Hotel Operations

🍴 Halil Simsek honed his skills at a kebab stall in Mersin, Turkey, under a traditional kebab master. He admires Massimo Bottura for his creativity. His cooking style involves infusing soul and childhood flavors into his dishes. He emphasizes the importance of rest for maintaining creativity and sharpness in the kitchen. His kitchen essential is a kitchen cloth for cleaning surfaces after each dish. Simsek’s signature dish is Turkish black cod with clear tomato sauce and Urfa pepper crumble.

🍺 European and Americas & APAC winners of the 2024 GuestRevu GREAT Awards announced at Tapa Tapa Wine Bar during WTM London. Over 700 entrants from 55 countries with more than 75,000 guest reviews analyzed from platforms including Google (24.5%), TripAdvisor (13.8%), and Booking.com (61.7%). Entrants averaged a 87% score, with shortlisted properties reaching the 90% range. Awards categories included room quality, cleanliness, and service, with winners like L'oscar London and The Plough & Flail. The event, supported by Hop, HOSPA, and Stenden University South Africa, featured an industry panel and celebrated hospitality excellence.

🍴 Philly's Fringe Bar offers 2-hour bottomless Mimosas for $35, while in Denver, Señor Bear and Tamayo provide weekend bottomless brunches at $35 and $50 respectively. Washington, D.C.'s All Purpose serves them for $23. SpotOn reports over 1,200 all-you-can-eat or -drink deals added between February-August 2024. Boxwood in Beverly Hills offers a bottomless brunch at $82 for food and $110 with cocktails. Smitty's Bar in Uniontown has all-you-can-eat wings for $17.99, and Pizza Tugos in Maryland offers a $9.99 game-day deal. Red Robin introduced bottomless fries 30 years ago and now has over 30 bottomless items starting at $3.49.

🏨 Frontline managers report concerns with maintaining staffing levels, with 75% worried about delivering consistent customer experiences during holidays, as per Axonify data. In hospitality, 70% fear understaffing may cause team burnout. Almost half the managers (44%) are hiring as many or more seasonal workers than last year, yet 61% see a drop in applicant quality. To attract talent, 77% highlight secure work environments, and 80% in hospitality stress this point. Over half (53%) offer upskilling for new hires, but many managers lack resources for effective training. Burnout is prevalent; 65% of managers feel overwhelmed pre-holiday, nearly 40% considered quitting recently, and 9% plan to leave by year-end. Managers believe a more engaged workforce (84% agree) could ease challenges.

💰 Jamelia Lehn, CFO of SPIRE Hospitality, led her finance team on a field trip on Nov. 1, 2024, to bridge the gap between accounting and hotel operations. The excursion aimed to improve financial accuracy through firsthand operational understanding, prepare teams via structured site visits, and enhance team relations. This initiative garnered attention from hotel owners and prospective clients. The episode featuring this story is supported by Hireology and promotes continued learning and application of episode insights within hospitality teams.

🏩 Elizabeth Harlow, Chief Brand Officer at Sonesta Hotels, discusses maintaining a personal touch in hospitality on a podcast episode. The episode underlines the value of hospitality beyond just "heads in beds," focusing on individual guest experiences and creating lasting memories. Harlow emphasizes how personal attention can impact all travel experiences and the importance of staying connected to the spirit of hospitality despite large-scale operations. The podcast also features support from Hireology and offers resources like a masterclass with CEO Adam Robinson. The episode aired on Oct. 31, 2024.

📢 Jason Himber, CEO of MINA Group, discussed leadership solutions for hospitality staffing issues on Oct. 22, 2024, in a podcast episode sponsored by Hireology. He emphasized the need for strong leadership, a culture of honest feedback, and hands-on development programs to create adaptable leaders. Himber also highlighted the importance of measuring leadership development, providing honest employee performance assessments, and the impact of an "excellence team" on leadership.

🏨 A Request for Proposal (RFP) is a pivotal document and process for hotels in selecting a Property Management System (PMS). Shiji, a global hospitality technology leader, offers a free RFP Guide and templates to aid hoteliers in choosing the right PMS, ensuring it aligns with modern demands such as cloud-based functionality and seamless integrations. The RFP process involves a multi-step collection and evaluation of vendor information, enabling hotels to compare products, services, and pricing, and make informed decisions.

💾 Published on 2024-10-18, the blog post "Effective Hotel Inventory Management Strategies" by Prabhash Bhatnagar on Hotelogix dives into strategies to optimize hotel operations, reduce costs, and improve guest satisfaction. Key strategies include resource optimization and operational excellence. The post is a part of Hotelogix Blog, which offers hospitality tips and trends.

🍰 Candace Nelson, founder of Sprinkles and Pizzana, and a TV personality featured on Food Network's "Cupcake Wars" and Netflix's "Sugar Rush," shared her entrepreneurial journey at CREATE: The Event for Emerging Restaurateurs. She authored "Sweet Success: A Simple Recipe to Turn your Passion into Profit," a best-selling book given to conference attendees. Sprinkles, known for its gourmet cupcakes, debuted in Beverly Hills during the low-carb craze and had lines out the door from day one, selling out before noon. After selling Sprinkles to KarpReilly, Nelson opened Pizzana, an artisanal pizza concept with seven locations, and is now expanding through a loyalty program and seeking new investments with CN2 Ventures.