The Northwest Hospitality Specialists.
With the new season coming up, it’s time to stock up on inventory and expand the workplace for new equipment. Is your business growing out of space for one location? Consider opening a second site to accommodate your growth in demand. Here are some suggestions to keep in mind when financing your business. One way [...]
In the fall of 2012 you may have considered the growth of demand in the past year and a half outstanding. However, STR founder, Randy Smith cautioned that this growth of demand would begin to decline to standard levels in the next year. This along with the rate of growth still lagging would have a [...]
Social Demographics: 87% of all women and men who use social networking websites are disposed to share their real names, political and religious affiliations.77% of users are willing to share brands they like. However, men are much more likely to share intimate details compared to women about their physical address (11% vs. 4%) their current [...]
Social Media: Continuing with our social media themed blog posts, here are some interesting facts to consider about the following forms of marketing through social media: Blogging: 80 % of all internet users in the U.S spend time on social media sites or blogs. Social networking and blogs account for 23% of all internet time [...]
Social Media: Continuing with our social media themed blog post from a few weeks ago, here are some interesting facts to consider about the following forms of marketing through social media: Twitter: Twitter is the second leading social media tool used for marketing. Consider the following information when creating your account! Twitter has a huge [...]
Social Media: The best way to go viral with one’s marketing (direct marketing technique in which a company persuades internet users to forward its publicity through social media) is to start with small networks. When content goes viral it is spread via millions of intimate sharing through personal networks rather than one source with millions [...]
If you didn’t attend the ALIS hotel conference in Los Angeles this year, you really missed something! Hotel investment conference attendance is a barometer for the health of the hotel industry. Companies send lots of delegates to these conferences when they are doing well, expect increased business, and are optimistic about the future. By that [...]
1. Now is the perfect time to start. If you don’t use Social Media yet, it’s not too late to begin using social media professionally. Today. 2. Choose your Twitter name carefully. First, check your business name. If your business name is taken, choose a handle that says what you do. 3. Professional is key. [...]
PORTLAND – Oregon is just one part of a new national tourism campaign to lure more international travel to the U.S. When it comes to natural beauty, Oregon is hard to match. By Joe Smith, KGW.com - http://www.kgw.com/home/Oregon-a-part-of-intl-tourism-push-151642015.html Travel Oregon’s CEO, Todd Davidson was chosen to chair President Obama’s National Travel and Tourism Strategy. The first [...]
Big Economic Impact Regionally and Nationally The Washington state wine industry’s economic impact is valued at $8.6 billion annually in the state, according to a new report from the Washington State Wine Commission. The state’s wine industry had an economic impact of $14.9 billion nationwide in 2011 – a more than $10 billion increase from [...]
Commerce Secretary John Bryson and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar today announced the administration’s National Tourism and Travel Strategy —delivering on President Obama’s call in January for a national strategy to promote domestic and international travel opportunities throughout the United States. National Tourism and Travel Strategy The National Strategy is a blueprint for expanding travel to [...]
Hotel Pricing Strategy vs. Revenue A new study from the Cornell Center for Hospitality Research explores hotel price stability and price shifting from 2007 through 2009. The study, “Strategic Revenue Management and the Role of Competitive Price Shifting,” examined whether using shifting price strategies (either up or down) over time was superior to maintaining a [...]
Financial Benefits of Management Integrity When Cornell’s Tony Simons analyzed the differences in performance in a group of 76 Holiday Inn properties, he found a remarkable connection. The managers with the highest financial performance also earned the highest integrity scores from their employees. Based on those results, Simons, an associate professor at the Cornell School [...]
With Timeline you have the ability to express your “brand” identity for your hotel with visually interesting features. You have the ability to reach your audience in the comfort of their own home or office and you can communicate with your “fans” quickly, personally and directly. The new features of Timeline are subtle, creative, and [...]
On March 30th, big changes come to your online brand identity. Are you ready or are you even aware of what these changes may mean to your property? Timeline? Facebook implements its new “Timeline” design with updates to the layouts of your company page. How do you maximize these for the benefit of your brand? [...]
Creative and current promotional items which hook your guests, remind them of you at every turn and keep them coming back for more….this is the goal which Independent Operators should strive for – however, it can be a difficult and challenging to figure out the best way to stay in the forefront of your guests [...]
On February 8, 2012, Kevin Maher and Marlene Colucci of AH&LA, together with AH&LA’s outside counsel, Minh Vu and Virginia Robinson of Seyfarth Shaw LLP, met with six Department of Justice (“DOJ”) employees, including the Chief of the Disability Rights Section of the Civil Rights Division, to express the concerns and questions shared by AH&LA’s members [...]
Regardless of the size of your hospitality property, social media is an essential element that should be incorporated into your overall marketing campaign. While we know it can feel overwhelming, we’ll be breaking it into smaller, easy to manage steps. What Review Sites Offer When I’m getting ready to take a business trip or vacation, [...]
In an earlier blog post, I discussed my observation in the marketplace that finally we are seeing Sellers and Buyers reaching the same valuations for property. Sellers have adjusted their expectations a little and Buyers realize in many cases that there can be significant upside in buying a property even at market values, especially in [...]
Hint: It’s MailChimp. Let us just say for the record, we’re paid to have opinions of products and services that will save our clients time and money. Having said that, we don’t even think that MailChimp versus Constant Contact is a fair fight. MailChimp is our service of preference. Period. Ok, but why? If you [...]
In reading the recent article by Joel Ross in the HotelNewsNow bulletin (“Hotel industry sentiment falls back to reality”, February 2, 2012), I was struck by the similarity in Joel’s opinions to a conversation we had in our office just this morning. Joel was reviewing the sentiment which came out of the recent ALIS conference [...]
Where the Party is At The advantage of a well-designed website Unlike many other businesses, in the hospitality industry your website has the unique opportunity of being the life of the party. Your website welcomes guests, takes their coats, shows them around, gets them drinks and makes them comfortable. A well-designed website acts as party [...]
Have you recently done energy efficiency upgrades, or are you planning to do some this year? If so, are you aware of the EPAct, section 179D tax deduction and how it can possibly save you hundreds of thousands of dollars? As a hospitality resource, it is important to EcoGreenHotel to provide education on the ways [...]
Find us in the new issue of Lodging News, published by ORLA
BY ERIC STOESSEL JANUARY 20TH, 2012 It’s good to see President Obama reads our Front Desk blog and Editor Ed Watkins (Tourism: A Winning Platform in Presidential Politics). It’s even better to see the president finally take action on an issue that will not only help travel, tourism and the hotel industry, but also the entire economy. [...]
Creative Acquisition Structures Less than 10% Down Payments Immediate Closings Lease/Options Seller Financing Management Contracts with Profit Share Available Hotel Properties SOLD & CLOSED in 11 Days!! 22+% Cap Rate, Seller financing Holiday Inn Express in Walla Walla – Less than 3.35x Gross! Alexander’s Country Inn – 9.33% Cap Rate and 15.72% Cash Flow Confidential [...]
January 9, 2012: Steve Rushmore, president and founder of HVS, the leading global hospitality consulting and services firm, has announced the publication of the 2011 U.S. Hotel Valuation Index. The Hotel Valuation Index (HVI) tracks hotel values in 51 major markets and the United States as a whole. According to HVI co-authors Michael L. Mele, [...]
Myth Number 1 That income defines in which segment a guest stays is indeed a myth, she said. Almost a quarter of guests staying in the economy segment during 2010 made more than US$100,000 in household income, for example. Myth Number 2 Another myth: Corporate business is driving the economy. In reality, leisure is stronger [...]
Solid Cap Rates & Excellent Cash Flows AVAILABLE Hotel Opportunities – www.crystalip.com Holiday Inn Express in Walla Walla – Less than 3.33x Gross! Alexander’s Country Inn – 9.33% Cap Rate and 15.72% Cash Flow IN CONTRACT – Keizer Renaissance – Up 11% Over Last Year! IN CONTRACT – Lighthouse Inn – 12.07% Cap Rate IN [...]
STR Analytics 3rd Quarter Hotel Market Overview BOULDER, Colorado — Debt and equity trends remained steady during the third quarter despite hiccups in the market, according to the Hotel Investors Gauge, a survey from STR Analytics and HotelNewsNow.com. “Although the national and global economies seem to be on a rollercoaster ride of late, hotel investment [...]
TravelClick’s October 2011 North American Hospitality Review indicates the hotel industry is continuing to show strong growth in the business, leisure and group travel segments. The North American Hospitality Review is based on actual hotel bookings for the period October 1, 2011 through September 30, 2012. For the next twelve months, committed occupancy is up 4.8 percent year-over-year, average daily [...]
Negative economic sentiment pervades the news, the stock market, water-cooler chatter, and even the local post office. The expansion that marked the end of the financial crisis in 2009 is being threatened by a plethora of issues: political problems, state and local expenditure gaps, persistent levels of unemployment, and a fiscal budget that caused a [...]
The Global Business Travel Association Foundation study claims business travel will be up 9.2 percent this year. They claim that by 2013, peak 2008 levels will have returned. A TravelClick study, also looking forward, is indicating that global distribution system bookings are up and in fact, were up 15 percent year over year on the [...]
