Lodging Daily News

As a high school student in his native Minneapolis, Minn., Tim Walker got his indoctrination into the hotel business. He started working in a hotel in his senior year, and has been in the business ever since. “I’ve been in the hotel business my entire life, so it’s really all I know,” Walker says. “I started as a front desk clerk and worked my way all the way to the top.” These days, Walker makes

Cleanliness is a main driver of guest satisfaction in hotels, and one of the most important factors that travelers look for when choosing where to stay. Efficiency in housekeeping keeps guests happy and improves a hotel’s bottom line. By investing in the proper training, using consistent procedures, outsourcing services, and embracing technology, hotels can streamline housekeeping operations. TRAINING AND QUALITY Training is a key component to optimizing efficiency. Gil Sanchez, director of the hospitality division

From bellhops and front desk clerks to housekeepers and maintenance staff, every hotel worker plays an instrumental role in the quality of service guests receive. According to the American Hotel & Lodging Association’s “2011 Lodging Industry Profile,” the U.S. travel and tourism industry employed 1.76 million hotel property workers in 2010. As the economy continues to improve and hotel occupancy rates increase, an engaged, motivated, and passionate lodging workforce is necessary to satisfy hotel guests

Planning to develop a sustainable hotel today can be as challenging as solving a linear algebra equation—blindfolded. Purchasing eco-friendly building materials, furniture, and fabrics can lead to a vast amount of time-consuming, extensive research, often with confusing and ambiguous results. As there is no clear definition of the word, “sustainability,” the process is complicated from the start. So, how does a hotel developer truly know which products are sustainable? Building or converting into a sustainable

When it comes to economic rebound, much is being made about the leading role luxury hotels have taken in raising rate and how group business has contributed to increasing occupancy. But, what about the little guy? How are limited-service hotels, which get a bulk of their business from transient travelers and highway drivers, faring in the recovery? For the answer, we went straight to the horse’s mouth and talked to two heads of leading limited-service