For so many years, hoteliers who made the decision to switch to club management were looked down upon by their “true hospitality” colleagues. After all, running a club used to be tantamount to regulating a flock of entitled folks proud to belong where their money would isolate them from the riffraff. A place where they […]
Continue ReadingThe views and opinions expressed in this blog are strictly those of the author.
GLOBAL WARMING VS. THE GREAT GOLD RUSH TO SKI RESORTS
Time after time over the past 20 years, we have been told that snow is going to become a very scarce commodity. And we witnessed it several years ago in various parts of the world, when it failed to show up during part or most of the snow season. Yet, during that very same period, […]
Continue ReadingTHE WHOLE SOMETIMES COSTS MORE THAN THE SUM OF THE PARTS
Lou Hammond Associates, one of my all-time favorite hospitality PR firms, happens to represent the 113-year-old Fifth Avenue Association. The association was the first endeavor of its kind to realize the need to create mutually advantageous ties between and among its members. One does not eat all day, one does not buy jewelry all day, […]
Continue ReadingFURLOUGH MANAGEMENT
A fresh new concept COVID 19 is killing us. No secret about that. Business is down to crumbs of its old self. The first massive furloughs took place early spring. The idea was that COVID 19 would be over by summer (warm weather – you know). That just did not happen. And we are entering […]
Continue ReadingTHE END OF THE EXPAT
In my day to day activity as a hospitality recruiter, I receive requests from two opposite groups of people: the “expats” who can’t wait to come home, and the “domestics” who cannot wait to go back to the expat life. What is an expat? An expat is usually someone who has started his/her career domestically […]
Continue ReadingOUR OWN IRON CURTAIN
Welcome back: we finally did it. The rest of the world (or, at least, the part worth visiting and conducting business with) is closing its borders to anyone proudly carrying a US Passport. What used to be a door opener and a cause for respect worldwide has become a scarlet letter. How we got from […]
Continue ReadingWHO SHOULD STAY AND WHO SHOULD GO?
So here we are, and you have no choice but to cut your overhead to the bone. How are you going to do it? Sacrifice the young’ uns you have invested so much in and who are just about to give you a superb return on your investment? Just because they are at the bottom […]
Continue ReadingWHAT SHOULD WE BE DOING?
Napoleon used to say an army is guided by its stomach: and here we are running out of food. In the worst possible way. When every bit of available food is used, it is merely a famine. When thousands upon thousands of gallons of milk are being dumped, it is fodder for civil riots. Our […]
Continue ReadingNOBODY ASKED FOR THE SPANISH INQUISITION
We will all survive. Unless we push our luck. William Paley’s Divine Watchmaker is clear on the subject: God may not exist, but something up there does, that cannot be controlled by mere humans. It does not matter that each and everyone of us think we have an immense IQ and are better than […]
Continue ReadingEmpty hotel or luxury senior facility?
The year is 2040 (only 20 years from now). Demographics in the US are leaning very heavily toward seniors. In fact, 55% of the population of those with a net worth of $2 million or more, are over 65. Gen X never amounted to a substantial percentage of our population. At the other end of […]
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