Hraba Hospitality Consulting » Hotel Build / Design

Where does your hotel lose money – in marketing and distribution?

Michael Hraba — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 23:35:11 +0000

This is a really big question. I would love to see the industry really delve into this. The transition from real world to online has been very fast, and a lot of the “infrastructure” is so much e-duct tape, putty, and last minute jury rigs – all of which should have meant to be temporary so that we can rebuild our online world of distribution based off tried and true methods, as they evolve. I know our industry is never that pro-active, but maybe we have an opportunity to start learning from where we are losing the most money, and patch those leaks.

This Argophilia post by Phillip Butler starts the conversation: Who is the big bad wolf of hotel marketing? Simply put, there isn’t just one – OTA’s, Franchise Fees, Internet Marketing Fees, Booking Engine Fees. This is one leaky ship.

Here is my response, but I am more interested in what all of you have to say?
—

Great read. Thank you much. =)

I always thought of the OTA’s as something that filled the gap during the off line to online distribution evolution. They were a stopgap solution. They are now becoming unnecessary, and getting in the way of commerce because they are becoming obsolete, where they used to promote some level of commerce for our industry. Distribution has changed… and their role will phase out. It won’t be in the next 5, maybe 10…. but this will all change. I adore how people revile when you suggest the guy on top won’t be there forever. The fact is, nothing is forever, and new paradigms unfold.

Another big bad wolf, on top of franchise fees? Ridiculous internet consulting firm charges by hourly consulting model. Buuteeq is doing some good with simple pricing plans… it makes a lot more sense, and you aren’t nickel and dimed for the internet marketing group’s mistakes or on the job training.

Lastly…. commissions to booking engines. Including the franchise fees, as well… Engines like Synexis get promoted by franchise and flag brands, which then take a cut. It’s incredible how much money is lost to an engine that simply helps facilitate online booking. Eventually, the hotels will realize the money lost can be recouped quickly by building and designing a proprietary engine of your own, off a template, for the hotel to own, outright. That can save 20K – 100K+ a year. I imagine a management group could justify the development fees to an owner group, based solely off the last 3 years of annual or commissionable fees that the property made to the booking engine company.

Would anyone have any idea how much it would cost for development of a competent template, and simple engine with solid UI – that includes a mobile component? Is that $100k or more? I know… you can always spend more. =)

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!

Hotel Website & Travel site best practices? What is cutting edge hotel website design in mid-2011?

Michael Hraba — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 21:56:10 +0000

Ed Note: Pardon my current technological shortcomings, for the time being. You might have to click on the pic to open the full size photo of the website. Currently, I am having trouble having them display full screen in the blog post itself. Pardon that. Cheers!

I know, no matter how people excuse it, you can’t use flash anymore. It’s not even a conversation, and when I am forced to have it… I get frustrated. I also know you need to have a mobile page. Please, neophytes or luddites, *please* understand a mobile-optimized website is *NOT* a hotel specific branded app. You don’t need the latter unless you are one of the big 5. If they don’t know your brand, or boutique concept, they won’t know to search for it. Don’t let giddy marketer buzzwords excite or cloud your understanding of these complex technological trends. I only say complex, because, as the old joke goes, we hotel people are not pioneers specifically because pioneers were shot in the back with arrows. We have always been behind the curve. Always. The innovators have always been long term and conservative. We have some colorful characters in this business, as well (looking at Chip [who's site isn't too bad, either] or Ian, particularly…), but the classics have always been plodding and broad scope visionaries like Stan Bromley.

I also know you can’t get burned on poor SEO anymore. On top of that, you can’t slap so much keyword content into a site that it becomes aggravating and overwhelming for people to navigate around, limiting possible consumption of your hotel. That is when content becomes a liability. You want content to match your hotel… in my case, you want the initial experience and interaction with the brand to be one that is relaxing, soothing, entertaining, etc. People used to say that your desk agent was the front line of brand representation. Then snarky marketers said the doormen, or valets, were the first representative experience with the brand. They are right, but no fair moving 30 feet from the desk to the door and calling it an innovative thought. Ritz Carlton and Oregon’s Allison Inn & Spa in the Willamette Valley (full disclosure, I work with the latter), have had this “employee face forward” down pat, for years. But I still didn’t think, in regards to employees intoning brand, that that is where the introduction starts. Back in the 20th century I was one of the only people really concerned with how the PBX operators, with lazy speech or chewing gum, were representing the brand. If you immediately hear lip-smacking with a disinterested ”HOLD PLEASE?” when you call a hotel… well what does that say? It would make me cringe, and service training immediately started under my watch. =)

But now, it’s not an employee, and your entire brand and hotel experience is intoned within LITERAL SECONDS of arriving at a website. Not only does Google consider load times for SEO, but the flash experience of waiting for something to happen isn’t as seemless or natural an experience as a guest needs. You need to lull them into a serene, content & excited disposition, as well as appease their need for confidence in your brand.

I didn’t want to ramble too much, so I will leave it to you.. the hotels, the brands, and the designers. The below websites, simply, are not cheap. Finding an affordable design group that will work outside of the norm (box), is rare. Access to them is even rarer. It often seems you only have 3 or 4 choices for hotel website design, and that simply needs to stop. There needs to be more competition, and more innovation, so that we can differentiate our brands, instead of homogenizing them.

The simple laundry lists of new website design trends for hotels? No flash, simplified User Interface, topical and enchanting music or nature sounds, large, vibrant pictures, less obtrusive offers/deals, and more integrated and highlight social presence in relation to content production with blogs or videos. In fact, it won’t be too long before video is front and center on the main page.

So.. I think these are the best practices for our industry. What do you say? What are your favorite sites? Brands… Hotels… why do you think your site is a stellar example of a cutting edge hotel & travel site?

**WARNING: THE FOLLOWING SITES MAY MAKE YOU SPONTANEOUSLY BOOK TRIPS YOU WERE NOT ALREADY PLANNING**

Our group of hospitality professionals and hoteliers believes these sites to be representative of best practices and future trends in website design. [In no specific order:]

1) Carre D’étoiles - albeit an animation, as soon as you hear the nighttime nature sounds, and see the shadow of a mischievous bunny hopping along the soothing terrain, you have such a definite sense of place and experience that it immediately lulls someone towards the hotel brand, and leaves them wanting to know more. I have had this as an open tab for nearly two years, just listening, and making my day more peaceful. This is an eco-lodging concept where they literally drop-off the above modular cubicle for you to stay in, in the middle of nowhere. Think of it as uppity glamping in France. Oh wow I cannot believe I just said that. At any rate, telescope and star gazing skylight included. One of the many “full screen” website experiences you will see trending in the industry, and on this list.

2) Villa Amor, in Sayulita, Nayarit, Mexico. Here we have a rotating slideshow of unbelievable imagery – each combines nature, and colors, and experience with a skillful & somewhat subtle marketing – each page has obvious quotes from trusted, established travel magazines and journals, such as Travel & Leisure or Sunset Magazine. This sleepy & family friendly fishing village north of Puerto Vallarta is a relaxing beach and surf community of U.S. Ex-Pats, and tourist friendly Mexicans. Villa Amor does a phenomenal job of immediately drawing the guest into their experience, and with the slideshow keeps them there and learning through sight and trusted soundbites versus endless copy. The quotes could be a little more prominent, but all in all… this is a slam dunk regarding conversion of eyes to reservations.

3) Pacific Grove and Monterey Bay host a phenomenal National Park lodge experience with Asilomar Conference Center & Grounds. Although slightly busy of a site, the large picture firmly anchors your awareness in experience. What’s more, they have the weather available to plunge the website viewer into the real world experience – what is Asilomar like at *this moment*, and what would I be feeling walking along that beach? Knowing about the foggy days there (I was born in Carmel), it’s fairly brave… but it’s a nod towards transparent cultivation of community. They also have the reservation widget front and center – so that there is as little barrier to booking conversion as possible. Another nice aspect is the bar of photos as menu headings – the visual excitement one has for a specific photo (map vs bicycling) will lead people to relevant parts of the site, and much quicker. An embedded widget of photo and video content is also immediately available, so a website guest gets a sense of place, as well as remains on the site garnering the experience of what Asilomar is.

4) Shell Hospitality’s dedicated “Black Friday” Travel Sale page. This was one of the most exciting discoveries we have seen. Although not a brand or hotel specific page, it is a brazen page full of irreverence, delight, and fun. It immediately intones the brand’s image while still offering endless playful moments for people to learn more. The Face”book” page on the bookshelf, The youtube TV, The flickr Frame, the Tweety Bird, and more. The fireplace is with sound and is crackling, so you are immediately given a sense of warmth, with levity. It was one of the most novel website experiences I have ever had, and I wish brands would learn to be more daring and excited about their passions and business. This is a great example of a company I would like to book with, or even work for. It’s imaginative, and creates a sense of unexpected joy.

5) Little Palm Island. Wow. A Huge picture without borders that makes the user fall into the island itself. It’s hard to ignore the allure of an all enveloping experience as soon as you reach the website… it begs how amazing an experience the island will actually be, once you arrive. We do *NOT*, in any way, endorse splash screens at the beginning of a guest’s user experience on a website (like this has); it is far and away *NOT* a best practice. But, the way their specials & info boxes are quickly relevant, and then slink quietly to the background to become less obtrusive is a phenomenal tactic… your eye is literally led to where those boxes will exist – ignore them if you like, but if they are relevant to a specific user, you still have immediate awareness as to where those boxes live. When they slide away, they become inherently unobtrusive, and you immediately get back to the experience of what it would be like to be in that much blue. This picture seems to expand beyond the borders of my screen.

6) Peter Island Resort & Spa. *THIS* is Peter Island, indeed. If you are immediately taken to a land of sexy sport and endless beaches-to-oceans-to-horizon, then you are not looking at the same picture that I am. Peter Island’s site also has an “X” out splash screen when it first loads, but after that you are shown a slideshow, with music, of the island, then accomodations, and then we have this sizzling nod [see pic] towards the types of activities you may enjoy, or encounter, upon this island. Albeit highly suggestive in this specific picture, we do know what sells, and if this is your niche, and you are looking to bring a specific market to your hotel… you have to go after it. In this case, Peter Island has immediately scored with a High Res, and stunning, slideshow – capturing a potential guest from picture to picture and making it harder to escape. It’s an impressive experience with full screen, high quality pics, soothing music, and simple interface. The navigation at the top of the screen is worth a visit to the site, itself. The days of infinite old & stale copy, cluttering up the field of vision, seems to be marching out the door.

7) Winvian Cottages of Connecticut. This is a subpage for the website, but if you note – the simple interface that has been created for an exceedingly complex site map, streamlining the headache of listing a vast array of lodging options. This is always a challenge for hotels, especially historic properties, who have complex and varied options for rooms. The scroll type of map creates a real tone and texture that intones the brand itself, while this simple, beautiful watercolor not only aids to the sense of place, but it fully resolves a complexity with an incredibly simple user interface.

Those are my favorite sites in recent memory…. and I am sure there will be more. I hope this can aid people about to sign a contract with a form and template style of internet marketing group. Frankly.. you need to tell them what *you* want. It should never be the other way around, and you can feel confident in excusing those awkward exchanges. These groups work for *you*, and not the other way around. If it looks like a boring template, tell them so. I note a lot of the big boys internet marketing groups are getting lazy, and all of our industry hotel websites look identical. It’s a problem, and it’s time to evolve out of that line of thinking or operations.

If you don’t have the big bucks to make a fancy site, at least you can make a HTML5 site, without the expense of paying too much for too little from the other mid-high range developers. In this sense…. if you want a nice site, while not having the money to build it, you might try Buuteeq. They are new, and instead of the agency plan of charging for websites (billed hours ad naseuom and confusion), they have tiered plans. Right now, they are doing some interesting things, and it’s one of the only groups who can give you what you pay for… a competent, optimized site with mobile ready pages to boot, without hassle or hidden costs.

Until we win the lottery and make our dream hotel websites, let the little nuances and aspects of these above sites inform your decisions. If you know of any other sites, I am very interested in learning about them. Please share in the comments section!

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*

Recession, Hotels, and where are we now? or “Cautious optimism, wreckless apprehension”

Michael Hraba — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 01:39:17 +0000

I actually got into a conversation on linked in today! Go figure… I haven’t used it much as the “professional facebook”, but every once in awhile meaningful discussion about the industry pops up…. even then I typically don’t dive in. But it is interesting…. so much conversation about the recession being over, and hoteliers, ownership, and properties are popping up their heads to see if they see their shadow. As real winter looms, our proverbial “winter of discontent” wanes. But instead of being rife with joy… let’s cast our doom & gloom nets out a bit. If you look anywhere in media – fear and panic are often confused and countered by people’s desire to find the light at the end of the tunnel. There are two types in this debate…. the sky is falling, or it’s looking up.

Well… I am cautiously optimistic. The Dow hit 10,000 today, briefly, and a “painful recovery” is nothing in light of 80% of economists saying “The Recession is Over”. What’s more – It isn’t just the normal public mags, but trade mags are being VERY cautious in saying… “recession lifting, let’s get back to it!”. In fact, not many are even highlighting articles about it… it is just a general “how to weather the rest of it”, “ideas for getting out of the recession” and the like. There are articles like this (and here about a community’s B&Bs, and I have seen many like this about international markets) all over the internet… little niches surviving or doing great!

It is a good feeling to see people conversing about an end to our economic woes. Of course, I don’t forget that it is the talk and panic that drives the initial problem, as well as talk and optimism that can drive us out of the “mud” on our bottom line…… that is……decidedly….. black. In fact, that negativity and existential concern about hotels and their future still pervades the news feeds. But let’s not give the time of day to those who pander to the lowest common denominator… let’s look at a tried and true brand who’s consistent and professional tone to the industry is a good earmark for our collective concerns: Marriott’s blog post.

I think it sums up the problem we hoteliers currently have… we would like to celebrate the dow at 10K, or the economists reporting, en masse, “it’s getting much better!”. The problem is the reality, and that many hotels in standard, normal markets can feel the pinch for some time longer.

Another reason to hesitate…. we are growing, but current growth is *slow*. I don’t have the articles on me, but I do know that lenders are still holding all the keys because the value of properties since 2007 have basically halved (Hotel Business Vol. 18 No. 19 Oct 7-20, 2009)… which is ground shakingly tragic. The foreclosured and distressed will hit the market soon, and more problems will be discovered than are currently known. But on the other side of this coin, it is time for equity and ownership to start finding PHENOMENAL deals. Everyone should be able to buy a hotel in the coming year (joke)….

Economic recovery and slow growth is one thing… but we are hotels, and we might need to take a closer look at the national unemployment rate. The economy might be recovering, but our industry is so COMPLETELY controlled by labour and unemployment, I am worried it will give a false sense of security when certain segments might still get hit hard. I saw Tom Callahan the other day from PKF in San Francisco, and he said the basic consensus is that we will not hit q4 2007 or q1 2008 ADR and RevPar until 2014… which is…. depressing. But it is only a climb up from here. As long as you retained some rate parity, the property should be able to bounce back. If you are like Vegas, you may have dug a hole so deep, you will have issues “digging up”. =)

(To be fair, even some people think that Vegas is finally on an upswing, or at least battling the recession. True their tourism is down, their rooms are empty…. but finishing City Center in a climate like this is amazing, and frankly… although they are reducing flats @ $2000 / sq ft possibly to below $1000 / sq ft…. I am shocked 55% of it has been sold.)

All this being told… I think the slide and panic is over. Our awful day at the beach is done, and what happens next is shaking out the blanket to clear the sand…. and we will see what is jarred loose from the hotel economic fabric. The problems that are still to come are not pro-longed troubles for hotels, it is simply the back end of the recession working itself out. Until then…. buckle up…. I doubt it will be too bumpy a drive home, but it’s gonna be a long ride.

Yes I am fully aware of how many metaphors I used in this. =) Good luck EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU… be well, hang tough… and see you on the other side!

Well done Tripadvisor – the first step is admitting you have a problem.

Michael Hraba — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 22:56:53 +0000

Once again, I got carried away with a response to a blog post, and decided to expound on it. I am sure this counts as real business right?

Newsweek’s Budget Travel has a great article about TripAdvisor trying to deal with the long coming revelation that many of their users and reviews are not legitimate. This is, frankly, a huge blow to the site, and should pose a happy problem in it’s early adolescence as they deal with all the changes that come along with growing into adulthood. Frankly, I am thrilled that this may provoke User Generated Content sites to seek the same verification model other sites have.

At any rate, this is vital to all of us, and it recalls some of my previous post (which I seem to mention once or twice):

You know I am skeptical of social media, whether speaking of Facebook’s lack of meaningful interaction, or Flickr’s nebulous TOS. In general, I have had major concerns since my yelp research project, and resulting thoughts on ethics in social media. I had even mentioned in January that Yelp should consider verification processes.

One scotch fueled evening my jocular side protruded a wee bit and I became a prankster. To be honest it wasn’t to learn the lesson I did, rather just good fun. I speak of the Ryan Air Twitter spoof of mine, which got considerable attention in traditional media (namely because Ryan Air claimed @ryanaironline was their account). It helped me realize that there is a grave concern for brands and trademarks, and both the businesses & social media sites should have a vested interest in a verification process of brands. There is a serious risk of hijacking and damaging people and businesses, with inauthentic people (or dim ones not realizing pranks and social media can go viral) damaging a brands reputation.

Social Media is young. FB beat out myspace because it is better at replicating and verifying the real world (although it can’t actually do anything more meaningful than provide a wonderful marketing data gathering opportunity for FB, coupled with a nice phonebook)… but it was verifying that the person was the *reality* based person, which quickly attracted people to it. If you aren’t relevant to any networks, or aren’t genuine… you quickly become invisible.

As user generated review sites follow a similar path, these things will stabilize. It is very young, and still in the myspace period of fake profiles and people… but as twitter adds verification services & FB starts considering verification due to trademark infringement issues with it’s new URL program: , it will be obvious for User Generated Content Sites to authenticate, across the board. I am not sure if open ID and attaching accounts to mobile phones is the simplest way, but if something doesn’t happen quick the sites will implode through sacrificing the only thing that makes their business model feasible. I am sure Tripadvisor has seen the start of accounts closing due to the breach in ethics.

We will wait until services like Yelp and TripAdvisor grow into the awareness of what they have created. People sardonically jest “the internet is serious business” when it comes to this sort of stuff. But it is. It isn’t just 2.0. It’s a massively powerful tool that completely reorients the consumer model, putting control into the hands of the people, and out of marketing and PR companies, possibly for the first time in capitalism’s history. The message can no longer be managed, and PR doesn’t work the same way anymore. You are only as strong as the advocates and endorsers that believe in your brand. Ethics is paramount.

The only way for these sites to continue their validity is by echoing the sentiment of their own taglines: Tripadvisor’s “get the truth… and go”, or Yelp’s “real reviews, real people”. If they commit to intelligently policing their own site by being completely transparent, authentic, accountable, and earnest, they should be able to emerge better than before.. They might need to take a huge dip in registered users, as well as delete a lot of existing content. This open and honest method of dealing with this situation will undoubtedly sacrifice trust in the short term, but it is the only way for a social media site to maintain the trust that they leverage for business.

It will hurt… but this is an opportunity for them to re-organize into a leaner and more valid site than ever before. Most people saw this coming. Let’s hope it isn’t something they try to spin away or ignore… instead of doing what is right and being honest, while doing everything they can to curb the problem.

I admit concern about the idea of having to hire non-revenue generating staff to handle the massive clean up project, and the fact the money simply might not be there to handle it. However, it is obvious they are quickly responding, like April Robb from Tripadvisor commenting to Christopher Elliott. I do like the warnings they put on some hotels, but it could be markedly arbitrary?

We’ll have to see.

Not sure what age social media is at right now, but it is certainly hitting a painful growth spurt.

The Story of the In-Room Phone, & the future of on property telephony

Michael Hraba — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 22:57:39 +0000

A colleague and I were bemoaning the difficulty with modern customer service, and the fact that so many tech support numbers are no longer offered as toll free unless it is someone like HP or Dell. Per usual, I fanatically inject my own experiences into the situation, and muse about the long and wild road of in-room phones at hotels… specifically the way technological innovation and advancement has, constantly, caught our industry unaware to the point that we shoot ourselves in the foot.

It isn’t right not to have access to free phone tech for a product, but it is the way modern business is happening. Telephony has altered greatly (understatement) in the last two decades…and property level we are still calling them “PBX”. What’s more is that the IT guys at hotels are well versed enough to know just to ignore it. I have seen one or two try to explain.. “Well the PBX doesn’t really exist anymore”, the GM will point to the operator, and then the IT guy capitulates with a shrug.

We hotels used to gouge consumers for phone calls because they had no choice, and it was a BRILLIANT revenue stream. Then came calling cards, and hotels started losing lots of revenue… and per our typical furrowed brow, it took us a couple years to figure out why. Even dial-up modems for AOL and prodigy services were a complexity to us… which is why we started charging people to call out to 800 numbers. Of course this garnered more distrust from guests about our call accounting, but it also got the enraged guest at the desk who had left AOL connected for 3 days and owed the hotel $5545 for a 2910 minute phone call to an 800 number. I had at least 3 of those that I can remember… and those people were all completely, and totally, hysterical. Not the funny kind, either.

By the time we admitted to ourselves that the revenue stream was lost and started charging enough simply to cover costs… hotel guests had already decided to never trust in-room phones ever again. Calling cards were used almost exclusively, and guests now have cell phones that simply makes in room telephones, for all extensive purposes… obsolete. This has been patently obvious in the last 5 years…. in-room phones are nothing more than an intercom now, which is why telephony solution providers are trying to make them into a marketing gimmick with big LCD colour touch screens, etc. What’s more is that anyone silly enough to install payphones on property has them regularly taken back out within 3-5 months because it simply isn’t profitable for the companies to maintain them.

By the way – that might be my only professional advice in this post, along side the historical ramble…. stay away from that “slick” nonsense. LCD screen phones are nothing more than an annoyingly bright & pricey business card for in house outlets where guests are already likely to contribute incremental revenue. These phones are a gimmick, and they are part of the technological in-between period of telephony companies trying to generate need and create a new niche for them while everything swirls up in the air. These “hubs” will become something incredibly powerful, and useful… but the new tech coupled with cost and lack of dynamic functionality (beyond being flashy) makes them a poor investment for the time being. For now, think of in-room guest phones as IP “intercoms” for your next project, and you will save a lot of money. Heck… you may start having guests order room service online before calling on the room phone…or they may plan travel without even considering a voice call – like GPS enabled hotel booking apps, or basically just making an app to make every department available by PDA as seen at the Malibu Beach Inn. Even Choice Hotels has an incredible mobile app that not only sells their brand, but it enables an entire community of brand endorsers.

So in this panic of the phone industry changing, everyone has been hit… robots handle call volumes of humans, 800 numbers are incredibly expensive, and customer service has tanked in general because of it. In 20 years we went from fully staffed calling centers with live operators to a computer voice that handles the volume of 20 employees’ worth of labour. With cell phones all but destroying traditional landlines, they have also made the 800 number obsolete. When it is used, it is strictly for high end marketing, because no one else can afford it. It usually only goes to the departments that generate revenue (SALES) and the guys doing all the real work have the fun of not having one, then fielding complaints from already unhappy consumers that have just been further inconvenienced.

As we continue forward, I think the traditional phone will die, but rise a bit like a Pheonix – the same thing existing in a different form. It will not only take on the traditional rolls, but also a hotel intercom, then soon to be an internet hub… and slowly integrating with other guest room controls and being not unlike the new Verizon Hub, which demonstrates that you can have a phone that is highly adaptable and functional. Think of it as the Looney Tune cartoon “House of the Future” where panels & buttons on the wall call outside, surf the web, program the house settings, washes, cools, power management, etc. The only thing is that we are a long way off from that kind of functionality…. and for now spend as little as possible on both ends. As for 800 numbers, if the department’s revenue can’t cover it without impacting business, it simply isn’t a wise choice.

In the future, however, someone in your hotel will also have grown up playing around with making apps, and you will have your first person on staff managing the 2.0 of your hotel. I like to think this would be a salaried position from a truly innovative management company, but I am aware this starts with property level people engaged with the brand that have extra time and know how. As for the salaried position, we shall see. I know we are all looking down the road at Concierge 2.o, and few of us might have thought that could be possible. Now with IP, Google Voice, and even browser enabled chat sessions… there is an exciting future of unending real time communication with brand advocates (returning guests) and potential clients.

These conversations about archaic forms of communication will fall to the wayside during the tremendous fervour for hotels’ future comm abilities, where we will have to adopt a more pro-active and less wary view of technology, so the hospitality industry can be carried forward by technology and the advent of 2.0 – at the intersection of commerce and the community that is selling your brand.

IT BUDGETS – Hotel IT questions, and a couple answers about PMS

Michael Hraba — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 17:24:06 +0000

Someone had asked what systems of PMS are out there… and where you start.

Frankly, researching, engaging, and dealing with the endless sales negotiations is daunting, and tiring. I still don’t get why PMS’ aren’t transparent and straight to the point. I don’t want to negotiate for 3 weeks just to find out there is a “competitive discount” at the end worth $60-100K. That’s asinine, and it wastes people’s time. Until then…. here we go with some loose numbers about IT!

A Note About These Numbers.

I have done my due diligence for many hotels, and these are the trends. Vague, non binding, budget purposes only numbers; IE – don’t quote me, but these are my experiences. I don’t think it is unethical to share these numbers… they are loose based off of many projects, and I am also not divulging the sensitive licensing fees, software costs, integration and implementation fees, etc. Ask me more or email me if you want specifics. What’s more, this doesn’t totally include all hardware, but the big numbers at the end should compensate for much of it. This isn’t stubbing out fiber optic, nor is it all the imlpementation time for your tech people to set up the server racks, etc. Of course, that’s a different budget. This is basically IT software plus some of the peripherals that make it run (like touch screen POS, etc).

Also… in interest of environmental concerns… there is little wrong with having redundant RAID array servers, and having your system work off of a thin client environment.

I am available, of course, to talk about this at length.

What PMS should you buy? How much should you budget?

The PMS you should buy is obviously the one that works for you. There are many options, like the AMAZING and TALENTED and Customer Service oriented guys at Mirage Hotel Systems. Sure it’s not pretty, but it’s going to run about $45K, and they are guys you can call to change something and it will be changed IMMEDIATELY. They are amazing, I have always found it a pleasure to work with Armond and the gang… and if you talk to them, mention that I sent you. They rock. But it isn’t necessarily appropriate for some luxury hotels, or complex layouts, etc.

The big players (in my opinion) are as follows:

PAR/SMS – Springer Miller Systems will be the most expensive, and I am not a big fan. It’s huge, clunky, they oversell it, and the implementation and integration is not so great. It used to be the leader, and might still consider themselves the “cadillac” of PMS. I say it’s big… REALLY big. It’s also prohibitively expensive, and the back end interfacing and tech isn’t always the best. Of course, that is a problem with almost all these systems. Once they sell it, they never seem as eager to fix things after they get the check. Budget $166K w/o modules. It’s a *beast*… modules included I would say a total would be around $300K+, easy.

Micros/Fidelio Opera – Probably the industry leader now, and for good reason. A windows based program that is slick, intuitive, and often prohibitively expensive. They have the industry leader for F&B POS, but the sales and catering is light to say the least, and I am not even sure they have an integrated accounting system. It’s a solid PMS, and you will be happy. Period. However, the S&C module is nothing compared to Delphi, and I have seen properties buy it, and switch to delphi years later. The spa system is limiting too, but not in price. Micros/Fidelio Opera – $130-150K w/o modules. Modules -
F&B $15 – $25K depending on the restaurant
S&C – $30K approx
Spa – $35 – $40K approx

This will end up around $250K for the total with modules.

Agilysys Visual One – Visual One is fantastic, but the peripheral modules (desk, F&B) aren’t so easy on the line and front of house as I would like. The back end accounting, G/L, month-end is ***AWESOME*** (read, “like a dream”) and very simple. What it comes down to is sacrificing front end functionality with back end convenience. The problem here is that you are paying that back end controller more money than the simpler line staff who have to deal with some complex, and frustrating issues. It depends if you want unhappy staff and happy owners, or vice versa… however simplistic that sounds. Honestly… we always want our reporting and accounting as streamlined as possible, but not at the sacrifice of losing a functional front of house system that is intuitive and simple to learn for the ever rotating line staff and management that actually have to deal with day to day operations. $95K w/o modules
Modules – total them all up and it will run $260K or therabouts.

Northwind Maestro – I like this system, because we have made them do a couple builds where they are interfacing with industry standards for the modules… So instead of relying on an entire system that has multiple weak spots… IE Agilysys’ Visual One F&B & S&C weak spots, or Micros’ S&C, Spa, and Accounting weak spots, etc… you get to build out a vetted system with Delphi, Micros F&B POS, MAS 500 Accounting, and Harms Millenium for the spa. It does create a lot of extra work and communication, but you can rest assured that from front of house to the G/L and beyond you will have a solid system that can do a lot. $80K w/o modules. Modules - The total cost ends up being around $180K – $210K with the benchmarked modules. So it is cheaper as well.

A word about interfacing

When you are interfacing, you have to realize that when Opera or Par/SMS talk about an integrated system, they aren’t really talking about an “integrated system” like Agilysys Visual One. That one is wholly and completely tied into all parts, while the other systems are simply *interfacing* with other modules. That means when you are choosing, it is just as easy to go with Delphi and an XML interface for inventory management as it is to go with the preferred S&C module that the company offers. This is because those modules weren’t built with the PMS in mind, as much as they were bought as 3rd party programs and co-opted by the PMS to work with the system. All this means is that you should pick systems you are comfortable with, and not feel the need to be a partisan picker, and go with an entire bundled system. This is why we have gone with Northwind Maestro… it’s a great windows based PMS that integrates well with all the industry standards. I also didn’t feel the hard sell from them as I did from other vendors…. Northwind wanted us to be successful so they looked successful, instead of just selling what they offered.

I am really happy with Northwind Maestro. It will be the most affordable of the lot, and I am pleased with them across the board. The modules aren’t my favourite, so usually we use Maestro and go with Delphi for S&C, Micros for F&B, Mas 90 (should work, but mas 500 is better, a 2 way XML interface, and simply better reporting/much easier).. and HARMS MILLENIUM for the spa… because Harms is awesome, and I don’t think there is a better spa software anywhere. At least not yet.

And that’s my two tech cents!

Eco-Builds, LEED compliancy, Development Ethics (and a Mr. Tom Sargent)

Michael Hraba — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 22:25:03 +0000

You know, I really admire Tom Sargent [Immediately jump to Perspectives article in Contract Design Magazine *HERE*]. I have known a lot of developers, but very few have had such a long-view approach, coupled with steadfast determination. Even those I know that approach that level of professionalism don’t have the empathy, humanitarianism, self awareness, or commitment to the integrity and vision.

I know I sound like a fanboy, and a bit cliche, but if any of you realized what he went through on his last green-build/historic renovation/national park land reuse… you would understand. Very rarely do we see a holistic approach to development, with as much concern for the land use as well as the people that are impacted by it.

It is no wonder why he is featured in this month’s Contract magazine, and I post those articles here because… well… it’s important. For any developers, architects, designers and more… he really has a wonderful philosophy to this madness that we “do”. I think his words will make you think, and the ideas he is promoting are relevant, if not before their time. Maybe not all that too soon… apparently commercial builds are still heavily enthused and leaning towards green builds, regardless of the economy. This editorial from Contract [ED NOTE: dead link, can't find article] says a lot about that… and about people like Tom that make it a priority to “lengthen the timeline” of development mentality, and focus on the Native American “7th Generation approach” in a business sense.

Tom is trying to spread some very big ideas around… magnanimous in their complexity, to be sure. But huge in their forward-thinking, dedication to building community, and creating sustainable structures that are functional and practical, aesthetically pleasing and innovative. Actually… all the people at Equity Community Builders in San Francisco have put together some amazing work. So three cheers to Tom, and a moment in the spotlight for one of the most humble people I have ever worked with.

PERSPECTIVES, with Tom Sargent; Principal with Equity Community Builders

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