Come check out Petra’s own Director of Risk Management, Todd Seiders, and Loss Control Manager, Marco Johnson, at the Southern California Hotel and Lodging Conference.
For more:Â http://www.calodging.com/events/2014-southern-california-hotel-lodging-conference/
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April 11, 2014 · 8:33 am“…Esselborn maintains he was entitled to take the time off to care for his ailing wife. The federal Family and Medical Leave Act allows workers to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for immediate family members with a serious health condition
….A message left Tuesday for the hotel’s general manager was not immediately returned. The suit, filed in Manhattan state Supreme Court, seeks unspecified monetary damages…”
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Annadale resident Robert Esselborn and his family endured a staggering blow on Christmas Eve when his wife, Barbara, a popular school teacher, died nine days after suddenly taking ill. She was just 38.
The day before, Esselborn had been jolted on another front.
He was fired by reality-show-winning chef Anthony Paris from his night cook job at Manhattan’s chic Crosby Street Hotel for taking time off to care for his dying spouse, Esselborn alleges in a lawsuit.
For more:Â http://www.silive.com/southshore/index.ssf/2014/04/caring_for_dying_wife_cost_che.html
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Filed under Claims, Employee Benefits, Hotel Industry, Hotel Restaurant, Management And Ownership
“…Local ordinances and zoning laws could affect your business. ‘There comes a point when residents, business owners, and politicians no longer want those students there, and they
will start passing laws like in Daytona Beach or Fort Lauderdale to curb or even eliminate behavior,’ Laurie says. ‘Students will then go to a place where those rules don’t exist.’…”
From March through mid April, hundreds of thousands of college students flock to warmer climates for a weeklong escape from the winter doldrums and pressures of academic life. And while this time of year can bring a spike in hotel occupancy to popular vacation destinations across the country, the traditional spring break party does come with its fair share of challenges and risks for owners. John Laurie, director of the destination marketing and tourism practice at Bond Public Relations and Brand Strategy in New Orleans, shares five factors to consider when determining whether to court the next generation of spring breakers.
For more: http://www.lodgingmagazine.com/5-factors-to-consider-when-courting-spring-breakers/
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Filed under Claims, Crime, Guest Issues, Hotel Industry, Maintenance, Management And Ownership, Risk Management
“…Starkov suggests that franchisees put pressure on the brands to gain access to their own listings so they can better manage their online reputation. 
 ‘If there is no ownership of the listing and no responses from the property, even the positive reviews don’t sound credible,’ he says. ‘And negative reviews without a response sends a signal that the hotel doesn’t care’…”
In January, spammers hijacked official website links for thousands of hotels listed within Google+ Local, rerouting visitors to third-party booking services. Since these listings feed results into Google Search, Maps, and Hotel Finder, Google worked quickly and quietly behind the scenes to correct the links. And despite the irritation of this hack, there are key takeaways for hoteliers that can help them protect their online presence.
For more:Â http://www.lodgingmagazine.com/how-to-protect-your-online-presence/
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Filed under Guest Issues, Hotel Industry, Management And Ownership, Social Media, Technology
“…’As non-refundable rooms become more prevalent, and I think they will, hotels will more than likely adopt policies such as offering rebooking opportunities for a fee or
a 24-hour grace period for canceling a non-refundable booking,’ says Stephen Barth, hospitality law professor at the University of Houston…”
If you think the airline industry doesn’t do anything right, think again.
A few weeks ago, Brian Crummy had to pay for the same night twice at two different hotels.
The reason: His plans changed, and the rate he’d booked was completely non-refundable and non-changeable, even when he waved his diamond elite card at the receptionist.
“They would not budge,” says Crummy, a sales manager from Gilbert, Ariz. “I feel like the hotels bank on me taking the advance-purchase rate to save money, in hopes that my plans change and they can cash in.”
Are airlines any better? Well, kinda.
For more:Â http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/hotels/2014/03/31/non-refundable-hotel-room/7127665/
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Filed under Employee Practices, Guest Issues, Hotel Industry, Management And Ownership, Training
“…For many hotels, it starts on the guest services side. For example, guests who need assistance can send a text that will be routed directly to the appropriate department, such as engineering or roomservice.
This simple interaction already removes a traditional element of hotel operations—the front desk—from the equation. From there is a progression for hoteliers to use similar methods to communicate internally among staffers…”
Hoteliers are increasingly using electronic formats such as text, email and FaceTime for back-of-house communications, and are finding the strategy is both highly effective and cost-efficient. Just like in the front of the house, where guests increasingly rely on phones and handhelds while traveling, mobile devices are now becoming critical for back-of-house operations, according to sources.
With cellphones essentially ubiquitous and younger staffers particularly reliant on them, many hoteliers are smartly tapping into this technology base to replace outdated procedures, reshaping everything from staff meetings to service calls.
For more:Â https://www.hotelnewsnow.com/Article/13408/Managing-by-text-Using-tech-in-back-of-house
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Filed under Employee Practices, Hotel Employees, Hotel Industry, Maintenance, Management And Ownership, Risk Management, Technology
“…Police say that Oyola-Bandara knocked on the woman’s door at the Super 8 motel at 32 Grenhart Road at about 3:30 a.m. and told the woman, who has been a resident of the motel for some time, that he is there to fix something. 
The woman recognized the man as a hotel worker and let him in. Oyola-Bandara then pulled out a bottle of liquor and put two glasses on the table and began pouring the liquor into the glasses…”
A West Side hotel maintenance worker who talked his way into a 60-year-old woman’s room early Saturday morning and tried to force himself on her was arrested after police found the man asleep in the woman’s hotel room.
Carlos Oyola-Bandera, 35, of 501 West Main St., Stamford, was charged with attempted rape, unlawful restraint, criminal trespass, fourth-degree sexual assault and breach of peace. He was held over the weekend by police in lieu of a $50,000 court appearance bond and is being arraigned at the Stamford courthouse Monday.
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Filed under Claims, Crime, Guest Issues, Hotel Industry, Liability, Management And Ownership, Privacy, Risk Management
“…A total of 20 guests and employees were evaluated by paramedics, resulting in the transport of nine people to the hospital.  Four employees who worked in the area of the hotel’s laundry room
were transported by paramedic unit to the Hyperbaric Chamber at the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center. Â Five additional patients, four employees and one guest, were transported to local hospitals…”
For the second time in as many months, Anne Arundel County paramedics were alerted to the presence of dangerous levels of carbon monoxide on the scene of a call by carbon monoxide detectors carried on their medical equipment.  On Sunday February 16th just after 1:30 p.m., paramedics responded to the Westin Hotel, located at 1110 Old Elkridge Landing Road in North Linthicum to assist an employee who felt faint.  While assessing and treating the patient, the paramedics were alerted to the possible presence of carbon monoxide by their CO alarm.  They immediately requested additional assistance to the scene and began to evacuate the patient and others in the area.
Additional responding units checked other areas of the hotel and found excessive levels of carbon monoxide in various locations in the hotel. Â Some levels were in excess of 700 parts per million- levels capable of causing serious injury with just two hours of exposure. Â The seven story hotel was evacuated by firefighters going room to room on each floor to ensure all employees and guests had been evacuated.
For more:Â http://www.eyeonannapolis.net/2014/02/17/carbon-monoxide-leak-at-westin-sends-9-to-hospital/
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Filed under Guest Issues, Health, Liability, Maintenance, Management And Ownership, Risk Management, Technology
“…Creator Dr. Ramsey Saffouri is launching the program in South Florida ahead of a worldwide release. Saffouri demonstrated the broad, 
multilingual medical technology, which he said also has wide diagnostic capabilities, at a press conference at the iconic Delano Hotel on Wednesday…”
Some Miami hotels are teaming up with a program to offer out-of-town guests who are feeling under the weather a convenient way to hook up with a doctor.
If travelers are suffering from anything from an earache to the flu, they can contact the hotel concierge or front desk to co-ordinate a new medical technology platform.
SKYdoc enables a doctor to receive vitals, such as blood pressure, pulse, and EKG reads for non-life threatening illnesses. The technology allows a doctor to communicate in a way that’s similar to Skype one-on-one with their patients 24-hours a day.
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Filed under Employee Practices, Guest Issues, Health, Management And Ownership, Risk Management, Technology, Training
“Virginia consumers have every right to expect that agreements will be honored when it comes time for delivery of goods and services,†Herring said.
“I will not tolerate businesses that misrepresent themselves or mislead customers and my office is absolutely committed to protecting Virginia consumers from such practices.â€
RICHMOND, Va. (Legal Newsline) – Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring announced a lawsuit on Friday against the operator of a Henrico County hotel for allegedly violating the Virginia Consumer Protection Act and the state’s bait and switch statute.
GRM Management LLC, the operator of the Richmond Magnuson Grand Hotel and Convention Center, allegedly offered and confirmed room rates for one price but overcharged customers upon check-in or told them their requested room was unavailable.
For more:Â http://legalnewsline.com/news/247135-va-ag-sues-richmond-magnuson-grand-hotel
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Filed under Employee Practices, Employment Practices Liability, Guest Issues, Management And Ownership, Training
