The lessons of the five balls

This might have been a recommended reading, but in fact, it is mainly commenting on one small section in a 2001 book by James Patterson.  I discovered an important observation and a learning lesson on page 20 in a diary entry of Suzanne’s Journal for Nicholas, where a main character describes life.

The character says life is a game in which people must juggle five balls. The balls are called:
1. work
2. family
3. health
4. friends
5. integrity

You keep them all in the air and one day you come to realize that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back.

The other four balls are made of glass and if you drop one of them, it will be changed. The balls representing family, health, friends and integrity if not handled properly can become scuffed, nicked or perhaps even shattered.

Over the past 5 years or so, I have had many people reach out to me in many ways.   The tough global economy,  the indecision of both government and business on how to respond and the ever increasing pace of life in the information overload we now experience all contribute to how we deal with those five balls.

Once one really understands the lessons of the five balls, you have the beginnings of balance in your life.

I encourage anyone reading this to slow down for just a bit, take the time to think and  appreciate the lessons of those five balls and what they represent to you.

Dr.John Hogan CHE CHA CMHS
HospitalityEducators
Hogan Hospitality

Success does not come by accident or chance.

Contact us for assistance.

John.Hogan@HospitalityEducators.com or 602-799-5375

HospitalityEducators.com was created to help hospitality businesses address problems via a training and information resource site to help you increase your Hotel’s revenue, market share and profitability.  With more than 1,000 pages of tips, guides, best practices, strategies, plans, budgets, videos and resources, HospitalityEducators.com is the #1 independent website for hotel owners and managers.  This site can help you solve your problems now!      Read More  

KEYS TO SUCCESS  is the umbrella title for my 2012 programs, hospitality services and columns. This year’s writings focus on a variety of topics for hotel owners, managers and professionals including both my “HOW TO” articles, HOSPITALITY CONVERSATIONS™, Lessons from the Field™, Hotel Common Sense™ , THE P-A-R PRINCIPLE™  and Principles for Success.

Feel free to share an idea for a column at john.hogan@hospitalityeducators.com   anytime or contact me regarding consulting, customized workshops, speaking engagements … And remember – we all need a regular dose of common sense,

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John Hogan is a successful hospitality executive, educator, author and consultant and is a frequent keynote speaker and seminar leader at many hospitality industry events. He is CEO and Co-Founder of www.HospitalityEducators.com , which delivers focused and affordable counsel in solving specific challenges facing hospitality today.
www.HospitalityEducators.com  is a membership site offering a wide range of information, forms, best practices and ideas designed to help individual hoteliers and hospitality businesses improve their market penetration, deliver service excellence and increase their profitability.

www.HoganHospitality.com
Your Hospitality Resource for the Hotel Owner, Innkeeper, Manager and Hospitality Industry Associations.

 

Building Profits – one step at a time | Insights from HospitalityEducators.com

Building Profits – one step at a time

Profit – noun

• a financial gain, esp. the difference between the amount earned and the amount spent in buying,
• operating, or producing something : pretax profits | his eyes brightened at the prospect of profit.
• advantage; benefit

Profitability – adjective

• (of a business or activity) yielding profit or financial gain.
• beneficial; useful
• One of the reasons that people own hotels is for the potential of profitability, both operationally and the
• longer term increase in the asset value.

Like many industries, the lodging segment of the hospitality industry has its cycles.

The global market place has been adding different dimensions with increasing competition and changing dynamics in both supply additions and demand options.

This resource examines 13 specific strategies that are aimed at improving revenues and monitoring expenses. Examples of international currency are included with each strategy.

1.  Create or participate in a sales blitz campaign with your brand, regional partners, co-op or local Convention and Visitors’ Bureau (CVB)

In this day of global choices and at times illogical discounting, the need to keep your hospitality business name and identity visible and fresh in the minds of existing and potential customers.

Working with others in a collaborative effort will increase your market presence and  will allow you to promote your business in professional and synergistic ways.

Sales blitzes are often supported by online, mail and advertising efforts as well.

The full set of strategies is available at http://www.HospitalityEducators.com with the title

Watch this blog for the remaining BUILDING PROFITS Steps and Suggestions

MAKE YOUR HOTEL MORE PROFITABLE   NOW

Success does not come by accident or chance.

Contact us for assistance.

John.Hogan@HospitalityEducators.com or 602-799-5375

HospitalityEducators.com was created to help hospitality businesses address problems via a training and information resource site to help you increase your Hotel’s revenue, market share and profitability.  With more than 1,000 pages of tips, guides, best practices, strategies, plans, budgets, videos and resources, HospitalityEducators.com is the #1 independent website for hotel owners and managers.  This site can help you solve your problems now!      Read More  

KEYS TO SUCCESS  is the umbrella title for my 2011-2012 programs, hospitality services and columns. This year’s writings focus on a variety of topics for hotel owners, managers and professionals including both my “HOW TO” articles, HOSPITALITY CONVERSATIONS™, Lessons from the Field™, Hotel Common Sense™ , THE P-A-R PRINCIPLE™  and Principles for Success.

Feel free to share an idea for a column at john.hogan@hospitalityeducators.com   anytime or contact me regarding consulting, customized workshops, speaking engagements … And remember – we all need a regular dose of common sense,

---

 

John Hogan is a successful hospitality executive, educator, author and consultant and is a frequent keynote speaker and seminar leader at many hospitality industry events. He is CEO and Co-Founder of www.HospitalityEducators.com , which delivers focused and affordable counsel in solving specific challenges facing hospitality today.
www.HospitalityEducators.com  is a membership site offering a wide range of information, forms, best practices and ideas designed to help individual hoteliers and hospitality businesses improve their market penetration, deliver service excellence and increase their profitability.

www.HoganHospitality.com
Your Hospitality Resource for the Hotel Owner, Innkeeper, Manager and Hospitality Industry Associations.

Identity: Your Passport to Success | Recommended Reading from HospitalityEducators.com

Identity: Your Passport to Success

It cannot be easy to find a novel way to write yet another book on self-branding of the individual, but I find that Stedman Graham has found his unique approaches and messages on ways to develop the success to be found in each of us.

With a foreword by John Maxwell and an afterword by Stephen Covey, one has reason to believe that the content between the two has substance and Graham hits the mark.

Using his Nine-Step Success Process, Graham uses interesting and believable examples of his own life on he addressed stereotype cause and effect situations. He offers discussion and reason for thought on how we develop values as the base and center of our identity, as we feel it should be, not as others say it should be.

There are Questions to Consider at the end of chapters, and nuggets of inspiration in shaded boxes throughout.

I find Stedman Graham to be an excellent and precise writer – he gets to the point of his message clearly and with just enough background.

I also consider him to be a strong believer in what seems to be on the verge of extinction – the quality and competency of “thinking.” He offers the proposition that we need to challenge the premise of traditional learning, where we learn to be a worker who finds a job and completes the assigned work. His dramatic point is the observation that so many of us program ourselves (or allow up others to program us) to do the same thing over and over and over again. Is it any wonder that so many people change jobs? Do we really all want to do and accomplish the absolute minimum to get by?

Graham’s nine steps start with the premise of the book title – identity. He states it is essential to be honest with one’s self and he includes inspirational stories by a number of well-known names who hit the mark in their journeys and give us reason to think more about ours.

Graham makes the point that we really only have ourselves to blame if we miss the real hidden identity, resources and purpose that we all have hidden under the surface

Read this short book – find your true identity.

Dr. John Hogan CHE CHA CMHS
Hospitality Educators
Hogan Hospitality

______________________________________________________

Success does not come by accident or chance.

Contact us for assistance.

John.Hogan@HospitalityEducators.com or 602-799-5375

HospitalityEducators.com was created to help hospitality businesses address problems via a training and information resource site to help you increase your Hotel’s revenue, market share and profitability.  With more than 1,000 pages of tips, guides, best practices, strategies, plans, budgets, videos and resources, HospitalityEducators.com is the #1 independent website for hotel owners and managers.  This site can help you solve your problems now!      Read More  

KEYS TO SUCCESS  is the umbrella title for my 2011-2012 programs, hospitality services and columns. This year’s writings focus on a variety of topics for hotel owners, managers and professionals including both my “HOW TO” articles, HOSPITALITY CONVERSATIONS™, Lessons from the Field™, Hotel Common Sense™ , THE P-A-R PRINCIPLE™  and Principles for Success.

Feel free to share an idea for a column at john.hogan@hospitalityeducators.com   anytime or contact me regarding consulting, customized workshops, speaking engagements … And remember – we all need a regular dose of common sense,

---

 

John Hogan is a successful hospitality executive, educator, author and consultant and is a frequent keynote speaker and seminar leader at many hospitality industry events. He is CEO and Co-Founder of www.HospitalityEducators.com , which delivers focused and affordable counsel in solving specific challenges facing hospitality today.
www.HospitalityEducators.com  is a membership site offering a wide range of information, forms, best practices and ideas designed to help individual hoteliers and hospitality businesses improve their market penetration, deliver service excellence and increase their profitability.

www.HoganHospitality.com
Your Hospitality Resource for the Hotel Owner, Innkeeper, Manager and Hospitality Industry Associations.

Insights from HospitalityEducators.com on Learning, Value and Communication

What we want and need in 2012 in Hospitality : #9-11

It is now May, Month Number 5.

We have blogged the first 8 recommendation of what we need and want earlier in the year, and are pleased to share three additional points for your consideration.

Nine:  A Genuine Commitment to Learning and Professional Development at ALL Levels of the Hospitality Organization. 

This includes opportunities for all associates in the organization who are interested in improving themselves.  This could be language, marketing, certain professional skills, and career development.  If opportunities are only offered to a select few, that organization is likely to be limited.  Look at the example of the staff at any Apple Computer/Technology store and compare that to any competitor you can think of.  Which staff has had the opportunity to learn and develop?  What is happening at your hotel?

 Ten: Boost the value proposition

The peripheral surroundings in the marketplace continue to have a major impact on the hotel and restaurant industries. Being unique (not a cookie cutter) and offering a differentiated product is clearly a major keys for success in these competitive times.

The government issued statistics may try to hint at improvements in performance, productivity and job creation, but the millions of unemployed or underemployed people throughout many developed countries remain staggering.  We must make our business offerings appropriate and relevant with the changing needs and lifestyles of our guests.  We must offer consistently the proper experience at our hotels and restaurants at the prices that our guests can afford to pay and the price they choose to pay.

The online travel agencies are blamed for aggressive discounting, but it is the decision of the individual hotel and restaurant to decide their prices and at what value.  I often write on the danger of our industry becoming a commodity that has no distinction and holds little interest from consumers or others.  Competition will continue to increase in marketing, products and brands.  Some of our clients are business travelers, while others are leisure or social travelers.  Even in good times, many companies will be careful to use hospitality businesses that are fair and pricing inconsistent and experience.

  Eleven: Provide Clearer Communications

We often are frustrated by news bytes of partial information and by politicians’ comments that appear so often to be self-serving.  As business leaders and hoteliers, restaurateurs, and hosts, it is up to us to be clear in our communication to our associates, our suppliers, bankers, our clients and all  we deal with.  This means using the tactics in the first 10 items mentioned above.

Success does not come by accident or chance.

Contact us for assistance.

John.Hogan@HospitalityEducators.com or 602-799-5375

HospitalityEducators.com was created to help hospitality businesses address problems via a training and information resource site to help you increase your Hotel’s revenue, market share and profitability.  With more than 1,000 pages of tips, guides, best practices, strategies, plans, budgets, videos and resources, HospitalityEducators.com is the #1 independent website for hotel owners and managers.  This site can help you solve your problems now!      Read More  

KEYS TO SUCCESS  is the umbrella title for my 2011-2012 programs, hospitality services and columns. This year’s writings focus on a variety of topics for hotel owners, managers and professionals including both my “HOW TO” articles, HOSPITALITY CONVERSATIONS™, Lessons from the Field™, Hotel Common Sense™ , THE P-A-R PRINCIPLE™  and Principles for Success.

Feel free to share an idea for a column at john.hogan@hospitalityeducators.com   anytime or contact me regarding consulting, customized workshops, speaking engagements … And remember – we all need a regular dose of common sense,

---

 

John Hogan is a successful hospitality executive, educator, author and consultant and is a frequent keynote speaker and seminar leader at many hospitality industry events. He is CEO and Co-Founder of www.HospitalityEducators.com , which delivers focused and affordable counsel in solving specific challenges facing hospitality today.
www.HospitalityEducators.com  is a membership site offering a wide range of information, forms, best practices and ideas designed to help individual hoteliers and hospitality businesses improve their market penetration, deliver service excellence and increase their profitability.

www.HoganHospitality.com
Your Hospitality Resource for the Hotel Owner, Innkeeper, Manager and Hospitality Industry Associations.