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Bing: Discovering Hawaii
Oh, the commercials you see at three-o-clock in the morning.
Take a look at the power of social media influencing travel.
And the featured song is a friend of a friends’ band.
NYC GOV: Today, Mayor Bloomberg announced the development of a new 550,000...
Today, Mayor Bloomberg announced the development of a new 550,000 square-foot development complex at Pier 1 in Brooklyn Bridge Park, which will include a 200-room luxury hotel and 159 residential units. The hotel, called 1 Hotel, and the rest of the proposed building plan will feature…
- A new hotel in Brooklyn.
- In one of the most beautiful parts - DUMBO, home to some of the greatest food in all of NYC, and where free movies and events take place frequently in the summer. Last year, I saw Woody Allen’s Manhattan from there - unforgettable with the skyline in the background.
- JOBS.
As you can tell, I’m all for this.
Why You Should Come to Brooklyn
From top left: Brooklyn Commune, Coney Island, Court Street Grocers, Steeplechase Coffee.
There is a magical land you may never have been to. It has amazing food, delicious coffee, some of the best shopping you’ve ever done, an amusement park, an aquarium, some beautiful beaches, and tons of culture. And it’s just outside one of the most popular tourism destinations in the world.
Ads for @CaesarsAC on the subway. Not even a week ago & I already miss it. (Taken with Instagram)
Bed, Breakfast, and the Blue Ridge Mountains
It was interesting to peruse Hotel-Online.com this morning for some new hotel news and see an article from The Roanoke Times about a bed & breakfast in Rocky Mount, VA, where I went to high school.
According to the article from The Roanoke Times, owner Shellie Leete has operated the eight room Claiborne House for about nine years, and has raised her children in the business. But she’s looking for something new - the B&B has been up for sale for the past two years. Another tough sell due to the economy.
Book Review | Chocolates on the Pillow Aren’t Enough
I’m a big reader.
When growing up, I used to fancy myself as Belle fromBeauty and the Beastbecause of my reading habits (and I sort of still do DON’T JUDGE ME) But with college and the jobs that came with it, I never had time to read for pleasure anymore. When I spent time on the Disney College Program (which I’m sure will be an experience featured in many posts to come), I discovered the Disney Institute, and bought my first book on how to provide excellent guest service. Though I still read fiction, I love dedicating time to reading books on how to improve guest experience. And so starts my first book review of The Someday Hotelier.
Because this book is written by a hotelier (Jonathan Tisch of Loews Hotels, also celebrated writer of the book Power of We, and a new title called Citizen You that looks incredibly interesting), I admit that I expected a more hotels-focused standpoint. Mr. Tisch’s book, however, is more broad, and adapts the customer connection ideals that many hotels strive for to almost any business. Tisch examines the needs of customers - including security, connection, “general customization”, technology, and going above expectations - in detail and, through profiling various companies, from banks to retailers to hospitals, explains how those in any trade are able to better assist their customers. After every profile is a section called “Your Big Aha’s”, which outline the main points of the stories featured and the lessons from them that can be adapted to achieve success. This book and its “case studies” would actually make a great tool for Service Management courses in colleges.
The book is dated, published just before the recession began in 2008 (it describes Starbucks’ “Hear Music” concept, a music-based spinoff of Starbucks that closed in 2008, along with over 500 Starbucks coffeehouses). In addition, the tips in this books work more for positioning a company for success and creating a brand standard, and are less suited for the Front Desk Agent or Housekeeping Manager that may wish to better the guest experience in the hotel. Mr. Tisch does include some wonderful stories and does include valuable insight about the fact that a hotel is responsible “for the total well-being” of a guest during their stay. But I have confidence that the broad tips in this book can assist anyone from a CEO of a publicly-traded company to a small-town coffee shop owner looking to attract guests to stay a while.
