Articles

Marina Dock Age •

Marinas Continue to Build Partnerships and Increase Revenue with Boat Clubs | Marina Dock Age

Boat clubs are the libraries of the sea. Members can check out a boat, use it for the day, then return it with no further obligation. Of course, unlike a library, boat clubs are not free, as the core element of it is a paid membership component, but it operates in the same no-commitment way: shared access to a resource without the responsibility of ownership. Boat clubs have been around for about 25 years. According to Nicholas Mastroianni, CEO of Carefree Boat Club, the platform has grown expon...
Hotel Management •

How tech advances, guest preferences shape hotel operations

The hotel industry’s evolution over the past several decades, particularly where operations are concerned, is most discernible when looking at advances in technology, guest expectations and the effort hotels are making to ensure a seamless guest experience. Hotels also have shifted in the way that they are attempting to retain talent by offering them a pathway to ascend the corporate ladder. Certainly, the pandemic is responsible, to an extent, for reshaping the industry, as has brand consolidat...
Hotel Management •

DEI in hospitality: Status amid political pressure

Earlier this year, the president signed several executive orders purporting to do away with Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) efforts in the public sector, declaring some measures to be illegal, with the goal of restoring merit-based opportunity. The private sector was also targeted by these orders. These measures prompted many private companies to take a closer look at their in-house DEI initiatives, some of which resulted in businesses rolling back those programs to appear to be more alig...
Impressions •

Anything Goes in Women's Clothes

In 2025, women’s fashion choices will focus on versatility, comfort, oversize fit and heavy weight. Other 2025 buzzwords will include sustainability, vintage and gender neutrality and inclusivity. Women drive many household purchasing decisions, even those marketed to men, and when it comes to the fashion industry especially, women are also influencers and trendsetters. “It’s funny, because I always tell people that to find out the trends, you should always look at the younger generation. They a...
Hotel Management •

How to repurpose space to generate revenue

Though room bookings account for the majority of an average hotel’s revenue, many hotels rely on revenue from other sources, including food and beverage, parking, events and more. This is especially important in an era when building costs are significantly higher than they were even five years ago, and labor costs have not come down. With this in mind, today’s forward-thinking hoteliers are looking for ways to monetize other areas of the hotel, particularly underutilized sections. Converting in...
Hotel Management •

How to assess market value of your asset

The market value of a hotel is not a straightforward nor easy-to-assess process. While the same argument can be made for any piece of real estate, a hotel is a unique asset class due to its fluctuation in potential income generation as well as the volatility of the hospitality market. But it is important to have some periodic knowledge about your asset’s value in order to make the best decisions about its future. While there is no set schedule as to when you should assess your hotel’s worth, a...
Seaway Review •

2024 Great Lakes Cruise Season Comes to a Close – Seaway Review

Port Milwaukee, a Great Lakes turnaround destination located on the western shore of Lake Michigan in the heart of downtown Milwaukee, serves as a regional transportation and distribution center for nine states and three western Canadian provinces, though it primarily serves southeastern Wisconsin, southeastern Minnesota and northern Illinois. It is also surrounded by accessible transportation options. The port owns 13.5 miles of rail connecting to two Class I railroads, both of which provide di...
Hotel Management •

Hospitality How-To: Plan your asset exit strategy

Whether you buy a hotel for a long- or short-term investment, your business plan should always include a built-in exit strategy. Here are six questions hoteliers should consider when developing such a strategy to ensure a smooth transition and maximize value. The valuation of your asset is a complex process, and different potential buyers will favor different types of assets. “Besides the most common factors for any real estate product type underwriting such as age, loca...
Hotel Management •

Hospitality How-To: Choose the right management company

Management companies oversee a hotel’s day-to-day operations, from staffing and HR, providing technological solutions and marketing to risk management and more. A growing number of hotels work with third-party management companies, particularly in the franchise space, but more owner-operators in the independent and economy spaces are seeing the value of this kind of partnership—and a partnership is what it should be, ideally. Virtually every management company and owner will agree that the relat...
Transport Topics •

Driving Simulators Help Trucking Companies Recruit New Talent | Transport Topics

[Stay on top of transportation news: Get TTNews in your inbox.] For CDL trainers and some fleets, truck driving simulators are among the most innovative and realistic ways to teach new drivers. Although they don’t fully replicate true life behind the wheel, the use of simulators throughout the industry is gradually increasing. They serve as an ideal way to reach a younger generation of drivers. Simulators are equipped with high-definition graphics and wraparou...
Hotel Management •

Hospitality How-To: Adhere to brand standards

Your brand is your corporate identity as well as your public persona. Familiarity with your hotel brand promotes certain guest expectations, so it’s critical to develop and maintain brand guidelines, communicate those to staff and be consistent in applying them so a guest’s experience is always consistent and satisfying.“Happy guests are not only a mark of success, but also vital for generating revenue and building brand loyalty. By upholding these standards, owners can boost hotel performance a...
Built | The Bluebeam Blog •

The Group Advocating for Greater LGBTQ+ Representation in Construction | Built

The construction industry continues to change for the better. While women and other traditionally underrepresented groups have evolved to make up a greater share of the overall construction workforce, so have the ranks of those who identify as members of the LGBTQ+ community. In an effort to promote construction’s continued inclusion, a group of individuals in 2017 formed Build Out Alliance, a volunteer advocacy and awareness organization for members of the LGBTQ+ community working in the ind...
Hotel Management •

The changing nature of HR in hospitality

Traditionally, the job description of a human resource professional was fairly straightforward: recruit, interview and train new hires, manage benefits and compensation, and basically oversee the employment process. Today, however, a hospitality HR professional works more closely with operations management, functions as a liaison with hotel partners and often hotel owners, and is expected to have a more well-rounded skillset. Deborah Punke, chief HR officer with Concord Hospitality, describes t
Transport Topics •

Warehouses Look at Ways to Improve Recruitment, Retention

[Stay on top of transportation news: Get TTNews in your inbox.] There’s no place to hide from the ongoing labor shortage in trucking, especially across the supply chain industry, which affects employment at warehousing, fulfillment and distribution centers. With the pandemic era’s spike in e-commerce coupled with the “great resignation,” greater efforts have been placed into recruitment and retention. Now, the use of automation in warehouses to streamline efficiencies, already part of the conve
Marina Dock Age •

Sustainable Fuel for the Marine Industry

Editor’s Note: To learn more about the differences between biobutanol and ethanol, go to https://www.abetterbiofuel.com/copy-of-publications-and-approval. Not all fuel is created equal. What’s good for a car may not be as good for a boat…or for the environment. That’s why there is an industry-wide focus on creating sustainable fuels for the marine industry. This initiative is one of several that the National Marine Manufacturers Association is promoting, with the primary purpose of reducing
Hotel Management •

Mobile technology is a game-changer in hotels

Mobile technology is on the rise in hospitality and directly correlates with increased efficiency in all departments. The hospitality industry is gradually starting to turn toward mobile technology for such tasks as guest engagement, housekeeping, maintenance, direct bookings, revenue management and other essential functions. This growing trend aligns with mobile phones becoming more central to daily life and gives rise to guests’ expectation that hotels will operate in kind. One primary reason
Hotel Management •

Increasing profitability with creative outdoor spaces

Outdoor living spaces are becoming a more popular segment of home design, so why shouldn’t hotels follow suit? Many hotels are transforming some of their spaces into unique areas that guests can utilize and experience, with the bonus of increased profitability. Up on the Roof On the fourth-floor outdoor terrace of The Sheraton Dallas’s center tower is the ‘punfully’ named Herb ‘N Jungle—a green oasis in the midst of sprawling urban environment. The Herb ‘N Jungle was a result of a major hotel
Transport Topics •

Mentorship Programs Help Truck Drivers Adjust to Daily Life

[Stay on top of transportation news: Get TTNews in your inbox.] The accomplishment of earning a commercial driver license and the thrill of diving into the trucking lifestyle often give professional drivers the momentum they need to start their new career path. However, there are plenty of bumps and detours along the way. Learning to drive a truck and being a truck driver are two sides of the same coin, but they are not equivalent. That is why many trucking companies offer mentorship programs
Hotel Management •

In the Marketplace: Q&A Hospitality Services’ Emille Aboona

Two guys, two laptops and a coffee shop marked the humble beginnings of Q&A Hospitality, a hotel construction and design company headquartered in Elk Grove Village, Ill. Both Emille Aboona and his partner, Ken Qualtier, were seasoned veterans with extensive hospitality backgrounds, having worked in operations, purchasing, project management, sales and interior design; together the two had accumulated almost 80 years of industry experience. In 2014, they decided to go into business for themselve
Load More Articles