HOTELS

Last week I began writing about how Gettys views and deploys the basics of project management. I’ve broken down the subject into three areas: project kick-off, project status meetings and project management tools. Last week I covered project kick-off and this week I’ll wrap up with the last two topics.

Project Status Meetings
Meetings are nearly universally despised and it’s no wonder given how poorly many meetings are run. Project status meetings are no exception and can waste valuable productive time and erode fees unnecessarily. Getting everyone together as a group and communications is vital for any team effort.

The key to making these regularly scheduled meetings (we schedule ours at least once a week) more productive is to treat them more like a huddle – as the term implies, keep it brief, lively a...Read More

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In our business, we are constantly balancing the pragmatic with the frivolous, the enduring with the ephemeral, the ROI and the ROG (Return On Investment and the Return Of the Guest). Guests look forward to fresh, indulgent and thoughtful design and hotel operators and owners expect functional, sturdy and profitable assets.

A similar parallel can be drawn between this and how we deliver design projects. As hospitality designers, we would love the opportunity to dream and create without constraints but reality has a tendency to interfere: deadlines have to be met, budgets adhered to, standards complied with – the list goes on. And so project management becomes the key to creating a framework where the goals and objectives of both the process-driven linear thinkers and the creative non-linear thinkers can be achieved.

Tomes have be...Read More

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The current state of the economy has had a profound effect on resorts in cold-weather destinations. Travelers have reduced their travel plans and are waiting longer to book their trips.  Resorts are seeing fewer foreign visitors due to the spread of a global recession and a stronger U.S. dollar. Airlines have reduced their capacity, which in turn has increased fares. Lift ticket sales are down and some resorts are reducing headcount to stay profitable.

Conversely, resorts on the East Coast are not being affected to the same extent as resorts in the Rocky Mountains. The low cost of gasoline and the proximity...Read More

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When designing for any application, whether it is automobiles, apparel or interiors, there is a certain pride taken into the execution of every detail. So as you probably already know, there is nothing worse than turning over a beautifully designed project and then having a procurement firm devalue it by purchasing alternative solutions for the original specified merchandise. 

Why does this happen? There are a multitude of reasons why this unfortunate event occurs but it usually boils down to three main points:

Cost. Beauty comes at a price! Many times designers formulate unbelievable designs that wow their clients; however, budgets and pricing are typically not considered as part of the selection process. After a client is “sold,” it is now time for the purchasing entity to work its m...Read More

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With occupancy rates and financial projections declining, it is no wonder that hotel operating budgets are being cut—even for security!

Last week’s terrorist attacks in Mumbai have spurred increased concern about hotel security and the well-being of its guests. On average, Indian hotels spend 3% of their project budget on building management systems, which includes security. This is quite a contrast from the 7% to 8% that China and the United States invest on such systems.

However, beefing up security tends to add more ingredients to the mix. Intensive baggage checking, metal detectors, lengthy guest check-in identification protocol, and security cameras all add up to make an unplea...Read More

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This week, I have turned the blogging responsibilities over to Gettys’ Vice President/Principal Karrie Drinkhahn. Karrie has worked with me at Gettys for a little more than a decade, and most recently, opened our regional offices in Miami. Given Karrie’s location, the vacation ownership industry is something that she has become quite an expert on and as such, I asked her to blog about this opportunity within the hospitality industry. Enjoy!

Vacation Ownership: An Unexpected Opportunity

Having chosen a new president a week ago and removing the election from the news cycle, suddenly the talking heads are right back to their latest favorite topic: the economy. As the stock market continues its imitation of a roller coaster ride, we’ve all seen it affect our businesses.  But, with the end of 2008 righ...Read More

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Didn’t we all grow up with the same idea of what the future would look like for us, and didn’t it closely resemble the Hanna Barbera cartoon, the Jetsons? Legless robot maids gliding behind us and endless tools devised to remove every bit of effort from our day. I think that we all know that the future is rarely as exotic as our dreams were when we were kids, but recently I’ve been seeing some innovations within the hospitality industry that are making me think that perhaps the Jetsons might not be so far off, yet.

Technology is an amazing tool in hospitality when used to accentuate the personal connections between guests and the hotel. There is an inherent interpretation that technology, by nature, will inhibit the personal relationship between the hotel ...Read More

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Economists continue to deliver discouraging news, challenging everyone in our industry, but especially hotel developers. As such, I thought that this week, hearing from my associate, Jerry Zeitner would be helpful.  Jerry has been with Gettys since 1995 and in the past few years has spearheaded our company’s growing efforts in development. He has been advising me regarding strategy in these turbulent economic times so I thought that his words of wisdom might be helpful to our readers here. Here is Jerry's post:

Reading an article on stress in the workplace not so long ago, I learned that bus drivers have one of the highest on-the-job stress levels. “How could that be!?!” I asked myself. Bus drivers surely have important jobs, but wouldn’t a brain surgeon or a hostage negotiator or an air-traffic controller have...Read More

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This week, I am turning the reins over to my associate, Dan Welborn. Dan heads up our offices in Irvine as a vice president and principal, and was in attendance at last week’s Lodging Conference 2008. He has some interesting insights that I wanted him to share.

Dan: At last week’s Lodging Conference, set in the middle of the Arizona desert and surrounded by stunning mountains and palm trees, our industry met and stayed in one of the country’s most beautiful and historic hotels: The Arizona Biltmore. Surrounded by truly inspirational Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired design, I came home every night to sit in my well-appointed suite and tune in to the ...Read More

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Will your sustainable project be profitable on your timeline?

Attractive, compelling and on-brand design is significant, but diminished if it doesn’t produce P&Ls that are in the black.

Then came the sustainability movement – beginning its ascent from trend to tipping point two to three years ago. 

Everyone knows that Green is good. It means “go.” It means “healthy” (as in: eat your leafy greens!) and now it means “sustainability.” It’s almost an inarguable statement that sustainable design is the right thing to do. It’s right for the environment and right for the health and well being of staff and guests. For today, however, let’s t...Read More

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With Katrina’s three year anniversary looming and Gustav gearing up for a Labor Day battering of the Gulf of Mexico next week, (the biggest since Wilma in 2005, they fear,) I thought that it might be appropriate to blog a little bit about hurricane and other natural disaster preparedness. 

Isn’t it always the things that we can’t predict that keep us up at night!? Mudslides, floods, forest fires, hurricanes, tornados, earthquakes, even sink holes the size of three football fields have a way of causing constant anxiety even among the best of us. In cases like these, we can get unbelievably good at tempering our anxiety with this all-time favorite: “It surely won’t happen thi...Read More

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After an amazing week in China, checking out the Forbidden City and the Great Wall of China as well as plenty of Olympic events, I have returned home. 

I have a camera full of photos capturing the amazing sights that I witnessed, but ultimately, it will be the people who I met and the places where I stayed the night that will be largely responsible for the impressions of Beijing that I keep.

With that, my eyes were opened once again as to the influence that our industry holds as emerging markets become one global market.  I took away some real statements about China and their growth as a country through the design and i...Read More

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