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While there are laws in place meant to ensure that servers get at least federal minimum wage by requiring employers to make up the difference if a server isn’t tipped enough during their shift, workers often report this isn’t the case.

And, even if it is, even federal minimum wage isn’t a livable wage in the majority of states.

“Any tipped employee, male or female, is on a stage,”

“[Servers] have to act in a certain way in order to receive those tips," Kitterlin says. "That being said, of course that opens an opportunity for women and men in our industry to feel that they have to accept certain levels of harassment -- be it sexual harassment or any form of rude behavior from guests.”

“We need to be careful of how we go about doing that because we have historically been a country where tipping culture serves as a huge motivating factor for employees. Our employees feel more driven to give good service in order to make a good tip.”

“It’s to get more tips, but it’s kind of opening the door -- especially in our industry and culture,”

I don’t want you to grab my ass. I want you to tip 20% or 25%

90% of women in the restaurant industry report experiencing some form of sexual harassment while on the job.

“I’m spending all my day helping people who have $70 to spend on food, but I can’t barely afford my own,” Jessica says. “How messed up is that? I watch people go out, eat and they will spend $30 on an entree. I got paid $30 all day in wages -- and you just spent that on one entree.”

“People will be like, ‘I thought we just raised minimum wage? Don’t you get 10.50?’” she says. “No, not us. We got left out. We always get left out.”

For many women in the restaurant industry, the fastest way to prevent only barely making bills is to enhancing their “performance” through appearance. Jessica tells Mashable servers “wear what we can get away with wearing,” because a push up bra and tight shirt often means more tips. It’s service industry sexism at work -- and Jessica knows that.

“There is definitely value in considering the elimination of tipping,”

Without the "motivating factor," your server may not have nightmares about serving a too-cold-entree.

“I don’t think it’s right that people in America are getting paid $2 and change to do any job,” she says. “I don’t think it’s right. I didn’t have to live with it being in California -- I could just kind of forget that most of the nation is making nothing.”

Restaurants account for 296,100 jobs in the state — 10 percent of the work force.

Another eco-friendly way to streamline your facilities management operations and reduce energy costs is to connect the thermostats in guest rooms to the property management system that tracks guest reservations, check-ins/check-outs and housekeeping. When a guest checks out, the system will automatically set their room’s thermostat to “standby” status so you aren’t paying to unnecessarily heat or cool a vacant room.

Investing in a fast, reliable wireless network can mean fewer complaints from guests and less time your facilities management staff will have to spend responding.

One surefire way to streamline operations, lighten the load on staff – and the environment – is to reduce the amount of waste generated by your property.

Switching from offering paper copies of newspapers to digital access passes. Using refillable containers for toiletries and other products rather than offering small plastic bottles. Collecting and re-using materials leftover from conferences and events Donating food and beverage leftovers to local food pantries or shelters, or toiletries and linens to area shelters.

A data centre is a facility used to house computer systems and their components, and it can be far and away the biggest contributor to an organisation’s carbon footprint. A data centre’s life expectancy is relatively long so it is imperative it is built to the highest standards in terms of efficiency as any excess energy use will lead to significant cost implications over the years.

1. Build the most energy-efficient data centre possible. This will save energy and costs over its lifespan. 2. Only get the data storage capacity that is currently required and forecast for the lifespan. Many data centres have excess capacity that burns energy (and therefore costs) unnecessarily. Don’t have servers or equipment that will not be used. 3. Cooling data centres. Traditionally cooling has been done by air circulation, which is very inefficient. Larger data centres already use other technologies to cool more efficiently, such as water cooling. 4. Virtualisation technology. Improve your system’s resource utilisation through virtualisation technology. Virtualisation is the creation of a virtual (rather than actual) version of something, such as an operating system, server, network, etc. and allows a single user to access several physical devices on one terminal. A computing device dedicated to an individual member of staff or allocated for one software application is highly inefficient and expensive. Virtualisation consolidates resources, requiring less power and cooling. 5. Consider cloud computing. This is a location-independent IT service, typically available over the internet, where shared servers provide resources, software and data to computers and other devices on demand, increasing IT capacity and capabilities without an organisation having to invest in new infrastructure. Keeping data virtually, or “in the clouds”, means less information stored on IT systems and therefore less energy being used to run the systems. Systems such as BT’s Virtual Data Centre, a hosted data centre that enables businesses to create, deploy, monitor and manage their own service through a self-service portal, claim to offer savings of up to 40% of the total cost of running one’s own data centre as well as reducing the space required, the level of emissions produced and the power consumed.

1. Upgrade. Before buying new, investigate options to upgrade with the latest energy-efficient components to extend appliances’ working life and efficiency. 2. Green labels. Look out for the certification labels denoting more energy-efficient equipment, from Blue Angel in Germany to TCO in Sweden and Energy Star in the US (see below). 3. Screens. Opt for flat screen monitors, which reduce energy use by over two-thirds. 4. Get the right equipment. Consider your information technology needs against the tasks required. For example, laptops may be a better option in some circumstances because they have been developed to be energy-efficient and generally match the computer to the task required. Remember: not all staff have the same needs. 5. Consider running costs. Look at the life cycle costs, not just the purchase cost. Take note of running and standby costs of equipment. These can vary enormously.

6. Measure and monitor power usage. Once you know what’s using the power, focus on why and whether it’s possible to reduce consumption.

Top 10 Tips to reduce running costs of office equipment (source: Carbon Trust) 1. Computers. Activate energy-saving features. In fact, most office equipment will have these features, so make sure they’re activated. 2. Standby features. Introduce a policy to activate standby features, don’t assume employees will do it. 3. Turn it off. Buy seven-day timers. These can save up to 70% on energy costs. 4. Monitor and manage the equipment that is peripheral to computers, such as speakers, printers, etc. and consider installing intelligent switch-off solutions. Printers can consume 30%-40% of their peak power demand when idling between printing and standby modes, so minimising this can produce cost savings, reduce heat output and increase its operating life. 5. Educate your staff. Consider a screen saver with an energy-saving message. 6. Rationalise your equipment via networking to reduce the number of printers (for example) in any office area. 7. Printers Use only black and white for internal documents and colour only when absolutely necessary. Consider the benefits of inkjet printers v laser printers. Inkjet energy use is much lower than that of a laser printer. Encourage staff to use print preview functions. Set default printing mode to double-sided. Use lower-specification printers, such as inkjets, for internal documents and encourage staff to use these for day-to-day use.

8. Photocopiers High volume copiers use more energy so should be used sparingly. Use low melting point inks (available from stationery suppliers). Encourage staff to copy in batches to increase standby time. Stick to black and white copiers and only use colour when absolutely necessary. Set default copying to double-sided. 9. Invest to save and purchase only what you need. 10. Don’t forget to motivate staff. Keep repeating the message of the importance of energy saving in ways that they can understand (for example, a computer monitor switched off overnight saves enough energy to microwave six dinners).

WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment), or e-waste, is the term used for old or disposed electronic equipment. It covers both the toxic and valuable materials found in appliances. The most important lesson is to reuse, not recycle. With so much e-waste, and electrical devices such as computers and flat screens often being replaced well before the end of their shelf life and ending up in landfill, it’s imperative that the most is made of these materials by reusing them productively.

Options to investigate when trying to reduce e-waste are: 1. Can you upgrade your equipment with new energy efficient components? 2. Can it be used by someone else in the company? 3. Can it be given to a charity? (Note: charities must be registered to take WEEE.) 4. Will the manufacturer take back the old equipment and reuse parts in new products?

Developments on the horizon include: 1. Smaller, more efficient processors. The continuing development of microprocessors means a mobile phone can have around the same computational power as the average desktop computer back in 2000. 2. Memristors. Electronics giant HP is in the process of developing “memristors” (see photo above), which have greater memory storage capacity while requiring less energy and space. They are due to be on the shelf in about three years. 3. Specialist data centre design. Siemens recently launched its transformational Data Centre Solution, a groundbreaking strategy in data centre energy-efficient design and operation. It claims the system, which uses virtualization and efficient power and cooling, offers many benefits for businesses, including up to 50% energy savings through ground water cooling and IT costs reduced by 30%. 4. Outsourcing. Hotels of all sizes are starting to view IT outsourcing as a viable option to gain flexibility and reduce short-term costs and increase transparency of cost structures and processes. 5. Optimisation of resources. This will become a necessity either through virtualisation, networking or cloud computing. 6. Water cooling. IBM is currently working on a supercomputer that is cooled by water (a given volume of water can hold 4,000 times more waste than air), which claims to be 50% more energy efficient than the world’s leading systems. The Aquasar stacks many computer processors on top of each other with cooling water flowing between each one. IBM’s Dr Bruno Michel told the BBC in November 2010: “We plan that 10 to 15 years from now, we can collapse such a system into one sugar cube — we’re going to have a supercomputer in a sugar cube.”

n fact, tips have stayed steady or even increased, thanks to the ease of tipping via tablet: Diners can typically tap just one button to automatically apply a tip of the industry standard 20 percent, which is easier than manually entering a smaller tip.

When it comes to selecting a location for your event, make sure the venue is willing to do its part to communicate key messaging to attendees. Remember: if an incident occurs, cooperation will be key.

Might sound like a no-brainer, but establishing exactly who is in charge of what and when can save precious minutes in an emergency. From brand ambassadors to event managers, everyone should be crystal clear about what their role entails.

“The key thing here is when it comes to decision-making, who is in charge?” says Shannon Jones, vp at Civic Entertainment Group. “The chain of command at an event needs to filter to the overall broader chain of command in an emergency situation as it relates to the company or brand.”

The uptick in terrorist attacks, including the Las Vegas shooting, which was executed from a hotel room and stands as the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, has many event marketers on edge. And while planning for these types of crises is essential, don’t assume that past tactics will be used at future events

The approach may vary depending on your budget, but implementing an attendee screening process is a highly effective security measure that can be executed before the event even begins. “Many events these days, particularly the corporate activation events, are free,” says Anthony Davis, president at AD Entertainment Services. “So, you have an audience that has not paid an admission or whatever format you use to access them.

Medical emergencies can, and do, occur at events of every variety, so having medical personnel on-site is crucial. Just as important is ensuring that the team is friendly enough for attendees to approach in the case of an emergency. Remember that uniformed first responders can be intimidating, especially in regards to drug-related incidents.

Hiring security staff is a great start when it comes to maintaining a safe event, but communicating your event’s layout, including areas of concern, is absolutely essential to getting the most bang for your security buck.

Bad news travels fast, so you have to be clear about who has the authority to develop crisis communications. (Hint: It’s not the guy handing out samples.)

You don’t want a brand ambassador or event staff taking it upon themselves to communicate what’s going on if there is some sort of emergency information. The cascade of information in that scenario is really critical as is deciding what the key points are and the information you want them to disseminate.”

When it comes to event safety and security, there is probably no more important document than your on-site emergency action plan. It’s an essential guide to navigating and preparing for foreseeable risks, informing event staffers of the appropriate safety protocol and ensuring insurance premiums don’t skyrocket

Every live experience is unique, so it’s important to establish priorities for taking action in a variety of emergency scenarios. If you fail to do so, you may find yourself in hot water with your employer, your insurance agency or the law.

In an industry that prides itself on producing unforgettable experiences, the last thing you want burning in your attendees’ minds is how poorly your staff handled an emergency. So, be informed, be attentive and be prepared—but don’t let the process get you down.

As Davis puts it, “For years we’ve taken it for granted that it’s a fun day, it’s a nice special event, let’s just get out and have fun. And we should still have that mentality. We shouldn’t let recent terrorist acts or potential acts deter us from producing special events. The onus is now on us to be more creative in terms of our staffing.”

Outback Steakhouse franchisee in the nation operates more than 100 stores, said that the tabletop tablets enable their restaurants to cut labor costs by “one or two percent,” and run fewer servers per night who are each making more money.

15 percent of diners use the tablets to play games during their meal, but all those small transactions add up — and mean that the tablets basically pay for themselves.

tablets are a valuable tool in their technology arsenal.

There’s been a fair amount of concern that tablets would put human servers out of jobs, but thus far Outback and other casual dining chains say they are using tablets as server’s assistants:

Human servers still interact with the tables and lead service, but diners can use them for common requests like ordering drink refills and closing out their tab.

tips have stayed steady or even increased, thanks to the ease of tipping via tablet:

automatically apply a tip of the industry standard 20 percent, which is easier than manually entering a smaller tip. Tips are likely also higher thanks to diners’ increased satisfaction with service

increased check averages when tablets are in use

tablets are also serving as a valuable data gathering tool.

restaurants with useful feedback on food and service, and in some cases guests who want to provide more specific feedback

Distributes tips to employees:

Pooled and individual tips:

Tip distribution:

app eliminates the need to wait for a check

a person uses the Reserve app to schedule a reservation at a participating restaurant, they store their credit card information and tipping preferences. At the end of a meal, a server simply selects the reservation, processes the payment, and provides the diner with a small business card reminding them that they paid via Reserve. The company charges diners a flat $5 rate for all transactions.

muted take on surge pricing

allows restaurants to accept bids for highly-sought-after reservations, creating a more organic way for businesses to profit on moments of intense demand

the company has focused on working with higher-end restaurants as a way to diminish the impact of the startup’s relatively small fee but also as a way to ensure the product was used correctly by restaurants

Permission-based email marketing

customers that genuinely want to hear from you

Get your customers to actively join your email list by:

Adding a simple sign-up form to your website

Including an opt-in checkbox, or a link to your sign-up form, in your post-stay survey

Placing cards in guestrooms

provide opt-out instructions on every email communication you send

your emails need to look good on small screens

avoiding large image files and long paragraphs

including social sharing buttons

other

all about timing

ow frequently and when you are going to send emails

In addition to your pre- and post-stay emails

keep in touch with your subscribers whenever you have something truly interesting to say or offe

the best time and day of the week to send marketing emails

email marketing systems can be integrated with your PMS

automate pre- and post-stay emails

Personalize your emails as much as possible

Use your PMS data to segment your contact list

ending irrelevant information is a sure-fire way to lose subscribers

sign off from an actual person

doesn’t always have to be discounted rates and services; local “insider” information, like exciting events, new attractions or destination tips, gives your customers food for thought and could put your property front of mind when planning their next holiday.

Great content = stuff that benefits your customers

Make sure you include links or button

Visuals are important, too

Note: be sure to link to the Web version of your email in case the actual email doesn’t display properly. Most email newsletter/marketing services include this feature.

Short post-stay email surveys are part of great customer service and provide a marketing opportunity, too

track all opens, click-throughs, enquiries and bookings stemming from your emails

See what works best

look at your emails from your customers’ perspective and ask yourself what’s really in it for them? If the answer is obvious, your email marketing campaign is bound to be a success.

being a part of an association is invaluable.

Join. You don't need to be a full-fledged meeting planner before you can become a member of one (or more) of the many respected associations of the events world.

Network. Greg Jenkins, partner and co-founder of California-based Bravo Productions, cites another important reason as to why volunteering is an ideal place to start, "…it provides opportunities for networking.

Research. Before you're even hired, it's a good idea to become as familiar as possible with the meetings and events industry.

invest in one or two industry guides

Carter explains, “For those individuals that would like to explore event planning as a career, you need to know that the hotel event/convention business is a unique industry. It is extremely important to gain a basic understanding of the business including hotel operations, terminology and sales concepts before assuming it is the right career for you.

To get started, read a meeting planning primer or concise reference manual to give you an idea of what you will encounter while planning meetings. Industry articles will also give you a feel for what event planners face each day.”

Be Real. As Carter advised, know what you're getting into before you jump in. Landing a job you regret is a waste of time and resources, yours and your employer's. Greg Jenkins provides this final bit of caution, "…if you enjoy a 9-5 job, the event and meeting industry is probably not for you. The hours and days are quite erratic and can be long and exhausting."

Get social now.

Social media drives sales referrals for many companies.

Offer more mobile payment options

. Mobile wallets and payment apps are much easier to use than credit and debit cards.

Use the right trigger words.

AI-powered communications make quality customer service more affordable.

Analyze what is requested from your customers then create customized responses. The key is to make your bot mimic human dialog.

Embrace chatbots.

Study the words and phrases of your larger and successful competitors to ensure your product descriptions and customer-service pages evoke the right emotions.

Present compelling images and videos.

Recognize trends that impact your business.

there are several important items you should ask yourself before striking a deal and signing a contract.

Overall, migrating to new software doesn’t have to be difficult as long as you take the time to cultivate a detailed plan from beginning to end.

Know the total cost of all facility work done both directly and indirectly. “To the untrained eye, the facilities maintenance arm of a business appears to be a black hole of cost. The costs of these FM services add up, and unless discrepancies arise, that is where most of the business analysis ends. However, facilities maintenance managers, who are privy to all of the nuances that make up eac

h work order, understand the complexities and overhead involved in this sector of business.

Consider less obvious improvements that impact facility energy use. “Some energy-related projects will be more or less hidden from the users and primarily pursued to reduce energy demand, such as chiller and fan-unit upgrades. Such projects may end up providing the building users with better temperature control, but this is not the primary goal of the upgrade

Operational changes such as reducing the hours of HVAC and lighting operation, and changing setback temperatures, which require very little expenditure (if any at all) do not directly affect user experience, but can produce large reductions in electricity loads. In general, working with the building operations team to reduce energy use can produce impressive reductions in loa

his allows building and facility management professionals to determine whether the cost to improve a particular element of a building or a system in it against the cost savings over the same period. If the cost of an upgrade over its lifetime offers an advantage over the building operational costs it will save, then it’s generally considered a good investmen

“Finding the right suppliers to maintain your facilities can be difficult and time-consuming. From janitorial services, to groundskeeping and maintenance supplies, ensuring suppliers are providing apples-to-apples quotes, developing contracts with clear service levels, and validating that supplier quality

“Boilers today can reach efficiencies of up to 96 percent using condensing technology; however, a typical building, including new buildings, uses atmospheric type boilers which, for all intents and purposes, are only slightly more advanced than a science lab Bunsen burner. This technology is reliable and it works, but it is expensive to operate

An energy audit systematically identifies and develops opportunities to help reduce energy use in an institutional or commercial facility and, as a result, decrease building operating costs. Focusing the audit is imperative for maintenance and engineering managers.

“Commercial kitchens are high energy users, consuming roughly 2.5 times more energy per square foot than any other commercial space, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).  Of that, as little as 40% is used in the preparation and storage of food, says the UK’s Carbon Trust; much of the wasted energy is dispersed into the kitchen.

All commercial buildings are insulated; building codes make it mandatory to insulate up to  a certain level. Unfortunately, because most buildings are put up under strict guidance to budgets, they are usually put up with only the minimal amount of insulation

Develop performance measures for your PM process with an emphasis on measuring the amount of PM that is work completed compared to all other work. Total PM hours should be the highest percentage of all the department’s maintenance work. This goal might seem impossible, but over time, it is very achievable

“Preventative maintenance is all about planning, plain and simple. Every piece of equipment or machinery at your disposal or under your care should have a schedule of what type of maintenance it requires and when it requires that check-up.

“Failure modes are defined as “how something fails.” Let’s use a flat/membrane roof to show an example of what a failure mode is. On a flat/membrane roof, one failure mode may be “penetration of roof membrane,” and the causes of this failure mode could be many. Knowing the failure mode(s) of a specific maintainable item such as a membrane roof and its causes can be key to early detection of roof failure (not meeting the intent of the end user) so the repair can be made before it affects an operatio

“Catch small problems now before they become big ones. Addressing small details can add up to huge improvements in appearance and functionality. Ask your facilities services provider, janitorial company

You may schedule preventive maintenance based on meter readings on an equipment. However, equipment meters usually do not differentiate between work time and idle time

Greasing the rack and pinion of a beam saw, for instance, can cause grease and saw dust to solidify inside the gears over time, eventually preventing them from moving. If you’re unsure which tasks are beneficial to each piece of equipment, ask your equipment representative.”

Having spare parts and supplies around the time of a major preventive maintenance schedule is absolutely critical. Asset management software allows you to check the availability of the spare parts for dates when the work orders are due. This report can help you identify parts that are insufficient for the required work orders in the future. If you know which parts you are falling short on, you can order them in advance from suppliers rather than waiting till re-order limits are reached

“Appropriate repetition and reinforcement are necessary. The average person is bombarded with more than 300 messages while at work, and multiples of that outside of work, Finney says. Getting a message to land with an audience might take as many as 12 repetitions, in some cases, he says

Let’s get together: when you’re designing your facilities, design social spaces for your employees. These might be lunch or break rooms, games rooms, gyms, or even community gardens.

While other managers may work to manage clients or staff, your job is to manage facilities and all that occurs in them. Your corporation’s physical assets are just as important as your human resources, and you are the expert in this field. Whether it’s collating data or contributing to the organization’s bottom line, your input is a valuable part of corporate decision-making

 “Workplace inclusion has to be clearly defined before any initiatives can be pushed forward. One useful definition of an inclusive office is a workplace in which all staff are treated with respect and have equal access to resources and opportunities. Facility managers should build on this high-level description to create an idea of what concepts like equal access, diversity and fairness look like in their own facilities

Space costs money. Knowing that we are moving towards a working environment consisting of virtual or mobile workers, investing time in developing new workplace designs that can suit these new ways of working while increasing space utilization rates can result in impressive cost savings

Performing facility maintenance and engineering tasks is like sailing among icebergs. What technicians can’t see will sink them — or their facilities. Thermal imaging technology gives technicians the ability to see the unseen, making it easier to spot failing motors and electrical components,

This concept is broadly used to describe our attempt to formally identify in-house talent in many of our labor shops. We identify talent through a competitive selection process based on potential vs. skills and promote our selected personnel to the worker and helper level while training them to achieve appropriate full mechanic level with associated certifications/licenses

This directly leads to the client receiving a more fit-for-purpose solution and ultimately receiving greater value which grows a greater relationship.

In other words, there has to be a compelling reason based on our mission for why we would submit budgets for anything.” By presenting specific information on how and why you’ve chosen your budget numbers, you can help the C-suite see that your budget is well within reason

When you automate the work order process, you remove human error associated with it. Essentially, you’re taking the people out of the process and ensuring nothing gets missed or overlooked

“There are many different software options out there than can aid FMs in organizing and streamlining their everyday tasks. This ranges from software designed to help manage all maintenance activities to logging and tracking facility visitors for security purposes. 

uch smart sensors, operating costs are dramatically reduced, productivity is enhanced, and occupants’ comfort is improved.

“One of the most exciting features of Facilities Management software is the ability to manage heating and cooling remotely, or set a programmable thermostat to move set temperatures up or down throughout the day. Facilities planners love the ability to analyze and explore energy use from heating and cooling systems

“Maintenance and facilities administration systems must frequently abide by national and global regulatory requirements. All maintenance administrators face occasional random or audits inspections by regulatory authorities. Maintenance software enables you to prove regulatory conformity and decrease the amount of paperwork and preparation that is needed for an audit.

KPIs allude to opportunities and errors in your company. Paired with the Internet of Things (IoT) and energy management systems, KPIs can be used to highlight missed maintenance tasks, greater traffic area of your business or problems with machinery

“Closely monitoring energy and water use to reduce building-operating costs is another benefit. By allowing owners to monitor and analyze the performance of multiple systems—air-conditioning levels, lights on automatic dimmers, water usage

“A feature that’s gaining a lot of ground is using facial recognition technology to let people in and out of the building. It’s more secure than key fobs or cards, and unlike cards and fobs, you can’t forget your face at home. It’s like batting a triple, or killing three birds with one stone

You cannot do your job properly without the correct information. If you don’t have proper records on the state of your facilities, you can’t do your job as a facilities manager.

“A surprising number of facilities managers have no true system in place for managing their space.  More than a quarter of everyone interviewed – 28 percent –

. It may help significantly with compliance with various industry standards, such as HIPAA in the healthcare industry and Sarbanes-Oxley in the financial field. It can help to document best practices for avoiding accidents, or in the worst case scenario,

This method identifies how critical a piece of equipment or maintenance task is to your business and will ultimately show you where it should land in your prioritization process

Smartsheet is a spreadsheet that you share with your co-workers, but its features go far beyond Excel. This tool combines the traditional spreadsheet with project management tools, templates, and forms and allows you and your colleagues to access spreadsheets on mobile devices and work on them collaboratively

The business world is increasingly embracing a larger remote workforce. Offices are used as areas to collaborate, develop, and design new ideas. The day-to-day work can be, and often is, done from home

“Another possibility for cutting costs, say experts, is not just moving staff around, but moving work around also. This means carefully examining all outsourcing contracts to see if they can be scaled back and the work completed by in-house staff

“Verify assets from a minimum of two data points, such as the barcode and the item’s serial number.

After collecting data and developing a maintenance schedule for your assets, you need to plan for the long-term maintenance of your asset inventory

However good asset management and maintenance planning is, there comes a time when an asset reaches the end of its useful life and should be disposed of.

“If you’re trying to get a handle of your documents, the first thing you should do is an asset assessment. Detail the condition of all the main equipment and systems, and document those conditions

Strategic asset management integrates key relationships between planning and delivery activities.

Maximize your use of vertical cubic footage by placing seasonal products or those that move less frequently in harder-to-reach vertical storage areas

Social media marketing is a vital

integral part of every hotel's operations

has the potential to increase direct bookings and improve brand awareness

eight new users join TikTok every second

social media marketing increase visibility

generate a higher ROI

you’ll really stand out from competitors who aren’t putting in the effort on these same channels

advises hotels to consider social media as a channel for direct communication with potential new customers

that could lead to bookings

clear connection between the multi-touch opportunities

1. Share slice-of-life content

recommend an 80/20 rule

day to day at the hotel

share “daily snippets, small but heart-warming stories

keep it personal and relatable

2. Use your Google Business Profile

clients tend to overlook is Google’s own business review feature

they should be regularly posting new photos and encouraging customer reviews by sharing their unique link

Any offers, news, and updates should also be added to the posts section to inform potential new customers

helpful for tracking

connecting content to bookings

we have noticed a quick improvement not only on Google 3-Pack ranking but organic searches and direct inquiries are improved

3. Start with music

4. Follow 80/20

Social media marketing also gives hotels creative new ways to interact with their audiences.

content creation

80% of the content should be related to your destination, travel tips, encouraging engagement

20% should be self-promotional

analytics that prove its success

“Always focus on quality over quantity.”

posting consistently, the algorithm will likely reward you for it on any platform

5. Partner up

one strategy that has worked very well for us has been re-posting traveller (reStayer) and influencer photos

the benefits go beyond saving time and money on content creation

8. Use a calendar

Doing this has also helped build up our brand because those who visit our page see us as a hotel with real people visiting and following us, rather than only professionally-produced photos

We choose our influencer and ambassador partners carefully to ensure that the content they produce, their values and key messages resonate with our audience and brand

partner share data on what content performed best, this guides our own content strategy

great way to get direct feedback

love seeing how our stayers interact with the suites and report on what they value to the most

6. Be playful

7. Don’t overthink

By engaging with local influencers and those who have taken photographs of our hotel, we have reached new audiences that we otherwise wouldn't be able to, since the creator will often engage back with our content

Plot out the exact times and dates you’ll post

Create content ahead of time

9. Project manage

10. Choose content pillars

11. Follow SEO rules

2. Analyze the competition

Figure out how you can make it better, fill a much-needed gap, or start a marketing channel none of the others are currently using.

What are other hotels in your area posting online?

13. reStays