The Boutique Search Firm Blog

Great news came out of the Annual Conference of the Leading Hotels of the World held in Shanghai earlier this month: a distinguished hotelman was picked by the membership and the board to be given the 2018 Leading Legends Award. Congratulations PAUL ZUEST. Four words best characterize him: expertise, integrity, generosity and humor. He is […]

The General Manager as celebrity. How good is that? Let’s make no bones about it: NOT very good. Unless it is your name on the building. Let’s not name names, but the minute the ego becomes larger than the lobby you are no longer doing the best job for your owner or employer. If the […]

It appears that, over the years, major improvements in the American worker’s standard of living were triggered by either of two events: 1) American workers, frustrated with low wages, used unions and strikes to help them achieve their goals. The results were usually destructive in many ways: strikers did not bring home the bacon, once […]

We often hear of the General Manager who moves from Tucson to New York and finds her/himself completely lost the minute a union representative demands an audience. Worse yet, suppose your company promotes you, after 10 years in Seattle to Atlanta. Or from Provo to San Francisco. I am asked a number of times a […]

Dear HomeAway and assorted not-so-transparent subsidiaries: Your concept of hotel-replacement product is a great idea. It seems that, most of the time, it works. If I were to read all the gushing reviews from past guests, I would altogether stop staying in hotels. BUT, after 4 experiences with your concept (Southern France, Paris, Hawaii and […]

It is January 2018 and we are working remotely for the month.  Because the Wi-Fi connection at our Airbnb was not immediately ready,  we decided to put the top down and head toward Diamond Head. A Leading Hotel of the World. Meeting the restaurant hostess downstairs, she immediately asks for my room number. I explain […]

I am as energy conscious as the next guy. However I never fail to get irritated when I check into a respectable hotel and find a tacky note on the bed or in the bathroom strongly recommending I jump through hoops to keep a couple of towels or washcloths from being laundered. Would you not […]

Have you noticed, in recent years, that little “je ne sais quoi” that feels so familiar when you step into the lobby of a luxe hotel? Is it that all the beautiful women are exquisitely made up and perfumed? Or does it feel more like getting off the elevator at Neiman Marcus’ cosmetics floor? Your […]

I do not advertise any product. Never did, never will. However, I am occasionally impressed with the way certain people do things, especially as compared to the way other people do it. I have been a fan of Airbnb, Home Away and VRBO. They have a great concept, great software and, for the most part, […]

“Ladies and Gentlemen, our flight is overbooked today and we’d like to ask if there are any volunteers to take a later departure…”. The recent incident in which a bona fide paying seated customer of United Airlines was forcibly removed from the plane in order to accommodate a flight crew, has been drawing universal attention. […]