Key Facts About Hotel Benchmarking

What is needed for the hotel management to optimize hotel performance? Perhaps, the first thing they need to know is what problems and weaknesses they have a moment. The next thing is to design strategy for future development. Yes, in a modern business world it is impossible to survive without having a comprehensive strategy. This is explained by a tough competition in the markets. Hotel industry is not an exception here. It is possible to say that the competition is even tougher in a hotel industry than in other business areas. Indeed, if business owners do not know where they are driving at it is very difficult to achieve positive results, especially if competitors and rival hotels are looking for a chance to wipe them out. Strategy is a protection method. A strategy is about dealing with problems even before they occur. Strategy helps and organization to focus on most important thing and problems both in internal and external environment. Use of a reliable and effective strategic management tool is a must for every company that wants to achieve success. Perhaps, you will not find a single hotel that is not happy to welcome guests. However, the hotel management wants that these guests will come back next time. In such a way hotel creates customer database which consists mostly of regular customers. It should be noted that Balanced Scorecard is so far the most effective strategic management tool used to drive strategy into action.

There is a very simple principle behind Balanced Scorecard. It consists of four categories: financial, customer, internal business processes, learning and growth. Each category contains key performance indicators, which are measures to be evaluated. KPIs represent critical success factors for various business aspects. Having found the right combination of key performance indicators, the hotel management will possess up to date information on current hotel performance. Choice of key performance indicators is the most important stage of Balanced Scorecard implementation. Every individual business has own indicators, and hotel is not an exception here. Lets review a couple of key performance indicators that are widely used in hotel benchmarking.

Occupancy % of rooms. This indicator will demonstrate efficiency of marketing and advertising campaign. If hotel has 100 rooms and only half of them are regularly occupied, such a hotel will most certainly suffer losses because of expenses for maintenance of all rooms. Evaluation of this indicator will help optimize hotel performance and its booking policy.

Average cleaning costs per room. This KPI is related to the first one since all rooms have to be cleaned and maintained while not all of them are regularly occupied by guests. This indicator will help top management of a hotel optimize cleaning costs and introduce some measures that will save costs.

Average length of stay per guest. This indicator will help top management figure out what services guests would need during their stay and for how long (on average) rooms have to be clean. If guests stay mostly for several nights they would need additional services.

Hotels in Bangalore Comfertable Accomodation in South India

One of the newest metropolitan cities in India, Bangalore ranks among the well known IT hubs and booming industrial and commercial sectors in the country. Every year, the city experiences the inflow of thousands of people for a wide range of purposes. There is varied a range of hotels in Bangalore where travelers can enjoy accommodation of high standards mixed with warm hospitality.

Being a well known city, Bangalore can be easily reached from the various parts of the country and the world. It is also a major tourist destination known for its scenic beauty and rich culture. Travelers can select their ideal lodging destination from the various types of Bangalore hotels which range from 5 star hotels to budget and economy ones.

The Bangalore hotels are equipped with contemporary facilities and services. Bangalore is home to plenty of 5 star and luxury hotels which offer modern facilities and services. Luxury hotels of well known hotel groups like Taj, Le Meridian, Sheraton and others are located in the city. In addition to the state-of-the-art lodging facilities and services offered in these luxury hotels, guests can enjoy wonderful dining, business and recreational facilities in the hotel. Some of the well known 5 star hotels in Bangalore include Windsor Sheraton, Taj West End, Ista Hotel, Taj Residency, The Le Meridien, Hotel Grand Ashok and others.

In addition to the luxury hotels in Bangalore, there is a wide range of 4 star and middle range hotels. These hotels consist of up-to-date facilities and services to provide travelers with a great stay mixed with style. Most of the hotels are located in and around the main city center and can be easily reached. Some of the popular hotels where you can book a room are St Marks Hotel, Royal Orchid, Luciya International, and The Capitol and so on.

Adding to these, the city consists of innumerable economy and budget hotels. These hotels are apt for budget travelers which wish to have pleasant facilities and services within the reach of the pocket. The hotels offer almost all types of basic facilities and services. Some well known economy Bangalore hotels are Hotel Geo, Hotel Bangalore International, Harsha Hotel, Nalapad Residency and others.

By providing pleasant accommodation in Bangalore, the hotels in Bangalore add to the charm of staying in the city.

Experience World Class Service in Luxury Hotels New York City

There is no doubt that one of the most visited cities in the world is New York. Being center to almost everything, like art, business, and entertainment, it is not surprising that this city is visited by over 39 million people every year. That is why Luxury hotels New York City is very much in demand to give the proper accommodation to the millions of tourist that visit the big apple.

There are a lot of luxuries hotels that tourists can choose from, all of them vary in one thing or another but the sure thing is all of them offer nothing but superb service and accommodation. You can also be assured that all hotels are equipped with state of the art facilities.

One of the best Luxury hotel New York City is The Carlyle, a rosewood hotel. This hotel is second home to a lot of famous and highly respected personalities. This exquisite hotel is ideally positioned in the Madison Avenue. It offers various great services that guests will surely find very pleasing. They have a state of the art spa facility and fitness center for those who want to unwind from all their stress. They also have an onsite fine dining that serves great food. This hotel also has a high speed access to the internet.

Another pride of the collection of the Luxury Hotels New York City is the James hotel. This hotel is sophisticatedly designed so as to provide a comfort and style to the guests; it features a lot of great services like state of the art technology and guest centric service. They have provided a large stylish room for banquets and meetings. There is also a fine dining that serves good food near the hotel. Surely, this hotel will be able to provide all the services you will be looking for in a hotel accommodation.

The James hotel also belongs to the myriad of Luxury hotels New York City that speaks of luxury and superb service. Its stunning design, overseen by the famous and legendary Jacques Grange that features artworks from famous artists who have been compromised to create unique masterpieces for the hotels collection of great artworks is what really captures the heart of their guests. Aside from its stunning exterior and interior design, it also offers superb hospitability and service, not to mention the world class facilities they offer their precious guests.

New York Hotels – Where Style Meets Elegance

Looking forward to a stay in New York hotels? With the best in luxury hotels available across New York, you can enjoy a hotel stay in utmost comfort.

Exploring Options

As a prominent city of America, New York is a leading name among tourist hot spots. Each year, many people head toward New York from all over the world. There are many New York hotels offering comfortable accommodation in several prime locations across the city. Hotels in New York are usually categorized on the basis of location into the following:

* Staten Island Hotels,
* Queens Hotels,
* Brooklyn Hotels,
* Times Square Hotels,
* Long Island Hotels,
* Bronx Hotels, and
* Airport Hotels.

Offering the best in services and ambience, New York hotels are at par with the leading hotels anywhere in the world.

Getting To Know The City

With the Internet connecting the entire world into a single web, information on almost any subject is available at the click of a mouse button. For the people interested in New York and all that the city has to offer, there are many websites available today offering a host of information. Prominent websites pertaining to New York provide the details regarding hotel accommodation in the city as well as offer information on major attractions as well. Today, there are many well-maintained websites offering a great deal of information on luxury hotels in New York. Along with the information on New York City hotels, these websites also provide details on various other aspects of the city, including information on the following:

1.New York restaurants or NYC restaurants which include many prominent names such as The View, Pastis, Four Seasons, Per Se New York, Nobu, Union Square Cafe, Tao, Le Bernadin;
2.New York shows, also referred to as New York broadway shows, which include shows such as Come Fly Away, Wicked, West Side Story, In The Heights, A Little Night Music;
3.New York tours such as Liberty Helicopter Tours, Circle Line Tours, Grand Central Tours;
4.New York attractions that include the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, Ellis Island, Times Square;
5.Famous New York clubs such as Stanton Public, Pacha New York, Cielo, Club Quo;
6.Prominent New York stores which include Fendi, Gucci, Ralph Lauren, Barneys, Armani New York; and
7.New York city spas such as Tribeca Spa, La Peau Spa, Spa Ja, Great Jones Spa.

Leading websites offer comprehensive and well-researched information on almost every facet of life in New York.

When Only The Best Will Do

Accommodation in any of the luxury New York hotels can easily be sought online. A great many websites offer information on all types of hotels available throughout the city. Among the prominent hotels in New York are The Mandarin, Four Seasons Hotel, The Ritz, Carlyle Hotel, Waldorf Astoria, The London NYC, and many others.

Surveying the options available on the Internet is a good way to decide upon the most appropriate New York hotels for your individual requirements. With many websites offering information on almost everything related to New York, planning for a trip to New York – either for business or for pleasure – is a pleasurable experience devoid of unnecessary hassles.

Hotel Iptv True Unified Communications For Hotels

HOSPITALITY IPTV True Unified Communications for Hotels
IPTV is the new buzz word in the hospitality sector and with good reason as it opens up a whole new world of interactivity and endless possibilities, which ultimately increases guest satisfaction and if designed correctly, will increase hotel revenue. However according to Wowtels managing director, Pietro Casoar, (www.wowtel-dreamwise.com), the Dreamwise IP unified communications system can provide much more than just TV to hotels. In this article we shall explore some critical elements that can dramatically benefit hotel operators by implementing the Wowtel Dreamwise system.

Lets take a look at some of the key points regarding the current conventional technology used in vast majority of hotels today. Conventional TV systems (Hotel MATV) consist of 2 main features:
A limited number of Live TV channels due to the coaxial cable networks installed
NVOD or Near Video On Demand

the technology falls short of providing any additional information and interactive services that may provide any real benefit to the guest and hotel at the same time. NVOD in itself is quite limited and is more than an inconvenience to guests as it requires them to wait for the movie to start, rather than immediately viewing the movie once the movie purchase has been made, says Mr. Casoar.

Standard MATV Technology

The overwhelming majority of hotels currently use standard MATV systems to provide TV to their guests via RF (radio frequency) equipment and cable called coaxial cable which was invented by Oliver Heaviside way back in 1929. Although the cable is widely used in most hotels and is a legacy technology, it is utilized to provide TV channels, NVOD movies and some promotional media. However according to Mr. Casoar, MATV systems fall short of giving any real interactivity or depth to the hotels communications network. What most people dont realise with current hotel MATV systems is that even though the channels come from a digital source, in 99% of cases the channels are actually converted and broadcast in analogue, thus greatly reducing picture quality, adding probability of interference which most of the time results in snow, thus, amongst so many other factors, basically resulting in a sub-standard service compared to todays high standards. Whereas our Wowtel Dreamwise system works on full digital IP technology, bad picture quality doesnt exist in our systems, says Mr. Casoar.

Conventional TV system shortcomings:
Channels are broadcast in Analogue and in standard definition
No High Definition Channels are possible using analogue
Poor picture quality TV channels
Susceptibility to Interference
Lack of personalization for guests
Limitation of the number of TV channels offered
Incapacity to provide interactive features to guests
No capacity to provide interactive e-commerce or marketing

Why use IPTV over the current analogue Hotel MATV Systems?
IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) is a system which Television Channels and Movie content is converted into data and transported through an IP network (a LAN) using either the hotels existing standard copper telephone cables thus eliminating the need for re-cabling or with Fibre Optic or Category 6 cables in new hotels. The digital data is then transported through the IP infrastructure, directly to each room via an IP Set Top Box or IP Television Set and guests can simply access the TV channels and other content using a standard TV remote control. For more advanced usage such as writing documents, emails etc… a wireless keyboard can be used.

What this means is that not only can the hotel now provide 1080p high definition Television and real Video On Demand (VOD), but other technologies such as IP Telephony, Internet and fully interactive promotional services can now be provided to each guest using the same single I.P. network infrastructure thus resulting in reduced cabling and labour costs whilst significantly adding value to the hotels communications system.

What are the highlights that make Wowtel-Dreamwise IP System the best choice?
No limitations on the number of TV channels that can be provided to guests
Provide a comprehensive local and international TV and radio channel line up
True Video On Demand (VOD) with full Play/Pause/Rewind/Fast Forward capabilities
On Demand free movie trailers to encourage movie purchase
Additional local and international Radio Channels (Via satellite and Internet)
Music On Demand (Inc. Music Video) with literally thousands of music titles
Fully customized guest interface and Middleware
Private messaging from front desk to guest
E-commerce and in-house shopping from TV screen
Targeted Direct marketing and Promotions
Full Interactive capability
Personalization services
Online bookings via the TV screen/remote control
Real time weather reports, flight information and other information services
Guests can view their bill before checkout
Full PMS integration for single billing solutions on guest checkout

What are some other services that can be added to the Wowtel-Dreamwise system?
Real time automated IP Security and Monitoring
Hacker detection, Anti-Hacker response and guest protection
24/7 Quality control
IP Telephony and VoIP Communications (including Skype Connectivity)
IP CCTV Security Video Cameras (Including PTZ)
IP Public Address (for security and mood creation requirements)
IP Access Control
IP Intercom
Secure and Encrypted Remote Access
Business applications and Video Games

What are the main benefits for Hotels?
Additional and Increased Revenue Generation
Improved Customer Satisfaction
Immediate Customer Service Response
Interactive Advertising and Promotional Vehicles
Better Market and Hotel Performance Intelligence
Greatly Reduce Printing, Stationary and Operational costs

About the Author:
Andrew Spence is a hotel specialist communications consultant and freelance journalist, with over 35 years experience providing sound advice to the global hospitality / lodging industry.

About Wowtel
Pietro Casoar is the Managing Director of Wowtel and an engineer, who has over 16 years of global experience in the RF and IT industries. He is also the author of several technical papers and presentations relating to RF and IP communications systems. Mr. Casoar is also one of the founders of Wowtel Pty Limited and the Wowtel-Dreamwise system, together with Mr. Vincent Fitzpatrick.

Pietros linkedin profile: http://au.linkedin.com/pub/pietro-casoar/7/165/a61
Wowtel are a manufacturer and provider of full turn-key unified IP communications to hotels, resorts, mining villages, hospitals, retirement villages, serviced apartments, ocean liners, housing estates, government and most major projects. Wowtel operate in the Asian, European and Oceania markets.