Beautiful, Convenient and Comfortable: The Sheraton Indianapolis City Centre Hotel

The recently renovated Sheraton Indianapolis City Center is located in the heart of downtown Indianapolis. It has over 18,000 square feet of meeting space, including a breath-taking ballroom overlooking downtown. Their largest ballroom is just about 7,000 square feet and breaks into three sections of a little over 2,000 square feet each making it ideal for larger breakout meetings. The meeting space, with the exception of the Panorama Ballroom with view, is located below the lobby, which gives your group privacy and limits traffic during your meetings. Another great feature is Link@Sheraton, which allows guests complimentary access to wireless internet in the business center and the lobby. Keep this convenient hotel in mind for your next business meeting, as it offers ideal space and location. http://www.sheratonindianapoliscitycentre.com/itycentre.com/

Hospitality Leaders Will Need to Adapt To Succeed In 2010 And Beyond

A change in the way business is being done is visible in unemployment rates and radical streamlining of companies. To be an effective leader in 2010 it will require creativity and willingness to change. The hospitality industry has seen a change in what clients want and the way in which leaders need to perform in order to produce excellence in the eyes of clients and department heads. Another component of successful leading is to have the best team possible; this may mean that reorganization is necessary. A good team not only increases a leader’s visibility, it also makes the leader’s job easier. Leaders should also ask for feedback to keep employee morale positive, especially in a still shaky 2010. Each leader should hold each employee accountable and ensure that they are enthusiastic to further ensure success. Tomorrow’s leaders understand that the fragile economy will compel a different set of rules in management. These rules will bring efficiency, creativity and teach leaders to take themselves and their teams to new heights. http://tiny.cc/2DXeO

Fashion Hits the Hospitality Industry in 2010

The year 2010 is sure to be fascinating within the hotel industry. There is going to be interesting new hotels all over the world, including the world’s tallest building and first designer hotel in Dubai. This new hotel is to be completely designed by the noted fashion guru Giorgio Armani. The hotel will be the first of many Armani hotels that will open in key spots around the world. Armani Hotels and Resorts have many other ventures underway including the first Armani Resort and Armani Residences villas. Fashion entering the world of hospitality can only mean great new ventures for the consumers. http://tinyurl.com/yfzytl5

New Marketing Techniques, New Guests?

A new decade has begun and consumers and meeting planners will be enticed by the new hotel trends in 2010 yet to emerge. From a travel and tourism marketing perspective, the needs of travelers have changed extraordinarily in the last year and a half and so have the tools to keep up with these needs. Though demand is likely to increase for business travelers, leisure travelers may be trickier to tempt. The use of direct-to-business marketing as a tool may become the new way to successfully market because it’s used to target individuals. In order to attract leisure guests, properties will need to increase their visibility to customers and may start to target individuals golfing or shopping activities and packages. New social media strategies will abound in the hopes of targeting travelers, but innovation in marketing may be the recipe for success to a profitable hotel business in 2010. http://tiny.cc/82kmv

Hotel Advertising and Marketing Changing with the Times

Technology is continuously changing and has the ability to compel and increase sales in the hotel industry. Last month, during their yearly meeting, the Hotel Electronic Distribution Network Association board found that future technological advances will need to become more flexible to handle the demands of hotel owners, operators and guests. A major problem facing hotel-industry technology is the deficient standards. The panelists agreed that the chief hindrance to standardization is the expense and the cost to maintain just adds constraints. One key growth area for hotel technology will come in the form of cell phone usage due to phones becoming more and more intelligent. Cell phones with new applications will open many doors for hotel owners and operators who wish to promote their properties to specific, willing customers. Latest research indicates that 9 out of 10 businesses will invest in mobile technology in the coming year. The challenge will be making sure their platform provides user friendly help to consumers. http://tiny.cc/GNYh7

Travel Increases In Spite Of Tragedy and Recession

There was a time, not too long ago, when travelers casually sipped from their water bottles and their shoes remained snuggly on their feet when going through the security checkpoint at airports. Now those days are just a memory. The travel experience has changed, and for the worse, since 2001. Despite the changes, travel has only increased in the years since the terrorist attack. According to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, U.S. air travel saw an elevated influx to 769.6 million passengers in 2007, which was 100 million above the amount of Americans that took to the air in 2000. Travel has even continued to increase regardless of the recession. The reasons why more Americans are traveling vary but the price has definitely helped the increase travelling. Other reasons for travel include families being spread out and job related travel. Though the recession may have hurt Americans pocketbooks airplane travel is still being utilized. For more information please go to the following website: http://tiny.cc/GoFIF

Trends Guest Will Come Back For In 2010

The year 2009 is over and done with and now we can all move forward to the new exciting year! In 2010 the hotel industry is sure to see several changes, including countless new and exciting trends. As usual, new trends will run their course and be a hit and some will be thrown out the window as soon as they hit the industry. Some of the most interesting trends continuing in 2010 include innovative art work throughout the hotels and customer loyalty programs. Believe it or not, the bigger of the last mentioned trends is the artwork change. Many hotels have updated their art work, going from the standard black and white photos of city skylines (found in majority of hotels) to the new bright hip art that everyone is falling in love with (such as graffiti art). Countless other hotels have customer loyalty programs and have been offering more perks than ever! Statistics have shown that customer loyalty is up by 19% since last year. With such a success rate, these loyalty programs and new intriguing artwork is sure to keep the customers coming back time after time. http://tinyurl.com/yjls6b4