Hraba Hospitality Consulting » Food & Beverage

A coffee laden ramble about… hotel coffee. What does your coffee program, or lack of it, say about your hotel brand?

Michael Hraba — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 18:25:39 +0000

The Story of Hotel Coffee.

This is something I have done in the past – talking about the history of hotel systems and amenities, and where we are today. It’s likely horribly self indulgent, as well as terribly boring…. but coffe is such an afterthought, in so many situations, it deserves, at least, it’s own post.

We can start with my background in coffee: I drink it. I drink quite a lot of it. I quite enjoy it. I have a burr grinder. The burr grinder changed my coffee life. As counter-intuitive as it is, I now understand why artisan roasters refuse to sell ground beans. ”But the market is there for it”, my simplistic free market capitalist economy mindset cajoles my caffeine addled nerves… but self respecting roasters know their bean isn’t honored by letting it die a slow and lonely death as a tired ground in a depressing bag.

So… this is where we engage my hospitality mind, and wrestle with my pragmatic operations side, vs. my guest experience and brand equity side.

My last installment about the history of hotel minutia rambled on about hotel telephony: from PBX to modern software in place of hardware, and how it went from revenue stream to bungled system, all the way to how it exists today – a glorified in-house intercom (which marketers try to dress up with LCD screens, ad nauseum). The story of coffee, however, might not be as interesting… especially to those tech & social fans who follow me (other than the giddy, amped ones who just placed another order for more caffeine related products from think geek). To those fans – hopefully my rollicking, coffee fueled post will be the little bouncing ball over the karaoke lyrics. Have fun.

A friend recently asked me about an in-room answer to coffee, which then resulted in an animated sigh from my end. Since May of 2008, I have opened 2 hotels, renovated a third, and am about to open a 3rd within the month. Even in that short time, coffee has gone through a renaissance as well as a confusing array of options and concepts for servicing a guest just how they like to be serviced, each morning. With sleepy eyes, & bumping into things…. flavored water is better than nothing.

So… here’s the story, history, and hopefully…. we will eventually get to the bottom of this stained mug that runneth over. You are going to ask for an answer, and it’s going to be an honest one…. and probably not the one you want. Unless you enjoy cold sweats and operational nightmares. I am a big coffee drinker, and our culture of coffee here in San Francisco beats Portlandia into the dust. This recent Forum on NPR talks coffee culture in San Francisco with Four Barrel, Blue Bottle, and Ritual Roasters. Frankly… some of how they do business, and how they position this “luxury coffee” trend is a bit vain, a little silly, with various levels of congenial pretentiousness (and jovial self-awareness)…. and the troubling and humbling part is that they are, absolutely, right.

However – they are right when it comes to their business of coffee, *but* are they right as they silently judge how hotels manage their coffee program, which is often a secondary operational priority?

Here’s what people in hotels think…. which includes people who care, and don’t care, about coffee:

a) Coffee grounds suck. Whether a french press or drip machine, having those used grounds are a dirty, gritty nightmare – for both guests, and more importantly, room attendants. Machines overflow when unattended, and even when helpfully disposed of by a guest, there’s a treasure trail of grounds from the minibar to trash can. You have to figure out how to grind on property without it snowing electro-static sprinkles all over your kitchen – then figure out how to control grounds in room; which invariably includes an imperfect receptacle to store the grounds, and an imperfect method of gauging the age of those grounds. Housekeepers are not always keen on watching coffee grounds. It’s not unlike watching cement dry, day to day. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but coffee hasn’t been an industry conversation to any great extent…. and those hotels that offer grounds in room? You might want to ask for a new container, because I am sure, as I am hesitant to tell you, those are not fresh. Uppity luxury ownership made their property level ops suffer grounds, mainly because owners had never dealt with actual work like changing a bed or cleaning a shower…. or actually having to deal with a mess. Prop level in-room open-ground coffee usually got (secretly) changed at property level by the hotel manager. At times, grounds live on, in the room…. due to some GM so tired & broken from battling ownership, he doesn’t even deal with it… and just let’s housekeeping or middle management cope/deal with it. ”It’s an operations problem”. It sure is.

b) so the industry got wise a few decades ago – and we went to hermetically sealed filter mesh-pods. People don’t even like the word “hermetically”. It sounds weird. It’s like when we had the strips on the toilet that said “Sanitized for your protection“. These hermetically sealed filter mesh-pods are supplied by some company that buys cheap beans, that were stored in a large warehouse for far too long, pre-ground months ahead of time, shipped in huge boxes across the country, only to sit in a warm and dank basement storage room. By the time the water hits even the best of beans, they are dead, awful, and really bad, and possibly depressed (the latter is open to debate) – they taste like cardboard and intone the warehouse air the beans sat in for months. They were, however, the penultimate, glorious, operational solution. They also pushed coffee further into the realm of red headed step child in hotels…. a necessary evil that was available as an amenity to guests, while being something that NO ONE wanted to talk about…. that is, neither hotel operations nor guests ever wanted to talk about the coffee. These filter pods never worked, and no one ever liked it. It tasted like sock water… but as I said earlier, murky hot water is better than nothing when you just need to wake up. The problem is that those coffee packets were so bad, people were waking up because of burnt tongues rather than a jolt of caffeine.

c) Of course, that is if the machine can actually heat up the water. That is something else we didn’t want to talk about, operationally – those 4 cup brewers. Notoriously unreliable in that oh-so-perfect way that they work just enough for you to *not* get calls about them not working. It’s not so much a machine to brew coffee as much as a machine to slightly frustrate you and eventually produce a flavorless warmish liquid. What’s more…. don’t look in the water reservoir. If you do, just pray those are mineral deposits.. and if they aren’t mineral deposits, or some mold, maybe it’s that it was part of a methamphetamine factory, once or twice. This disgusting reality, and fact, actually spurred some hoteliers to banish coffee from the rooms, and provide locally roasted, fresh ground coffee in a public area throughout the hotel… a thoughtful, respectable amenity that pisses guests off to no end. In fact, many enjoy the accessibility of the good lobby coffee, and even respect the enviornmentally forward method of distributing it (less packaging, less waste, bulk production, etc)…. but many guests *still* favor lukewarm coffee flavored water with powdered grey “creamium” to start their day, even if they silently grumble to themselves just how bad it is. So – hoteliers that took out in-room machines started looking for new options in-room, and those dealing with bad machines quickly cornered the capital needed to join in on a new trend – transformer-like bricks of plastic that confuse guests prior to spitting out coffee like water.

d) These behemoth bricks of plastic are better known by their brand name – Keurig. There are other machines, like Nespresso, who produce espresso like water that, really, is not *too* far from the real thing – but their pricing generally value engineers them as a viable option from your OSE budget. Keurigs are a funny thing. I *LOVE* hearing, in regards to these monster dispensers, “It taste so much like coffee”, or “It’s not too bad”. If it’s good coffee, you generally don’ t need to say it “tastes like coffee” if it actually tastes like coffee, because it tastes like coffee. You only need to say it tastes like coffee, if, in reality, it tastes nothing like or is nearly identifiable to coffee. It is just like you say “it’s not too bad” when it’s *honestly* bad, but you are trying not to hurt anyone’s feelings. In reality, the stuff is just a different form of sock water, aka coffee lite. It’s not good, and it’s weird… because it looks and smells like coffee but it only resembles it and is, actually, quite unlike coffee, at all. That pretentious claptrap aside, I have other, more valid, points…. now from the operator side of my mind. We got hooked into this craze…. we replaced an entire hotel with these machines. Just because I know and enjoy good coffee does *not* mean that it is every guest’s main priority, such that ancient grounds in a teensy foil cup, placed in a vending machine style dispenser, might be completely acceptable (even as we coffee snobs guffaw at the philistines). So my operator experience, and advice, about Keurig’s, and why you should *really* think twice about using them? I know they seem ubiquitous at this point, but guests do not understand Keurigs. At all. They break them – constantly. I know it seems simple, but they destroy them time and time again. It’s sadly hilarious, you know? Our guests are probably above average in intelligence, too…. A guest can be a wonderful, bright, intuitive person, while guests can be panicky mobs of idiots that smish smash things when they get confused…. especially if they haven’t had any AM java.

So… here we are. Sitting amongst a pile of options ill equipped to make everyone happy. Let’s revisit our choices, then…

1) You can use those hermetically sealed filter-pods that will never, ever EVER be good… not ever…. it means you don’t give a damn about coffee, nor your guest’s needs, and you really just want to be able to say you have the amenity, while delivering an in-room sadness. I mean this from the bottom of my heart, but Starbucks “VIA” packets are an exceptional invention, and are a far cry better than those traditional in room packets. No.. really. Like Keurigs, this shouldn’t really be an option anymore.

2) Starbucks VIA packets? They’re not cheap, and if you overstock, they would walk more than in-room coffee packets because they actually exceed traditional hotel coffee in flavor. That’s an expensive operating cost, but it might wash when you consider labor, drip machines, etc. It’s odd to be saying it, as it’s one of those things you say “It tastes like coffee”, but if you haven’t tried them, it might be the acceptable, simple, answer for both guest and operational needs. I am somewhat surprised I haven’t seen these more often in hotel settings…. and wonder aloud if Starbucks has considered partnering with hotels. They’re in enough lobbies that they could saunter over to the desk and start a profitable revenue stream a-growin’!

3) Onward towards future innovation? Innovation as an option, frankly, I can’t comprehend – as it’s not my “field”. I can’t imagine a pocket sized burr grinder that could grind beans into a drip or press system that would deliver the coffee and fully dispose of the grounds in a simple manner – completely self contained and easy to clean. Actually, I just said it, so I *can* imagine it. If I can imagine it, why hasn’t someone else? Get to it coffee people!

So…

What do we do? Have another cup, and plan another meeting about it? In the end… (Oh my gosh is it really the end????)

Is the answer – really – to suck it up, operationally, and supply a coffee program to the guest that provides fresh grounds in your guest rooms? That’s even a challenge for the coffee royalty, because they, likely, would prefer to see a guest grind beans themselves, so the coffee is as fresh as possible, and as least “dead” as it can be. The fact is, we can’t grind in room… I could easily imagine a hallway of beans going off at 6.30am, like a symphony of metal teeth eschewing their users sleepiness, while aggravating others. But maybe we can settle on this being the right operational decision…. back-of-house grinding, with a housekeeping based coffee delivery and clean up program. That is, if coffee *really* is part of your program.

But…. (waiiiiit for it)……

In my mind, everything is part of the program, story, brand, and message. Whatever crappy marketing terms you want to drool out there…. everything says something about your hotel and your brand. Whether it’s a poorly fitting uniform, or a lousy shampoo amenity…. every single point in a hotel is an opportunity to *really* reach the guest, and make a difference in their stay, their day, and maybe their lives (you know the moment a guest finds a new brand they love, having experienced it at your property – we have guests buy beds, soaps, etc).

I was speaking to a kindly gent from Four Barrel, and he said something astute: He had looked at other hotels, but could tell coffee wasn’t part of the focus. It was an afterthought. They didn’t want to be part of that sort of program. Coffee is *not* an afterthought to those who roast and serve it, and certainly not to those who enjoy it.

Those afterthoughts are some of the most impacting moments in the guest experience. How a glass tumler or piece of silverware feels in the hand, or how a light shines in through the window into sleeping eyes, or ** just how bad that morning coffee was **. I admit, as a coffee drinker, I have stayed in some fine resorts & hotels – and if that coffee packet is bad in the morning, it’s a big topic of conversation in our party, throughout the day, often overriding the other positives that should dominate our stay, and memory. Those “touchpoints” that some hoteliers, and ground to the nub operators, think of as minutia, can actually be overriding aspects that dominate a stay. For those who have designed and built hotels, this is *SO MUCH EASIER SAID THAN DONE* – but everything needs to be thought out, and everything should come down to the guest experience, which will hopefully override operational necessity. If you sacrifice guest experience for operational efficiency, that’s not being anything but lazy. That is not what hospitality is about.

I *was* the guy that would have had to deal with the pain of being a property that allows open coffee grounds in rooms….. but I am quickly coming to terms with the fact that it’s the right thing to do, and the right way to do it. In this, you might be able to partner with a local roaster that can be part of your hotel’s story, and anchor you firmly in the community, creating a stronger neighborhood with deeper ties… part of a larger story than just your hotel.

Then, hell… stamp your logo on their coffee, and sell it to your guests, as well. Maybe that revenue can make up the additional operating costs involved with the mess.

You’re lucky I only had 3 cups today. Here’s to the finest of roasts, and hoping to see them in the finest of hotels. Happy sipping, and good luck figuring this out. What do you do? Do you have a program you would like to share, or an idea that might work? Let me hear it!

Human Resources take note; the most gruesome, and effective, Safety Campaign EVER!

Michael Hraba — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:41:11 +0000

Wow… you have got to had it to the Ontario Worker’s Comp board. They know how to make an effective campaign. I guess the droll, dull, and corporate beige tone of most safety videos aren’t paying off the way people want….. so it seems like they came up with something that is, as they say, “Disturbingly Effective”. Not sure if you could end up using these in your properties, but might give you some powerful ideas of how to get the word across:

Kitchen line staff, Fine Dining, and F&B outlets.

The Gift Shop

More maintenance, engineering:

Construction, Engineering

Electrical, etc.

These are shocking to the point of grim humor, but I am sad to say I have seen the chef, the ladder, and multiple variations of engineering and maintance errors that left people disabled or dead. The penultimate point of the ads are solid, and worthwhile: There are *NO* accidents. Everything can be prevented.

As for bland corporate HR videos, I have seen my share, and definitely had my fill. I loved working at the Wilshire Grand in LA, where we watched Hanjin’s indoctrination videos on top of the normal HR stuff. It seems to me that the nature of HR is that they *SHOULD* make stuff more interesting, but by the nature of what they are, they can’t. By more interesting, I am thinking something like this:

(warning – not safe for work due to swearing and sexual innuendo, and albeit harmless humor it is undoubtedly prepared to offend some of you… still I would love if this was real)

**UPDATE**
14th January 2011

These weird Grace Slick 70′s Dramarock song on top of this horrifying saftey video takes the cake. Cheers to these guys…. it’s so serious. Really well done.

Looks like ERI SAFETY VIDEOS is still running strong. I am sure there are hours of uncomfortable hilarity right over there.

I mean… over *HERE*

Hospitality & F&B news – weekly round up re: social media, operations and more!

Michael Hraba — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 01:15:34 +0000

An impressive LEED Platinum for a hotel, Napa’s Bardessono. I would like to take the time to point out that the incredibly complex reuse project from the NPS and ECB/Fort Baker Retreat Group, Cavallo Point, was just awarded LEED Gold. Being NPS land, historic buildings, and completely “green” presented an interesting array of problems (aka opportunities), and I am happy to say 2 years after opening it’s doors, it has finally received it’s status. It is a shining light for the Bay Area, a stunning addition to the National Parks and GGNRA, and a model for future development being ethical and about sustainability. I applaud both these properties, especially knowing how complex the LEED process can be!

Sign of the times – Ritz Lake Las Vegas to close 2nd May. The economy may be leveling off it’s slide, but foreclosures lurk everywhere.

Gulliver points out a fairly brilliant honors scheme hatched by Intercontinental Hotel Group over Hilton’s disastrous alteration of honor awards points.

This is sort of scary, but nothing new to our industry: Hotel industry needs flexible graduates. “Skeleton staffs don’t bode well for hospitality students preparing to enter the market today. As if the long hours and weekends shifts in the hospitality industry weren’t unattractive enough, students entering the job world in today’s economy are forced to be more flexible than ever, often taking jobs outside of their geographical preference and much lower on the corporate ladder than they had hoped.” Honestly – if I had known the hours I was going to work prior to starting my career in hospitality, I don’t know if I could have done it. Of all the things I have dealt with in my life, the hours as manager at every property were dehumanizing and exacerbating. Looking back, I don’t know how I did it for over a decade. But that is what our industry is… high pressure, fast paced, grueling grinds, and the self delusion that it is as important as saving lives and that it will all be better tomorrow – oh, and that “lateral promotion” you took to get out of the department you are currently pigeonholed in… was totally worth it. (a little cynical humor, of course – not at all from my career. Riiiiiiiiiiight).

Why do hotels have so much trouble answering emails? This is an epic, well timed, post. It’s a HUGE problem, and not enough companies have corporate policies. It becomes a disaster for communication if people think they can reach you, but have zero real access to you. It makes our industry look bad, and it has to stop. On the up side…. if you make it a priority to reply to emails, and it becomes everyone’s priority, maybe they will slow down with better communication. More phone calls, less emails (including those horrible passive ones hiding the real question of “why haven’t you answered my emails?) – but that might just be wishful thinking.

Interesting and thoughtful piece on being a cautious, calculating restaurateur & entrepreneur in these times. Fact is, it pays off big in a lot of situations.

Hotels converting F&B space into meeting space. A lot of hotels are looking for revenue, and this was an actual conversation we had with a client in the last couple weeks…. nice to see the article agreeing with us. Lounges and comfy spots don’t generate revenue – but meeting space does.

Here are some interesting thoughts on Luxury Lifestyle and Travel Trends for 2010

Is Social Media the next Search Engine? Some people think it is, just as we find out Facebook directs more online users than Google.

Augmented Reality is buzzed about for a reason… and not just because it is PHENOMENALLY AWESOME. But it may actually create business, even for small businesses.

Is geolocating the future of hotel marketing? I love that hyperbole, I really do… but let’s just leave it at “a really important, impacting development” before waving the white flag at all other types of marketing. I actually think it is… for one, there’s FourSquare. But I don’t like getting *too* carried away. =)

Foursquare does have some strategic growth; First Zagat, then Chicago. Some pretty big stuff happening, and it makes me excited that with all this activity, and other industry people cloning their format in multiple ways, Foursquare seems aware and fluid enough with a solid enough business acumen, to withstand the turbulence in this crowded arena. They seem smart, and I think you need to keep an eye on them. If you haven’t gotten a google alert from them about someone “checking in” to your hotel or business, trust me… you will.

The future of marketing in hotels? This is a tech guy with idealistic notions of what hospitality *COULD* do – with money, foresight, more labor, and planning. It’s a good idea, some luxury brands might try to get there with this as a gimmick, to start….. but interesting and enthusiastic read nonetheless. Beyond that, I liked the idea… and don’t mind plugging him. He has got to be one of the only people out there that I know building Iphone (and I assume Android as well) apps that has even the most rudimentary understanding of the hotel business. A lot of people are yapping about apps in our industry…. we might not be able to afford one, but for those that moved enough of your 2009 marketing budget online, and have a bit to spare…. check him out.

An interesting blog about the development of social media in the Kenyan hotel industry, and can possibly be extrapolated to other small inns and boutique properties that don’t have the monster marketing budget, but know there is an audience to reach.

The UK heats up about online hotel reviews, looking for some sort of validation process for Tripadvisor. Is this another aspect of GPS & Geolocation that could help curtail fraud and shill reviewing? Whatever the case, I think the industry can handle itself…. it’s in their best interests. Getting the government involved to regulate seems a bit much. The only winner when you start legal proceedings are the lawyers. Very few other people actually win besides them.

Speaking of Tripadvisor… here are a couple best practices for a top ranking.

Social media as customer service for hotels. Thank you for not saying social media as a way “to sell” or “drive revenue”. Social Media may have a valid ROI, but this is more about being a cost of operations than a revenue stream. We can all drive revenue with it…. but it is simply more important to *ENGAGE*. Because in the end, ignoring it will cost you.

Here’s an odd piece – great thoughts… horrible grammar. I didn’t understand this, so I include it to see if you have any thoughts?

That’s it! Just thoughts and links and interesting stuff! A real post is coming soon, I promise!

I am happy with my PDA smart phone thingy.. and it isn’t a Pre or Iphone

Michael Hraba — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 18:15:50 +0000

Another “coffee break” post that has nothing to do with hotels, and is just waxing about the nature of tech, or being dorky, etc. So here ya go….

My friend was commenting about the contest, started 8th of June, giving away 30 iphones in 30 days. I was telling him, “It’s vaporware”. I know it’s has no place there, but I just adore saying it. I hear more silly arguments over vaporware comments, I just have to be part of it. Don’t get me started with “eminent domain”. I love it.

At any rate, Iphones won’t help me with my problems. AT&T isn’t helping any, either.

However, I did sort of experiment with my phone last week, on purpose, to prep for getting the Palm Pre. I just assumed I would be getting the Palm Pre, so I wanted to make sure by really maxing out my phone. After *despising* my HTC Touch Pro, I finally took the time (aka a day’s worth of functional productivity for my actual job) to tweak it and trick it out a bit with some .CAB files and registry edits. You have to, to get any real life out of the battery.

So, am I going to get a Pre? Noooo way….. dig this:

On my HTC Touch Po at a conference last week (Sustainable Brands 2009), for about an hour and a half:

1 ) I had a facebook ap open (searching the speakers, etc)
2 ) a GPS enabled google maps app w/latitude looking at others in attendance
3 ) a “Word” doc for writing full sentences that aren’t 140 characters
4 ) a twitter app for twittering the conference (hashtag #sb09)
5 ) my opera browser with two tabs open (twitter search, random searching)
6 ) my text messages chatting with others
7 ) my Picture Mail
8 ) I had stereo bluetooth music playing (in one ear… I know I know – But I *was* at a conference taking notes. I didn’t want to be rude)
9 ) while taking pictures of the event
10) while checking my email
11) *AND* using a calculator to do math on the concept of “slow money” and “nurture (vs venture) capitalism”..

That is 11 applications – all at once, with a full sized qwerty keyboard. Switching back and forth, while cutting and pasting.

The battery barely drained in an hour and a half, but I do have a spare to swap out just in case…..
That’s just insane. I am interested in what the Pre does, but for now I think I am fine with the Pro.

Like… whoah.

some of the conference pics:
carboard computer kiosk / internet cafe (cool carboard chairs and all)

or how about $450 for 10 hours of wireless at the hotel I was at?

Facebook for Hotels – What are we trying to achieve? So far… seems to be nothing.

Michael Hraba — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 19:56:13 +0000

Okay so I am really frustrated. Well… that’s dramatic. I am more confused, and too busy to gesticulate in the air and ask this question to the windows and fluttering leaves outside my office…. what in the hell is the point of Facebook for a hotel brand anyway?? I think a lot of people are using the Pareto Principle to organize their time in “doing” social media, as suggested earlier last week *here*. I was going to try and find all the examples I have run into in the last year, but instead offer into evidence exhibit “B” – that time management is a very impacting conversation mentioned over and over because we are so dang busy and REALLY want to figure out what is important, and what isn’t. So what’s important about Facebook? Frankly, I am starting to lose my enthusiasm, especially since the stream change I reference right *HERE*.

Whether “Hotel Pages on Facebook” work isn’t a cut and dry question to say the least…. whether they are useful, or whether they are actually hotels to begin with is where we can start. For example, if you search “Hotel” on Facebook, then filter so that only “pages” appear, the first 3 pages of over 500 results does have a hotel or two, but the majority of pages are for a band, or a page devoted to hating said band, or one of 15+ (I stopped count around 13) of Facebook Pages for the wonderful, if not somewhat antiquated, “HOTEL” board game. Sure I enjoyed the game too, as you fair readers are just reminded of how much fun it was when you last played.

But this is no longer kid’s play. This is business… and I want to make sure we are not wasting our time.

Two Important Questions, the latter being more impacting: “WHAT HOTELS ARE USING THEIR FACEBOOK PAGES THE BEST???”… and then the *really* important question….”THOSE HOTELS USING THEIR PAGES THE BEST… *what* *is* *the* *benefit*?”

Basically.. I would love to hear the positive, happy Facebook stories about hotels with groups or pages? I am at a loss for any real examples of how it is “business”, or can be used effectively. Like… none. I know we have to be on FB… there has to be a presence. But what am I missing guys? I note this has come up recently, like *HERE*… but there hasn’t been much follow up.

I see people on hotel pages saying “I love your brand/hotel”. I have also seen people upload a picture here or there. But I *do not* see anything deeply meaningful or anything really happening (IE commerce, business, or jumps to booking engines, etc). I know that the restaurants and especially lounges seem to like to use it as a place to update events, etc…. but most of the fans on a page would be previous guests, presumably not locals? I have always thought hotels should ingratiate itself to the community, but there are only so many events and specials that you can target the community with, as they aren’t going to always be your strongest base or the people the pay the bills. For brand image you need them happy, but they aren’t your guests. What’s more, if you do constantly focus on locals… you are missing out on the bread and butter, which is rooms. It is complex… is the page for a local clientele, for potential guests, for past guests that are part of your culture? All 3? It’s almost like Hotels focus on the locals not because they *want* to.. but becuase, by default, they *have* to… as they don’t know how to reach others.

I for one haven’t the foggiest how you would get a potential guest to your facebook page, and what’s much, *MUCH* more important… is why? Why would I want to get a guest to a page without much information, meaningful content, or a booking engine? Isn’t the potential guest someone we want to end up on our hotel site? Even the SEO premise is interesting, but if people aren’t searching or using FB to find brands, what’s the point of getting them to your page when they can’t do anything? What’s more, if a FB page is basically a one sided twitter or RSS feed of brand info, wouldn’t you want your potential guest on your branded site instead of a dead-end of non-interactivity?

So what is the page for? For now I have a couple things: brand awareness (news, etc), SEO (your link on FB), contact info, (but FB’ers aren’t using pages as a yellow page, nor are they using it as a resource), events, specials. Let’s look at some hotels and how they successfully use FB:

Hotel Costes – 25,000 fans, zero wall posts, obviously just a “front” or online billboard. I think this may be the most effective use of a FB page out there. Just build a nice page, and walk away. I hate to be cynical, but it might be the simple best page I have seen, albeit a little tongue in cheek. I will say that “Hotel Costes” is also famous in the younger scene for having downtempo lounge DJ’s playing, and have an associated line of CDs which may be part of its popularity. Whatever the case, one of the hotel pages with the most fans, and they aren’t doing anything at all.

Hilton – 21,107 fans, with 8 posts on the wall in the last 14 days. Those posts are the typical “Hilton is the best,i love it”… meaning relatively benign, fairly non engaged commentary. They aren’t posting anything, not even RSS. I have seen some hotels pull back from posting, as the change FB made has wall posts injecting into people’s conversational stream like spam. Hoteliers are confused how to handle this, and even I have found brand updates annoying as all get out (and I am the type that is meant to be tolerant of them, being my profession and all).

Hotel Aladdin – I love this example, because they are actually interacting with their 10,000+ fans. You may not speak Spanish, but you can tell they are updating the wall, and people are actually participating. So what is this meaningful interaction from a hotel doing a good job with their page? People thumbs up, IE “Like This”, by clicking on the feed post and that’s about it. Comments are frequent, but I still don’t see business. People liking you doesn’t necessarily translate into “time well spent”. They did have a contest where they gave away 3 rooms, which is a great way to garner attentions and fans… but does it make a booking down the road?

St. Julien – Obviously using the page, as they moderated a question I asked about their page. They had a Earth Day special that got some attention, and some fans. However… they got fans on the pretense of planting trees. People joined, they announced 70 trees in those new fans honor. But what now? That first post since the event is about 20% off in the spa. They have 216 fans right now. Any wagers on whether the amount of fans goes up or down in the immediate future? I *assume* new fans will tire of spa ads in their stream and de-fan pretty quick. Whatever the case, are they spending time that generates business or justifies time spent? Exactly *who* fans pages right now? Who fanned St. Julien for that promo – people that wanted a tree planted, or people that wanted to know about the hotel?

HotelChatter mentions some more hotels that have pages, and that are potentially doing interesting things:

Whist at Viceroy Santa Monica with 125 fans is basically sending a dinner offer once a week, and nothing more.

High Peaks Resort, frankly, seems to do everything right when it comes to social media. As much as their stream looks solid, with 300+ fans, I still wonder what sort of commerce or interaction happens…

The Jane, with 52 fans, hasn’t really posted anything *since* the hotel chatter article. This isn’t indicative of them doing anything wrong, I simply think it is indicative of no one really knowing how to create meaninful conversation on FB.

I could keep coming up with more pages, but these are simply a couple hotels whose pages have already been chatted about in the social media conversation. I notice most people aren’t doing anything, when they do it is usually a contest to garner more fans (to what end I am not sure anyone knows) or a special on wine at dinner , etc. All this just lends itself to a couple points:

1) Social Media is about conversation, which is something I see on very few pages. On FB, it is basically a one way pushing of information.. deals, news articles etc. If FB had reviews that could be fused into a page, or some “game” like Hyatt developing one of those “what’s your travel personality” quizzes, it might create better interaction… but very few have the time, money, or justification to do anything like that.

2) Social Media is open, which FB is not – meaning that most of the time, on Flickr or Twitter you can actually have a chance of interacting with potential clients, while FB only has those that already know of your property, IE locals looking for a good deal on wine at dinner. How many people is that for? What percentage of fans will be local, and will actually utilize that deal? Who is your target on FB? Why is that your target? What are you attempting to achieve with FB?

In the end -I think that question sort of zinged even myself… “What are you attempting to achieve with FB?”

I for one don’t have a clue. I just know, even worst case scenario, it’s great to have your link out there in a place with a high page rank. So that is why I am there, even though why I started was totally different… it was to regale guests, interact with them, create stories and remember moments…. but now, I feel relegated to checking it once in awhile, staring blankly, and then moving on.

I think a lot of hotels set up a page, have absolutely *ZERO* idea how to meaningfully interact with potential guests, and resort to offering locals dinner deals in their restaurant, because there isn’t really a way to reach a prospective client on FB (and don’t get me started on their advertising program… because we know that doesn’t work. No conversion tracking, Lack of results, users not seeking advertising, and the Social Media Ad Model is broken anyway). You can only reach people that know about you, and that can act on offers, deals, and last minute specials. These aren’t clients that provide a powerful revenue stream to your hotel, and often, as we have seen with dropping rates to garner occupancy… the people looking for a deal aren’t really the clients you want anyway.

Are we wasting our time?

I did find some other great pages on FB about hotels….Hotel Rwanda, Hotel for Dogs.. and I am reminded people are passive. They want to watch a trailer, or be told about a brand or product… but consumers on FB don’t necessarily want to interact with the brand yet… nor are many looking to become a vocal endorser and push your hotel page to their friends and network. Basically, it is just something to click… and a page is something to ignore until it annoys you and you de-fan. What’s more, you can’t tell consumers about your product if you aren’t able to reach them within the closed network. It reminds me of Mashable’s comments that “Facebook needs to convince users to SEEK advertising.

Very complex stuff.

Cure my cynicism. Tell me why I am missing the point, the bus, and target? How has a FB Page saved your hotel brand, and made things better for you? I want to hear stories now because I am quickly feeling like a page is nothing more than the 80% not actually causing any real impact. Time to cull, and focus on the effective 20%…..

Is FB part of that 20% that gives you 80% of results? Let me know! Otherwise… I might be encouraging clients to build the page, and simply move on.

Share your experiences and thoughts!

It’s not a movement anymore; Green & Leed is just the way we do business now.

Michael Hraba — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 23:37:51 +0000

LEED compliancy is often an expensive, and frustrating, process. Many hoteliers feel it just means a sterile, ugly building; others think it is imperative – not for the good of the earth – but the marketability of their brand. Whatever reason people use, one thing is for certain – it is relevant, it is part of the standardization of the green movement, and it is something that is here to stay. In what form, I am not too sure, but the need to abide environmentally aware construction and renovation is paramount in our eco-hungry clients’ eyes. The Green Movement isn’t a movement anymore, it’s just the way business should be done. This isn’t just about guests, nor industry trends. This is just about smart business.

After two decades of slowly getting there, the practice of being ecological in the hotel industry has gripped us at every angle. One of the reasons green has finally been benchmarked into the hotel industry is that people caught on that “green” can often mean “saving money”. Many aspects of being green are really just about being conscious about how you use your resources, and how you conserve. That is what a good GM is doing all the time! Many of these things significantly increase savings, and general managers seem to begetting it. Less wasted paper, reusing and readapting office furniture, I have even seen products from craigslist for back of house operations. The hotel industry has finally settled into being green aware and acquiescing to guests’ desire to reduce, reuse, and recycle. Just a few of these powerful tools that are environmentally friendly as well as create savings: In room Energy Management Systems (needs room key to have lights work), refrigerator’s with absorption technology, CFL lightbulbs, thin client networks, laundry water recycling systems, cogen heat capture systems, bathroom amenities’ current trend moving away from small bottles to refillable dispensers, installing solar at properties (Cavallo Point in Sausalito has panels on their contemporary buildings, while Wilbur Hot Springs is 100% solar). All these things are, primarily, about savings for the hotel. If that is the way you need to sell it to the owners, then so be it. You can simply relax and enjoy the added benefit of helping the environment, as well as catering to your guests, echoing their ideals, creating a brand they can identify with, endorse, and come back to.

Now let’s look at some ways this becomes incredibly complex. There are some design issues that come into play when you are designing with something like LEED in mind. This isn’t necessarily about saving money or resources. This is about building responsibly. However, there are many people that aren’t sure LEED is all that responsible themselves. It comes under intense scrutiny from equity and construction people, as well as environmentalists. Construction types think it is an out of date, inefficient system. Equity people think it is too expensive. Green people think it is too wasteful, and full of endless missed opportunities. Most agree it needs overhauling.

It isn’t an option with building at this point… you must go green. You *want* to go green, but going LEED creates a conundrum for project managers. You need the designation so that people know you are legitimate. If you didn’t have it, and kept saying “we are really eco conscious with design” it doesn’t mean anything for consumers. They can’t identify with it or understand it, and prefer something tangible that verifies any “green” claims made. Hence the popularity and near necessity for people to passionately campaign for LEED accreditation, a process that can take years of planning, and years of operating before status is granted. What is problematic is that the cost associated with creating this marketable aspect to your green building limits how green you can be. When you spend $200K on a LEED architectural consultant just to vet the complex process, it becomes pretty obvious you *could* spend that on actually being more green. The arcane regulations are difficult to get through, and it is an inefficient process. The costs associated with abiding a frustrating, and at times arbitrary and muddy, process such as becoming LEED compliant. I have seen some projects that got into the millions in pursuit of the title LEED. I think it is important to build and operate green, and for now the only thing we have is LEED. I just find it an obvious “throw the hands in the air and shrug” moment in regards to whether LEED needs an overhaul. By spending money to be green, you limit your ability to be green. This is a problem, and LEED needs to address it if they want to stay the industry leader in green certification. If it isn’t addressed, someone else will and we will have a brilliant new process to vet the altruism of equity, architect, design, and management.

I am excited about the future of all this, and thought I would just address some of the majour points. Green has been done to death, but not by me. I think it is just the way business is happening at this point, and if you aren’t aware of that…. get hip and go green!

The below is overkill, but here are some thoughts on LEED from treehugger and grist, as well as a couple others. I just raise the point because I apparently like adding complexity to an already dizzying issue. =)

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/01/slate_on_decide.php

“The point system creates perverse incentives to design around the checklist rather than to build the greenest building possible.”

http://www.grist.org/comments/soapbox/2005/10/26/leed/index1.html

Grist says “Let’s fix it”

http://www.icsc.org/srch/government/briefs/200810_leedtalking.pdf

council on shopping centers doesn’t like it, but does have a few good, key points

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4184/is_20041028/ai_n10047515

3 key problems