My presentation, “Seven Travel Planning Steps and Their Impact on Hotel Distribution Strategy” for the Hospitality Financial & Technology Professionals Annual HITEC Conference in Austin, Texas did not focus on traditional distribution focused on the luxury hotel and resort customer, hospitality industry distribution channels and the future innovations that may be expected to impact the global hotel industry.
White Paper: Bridging Hotel Business and Technology Priorities
June 9, 2011 By 1 Comment
The hotel industry requires an IT Pathfinder to help align hotel business and technology priorities over the next three years so the industry can successfully leverage information technology to drive business growth and profitability. A RockCheetah/Amadeus IT Group white paper, “Transform Your Growth Strategy Now – Remove barriers between hotel technology,marketing and operations” explores the role an IT Pathfinder can play in facilitating hospitality industry business transformation.
Leading Hotels of the World – Marketing Conference Keynote
May 17, 2011 By
My presentation, “Deconstructing Distribution – It’s All About the Customer” for the Leading Hotels of the World Sales, Marketing & Distribution Conference in Bonn, Germany focused on the luxury hotel and resort customer, hospitality industry distribution channels and the future innovations that may be expected to impact the global hotel industry.
Summerfest: The World’s Largest Music Festival
May 3, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Not only the World’s Largest Music Festival, but also the best music festival value, Milwaukee’s annual Summerfest attracts crowds of 800,000 to 1 million concert goers to watch over 700 bands perform on 11 stages during the festival’s 11-day run.
Snippets and Factoids from Henry Harteveldt’s OpenTravel Presentation
April 26, 2011 By 1 Comment
Henry Harteveldt’s keynote address to the OpenTravel Alliance North American Advisory Forum warned an audience of travel industry distribution executives that
Mobile Marketing Best Practices – HSMAI Resort Special Interest Group
February 2, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Presentation at Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI) Resort Best Practices Meeting by Robert Cole of RockCheetah. Key areas covered include the current mobile landscape, why mobile dramatically changes the playing field and how the splinternet introduces deployment and measurement challenges. Traveler Engagement must be considered before technology decisions can be made. Future implications are simply described as changing Anytime/Anywhere to Everytime/Everywhere.
2010 Unsuspecting Travel Hero and Travel Zero Awards
January 19, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Enterprise Rent-a-Car’s Seattle location received the 2010 Unsuspecting Travel Hero Award for providing a completely unexpected, pleasant, efficient and highly personalized experience with the typically mundane task of picking up an off-airport rental car. In a year highlighted by stays in luxury hotels, flying first class and endless discussions of how travel experiences can be improved, it is obvious that great service delivery and exceeding customer expectations still reigns supreme. Recognized for undermining its fundamental brand promise by gutting its hotel ratings policy, Hotwire received the 2010 Unsuspecting Travel Zero Award. Hotwire’s new hotel ratings criteria not only replaces formerly clear and detailed descriptions with ambiguous and nonsensical drivel, but creates loopholes for the company to sneak lower quality hotels into higher categories. Hotwire’s leaders should be ashamed of confusing what they apparently thought was cleverness with outright customer hostility.
Five Year US Hotel Occupancy – Average Rate – RevPAR Comparison
January 7, 2011 By Leave a Comment
The US hotel industry is recovering but still has considerable territory to cover before regaining the profitability seen in 2007 & 2008. To offer a more complete picture of the US hotel industry as a whole over the past five years, below are full year-over-year comparisons of the three bellwether metrics for the global hotel industry: Occupancy Percentage (Occ), Average Daily Rate (ADR) and Revenue Per Available Room (RevPAR.) Additionally, a linear presentation of the same data is provided to more clearly illustrate the trends over time. Finally, the peaks and valleys for each metric are provided. This information clearly depicts the US hotel industry as showing marginal improvement over the depths of the recession in 2009, but far from nearing the heady performance of 2007 & 2008.
Recommendations: Best Things To Do in St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands?
December 29, 2010 By 4 Comments
St. Thomas can be very busy – especially with cruise ships in port, but areas like Buck Island in St. John or Coki Beach can make you forget about the crowds quickly. We are looking for recommendations to enjoy our day in St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands to the fullest. Dominica is the seventh port on our Southern Caribbean cruise on the Celebrity Millennium.
Recommendations: Best Things To Do in Roseau, Dominica?
December 28, 2010 By 1 Comment
Ecotourism is the focal point of Dominica tourism, ranging from the ability to watch Sperm Whales not far off shore to rappelling down canyon waterfalls in its rainforests. We are looking for recommendations to enjoy our day in Roseau, Dominica to the fullest. Dominica is the seventh port on our Southern Caribbean cruise on the Celebrity Millennium.
