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One of the ways in which hotel brands can provide seamless experiences across multiple touchpoints is by ensuring that employees are empowered with the right guest management solutions that leverage a combination of technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), deep analytics, and customer relationship management software integrations.

Being able to communicate with customers using their preferred channel is also becoming increasingly important. Two-thirds of consumers in Salesforce’s survey said that they prefer to communicate through email, text, or chat.

For example, if a particular guest has visited the spa during every hotel stay, built-in AI capabilities will recommend a complimentary spa service for this guest. A relevant offer like this will have a much better impact on the guest experience than something that the hotel guest will not use,”

TravelClick, an Amadeus company, and Marriott International, Inc

have expanded their strategic relationship.

Marriott will increase its use of TravelClick's Agency360®,

In the world of information technology (IT), the green movement is taking shape.

Technology is a tool to provide solutions, but regrettably, technology can also be a source of the problem due to factors like energy consumption and the environmental impacts when disposing of obsolete or broken technology (i.e., e-waste).

Like any business initiative, green IT projects will require strong commitment from an organization’s top management and investment in time and resources at all levels.

Awareness about sustainability in the hospitality industry has gained a lot of momentum in the last decade

Hotel and resort guests are paying more and more attention to the products that they are offered, and also their own ecological footprint

The latest environmental advancements and technologies promote cost efficiency and reduction in those who chose to invest.

Property management software (PMS) offers so many advantages that there's really no longer a reason not to deploy it.

when it comes to company culture, sustainability is really about creating “responsible business.”

This kind of socially-driven demand is a powerful vehicle for implementing change in order to retain customers and remain relevant.

one of the great challenges in committing to sustainability is about “setting long-term science-based targets” and achieving these goals in terms of reducing waste, energy expenditure and labor costs in all aspects of the business.

Lack of proper technology tools can hinder productivity and kill morale.

53% of surveyed employees said they would be more empowered to better manage workflow if they were provided with the needed tools

42% said these tools would not only speed up boring tasks but also result in better worker morale

Gibbons is far from the only millennial choosing to “Airbnb it” rather than splash out on a hotel. A report by Morgan Stanley [pdf] found that 42% of Airbnb users have replaced a traditional hotel stay with an Airbnb property. With travellers able to book anything from a penthouse in London to a picture-postcard cottage in the Cotswolds, how are small hotels responding

3. Encourage Guests to be Green Put cards in each room asking guests to turn out the lights when they leave, or reuse towels if possible. Make recycling bins readily available to guests and be sure that they are aware of your green programs. When guests see that your hotel is making an effort to help the environment, they will generally want to do their part as well.  For those hotels looking to do even more, consider loaning or renting bicycles to guests, or look into installing a bike-sharing station. 

Sales and marketing is also exceptionally challenging because of the potential dilution of established brands, the complexity of building overall brand loyalty, and the risk of management forfeiting their focus on less "cool" brands in the stable in favor of the latest shiny thing.

In their efforts to achieve visibility, hotels compete to incorporate inviting, "Instagrammable" backdrops into their design. Research from Travolution shows 40% of millennial travelers chose a destination based on how Instagrammable it was, bypassing the cost and availability of alcohol (24%) and the opportunities to explore local cuisine (9.4%).

Good reviews strengthen the brand's reputation, regular postings (either by marketers or guests) generate SEO content, and instant chat mechanisms support the decision-making and booking processes.

The short-term rental industry faces a unique set of challenges when it comes to sustainability.Unlike hotels, where services like housekeeping and recycling are centralized on-site, rental homes are dispersed over a given region, which can make streamlining operations in an eco-conscious way somewhat difficult.

sustainability and operational efficiency are effectively the same thing.

keyless entry and smart temperature control to adjust the thermostat when properties aren’t in use.

sights on purchase behaviors

proximity marketing, which employs geolocation to market to consumers within physical reach of a store

Beacon technology, which powers proximity marketing, results in an estimated 40 million messages a year, and that number is ever increasing. As a result, the retail industry must be sure it is primed to take full advantage of this technology now and in the coming years.

By the simple routine of running daily pick-up reports, monitoring booking pace and reviewing the forecast, the discipline of these reports equips us with information to understand the severity of what is happening.

Understanding the macro-perspective may be cold comfort in the face of lost revenue, but it provides a realistic picture of performance and could be useful in dealing with anxious comments from far-away head offices.

it's important to divert your sales or distribution efforts to other sources of revenue.

Industry experts have been looking ahead at what needs to happen with the restaurant guest experience in 2020

Online ordering is one of the biggest and most coveted conveniences in the industry this year. The restaurants that make ordering as convenient as possible are the restaurants that are going to be the most successful in 2020

Restaurants that utilize an online ordering system are able to grow their delivery revenue 30% more than those that do not

the hotel recognized the need to implement advanced security solutions in order to provide each guest with peace of mind throughout their

stay.

Hotel leadership opted to implement Elsafe Zenith safes and VingCard door locks

Financial statements of each department are vital for hotel owners/management to understand the monetary health of their hotel business.

Generating and procuring all these details manually, consumes time and involves tremendous effort. Plus, it may lead to errors, too.

Tech-savvy hoteliers have adopted cloud-based property management systems (PMS) to perform a host of tasks including accounting.

Waste is one area with the potential for big improvement. In many cases, hotels end up throwing out a lot of waste that could have been recycled. The reason is a lack of local support for recycling programs, Jachimowicz says. "We would move forward with recycling if the local trash haulers had the ability to do that today," he says. "We're recycling at 60 percent of our properties. We'd like nothing better than to get that number up. Short of separating it and hauling it ourselves — and we're not in the trash-hauling business — we're at the mercy of the local haulers." One way to work around the recycling challenge, Gaines says, is to reduce potential waste brought in the door in the first place. "We eliminated the USA Today," he says. "That's huge. All those newspapers? They're gone. Everybody's reading it on their iPad."

"You want to continue to give people a comfortable, acceptable shower without sacrificing using more water,"

On the operations side, facility management staff has a large role to play as well. The first thing they have to do is understand that it is a balancing act when it comes to what guests want versus sustainability efforts.

Most of my clients asked me this question before, “What differentiates a good event management platform from an average one?”. Then I told them about data management. If you have an one-off event and decide that you will never have another similar event in the future, then you need not read further. However, if you are keen on event marketing and want to leverage events for generating business, you must not miss this article. An event management platform with integrated CRM will be key to your success. CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management. A CRM software, therefore, helps you manage relationships and interactions with your current and future customers. In most cases, your event attendees are your potential customers. Hence, it’s vital to integrate a CRM with the event software so that the sales team can take control and take action in time. Here are a few suggestions on how you can leverage an event CRM software to drive sales revenue. #1 Engage with your attendees as a pre-sales activity Pre-sales is very important as it’s about prospecting, qualifying and nurturing leads. Every time you spark a conversation, be it an email, a message, a Facebook comment, etc., you will want to record it and evaluate the sales-readiness of the attendee. #2 Easy access to information for Sales The marketing team’s effort in attendee nurturing shouldn’t be in conflict with the sales team’s lead nurturing. Your sales people need to know what events their clients or their leads have attended. Events could be about informing customers of a new product or keeping customers updated of the latest technological happening. Keeping a list of all the events that each of your client has attended will help Sales engage in an intelligent conversation with their client. That’s why there should be a data center that sales people and marketing people can access. With cloud-based CRM platforms, information is always available. #3 Store data for future use It doesn’t make sense to me if I use a separate platform for managing my event data. The data don’t only hold value to the event per se but also to customer analytics and remarketing. An integrated CRM allows you to look at a list of potential invitees and then select them as targets for event registration forms, so they are always aware of upcoming events and feel valued to be contacted. This may make them more likely to feel loyal to your brand and register. At the same time, your Sales team would have a better view of the customer and predict their behaviors. #4 Everyone is on the same page Not only marketing or sales need to nurture the relationships with customers. Customer success definitely needs to know what events their clients are attending. Human resources sometimes want to check if a candidate’s ever been to a company event. You want to make sure the people that need information to drive productivity and business get it easily.   In Conclusion… You as an event marketing professional must look for an event management software with integrated CRM now. Keep in mind that it must be a single platform that allows both your sales and marketing teams work effectively together. Email campaign reports or attendance reports are not CRM. If you want to find out more about this, send your questions to us by clicking the “Ask us a question” button below!

Combining today’s recognizable technology, such as touchscreen and virtual reality, with concepts that are beyond our time, these are some of the notable features hotels in the future will have.

he idea of using robots could help break down the language barrier that is sometimes the case when planning in other countries as these robots are naturally multi-lingual and can adapt to the language you are using.

This includes robot butlers, entertainment, greeters and business services which for planning events can be more cost effective and reduce human error, streamlining the process of communicating with the systems to get exactly what you want.