Category: Winter 2016

Hospitality Management: Learning, Doing, Knowing

  By Christopher Muller On the first day of my HF 100 Introduction to Hospitality Management class I present a lecture that raises the question, “How Do You Teach Hospitality?” It’s my first Power Point slide and is then repeated as my last slide for the day. I suspect (maybe hope) that this question is […]

Being Lord Grantham:
Aristocratic Brand Heritage and the Cunard Transatlantic Crossing

By Bradford Hudson During the early 1920s, the Earl of Grantham traveled from England to the United States. The British aristocrat would appear as a character witness for his American brother-in-law, who was a defendant in a trial related to the notorious Teapot Dome political scandal. Naturally he chose to travel aboard a British ship […]

Hotel E-Commerce: Navigating the Complex Hospitality Digital Marketing Landscape

By Leora Halpern Lanz It’s challenging to be a hotel market today, let alone one who needs to understand and masterfully manage digital marketing for one or more properties. How do the hotel marketer and revenue manager ride the endless wave of online travel agency (OTA) distribution, commission structures, and rate parity? How much should […]

The Evolution of Dual-Branded Hotels: How the Marriott/Starwood Acquisition Enhances Opportunities for Developers

By Daniel Lesser,Jonathan Jaeger, & Jeremy Gilston of LW Hospitality Advisors® Should the deal ultimately close, the recently announced acquisition of Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Inc. (HOT) by Marriott International (MI) will be a lodging industry game changer. MI is a trailblazer of the dual-branded hotel trend and will be well poised to accelerate this […]

Disruption from the Inside-Out: Innovation in the Restaurant Industry

by Makaela Reinke Opening the door to the highly acclaimed fine-dining restaurant Eastern Standard is akin to drawing back the curtain of a Broadway musical: the lights are dimmed, the music starts, and your attention is captivated by the beautiful set before you. Your spirit is soothed by the muted ruby reds and royal purples […]

The Making of Airbnb

By Morgan Brown Shortly before Thanksgiving of 2015, it was announced that Airbnb had raised $100 million at a valuation of $25.5 billion. That $100 million was a drop in the bucket compared to the war chest of $1.5 billion the company raised earlier in the summer, raised on the back of increasingly strong growth. […]