Archive for May, 2010

The Pros and Cons of a Hotel Blog: A Retrospective

May 31st, 2010

In a recent article about social media for hotels, I argued that it doesn’t make sense for most hotels to start a blog. Blogs are time-consuming and challenging to maintain, often starting in a flurry of enthusiasm and then fading over time. An abandoned blog is like frayed carpet in a hotel lobby: it speaks of apathy and neglect and can be off-putting when stumbled upon.

My comments prompted a minor outcry, though notably not from hotel managers but from third-party web marketers, who were quick to point out the benefits of blogs to search engine optimization. Last year, a Hubspot survey reported that small businesses with a blog receive 55% more website traffic and 97% more inbound links than small businesses without a blog.

If anyone understands the value of a hotel blog, I do. It was four years ago this month that I started this blog as the General Manager’s Blog, a first in the industry. Our then-director of marketing, Katrina, came up with the idea, and I’m still mad at her. Nevertheless, I tackled my first posts with zeal, writing in a breezy style that suggested I had banged them out between check-ins. In fact, a great deal of effort went into making them sound effortless. (more…)

An Olympian Brings Inspiration

May 12th, 2010

This weekend the sales teams of Opus Hotels in Montreal and Vancouver convened in Vancouver for the first national sales meeting, which I had the privilege of facilitating. It was a formidable group, ranging from grizzled veterans like Vancouver-based sales manager Phil Renaud and general manager Nicholas Gandossi to fresh-faced newbies like Montreal-based sales managers Marc Barmash and Yves Pouliot. Also present were John deC. Evans, Tom Johnston, and Katherine Evans from the ownership group.

Topics included the evolution of the Opus brand, from the opening of Opus Hotel Vancouver in 2002, then considered a risky and audacious undertaking, to the property being named one of the World’s Best 100 Hotels by readers of Condé Nast Traveler in 2005, and on to the opening of Opus Hotel Montreal in 2007. We also discussed the importance of our vibrant restaurant and lounge scene as a key differentiator to other hotels, of our vision of providing the best boutique experience, and of our corporate values of respect, empowerment and innovation. (more…)