndham Rewards Experiences works and what it means for hotels in the portfolio. 🌿 Members earn points on experiences through Viator, including activities like kayaking...
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Holiday Rerun: How Starwood Makes Its Hotels Feel Different: Nature, Soul, and Experience
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To ease us into the holiday weekend, here's one of my favorite chats from the year: Starwood Hotels operates 1 Hotels, Treehouse Hotels and Baccarat Hotels & Resorts around one idea: products need emotion and soul, not templates. While hosting Starwood’s annual conference, I talked with Raul Leal, CEO of Starwood Hotels, about differentiation through nature-led design, human experience, and AI-driven personalization that stays human. 🌿 Raul says nature-led “hardware” sets the tone the second guests walk in 🤖 He uses AI to understand preferences and deliver...
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How Hotel Teams Build Collective Excellence
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Collective excellence starts when hotel teams stop operating in separate lanes and start moving in the same direction. Glenn Haussman talks with Ben Campbell, President and CEO of Hospitality America, from **PEACHCON, the company’s annual conference**, where team members come together to connect, learn and align around what comes next. Ben’s focus is simple: get better today than yesterday and better tomorrow than today. That means stronger talent, stronger relationships and more value for team members, owners and guests. See what changes when a hotel company stops thinking one property at...
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Why This Hotel GM Gets Silly Every Morning
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A busy airport hotel never really slows down. Guests come and go at all hours, plans change quickly and the team needs to stay ready for whatever walks through the door next. Alicia Augustine, GM of the Hyatt Place Pensacola Airport, joins me on No Vacancy and explains how she keeps her team prepared. Every morning at 9:00, they meet to cover priorities, talk through what needs to happen and spend a few minutes laughing together before getting to work. That #HotelLeadership approach carries straight into the guest experience. Alicia treats her team with dignity and kindness because she expects...
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How Better Guest Experiences Drive Hotel Revenue
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Hotel operating costs keep climbing, but revenue isn’t keeping pace. That’s forcing operators to rethink where the money comes from. Rhiannon Reynolds, VP of Operations with Innisfree Hotels, joins me on No Vacancy from Pensacola, Florida, where we talk about how essential it is to shift from an ADR mindset to thinking about the total value of every guest. Once someone arrives, the opportunity extends well beyond the room rate. Food, drinks and other on-property experiences add revenue while giving guests more reasons to enjoy the hotel itself. That’s the real opportunity: generate more...
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Why This Hotel’s Housekeepers Don’t Quit
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A beachfront resort in peak season puts plenty of pressure on a hotel team. The GM of the Holiday Inn Resort Fort Walton Beach found a way to keep hers. Sandy Beebe-Osipov joins me on No Vacancy and tells me she went more than a year without hiring a housekeeper because not a single team member quit. That’s a remarkable #HotelLeadership stat in a business that constantly wrestles with turnover. Her approach isn’t complicated. Sandy connects with employees, runs daily huddles, sets expectations and keeps her team focused on the guests enjoying everything from the beach and lazy river to...
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FNA 220: Glenn’s Wife Has Some Complaints
No Vacancy Live and No Vacancy News
Putting my wife on Friday Night Audit seemed like a good idea. It was not. Helene Stein joins Craig Sullivan, Dr. Producer Suzanne Bagnera and me, and very quickly discovers the real purpose of the show: publicly correcting me while drinking. She gets into my travel habits, my complete lack of home-repair skills and hotel pet peeves, right as our Worst Hotel Pet Peeve bracket hits a semifinal showdown: Water Pressure Roulette vs. Constantly Hidden Lamp Switches. See which hotel annoyance wins — and how much damage Helene does to my reputation along the way. Want the weekly roundup of news,...
info_outlineDuring this in-depth show you'll learn all about:
- Tips for hotels and other venues to maximize their bandwidth and keep up with the increasing demands being placed on guest Wi-Fi networks
- Addressing data privacy concerns for guests when using guest Wi-Fi networks
- Up-and-coming trends such as data analytics, online search using voice as an interface, etc.