It's true that many…marketing channels are primarily geared toward reaching current and potential customers, but you should also endeavor to reach another very important constituency through your full-spectrum marketing efforts—your employees.

-Kirk Kazanjian, Driving Loyalty

What ProSolutions has learned about pricing in the last 9 years while doing competitive pricing analysis for hotels is that to capture your fair share in your competitive set, knowledge is power. There are so many factors that need to be considered and understood when deciding to lower or raise your prices. Knowing when to vary pricing to match demand patterns, and when to drive revenue and profits need to be key components of your operating strategy. Building a sustainable revenue stream is built by proper pricing strategies that drive revenue both in the short-term and long-term.

Pricing optimization can be tricky in many cases since the market can change daily, as well as seasonally, and you need to have analytics to make these decisions. When the market started to crash several years ago, profitable hotel companies capitalized on understanding exactly where they sat with their competitive set by focusing on incremental revenue- "found" revenue based on this knowledge.

One of the clearest ways to determine if an email is the best way to communicate with the recipient is to ask yourself if it focuses on who, what, when, or where.  If, however, your email delves into why or opinion, you may want to think twice about sending it.  The recipient only has your words on the page to decipher your meaning, intent, and tone.  Without visual clues or the sound of your voice your message can easily be misunderstood.

- Peter Post, Emily Post's The Etiquette Advantage in Business

A key to longevity, success, and profitability is to stay on top of trends, and it's even more optimal to be the trendsetter.  We do market research and competitor analysis at >3,000 global hotels per year so we witness, see, and hear what initiatives are being implemented and what is trending in this fast-paced, highly competitive industry.  Here's our professional take on the top hospitality trends that you should capitalize on in 2015:

During the planning phase of your presentation, always remember that it's not about you.  It's about them.  The listeners in your audience are asking themselves one question—"Why should I care?"  Answering that one question right out of the gate will grab people's attention and keep them engaged.

- Carmine Gallo, The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs

Said by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe, "The Rule of expectations uses expectations to influence reality and create results." The problems that are encountered are when people fulfill these expectations negatively. Why is this? We all make decisions based on what others expect of us. If you are a clear and precise communicator, disciplined to the point of ensuring your expectations are completely understood both in principle and delivery, then this blog is probably not going to highlight much for you. However, for the many of us in the customer service world, both as a provider and/or a consumer, there seems to be lots of room for improvement.