In my line of work, no one hires Aspire to maintain the status quo.  Our work in sales training, marketing strategy or team building, is about change and evolution.  The trick is to help people become engaged in the change and grow through the experience, so that a culture of endless improvement feels empowering and energizing.  Endless improvement…fancy words for more change to come. Sound familiar?  If you are an effective leader...

“Don’t compromise yourself. You are all you’ve got.” Janis Joplin It never amazes me how Starbucks has managed to continue to innovate in the world of coffee, even when discretionary income is at an all time low. They start with 2 cups of happy people, followed by an extra heap of sugar and before you know it you just paid $4.00 for a grande iced mocha no whip latte. Is this insane? What are you really buying? The Starbucks...

Revenue Management continues to change rapidly.  The days of “right room, right person, right price at right time” have long disappeared. Keeping up with the latest trends and keeping staff well educated is increasingly expensive and difficult. Outsourcing a property’s Revenue Management has become a real and viable solution. Today’s hotel guest is savvy, shopping around for the lowest-priced room. The average guest visits five...

Staycation – It must be a word, it made Wikipedia. In fact I am sure as soon as you saw the word you knew what it meant! It has had a powerful influence on our sales efforts. It seems sales managers fear leaving the boundaries of their “back yard” because of the all too familiar, “We are staying close to home this year, no thanks.” “It’s too expensive to travel all that way…” Well it’s time to fight back!! And to do...

I read an interesting article this week about spa survival and thought I would weigh in, as well as see what you all are doing to recession proof your spa revenues. The article can be found at: http://www.hotel-online.com/News/PR2009_2nd/Jun09_SpaDecline.html Dr. Judy Singer is the writer of the article, and it also has great tips from Jeremy McCarthy at Starwood hotels and Resorts, Anne McCall Wilson from Fairmont Raffles Hotels...

The media is killing our sales people and causing hospitality industry burnout!!! The OC Watchdog blog was one of the first to report about the AIG executives “Partying” at the St. Regis near San Diego in October of 2008.  The Media also turned out a story with the headlines; “General Motors Corp. is wining and dining its biggest customers at the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort this week as its executives in Detroit work to keep the...