Hotel operations is often seen as creating and following brand processes and keeping costs under control – but great operators know compliance is only part of the picture.  Christian Lundén, VP of Strategic Growth at Nordic Choice Hotels, is a great example of thinking more expansively about operations. He and I recently spoke about his work to drive new revenue streams by serving guests that may not be staying at their hotels.  You posted on LinkedIn recently that Scandinavian citizens stay in a hotel an average of 1.4 days a year, and you want to create new experiences to be more ..read more

The culture of an organization is what actually drives performance, and that’s especially true in hospitality. Eugenio Pirri, Chief Operations and Culture Executive, Dorchester Collection Previously, we’ve looked at how Eugenio Pirri and the leadership team at Dorchester Collection created a new role that combined operations and culture to ensure each hotel delivers on its brand promise of being “treasured by guests, cherished by employees, and celebrated worldwide.” In this article, we’ll look at the practical details of how Eugenio and his teams build and live out this culture. Culture is d ..read more

One of the things that stood out to me when I first interviewed Stan Kennedy, Chief Operating Officer at Remington Hotels, was a brand performance team they assembled in the early days of the pandemic recovery to help turn around hotels that were struggling or in transition.  I recently spoke with Stan again to understand more about how the team was formed, how they structured it, what the results have been, and where they’re going from here.  What inspired the Remington brand performance team  There were several reasons for building a brand performance team in the beginning, St ..read more

Imagine working in operations at some of the leading hotel companies in the world, and then having the chance to start all over with a blank canvas in a role leading operations for a new brand. What would you do?  That was the opportunity Julius Anders had. Today, he leads operations for numa and in this article, we will look at: What frustrated Julius working in other hotel operations roles  Julius had several frustrations working in a wide range of operational roles for leading hotel companies throughout Europe for more than a decade: as a receptionist, back-of-house manager, front ..read more

Eugenio Pirri today leads operations and culture for Dorchester Collection, one of the world’s most renowned collections of hotels, including iconic properties such as Hôtel Plaza Athénée in Paris and the Beverly Hills Hotel.  He has a fascinating story of building a career in hospitality, which informs his unique perspective on operations leadership today. Eugenio’s role today Eugenio’s role as the Chief Operations and Culture Executive for Dorchester Collection is unique among other operations leaders. “It’s a role that previously didn’t exist in this way in our company,” he told me ..read more

Property management systems are the #1 most important software for hotel operators, a survey of 56 COOs, CIOs, and CTOs found: Source: Property Management System research by Benchmark Research Partners Two other data points stood out to me from this study: The Property Management System is the largest software budget item for most hotels Most hotel leaders expect the PMS to retain or increase its importance over the next 5 years So what are the best property management systems? It’s a tricky question because there’s a big problem today that nobody talks about: Most software review sites are ..read more

This post is sponsored by Shiji Group Bluesun Hotels & Resorts has 12 hotels along Croatia’s Adriatic coast, a region that was named among the world’s best to travel to in the Conde Nast Traveller Reader’s Choice Awards for 2022. With 2,629 rooms and more than 80 food and beverage outlets across its properties, I wanted to understand how the Bluesun teams manage operations across these diverse outlets in a time of rapid change. To do this, we spoke with Ivana Kralj, the company’s Director of Hotel Operations, and in this case study, we will cover: Ivana Kralj, Director of Hotel Operat ..read more

I used to think the future was silver space suits. But now I think it looks more like a library in Seoul.” David Sax Whether you are a hotelier trying to understand what the future of hospitality could look like to plan your career, a hotel brand leader trying to develop a fresh offering, or a developer looking to build something that will resonate for decades, we all come back to one question:  What is the future of hotels and hospitality?  Predictions always get attention, clicks, and likes – especially at the beginning of each year. “7 Trends That Will Shape the Hotel Industry i ..read more

When we’re trying to predict the future, we often imagine something that’s radically different. But the most important part of hospitality won’t change. David Sax David Sax is the author of The Future is Analog, and he and I spoke recently about what his research on the future could mean for hospitality. Below are selected excerpts from our conversation.  A counter-intuitive observation “Back in 2006, I first noticed the growth in non-digital goods and ideas that everybody had consigned to death. All of a sudden people were buying records and film cameras and paper journals.  “I wan ..read more

A recent Hospitality Daily poll said the #1 people priority for hotel operators in 2023 was retaining staff: To help you understand how to do this through total rewards – the combination of benefits, compensation, and rewards that employees receive – I spoke with Dan Aswell, Senior Vice President of Total Rewards at Remington Hotels.  Dan Aswell, SVP of Total Rewards at Remington Hotels In this article, we’ll cover: Why rewarding your people matters in hospitality today My conversation with Dan started off with a discussion of why people matter in hospitality today. With all of the discu ..read more