The Best Things to Do In _______: people just can’t get enough of lists

The “Best of” list is a perennial favorite for blog posts, magazine articles, books and TV shows. Top 10 lists, Top 100 lists, 1000 places and now, 1001 ideas: The Best Things to Do In Los Angeles: 1001 Ideas – Cool Hunting. I’d like to work with a client, who has a unique view on […]

Is crowd sourcing design ideas in an online game good business?

Swedish architecture firm, Equator, has recreated a Stockholm site in Minecraft, and invited players to submit designs for a tall building on the site in order to generate ideas of what future urban living may look like. In an interesting twist of life imitating games imitating life, this input is being sought for the firm’s […]

Booking.com reports on US traveler demands

Report on more than 800,000 US traveler reviews confirms hotel marketers’ beliefs about what guests value. Booking.com recently released a report on the demands of US travelers, mined from over 800,000 reviews, and claim that their feedback, “will certainly surprise industry insiders.” Frankly, this claim is designed to capture media attention and drive eyeballs to […]

How Disney uses RFID and Big Data to delight guests and increase profit

If you could deploy a technology that promises to help you improve your guest experience and streamline your operations, would you? For Walt Disney Parks and Resorts chairman, Thomas Staggs, the answer is decidedly, “Yes!” For several years, Disney has been developing a platform integrating radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology with large databases and mobile devices […]

Why hotels are competing to attract customers who may never check in

Adding ‘life in the lobby’ to ‘putting heads on beds.’ Catching on to the trend set by boutique hotels, mainstream media has picked up on the fact that hotels aren’t just for travelers anymore. This Boston Globe “Style” article shows some examples of how hotels are hosting events to attract local customers.

Useful links F&B: May 5 – 11, 2013

8 Lessons For Innovation And Success – via Fast Company. A quick digest of lessons from restaurateur and chef Mario Batali, founder of Babbo, Mozza Restaurant Group and Eataly. Web page contains a video of the interview. Tim Hortons first LEED® certified Restaurant – via Yahoo! Finance. Restaurants have an environmental impact on their communities […]

Commissioning photography: comparing apples..

Photographs often are commodities… As a former management consultant, I participated in countless competitive bids over the course of 25 years. The norm in our business was to submit a proposal in response to a detailed RFP (request for proposals) that set out the client’s requirements, timing and expected deliverables. These projects spanned many months […]