“Five inns and hotels receive Delaware’s Green Lodging program certification” plus 2 more |
- Five inns and hotels receive Delaware’s Green Lodging program certification
- Gulf Shores, Orange Beach lodging taxes, occupancy rates down due to BP oil spill
- Hotel Chains Try Improv and iPods in Training
| Five inns and hotels receive Delaware’s Green Lodging program certification Posted: 06 Sep 2010 06:05 AM PDT Four inns and a hotel have joined the Delaware Green Lodging program and received certification for implementing green hospitality practices that conserve natural resources, save money and enhance their marketing potential as environmentally responsible businesses. The newly certified participants in the program are AmericInn of Bear, AmericInn of Harrington, AmericInn of Milford, AmericInn of Rehoboth Beach and the Microtel of Dover. To qualify for the Delaware Green Lodging program, the hotels implemented five basic green-lodging practices: recycling, water conservation, optional linen service, energy conservation and a green-events package. "This is a great example of businesses that understand what's good for the environment is good for the economy," said Gov. Jack Markell. "We are strengthening our tourism industry by offering more environmentally friendly alternatives through the Delaware Green Lodging program. I congratulate all the participating businesses." Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control Secretary Collin O'Mara also saluted the newest program participants and beckoned others to go and to grow green. "We've got an ambitious goal of getting every hospitality business in Delaware certified for the Green Lodging program," he said. "Reducing environmental impacts while strengthening one's market position is just smart business and an innovative way to attract guests who are concerned about protecting our environment. We are grateful for our strong partnership with the Delaware Hotel and Lodging Association as we work together to achieve that goal of 100 percent Green Lodging certification for the state's hotels, motels and inns." The Delaware Green Lodging Program is a voluntary, self-certifying program that encourages hotels, resorts and other hospitality facilities to understand their impacts to the environment and implement pollution prevention practices. Facilities that meet the requirements receive a certificate and window decals and can display the Delaware Green Lodging logo on marketing materials. In addition, Green Lodging hotels are listed on the program website and are eligible to participate in grant opportunities. Learn about the Delaware Green Lodging program at www.dnrec.delaware.gov This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| Gulf Shores, Orange Beach lodging taxes, occupancy rates down due to BP oil spill Posted: 06 Sep 2010 10:33 PM PDT GULF SHORES, Ala., — The Alabama Gulf Coast Convention and Visitors Bureau released tourism figures today for the first portion of a challenging 2010 summer season, which show a decline not as high as once estimated for the Gulf Shores and Orange Beach area. Taxable lodging rentals for May 2010 reached more than $20 million, a 7.3 percent decrease from $22 million collected in May 2009. Meanwhile, taxable retail sales topped $51 million for May 2010, which is a 4.3 percent decrease from $53 million for May 2009. "In May, our beaches and the public's perception were both in a completely different state," said Herb Malone, president/CEO of the AGCCVB. While June taxes are being processed, hotel and condominium occupancy rates for the month allude to a 20 to 30 percent decrease. Hotels were filled more than 60 percent while condominiums were about 44 percent full. These rates show a decrease of 22.7 percent and 38.4 percent, respectively, when compared to June 2009. July numbers should be available in August. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| Hotel Chains Try Improv and iPods in Training Posted: 06 Sep 2010 04:36 PM PDT Before two luxury hotels, the Andaz 5th Avenue in Manhattan and the Elysian Hotel in Chicago, opened their doors in recent months, both added something extra to their usual employee training practices: they hired improvisational comedy experts. The Benjamin, an upscale business travel hotel also in New York, took a similar tack to help its staff better serve guests, offering them a series of life-coaching sessions this summer. Other hotel brands — including Hilton Garden Inn, Aloft, Homewood Suites and SpringHill Suites — are using devices like iPods and the Sony PlayStation Portable to help with staff training. The courses, which are offered in addition to more traditional classroom and online training, are part of an effort by hotels to distinguish their brand, said Bjorn Hanson, divisional dean of the Preston Robert Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism and Sports Management at New York University. "There are 228 hotel brands in the United States, and the two ways to be distinctive are design and service," he said. "Service can be a great differentiator." Hotels, he added, "are in a period of experimentation. Some brands are employing skills unrelated to the lodging industry to transform service styles and delivery." The use of devices like iPods and the PlayStation Portable in training has a couple of advantages, hotel executives say. The devices appeal to younger employees, who, in many cases, already use them at home. The content is also relatively inexpensive to create. Homewood Suites has spent as much as $250,000 to create a 20-minute training DVD, said Dawn Koenig, vice president for brand performance support at the chain. A 20-minute video iPod training module, meanwhile, costs $30,000 to $50,000, which means it is also cheaper to update and translate into languages other than English. Tom Yorton, chief executive of Second City Communications, which provides improvisation and other training to corporate clients, said "the Web has shaped how people learn." Teaching, he added, "has to be shorter, punchier, more entertaining and more interactive." Second City Communications is a subsidiary of the Second City, the Chicago improvisational theater. The Elysian, a luxury hotel that opened last December, hired Billy Bungeroth, a resident director at the Second City and a freelance improv teacher, to work with employees in sales, catering, security, concierge and other positions. The goal was to foster "intuitive service," said Jennifer Lee, the Elysian's learning and development director. "Service by most luxury hotels is based on scripts. We want our people to have interactions with guests; improv gave them tools that enabled them to be successful with their intuition." The needs of the Andaz 5th Avenue, which opened in July, were different from the Elysian's: Andaz hotels (part of Hyatt) do not have registration desks or traditional employees like porters, front desk workers or concierges. Rather, they employ "hosts," who greet guests as they arrive, check them in and cater to their needs. "Guests come from all angles, and training needs to be unconventional," said Jonathan Frolich, general manager of the Andaz 5th Avenue. Thus, the hotel hired Chicago City Limits, an improvisational group in New York that also does corporate training, to develop a course to improve hosts' communications skills, help them read guests' body language and establish an immediate rapport with guests, said Linda Gelman, the group's producer. This summer, the Benjamin hired the Handel Group, an executive coaching company, to offer a series of life-coaching sessions to 10 staff members, including the general manager, sales and marketing executives and members of the wait staff. The goal of the sessions, said the hotel's general manager, Andrew Labetti, was to help employees "set goals for their lives, set dreams of how they want their life to be." He added, "If we help staff make real changes in their lives, create wellness for themselves, this will affect the guest experience." Marriott's SpringHill Suites and Homewood Suites, an extended-stay Hilton brand, both were pioneers in using devices for staff training, starting in 2007. SpringHill Suites uses the Sony PSP and Homewood, video iPods. Aloft, a midprice Starwood brand, began using iPods to train its staff in early 2009, while Hilton Garden Inn began using the PSP for training last year. Kathy Crabtree, director of design and development for SpringHill Suites and other Marriott brands, acknowledged that one risk of these devices is that they can depersonalize training. "The use of technology is important, but we will never go strictly to technology," she said. Hotels are looking to the new forms of training to "make their learning stick," said Ron Doney, a former Marriott executive who now is president of Think Up Consulting in Greenville, S.C., which specializes in corporate training and advises SpringHill Suites and other hotel brands. "The more engaging and fun training is for adults, the easier it is to recall memorable concepts when they need to on the job," he said. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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