a) It’s fun to have a palette cleanser & short post in the middle of these wayward missives about the philosophy of modern business. The lack of verbosity should be a treat for all of you.

b) I know it’s “sales manager” but “hotel sales manager” fits.

c) It is sort of dead on. For most industries. Wow.
Enjoy.

• Stop using 2009 rates in recovering economy! That’s about all I can say about this, because I would never want to encourage price setting and have the Feds after me.  Still… if you all do it independently, well that’s just good business. Collusion, however, is a nasty word.

• Cornell hotel school has their 2009 wrap up, 2010 report, & another couple studies… like fairness & perceived differences in rate differential, or cases in innovative practices.  If you don’t look at anything, I suggest you take a gander at this…. chock full of info, especially the 2010 report with articles and excercises for marketing, spa, F&B, Operations and more!

• Neil Salerno with “Does Anyone Remember When A Suit Came With Two Pair Of Pants?“ Beyond having quite a fine tailor, it’s a smart idea that Neil takes into the world of hotels skillfully, with a powerful and accurate piece on hotels, social media, websites, and more.

• TOURISM IS SOCIAL – a 90 minute love note to the power and impact of social media in Hospitality, the need to have less manipulative marketing, and the need to create a powerful community advocating your brand.

• Successful email marketing is all about reaching an appropriate demographic, that you can target more specifically, while not “spamming” people who don’t have the same interests, *but* are fans of your hotel.  By setting up preferences in email marketing, Hotel Marketing Strategies has advised our world yet again!  Think of a branded guest that loves wine and food, but not the spa… while you have other fans of the spa that are into health and not so much fine dining.  Sure they cross paths often enough, but here is a way to target them individually and be even more successful.  Well done Hotel Marketing Strategies!

• Speaking of Josiah, well we have to say well done on this GOOGLE BUZZ primer for hotels and marketing people.  Fantastic stuff.. learned a lot!

• Some good news!  Hotels are gaining attention from lenders, travelers are ramping up leisure trips, and some interesting insight into your luxury branded guests…..

• Attempting to reach affluents, luxury brand guests, online?  Where here are some facts that may raise your eyebrows about their behaviors.

• Some not so good news for you F&B people – or just more about the complexity of being green, community rooted, and sustainability focused…. like  the implications of sourcing locally.

• Service is the new Sales – a piece in line with listening, learning, being engaged and involved – and tempering traditional marketing methods that sell glitz and gooey glamour.  That stuff is out this year, and true, refined, classical luxury is in.  I know it’s just one of millions of hyperbolic or effusive blog titles in this world of too many posts, but I might say that service has always been on the front end of sales…. since the local Main St. Hardware store and before.  Service has always been paramount in helping you sell.. this is nothing new.  The article has some great points, though.

• TOURISM IS ALL OF US blog chats about “filling seats” (a la movie theatre analogy) with social media in hotels.  An interesting approach to understanding what your internet presence really is….

• Optimizing your hotel’s “Social Graph” - a great and simple visual way to understand social media’s impact on your guests and potential guests.

• Hotels experimenting with social communities: Foursquare, Yelp, Blogs, Tripadvisor and more.  Discussion about some of the ideas and methods hotels are using for interaction, listening, and community.

• It’s Okay To Be Anti-Social? – I don’t always agree with what I am posting here so much as attempting to engage thought and discussion.  I think this methodical approach to understanding the impact of social media is fading as more and more people find meaning and potential conversion from interacting with the online world.  His sanguine points are well taken, however, and he does help get a bird’s eye view on this madness that is too much media.  What do you understand? What do you have time for?  This article probably helps in going over all of it.

• It’s about time…. an affordable iphone/droid app for European hotels… Referred to as groundbreaking, but what isn’t at this point.  I remember groundbreaking used to mean we just broke ground, and have 18 months (or lesS) from pouring concrete to opening the doors.  It is much more ethereal than the brick and mortar world… but important, potentially useful news nonetheless.  I haven’t contacted them to find out more, as I am Stateside.  But this is something we all have our eyes on, and if you don’t… you should.  Mobile is the future, and it’s fairly important (I assume you have been following my blog, and will spare you the endless linking).

• Are you sick of too much info?  Too much data?  Does it feel numbing as you sit by and try to beat the internet every day?  Well… MS has innovative approaches in how to sift through massive amounts of raw data and content with “Pivot”.

• If that isn’t enough for you, I would highly suggest the new Economist special article about Data… none of this is about business for you, or your brand.  It’s about collecting data, and you are just part of something so big it will melt your head.  Like issues of Privacy in the 2.0 age… and how it basically doesn’t exist anymore.  Try controlling your brand’s message… sure, right after you figure out how to stop being stalked by the internet.

• Google Wave starts to come of age – and real meaningful commerce is happening!  If you can get past the fact that I was quoted in this article, maybe you can envision Google Wave this way:  No more misplaced log book in PBX, and no more yellow sticky notes on the desk.  That’s sort of how I want to play it…. NO MORE STICKY NOTES! =)

• It isn’t about you… at all.  It’s about them.  I am starting to realize this about everything… social media, website development, new marketing… it’s “what can you do for me, what have you done for me lately”.  Well, hotel blogosphere goes on a bit in regards to this, and reminds you that it might not be about what you know, but what, fundamentally, it means to potential clients.   What’s more, he hits the nail on the head in regards to hotel websites, relevancy, and standing out.

• This is perhaps one of the most affordable, functional, and cool devices I have seen in a long time – zero sticker shock, stunning savings, obvious ROI, and green to boot.  Amazing what these guys are doing - the future of waste management on hotel property:

• Martha Stewart Wedding magazine and Hello Lucky take on one of my favorite escapes in the world… WILBUR HOT SPRINGS! (I am sharing this for no other reason than it’s a beautiful place!  The pics from the print edition are out of this world!

• (Also… if you hadn’t been aware of what’s going on here, social media in travel becomes legitimate business force)

Social Media is one of the more important tools for business in a long time.  But there are those that sort of treat it like a cult or religion.  I am doing my best not to get sucked into that wormhole.  I note that when I do, all the other operating world seems distant and out of touch, when it is in fact that I am residing inside my little bubble and missing 90% of what the business world is doing.  This is an exagerration to say the least, but I note that some people compartmentalize their lives into this spectrum of “those using social media” and “those not using social media”.  Then a lovely dichotomy breaks:  the hip 2.0 social media crowd scoffing at the archaic and obsolete approach of baby boomers and more classically trained business crowd; while the old timers think of social media as zero productivity game playing used by capricious facebook generation kids. 

It is the nature of our polarizing culture, and the either “this or that” mentality we automatically separate things into.  To make it easier to digest: 

1) You young judgmental whippersnappers!  Remember that there has been business successfully run for thousands of years, and it will happen in other ways 1000′s of years after now.  This isn’t the be all end all, it is simply something that is useful to *DO* business.  In itself, it is *NOT* business…. and the problem with monetizing these networking sites and creating profitability is of paramount concern to keep these tools alive.  Why put all your eggs in one basket when the business model is completely unsound?

2) You old crotchety types that don’t get it! Just because you have done business without it for decades doesn’t mean you don’t need to start now.  You are losing leads, sales, networking, potential opportunities… all this and more by ignoring it.  It isn’t a church, it isn’t a video game… it is just another tool to sit aside your traditional rolodex.  But just because it is foreign doesn’t mean you can ignore it.  Ignoring it will cost you business in some capacity, be it an actual sale to long term branding and presence.

It comes down to needing to be aware of it and how it can be used, coupled with knowing it has some serious critical faults that are going to come around and haunt these people that have adopted it like a cult.

It’s like when I help build and open a property….

You look for critical flaws while building.  If you miss it, or smart people ignore it, then you keep building and doing what you need to do.  You keep “doing” business.  You open the property, you launch the website. 

The problem is when it is supposed to be at its peak and functioning its best… when everyone is excited and bought into it (opening day)…. that is when the critical flaw comes crashing down and you have to rip out an HVAC system or jackhammer leaking radiant heating in a concrete floor.  Or… build a network so effectively strong that it is too big to scale to and support.

Whether there is a problem or not, you still need to maintain and finish business.  Ignoring a problem, or opportunity, will just come back in the end and bite ya back.

There is a critical flaw in social media that will come crashing down, possibly.  It is best to be aware of it and know how to do business the right way, as well as the modern way.  Some people even think social media *is* business (I would say it helps business).  But that may beg a larger commentary on our modern working world:

I think a lot of people aren’t sure how to do business the right way.  That is a critical flaw that doesn’t even involve social media.  =)