Emotional intelligence is the most important skill in hospitality, so why does nobody measure it?

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Twenty years in hospitality including The UK, Thailand, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand. Backpacker hostels to five-star hotels and in all of it, I have never once seen emotional intelligence formally taught, measured or rewarded. What I mean by emotional intelligence in this context is not complicated, it is the thing that makes a […]


Stars On Ice Comes to the Desert

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by Anne Calder The Mullett Arena on the Arizona State University campus in Tempe was an added stop to the original 2026 Stars on Ice tour and sold out quickly. Twelve Olympians performed non-stop for an hour before a fifteen minute Zamboni break. The group number that ended the first half – “It’s Too Darn […]


How Luxury Bathrooms Can Help to Rationalize Higher Rates in Your Hotel

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Guests don’t experience your pricing in isolation. They experience a room, weigh it against what they paid, and form a verdict, usually within the first few minutes of arrival. The bathroom tends to land earlier in that verdict than most hoteliers expect. It’s worth thinking about why. Bedrooms have become increasingly predictable across mid-to-upper-tier properties. […]


The event booking you lost before you knew about it

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By the time your hotel events team sits down to write a proposal, the booking may already be gone. Another venue replied first, and the planner moved on. Event planners routinely contact multiple venues at once. Research from G2 puts the number at up to ten. The first venue that comes back with something useful […]


The 5-Star Review Trap: Why Perfect Scores Hurt Direct Booking Conversion

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Most hotel marketing teams treat reviews like a video game score. Higher is better, perfect is best, and the goal is to climb. It’s an instinct that makes sense and is also, in 2026, working against direct booking conversion. Travelers researching hotels have become sophisticated. They’ve been burned by fake reviews on Amazon, manipulated ratings […]