Monthly Archives: January 2014

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Hospitality Industry Employment Practices Update: “The Hotel Industry Needs To Stop Trying To Please Their Customers!”

“…There is less of an attachment of what’s in it for me when you’re primarily focused on making somebody feel good about themselves, versus trying to please them. customer serviceThe motivation and incentives have to be on a much higher level when you are positioning people in your organization to attempt to please your customers, versus when you have your organization focus on making their customers feel good about themselves through their interactions with the guests…”

If they truly want their customers to be pleased by their hotels’ brand experience.

As I just talked about in my recent three-part article series, which focused on creating a new strategy for enhancing the hotels’ business model performance by decoding the hotel guest experience, I wrote about this crazy notion in part three of the series. (It’s really not about trying to please customers, per se. It’s really more about making them feel good about themselves while they are experiencing your hotel’s brand of hospitality offerings.)

You are really not there to please your customers, as crazy as that may sound. Businesses that make their customers feel good about themselves as a result of their business experience offering don’t have to play that inauthentic game of trying to please people, or try to inspire and motivate their organization to do so either. They are more focused on strategically creating and managing a business experience that generates a strong emotional connection with their customers that fosters positive memories from all the different attributes and qualities of the business experience.

For more: http://www.fivestarcustomerexperiencedesign.com/blog/2013/10/hotel-industry-needs-stop-trying-please-customers/?utm_content=buffer4b0ee&utm_source=buffer&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Buffer

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by | January 20, 2014 · 9:43 am
by | January 17, 2014 · 8:34 am

Hospitality Industry Food Safety Update: “Under New Food Safety Law, Bartenders Have to Wear Gloves”

“…In an effort to educate restaurant operators and health inspectors, the law will undergo a “soft roll-out” during the next six months to a year,Image according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. No points will be deducted when food handlers are not wearing gloves, but restaurant operators will receive a warning instead…”

Chefs aren’t the only ones affected by a new food safety law that bans culinary workers from touching certain foods with their bare hands. Like chefs, bartenders have to wear gloves or use other utensils to make their drinks. No touching ice, fruit garnishes or anything else that goes directly into your glass.

Changes to the California Retail Food Code that went into effect at the beginning of 2014 require disposable gloves or utensils such as tongs, paper or scoops to be used when handling “ready-to-eat” foods, which include sushi, bread, deli meats and fresh fruit and vegetables. Basically, nothing that won’t be cooked or reheated before it goes out to diners can be touched with bare hands.

For more: http://www.latimes.com/food/dailydish/la-dd-under-new-food-safety-law-bartenders-have-to-wear-gloves-20140114,0,7520647.story#axzz2qTxmrCcS

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Filed under Employment Practices Liability, Food Illnesses, Hotel Bar, Hotel Restaurant, Management And Ownership, Training

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by | January 16, 2014 · 8:13 am

Hospitality Industry Cyber Security Risk: “The Target and Neiman Marcus Breaches: What Hoteliers Need To Know”

“…Most of all, hotel companies need to make a commitment to secure the sensitive information of their companies and their guests, and to seek out informed consultants and advisers.Image Information security is a relatively new and rapidly changing area, and requires specialized knowledge; the investment today can protect a hotel from being front page news — for the wrong reasons — later. Developing a comprehensive information privacy and security program…”

The recent headlines about the Target and Neiman Marcus security breach with customer credit cards highlights a growing crisis that concerns owners and operator of hotels as well as retailers. In this article, Bob Braun, one of the senior members of our Global Hospitality Group® who focuses on data security — when he is not working on hotel management or franchise agreements — gives us some thoughts on what to do about this problem.

The Target and Neiman Marcus problem. When 50 million Americans – more than 15% of the nation’s population – wake up to find that their credit card information was compromised while Christmas shopping, we all take note. When we find out that there were 70 million victims, and the information went far beyond credit card information, and that it wasn’t just one chain, Target, but at least four more, including Neiman Marcus (which estimates 40 million payment card numbers were compromised), we should start to look at our own businesses and procedures to think about how we should plan for and respond to these malicious attacks.

For more: http://www.hospitalitynet.org/column/global/154000392/4063594.html

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Filed under Crime, Management And Ownership, Privacy, Risk Management, Technology, Theft

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by | January 15, 2014 · 8:42 am

Hospitality Industry Legal Update: “State and Local Laws that Challenge a Hotel’s Existence: Alcohol License Regimes”

“…Hotel executives cannot escape the complex ins and outs of alcohol licensing.  However, there is no reason to fear the application and renewal process or to make assumptions about the limits of your hotel’s existing license.Bar If you are armed with the right questions,then you can more competently discuss these issues with your legal counsel and local alcohol licensing staff. Ask your legal counsel if you have the appropriate license and see if any of your current practices exceed the boundaries of the hotel’s alcohol license…”

The alcohol licensing process for hotels involves a patchwork of state and local regulation that can be difficult to navigate.  Licensing is often highly localized and variable.  Nevertheless, a hotel executive should have a working knowledge of the legal questions to ask in order to understand the bounds of their existing alcohol license.  After all, the alcohol license provides a valuable source of revenue for the business and offers an avenue to provide amenities to guests that encourage repeat patronage.  Conversely, violations of local regulation can result in costly fines and revocation of existing licenses that affect the profitability and marketability of the property.

For more: http://hlconverge.com/index.php/component/k2/item/760-state-and-local-laws-that-challenge-a-hotel-s-existence-alcohol-license-regimes

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Filed under Hotel Bar, Hotel Restaurant, Licensing, Management And Ownership

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by | January 14, 2014 · 8:47 am

Hospitality Industry Employee Update: “L.A. May Hike Minimum Wage for Hotel Workers to Highest in U.S.”

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“Hotel owners and their representatives say a $15 minimum would trigger higher room rates and worker layoffs, as managements struggle to keep costs under control. The owners argue it’s unfair to take a piecemeal approach to pay rules — singling out a few industries or geographic areas.”

Labor leaders hope a proposal that would dramatically raise the minimum wage in Los Angeles for workers at large hotels to roughly $15 an hour will be a step toward pay hikes for other industries.

Members of the City Council expected to propose that large hotels pay their workers $15.37 an hour – more than double the national minimum of $7.25 an hour and push far above California’s rate of $8.

Union leaders want the increase to apply at hotels with 100 rooms or more, saying such a hike would lift housekeepers, busboys and maintenance workers out of poverty and inject much-needed cash into a  languorous local economy.

For more: http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-la-minimum-wage-hike-hotel-workers-20140114,0,2611025.story#axzz2qOCybJiD

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Filed under Employee Benefits, Labor Issues, Management And Ownership, Uncategorized

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by | January 13, 2014 · 8:40 am

Hospitality Industry Legal Risks: “Kari’s Law: Murder Victim’s Family Campaigns To Change Hotel Policy”

“When we do this we want to do it right so people can feel comfortable when they have to dial 911 and they get an emergency dispatcher,” ImageGohmert told local TV station KETK. “Even adults when they’re witnessing something terribly traumatic will not be thinking about ‘what do I dial to get an outside line?’ They’d be running and dialing 911.”

“We are attempting to ensure that any person needing police, EMS or the Fire Department at any hotel or motel location may be able to dial the numbers 911 and receive emergency response,”

It was Dec. 1, 2013, and Kari Rene Hunt lie on the brink of death in a hotel room in East Texas. The eldest of her three children, a 9-year-old daughter, attempted to call 911 for help, but because she had no idea that she would have to dial 9 first to get an outside line, the call never went through and her mother succumbed to her wounds. Now, Hunt’s father Hank is out to ensure that hotels across the nation do away with systems that require dialing anything before 911 to make certain that the same scenario doesn’t happen again.

“We are attempting to ensure that any person needing police, EMS or the Fire Department at any hotel or motel location may be able to dial the numbers 911 and receive emergency response,” Hank said in a petition on Change.org. “In a panic, any underage child — or for that matter, anyone in an emergency situation — should be able to depend on dialing 911 from any phone in the United States and receiving assistance.”

For more: http://www.ibtimes.com/karis-law-murder-victims-family-campaigns-change-hotel-policy-1536166

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Filed under Guest Issues, Liability, Management And Ownership, Risk Management, Uncategorized

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by | January 10, 2014 · 8:12 am

Hospitality Industry Legal Risks: “Costa Mesa to Slap Hotels With Fines For Too Many Police Calls”

“…Under the ordinance approved Tuesday, motels and hotels could incur fines of hundreds of dollars if they generate above an average 0.4 calls per room per month for recurring “nuisance activities.” Those activities were defined as including persistent noise, gang-related crime,Image illegal use of a firearm, disturbing the peace, illegal use or sale of fireworks, drug possession or sale, underage drinking and loud parties. Violent felonies are also covered…”

Costa Mesa hotels will have to pay a fine if they attract an “excessive” amount of police attention under a new law aimed at properties run by what one City Council member referred to as “slumlords.”

Under the ordinance approved Tuesday, motels and hotels could incur fines of hundreds of dollars if they generate above an average 0.4 calls per room per month for recurring “nuisance activities.” Those activities were defined as including persistent noise, gang-related crime, illegal use of a firearm, disturbing the peace, illegal use or sale of fireworks, drug possession or sale, underage drinking and loud parties. Violent felonies are also covered.

Reporting domestic violence and summoning fire or ambulance services, however, are not considered nuisance activities under the ordinance, the Daily Pilot reported.

For more: http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-costa-mesa-hotels-fines-police-calls-20140109,0,1005916.story#axzz2q0jOZxiH

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Filed under Crime, Guest Issues, Maintenance, Management And Ownership, Uncategorized

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by | January 9, 2014 · 8:22 am

Hospitality Industry Legal Risks: “Boone Hotel Executive Charged in Best Western Deaths “

“…Investigators have determined that carbon monoxide from the swimming pool water heater seeped up from a corroded exhaust pipe into the room, Imagekilling Daryl and Shirley Jenkins of Washington state in April and 11-year-old Jeffrey Williams of York County in June. Jeffrey’s mother, Jeannie, suffered serious injuries…”

“…“It doesn’t require evil intent,” said John Barylick, a lawyer in the Rhode Island case. ‘It just requires that you were stunningly careless.’…”

A business executive who managed the Best Western was indicted Wednesday on charges of involuntary manslaughter in the deaths last year of three hotel guests poisoned by carbon monoxide.A grand jury returned the three counts against Damon Mallatere, president of Appalachian Hospitality Management. The jury also indicted Mallatere on one additional count of assault inflicting serious bodily injury on another hotel guest who was poisoned.Police and prosecutors ended a news briefing without discussing the indictments, leaving many unanswered questions. Though Mallatere is the only person charged, an Observer investigation uncovered multiple missteps that contributed to the tragedies in the hotel’s Room 225.

For more: http://www.thestate.com/2014/01/08/3196549/boone-hotel-executive-charged.html

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2014/01/08/3196549/boone-hotel-executive-charged.html#storylink=cpy
Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2014/01/08/3196549/boone-hotel-executive-charged.html#storylink=cpyImage

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Filed under Guest Issues, Liability, Maintenance, Pool And Spa, Risk Management

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by | January 6, 2014 · 6:44 am

Hospitality Industry Legal Risks: California Hotels And Restaurants Increasingly Face “Prop 65” Toxic Substance Disclosure Lawsuits; “Two-Week Grace Period” Enacted

“…there has been an increase in these lawsuits over the years, with some lawyers targeting small businesses for everyday exposures, like California Prop 65 Toxin Warningalcohol or cigarette smoke outside a bar…Proposition 65 suits have helped make California the most litigious state in the union, and those lawsuits disproportionately affect small businesses…mostly small businesse paid about $22.5 million in Prop 65 settlements in 2012 alone…For virtually all environmental law in the U.S., it’s the government’s responsibility to go after businesses or products that are hurting consumers… But Proposition 65 doesn’t work like that. The state just puts out a list of chemicals that might hurt you. The responsibility is on businesses to warn consumers, and on consumers to sue if they don’t…”

“…In the amendment to the law passed in 2013, small business owners faced with a lawsuit now have a two-week grace period to comply…”

All over California, signs in restaurants, parking garages and other businesses warn that you could be exposed to chemicals that can cause cancer. The disclosure is mandated by 1986 state law. If a company fails to warn consumers, it can be sued.

But a lot has changed since the law was passed: The list of toxic chemicals is longer and the lawsuits are more prolific. In October, Gov. Jerry Brown signed an amendment to ease the burden on businesses.

For more:  http://www.npr.org/2014/01/05/259925903/calif-toxin-law-warns-consumers-but-can-burden-businesses

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Filed under Guest Issues, Health, Management And Ownership, Risk Management

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by | January 5, 2014 · 9:25 am

P3 Hospitality Industry Risk Report: “Hotel Cold Weather Checklist” Presented By Risk Manager Joe Fisco Of Petra Risk Solutions (Video)

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/52051376 w=500&h=281]

P3Petra Risk Solutions’ Risk Manager, Joe Fisco, offers a P3 Hospitality Risk Report – ‘Hotel Cold Weather Checklist’. 

P3 ( Petra Plus Process) is the Risk Management Division of Petra Risk Solutions – America ’s largest independent insurance brokerage devoted exclusively to the hospitality marketplace.

 For more information on Petra and P3 visit petrarisksolutions.com or call 800.466.8951.

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Filed under Insurance, Liability, Maintenance, Management And Ownership, Risk Management, Training

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