Exceeding expectations, every stay, every day…. by Fritz Gubler Over many years, the best hotel chains and individual properties have added great value to their companies by ensuring a high standard of service and creating brand recognition. High standards of service and the accompanying brand recognition are never achieved single-handedly by Presidents or CEOs, nor by the GM’s of the individ...

We kick off a new series of articles (an e-column!) by veteran hotelier and educator Fritz Gubler. Here is the first installment of the series, called “Exceeding Expectations – Every stay, Every day”. Hope you enjoy it – we look forward to your comments and feedback! Exceeding Expectations: Every Stay, Every Day As a long-time hospitality professional, I believe it is impor...

This story begins when I moved to Melbourne to work for the Radisson Flagstaff Gardens Hotel, a four and half star Hotel locate adjacent to the Queen Victoria Markets. I was working for a General Manager I had worked for previously in Adelaide. Not long into the contract the GM told me of an opportunity of an opening at the Radisson Resort Denarau in Fiji a five star hotel located on Denarau Islan...

M A G I C   P O T S Experienced by: Rona  Lyn M. Tupaz  I’m working as a waitress in Views Restaurant of F/B Department of Le Meridien Ala Aqah Beach Resort –Fujairah. The story goes like this, as a waitress there are certain responsibilities that are allocated to us everyday, one of that is to be a tea/coffee runner,  During every breakfast we have to bring the two pots, one is for the ...

NEVER LOST AND ALWAYS FOUND This is an associate of Le Meridien Al Aqah who holds our philosophy “EVERY GUEST LEAVES HAPPY” very dearly to his heart. In Rajesh’s own words….. I would like to share one of my experience held with Mr. Mark James who stayed with us at Le Meridien Al Aqah. It was about a lost & found incident. I work as a Housekeeping co-coordinator and most of the time we ...

The Romans were the first European travellers, building beautiful villas and palaces throughout their vast empire. These villas inspired Renaissance princes to build neo-classical villas, many of which later became private hotels. In the modern era, travel in Europe became popular with the advent of the Grand Tour. Flourishing during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, this phenomenon was po...

Chef’s Tales, by Michael Saxon The best & worst food concept that was ever conceived and which has gone on to eventually become the most universally successful ideas of all time has to be…the buffet. Once in a while there comes along some clowns who make you wish that you never had even heard of the concept “buffet”, let alone have one in your hotel. After cooking up a storm all da...

The Hotel Design Leaders of the Next Decade will be Cultural Spies By Jeffrey Ornstein, Founder and CEO, J/Brice Design International, Inc., Boston, MA & Dammam, Saudi Arabia The passing of Yves Saint Laurent last year crystallized my thinking about how the principles of great fashion are so similar to the principles of great hospitality design. Saint Laurent was a master at reading social...

By Jean Francois Mourier, RevPar Guru Repeat after me: bookings, customers, cashflow, bookings, customers, cashflow. Most likely, these are the top-billing items on hoteliers’ what I need right now wish-list. But moving these items from wish to reality will take substantially more effort than crossing fingers, reactive strategies or hoping for the best. What hoteliers need right now is a fine...

Revenue Management: The Hotel Stimulus Package. By Jean Francois Mourier, CEO and Founder of RevPar Guru  Hotels are being pummeled by the economy, and the hospitality industry is suffering in every corner of the globe – what else is new?  In the current climate, most hotel experts are expecting RevPar (revenue per available room) to drop by as much as 11%, perhaps even more.  And with o...