hotels articles

As is often the case, the more we travel, the less we think about our safety. It’s easy to become comfortable in a hotel when we spend so much time in it. Most people have caught themselves opening their hotel room door without asking who it is when they’ve ordered room service. And, quite frankly, you are usually so tired and desperate for the salad and glass of wine you ordered an hour earlier that you don’t even look closely at the person entering your room.

With more and more terrorist warnings about possible hotel attacks in addition to the usual bad guys out there, it’s important to keep safety as your number one priority. Room service and accessing your e-mail come in at a close second. Here are some tips from the American Hotel and Lodging Association to all of the road warriors out there. Stay safe!

Don’t answer the door in a hotel or motel room without verifying who is at the door. If a person claims to be an employee, call the front desk and ask if someone from the hotel staff is supposed to have access to your room and for what purpose.

When returning to your hotel late in the evening, use the main entrance of the hotel.

Be observant and look around before entering hotel parking lots.

Close the door securely whenever you are in your hotel room and use all of the locking devices provided.

Don’t needlessly display guest room keys in public or carelessly leave them on restaurant tables, at the swimming pool, or other places where they can be stolen.

Do not draw attention to yourself by displaying large amounts of cash or expensive jewelry.

Don’t invite strangers to your hotel room.

Place all valuables in the hotel’s safe deposit box.

Do not leave valuables in your vehicle.

Check to see that any sliding glass doors or windows and any connecting room doors are locked.

If you see any suspicious activity, please report your observations to the hotel management.

Upon arrival, notify the Front Desk if you require special evacuation assistance in the event of an emergency.

Condo hotels are one of the most exciting segments of the real estate market. It seems like every month, another big brand like Trump or Ritz Carlton is developing a new condo hotel in a major resort or urban destination.

A condo hotel operates just like any hotel you might be familiar with. The only difference is that each room is individually owned. The paying hotel guest would have no idea that the hotel is a condo hotel. From appearances sake, there is no difference.

As an owner, you take fee simple title. So, you own it outright. Just like you would own the home you currently reside in. The difference is that you would have a highly skilled management team overseeing your property and handling all aspects of the daily operation and rental. Condo hotels are designed for 100% hassle free ownership.

Of course, as an owner of the condo hotel, your visit would likely entitle you to various benefits and first in line privileges not made available to the average guest. You would be entitled to a truly remarkable visit.

Some have suggested that condo hotels are the best area of real estate to get involved with, short of commercial development. To back up this statement, they point to hard evidence that is readily available – historical appreciation comparisons. It’s not uncommon to find branded condo hotels appreciating at a greater rate than the traditional real estate in the same market.

One of the few downsides to owning a condo hotel is that most are not meant for residency. A lot of condo hotels have usage restrictions that limit you to a couple of months of total usage throughout the year. With that said, most people do not buy condo hotels with the idea of residency in mind, so this restriction rarely affects any potential buyer.

Those well-known culinary marvels so admired by gourmets, who enjoy well-prepared exceptional foods, are also successful businesswomen and businessmen. These wizards have integrated cooking and business skills to produce some of today’s most successful restaurants, businesses, and independent markets. Online Restaurant Management Schools offer courses that can prepare the way for the next set of entrepreneurs ready to follow in those footsteps or set new stages.

Online Restaurant Management Schools provide important skills to those who aspire to owning their own restaurants or managing exceptional large hotel restaurants. Students can study to earn certificates, Associate of Arts (AA), Bachelor of Arts (BA), Bachelor of Science (BS), Master of Arts (MA), or Master of Science (MS) degrees in culinary arts or hotel and restaurant management. Two-year programs are offered in community colleges and vocational, trade, and technical schools, as well as arts institutes.

Students in accredited Online Restaurant Management Schools can gain extensive training in catering, food and beverage management, and restaurant management through interactive courses delivered via the Internet. Students will learn much about the hospitality industry and running a successful business while increasing their skills for decision-making, interpersonal relationships, and communications. Students should anticipate courses that develop understanding of successful office operations, kitchen processes, hotel and food service management, and personnel and staff management.

Restaurant Management can be merged with hotel or motel management, and can be exceptionally challenging. Nevertheless, great rewards can follow with sound preparation for the enormous undertaking.

Restaurant Management positions can vary widely in responsibilities. Incomes vary as widely, as well. New employees of established food service businesses can begin around $40,000. Owning and managing one’s own establishment will often vary according to season and social factors, find broad variations in incomes and stability.

Hotel credit cards are much less well known than their airline affiliate counterparts. Nevertheless, hotel credit cards can offer frequent travelers many benefits that simply can not be matched by other types of travel credit card reward programs. This is particularly true if the traveler frequently travels to the same destination or uses the same hotel room.

While the benefits of hotel credit cards are usually greatest when applied towards future stays with the same hotel chain, hotel credit cards often offer other benefits, including the ability to convert rewards points into free airline miles and other perks.

Hotel credit cards almost always work on a points based system. For example, hotel credit cards offered by a particular hotel chain may provide one point per dollar charged on their hotel credit cards on normal purchases. Typically, purchases made at the issuing hotel chain or at subsidiary hotels gain more points than similar purchases made elsewhere.

The hotel credit cards rewards points can be cashed in for free stays, free room upgrades, and other hotel based perks. This is very handy for travelers who frequently stay at the same hotel. Business travelers who are reimbursed for their hotel stays frequently pay for all of their hotel bills with their hotel credit cards and then use the accumulated rewards points for free hotel room stays on family vacations or other personal trips.

Those who are more interested in accumulating free airline air miles than free hotel room visits are typically better suited by foregoing hotel credit cards and applying for airline credit cards instead. However, for those who are interested in both free hotel stays as well as free air miles, many hotel credit cards allow their users to convert their hotel credit card’s rewards points into free airline miles. These free airline miles can typically only be used on affiliate airlines, so the traveler should make sure that the airline that is affiliated with the hotel credit cards is one that flies to destinations that they plan to visit.

Hotel credit cards provide benefits that are of great use to certain travelers. Business travelers who stay at the same hotel or use the same hotel chain frequently often use hotel credit cards in order to use their points on family vacations and other travel events.

Before you make a life changing job decision such as throwing in your old job, and possibly relocating for hotel jobs, it is important that you know what the work entails, and what you can expect when applying for hotel jobs in the hospitality industry. There are many reasons why you may want to work in the hospitality industry in a hotel job.

Hospitality is a global industry and there are millions of Hotels, bars, restaurants, resorts, cafes, cruise ships, pubs, fast food outlets and coffee shops making the hospitality industry one the biggest employers on the earth. By gaining hospitality experience you can work anywhere in the world and transfer your skills gained to any industry especially with a hotel job. There are millions of hospitality workers in the world, making it one of the biggest global employers. It has a reputation for low pay and long hours however there is a growing trend of companies becoming more flexible and offering higher rewards to encourage people into the industry and in a hotel job.

Some of the benefits of working in the hospitality industry in a hotel job include gaining valuable skills which will earn you money anywhere in the world, one of the world’s fastest growing sectors, more flexible working hours than your typical 9-5 job, allowing you to fit work around your family responsibilities, you have fun while getting paid, good way to earn extra money and often companies will provide uniforms, meals, pension, incentive programmes.

There are seven simple ways for making the most in the Hotel industry towards a hotel management career. Hospitality is the right career for you if you have excellent organisational skills, communication skills, interpersonal skills, working with and for people, are prepared for the long hours and low pay of the hospitality industry.

You will need to establish exactly what do I want to be doing in the future. Do you want to be working towards a hotel management career at a five star hotel, a manager on a cruise ship or run or own your own business.

Have you researched what qualifications will be needed to succeed. Research jobs that interest you and see what qualifications are needed to enter this type of job. You may need to obtain a university degree or complete a catering course for a hotel management career. Will you need work experience. Find out whether doing some work experience while you study will help you get a full-time job. Take advantage of job placements that some universities offer. Should I apply for training programme. Research the job market and the position that you would one day like to be in and whether or not a training programme is the right step for you. Training programmes are a good way to experience all departments of a hotel and to see which department you have a particular interest in including hotel management career. Should you stay within the company. You will need to decide whether it is better for your career to stay within the company or move to another. Hospitality recruiters value diversity and experience, however they do not value those who jump from job to job too often. A good amount of time to stay in the company one year to a year and a half and for hotel management career jobs five to six years. Should you work overseas. Employers value life experience. If you are working at a small hotel consider transferring to an international hotel chain therefore you may be able to get a transfer overseas or otherwise the hotel will be recognised by overseas employers.

You have a passion for hotels and how they run. From reservations to catering, you enjoy observing the intricacies of hotel management. After all, you find all the details about what goes into the inner workings of a hotel so fascinating. Even better, you want to make the operations of a hotel, motel or resort as efficient as possible. And you know you have what it takes. Now the only thing you need is the right training to earn some credibility in the hospitality industry.

Learning About Hospitality and Then Some
If hotel management is your passion, many programs are available and designed to prepare you for management positions in the hospitality industry. At the Boston Univeristy School of Hospitality Administration, for instance, students are taught about hospitality in conjunction with a variety of liberal arts and management courses. This way, they will be able to hone in on their hospitality strengths, while developing a well-rounded educational background that will prepare them for multiple challenges you might face as a career professional.

“Critical thinking, clear expression and problem-solving are all essential skills for success in the business world,” explains James T. Stamas, school dean.

Beyond the classroom, students in this program can also accumulate credit hours out in the field experiencing the career hands-on. From internships aborad in London, Paris, Sydney and other international cities to working right in Boston and throughout the United States, students can become familiar with what they’ll see once they’re out of school.

Hospitality School Perks
Aside from learning the tricks of the hospitality trade at hospitality management schools, students can also take advantage of the field’s many perks. For instance, students at the Boston University School of Hospitality Management formed the Diner’s Club. Membership enables students interested in exploring local restaurants to get a first-hand look at what it takes to establish a winning eatery. After a tour, they hold informal discussions with restaurant owners and managers about their meals. “This gives valuable insight into the operations of a successful restaurant,” Stamas points out.

Now with all the learning and perks glory, you’re probably even more stoked about attending hotel management schools. Who wouldn’t be? You can turn your passion for the hospitality industry into a career — and learn a great deal of skills as well as sample food and experience fine dining in the process.

Are you making a hotel reservation in the near future? If you are, chances are that you will be making the hotel reservation online. Internet reservations are easy to make and you can compare a number of different hotels at the same time so that you can make a decision based on price, amenities and location. However, there are some things that you may want to consider if you are making a hotel reservation, especially if you are traveling with a group, or you want to have a business conference in conjunction with the stay, or even if you are traveling with children.

Although your first thought when making a hotel reservation is probably to jump on the internet, you may want to call the hotel as well. If you are hosting or organizing a business conference it can be extremely helpful to talk to the hotel management in person so that you can get a clear picture of what is available. If it is local, you should plan on making an in-person visit before you make the hotel reservation.

Another reason that you might want to call is if you have special needs. If you have a large family or group and you want adjoining rooms or a discounted rate, it may be helpful to call the hotel and see what the possibilities are. If you are an individual with disabilities, you should make sure that the hotel can accommodate those special needs when you make your hotel reservation as well.

Deciding where to make the hotel reservation is important. If you need to be in a specific location, you should look for a hotel which is central to activities that your group would be interested in. If you are simply traveling for pleasure, and the location does not matter so much, you may want to go to an all-inclusive travel website and see if there are any package deals that appeal to you. If you will be staying long term (more than a week or two) you should find out if there are hotels which have kitchenettes or laundry service.

* The Seneca Nation plans to break ground during April on a 26-story, $140-million hotel in Niagara Falls, N.Y. The 600-room hotel will feature a spa, two restaurants and 37,000 square feet of new casino and public space.

* CNL Hospitality Properties purchased the 404-room Doubletree Hotel & Executive Meeting Center Dallas/Plano and renamed it the Marriott Dallas/Plano at Legacy Town Center. Marriott International will manage the hotel.

* According to the study “2003 Impact of Room Tax Increases on the Lodging Industry” by the American Hotel & Lodging Educational Foundation, spending by hotel guests maintains 13.1 million jobs and pays $358.9 billion of compensation nationwide. Additional spending by hotel guests creates $1,014.8 billion of sales, and room taxes average 12.4 percent ($9.51) per night nationwide above the average room rate of $86.26.