AS A VOCAL CRITIC OF OUR INABILITY TO INNOVATE, I NOW TAKE PLEASURE IN OBSERVING EXPLOSIONS OF CREATIVITY POPPING UP EVERYWHERE.

What a thrill to see the industry acting irrationally and creatively for a change. Allow me to take off my hat to those that are starting to take some risks.

I believe that they are right but I also believe that we are all to blame for our addiction to company or minimum standards. 

1. Starwood takes whole Executive team to China and then announces 175 new hotels there and Chinese breakfast items chain-wide. They have since taken them to Dubai.
2. St Pancras Hotel is restored lovingly back to British perfection and then does the same thing with the menu.
3. Richard Branson promotes the aggressive hiring of ex-convicts.
4. Hotel Fox in Denmark........hang on a minute. That was done by Volkswagen!
5. Rooms designed by Graffiti Artists.

Here is where our innovation is lacking however.

1. Rooms are fundamentally dirty. Our industry should be pioneering cleanliness through design, maintenance and management. Our space science techniques should be exported to homes and households.
2. Sound & In-room Entertainment. Televisions, radios & telephones should have been advanced technologically to make the bedroom and bathroom into entertainment spaces.
3. Retail opportunities for Lifestyle abound. Beds, linens, carpets, marble & granite innovations are just the start. Restaurant table-tops, china, glass, silverware and furniture are waiting to be merchandised.
4. Employees are in very short supply in the West. We are 12-15 million workers short. Workers cannot get to jobs because borders need reinvention. Our jobs can never be exported. Ourindustry needs reinvention and that can in part come from our employees.
5. Local artists and artisans need to be integrated into all hotels & restaurants. We are in entertainment but we have not yet embraced it.
6. Creativity is not encouraged. In fact it is shunned and relegated to the brand managers, the keepers of brand standards tied to minimums. 

This is an industry that is losing its way. It is being overtaken by opportunists that are licensing the privilege of operating a hotel under a reputable name without the commitment to the philosophy.

Since this Blog was first drafted almost two years ago ( I just found it again), I have been exposed to yet more industry standards glued to the past and to basic minimums, rather than maximums. I have found standards that were ill-conceived, poorly researched and even worse, have been rejected outright.

I am tempted to think back to an era when a great chain was launched internationally with but a suggestion of creativity, a titillating suggestion that the hotels were launch pads for regional character, foreign personality and local touches. As General Managers of these farflung properties in developing countries, it was our responsibility to identify and introduce these small, intriguing neighbourhood winks of local colour. These ideas were often the suggestions from local entry-level employees who were proud of their culture and thrilled that their ideas showed off their country, a piece of their history, their artisanry, their heritage.

The 'Touches of Hyatt' were in my opinion one of the most brilliant advertising & marketing campaigns ever launched by a hotel group which harnessed the innovativeness of thousand of managers and employees and focused their attention on their guests' delight. It lasted for years. It should have lasted forever!

Centralising standards is going backwards.

Leadership, innovativeness and delegation with authority and responsibility needs to be taken to a new plateau. We are a lifestyle industry in the business of entertainment and our theatres need more amusement, greater variety and more fun.

LOOKING AROUND THE DEVELOPMENT LANDSCAPE, MOST GREAT DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES LACK TWO FUNDAMENTAL INGREDIENTS, EXPERTISE & FINANCING.

Isn't it strange that the door to success for so many great projects is closed for two such simple reasons.  Experience & Financing, particularly when there is so much of both around.

As we look around the world at the development opportunities that are in various stages of completion, we realised that there are two major components generally missing from most of the projects. It would seem that those that want to develop but who have not done so before are happy to proceed with the key ingredients in the belief that they think they know what they are doing and the other two will follow. They may well have some major parts in place and then start looking for the Financing.

1. Where. Land owned or optioned.
2. What. Masterplan & facilities plan done either in preliminary or final form
3. How much. Feasibility Study completed & realistic development budget done.

The two major items missing at this point are the Team and the Financing. One thing does not come without the other.

I learned a long time ago that investors invest in People, not in Projects.

And what do we discover is missing in most projects? The Team. The experienced Hospitality Team that has done projects of this scope and magnitude before. A Team that can solve the problems before they erupt, prepare for the next phase, pave the way for success and avoid the mistakes. The people that can manage the project, deal with the General Contractor, the Interior Designer, the Kitchen & Laundry Planner and the Operator. The expertise that can review the Feasibility Study and sanity check the conclusions, support the rationale and determine the market positioning.

Without this, the Investors will not invest, the Lenders will not lend and the project will not get developed.

With this huge opportunity in mind, Axis Hospitality has partnered with a recognised resort residential real-estate development group and a major investment brokerage firm to provide the team and the funding to a select group of solid, reputable developers who lack the most important ingredients to launch their projects.

For information on these critical services, contact Axis Hospitality at,  info@axishotelsandresorts.com

www.axishotelsandresorts.com

THERE IS ALWAYS A NEED FOR INDUSTRY DIALOGUE AND I BELIEVE THAT THE HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY HAS STOPPED COMMUNICATING BETWEEN THEMSELVES.

The need for interaction between Operators, Owners, Financiers, Developers, Academics and the Specialists & Technicians amongst all of them has never been easier but is, virtually non-existent.

They have stopped communicating effectively but it was not a conscious decision. 

Simply put, we have replaced monthly debate amongst multiple experts identifying issues and forming industry positions with annual get-togethers at conferences and summits where the real global issues are discussed in regional conclaves.

At a time in my career, I was given the opportunity to lead the International Hotel & Restaurant Association, the voice of the industry as recognised by the UN and all major global hotel and restaurant chains and national associations. It was supported by only a few loyal chains and was being ignored by many. My job was to reinvigorate the association, increase the membership and develop an awareness of the international issues.

The strategy that we developped to accomplish this goal was to increase the dialogue amongst experts in the various fields that exist in our industry and to focus on the issues that they considered as 'top-of-mind'. The experts that we focused on were the Hotel chain Vice Presidents and the disciplines that surfaced with issues at that time included,

• E-Marketing- Trademark infringement
• Human Resources- Worldwide labour shortages, Education, Flexibility of working conditions
• Security - Terrorism and Natural Disasters
• Food & Beverage- Food Safety, Labeling
• Legal- Hotel Classification, Copyright licensing, Taxation, International Standards
• ......etc, etc

In each area of discipline, we identified 12-15 Vice Presidents that were willing to sacrifice one hour every month or so, or as needed to teleconference and compare notes on the subjects raised. Each group was identified as a Global Council and I, as the CEO of the Association, acted as Chairman, avoiding whenever relevant any suggestion of collusion. We were in fact solidifying the industry's position on the issues at hand and taking whatever action that was deemed appropriate.

With about 10-12 Global Councils of 12 to 15 members, we had about 150-200 senior industry executives from all continents actively involved in a dialogue on major global industry issues.

Strategically, we included Vice Presidents in these Global Councils from member chains as well as those that were not members with the objective of demonstrating value before asking for the sale. Minutes were posted on-line with comments edited by a member and reviewed at the next meeting.

Particularly interesting was that many members who were totally committed to membership having realised the great value offered by participating in this dialogue were unable to pursuade Presidents of the need for membership.

Positions were formed, refined, improved and sculpted until they fully reflected the views of the whole group with careful legal review done by competent, experienced hotel attorneys.

What were the obstacles that the non-members faced with their superiors? Here are some of the major reasons,

• "My president refuses to acknowledge that our company has this problem."
• "Most of our hotels are in the USA. We do not have many properties in International."
• "We do not have the budget."
• "My president is not from the industry and does not understand the intricacy of this issue."

Some of my readers might point to the numerous Annual Conferences & Summits that are organised around the world that bring together panellists and speakers to address the issues and topics of the day. These are indeed excellent platforms for these specialists to interact in 45 minute timeslots but they are not designed to develop industry positions or solutions. That requires more intense study over a longer period, more open debate and, more importantly, no audience.

A teleconference between 12-15 VPs of Human Resources is not in any way used as a commercial, but put two of them on a panel on stage and they will be very quick to promote their companies and totally avoid touching on the issues that are the subject of their sleepless nights. 

Imagine the power that our association had as we sat down with International Organisations with a strong, clear position developed by the world's largest hotel chains, backed by every National Hotel & Restaurant Association in the world. No other organisation has this mandate or the authority.

This dialogue is now non-existent. The issues are growing and being resolved in favour of special interest groups. Major issues are being dropped. There is a vacuum and so very few people know it, except for the 150-200 former members of these Global Councils..........some of whom still tell me of their frustration.

Here are some of the International Organisations with which we had constructive dialogue on behalf of the industry.

1. International Labour Organisation
2. International Standards Association
3. UN World Tourism Association
4. UN Central Product Classification
5. United Nations
6. World Health Organisation
7. World Trade Organisation
8. International Employers Organisation.
9. International Federation of Trade Unions.
10. European Union.
11. General Agreement on Tariffs & Trade
12. Organisation for Economic Cooperation & Development
13. United Nations Environment Program.
14. International Air Transport Association.
15. International Association of Airports
16. .....etc etc

Some of the issues that were discussed or were addressed had huge financial implications to the industry. To those of us in the know, we were perplexed by the apparent ignorance of our industry players and of many major developed nations of the powers and the dangers of special interest groups acting in their interest to develop standards that our industry would be forced to adopt and by which international courts would rule.

It was extremely rewarding to observe the Global Council Security split into three specialty areas. The Council dealing with the issue of Terrorism decided to share their best practices in a controlled environment simply because this was a 'non-competitive' area that was important to the industry as a whole. The evolution of that council's work was fast and very relevant ultimately ending in an agreement to unify the best practices into a manual through and with the assistance of a major academic institution. Whether this came to pass or not would have been an outcome of whether the industry continued to support real global industry dialogue........ or not.

Dialogue is critical to the sustainability of this global industry.

• We can learn from our mistakes and those of others.
• We can share good practices with our neighbours and our competitors.
• We must invest time and effort in this dialogue.
• We must make use of the technology that facilitates these communications.
• We must commit to making contributions to our industry's society.

ANOTHER SET OF TOP TEN TRENDS THAT ARE NOT OFFICIAL OR PUBLICLY DISCUSSED

While industry watchers are looking at trends that are obvious to statisticians, corporate insiders and consultants, here are some cynical trends that are not tracked but which should be, in my opinion, observed & then vigorously avoided.

As a student of the industry, I look at trends from the standpoint of an employee, a brand, an operator, an owner, a lender and a guest.  After some 50+ years working in this industry, I can see clearly and unwaveringly through the billowing smoke and walk right through the shiny mirrors at the slight of hand and clumsy attempts to fool others for short term rewards. Both smoke and mirrors are in high production by many industry participants (not all) as they strive toward short term gains with no regard to the old rules of the game.

1. Fooled you. Owners who contractually agree to product improvement plans to bring their hotels back to a quality level and then delay for as long as they can, comfortable in the fact that they can often find another brand to kick the can down the road a few more years. The result...."you are staying sir.... at a cash-cow".
2. Deceived you. Actually yes, you are right, the floor is not wood, it is vinyl. Actually it is a photo of real wood that is less than 1 mm thick, and no, the wall is not marble, it is paint. The sheets are actually quite old, probably almost six years old.....like the towels. If you do complain, we'll bring you up a set of the new ones. We have about half a dozen for when the VP is here. And no, the sink stopper hasn't worked in 30 years. And yes, 'limited service' is really no service......actually more like 'help-yourself'. The carpet is hard? Well yes, we glued it to the cement........doesn't everyone?
3. Mislead you. Hotels that claim 6 Star status that are self proclaimed in countries or areas that have no classification system or no teeth in the system they have. In some countries, that is known as a swindle, but not here. Fine dining is actually a play on words......with 'fine' actually meaning a penalty. Bon appetit!
4. Goosed you. You are a valued, loyal client and we treasure your business. We reserve the right to goose you however on any and all days where we could replace you with someone less loyal and more naive..... for an extra buck or two. And those loyalty points......they disappear without trace and without notice. Sayonara!
5. Confused you. The pictures in our brochure have absolutely no connection to reality. The Spa is only a Jacuzzi and its out of order. The breakfast eggs are out of a bottle and the toaster doesn't toast. If you had wanted the presidential suite, the bed would have looked like that and the staff would have smiled...... and the only item freshly squeezed around here, is you!
6. Branded you. Yes you are right, the 20 year License Agreement for that brand does not mean that they won't build another sister brand across the street, just that you are stuck with the old one and all your best, most loyal customers will be enticed across the street. That's just the way it works. No we don't use a red-hot branding iron but we might as well!!
7. Imitated you. This brand is unique in that it was an exact imitation of that one there. We all just copy each other. It's easier that way.......no need for research & development, eliminates the need for creativity and makes staffing decisions very easy and training completely unnecessary.
8. Conned you.  The reservation system production level for that brand is indeed fantabulously high, but you have to add in all those guests who heretofore were making their reservations directly which they now love doing to get their points so they can think about staying at the Caribbean Beach resort ..............which has the perpetual 'black-out' period except in the hurricane season.
9. Phony you. I know, I know, all we asked for originally was your name and address but now, we don't trust you. Now we need your business phone, your home phone, your cell phone, your passport number, its' expiry date, where was it issued, your email, your licence plate, the make of your car, the model and year, your credit card number, its expiry date, the secret number on the back, your drivers licence and we promise to keep all this secret. Have a nice day! And still we don't remember your name!
10. Employed you.  I know, I know. We were all very excited when you started employment with us and you thought it was a career and you went out and rented an apartment and bought a new fridge. Well now you know, we borrowed you from your parents for a few months and now the season is over, they can have you back. See ya!!

The one redeeming trend that is returning to our industry which will have a huge beneficial impact on all these contrived trends, is the urge for 'authenticity'.  This is a wonderful word which all constituents of our industry should explore, investigate and vigorously pursue. It signifies genuineness, legitimacy, validity, realism, faithfulness, dependability and accuracy.

Properly delivered, it is genuine entertainment..... it encourages a great night's restorative sleep, a healthy, memorable regenerative meal and a stressless, rewarding people experience. Is that not the industry that we strive to create?

Let's pursue authenticity.........on everyone's behalf!

THE EXPERTS WEIGH IN ON MEASURING PERFORMANCE IN AN UNCERTAIN WORLD. AS IS MY CUSTOM, I QUESTION WHETHER THE EXPERTS HAVE IDENTIFIED THE BEST METHOD

"Measure hotel managers using RevPAR-adjusted budgets". Perhaps the day has come to take the clamps off the Uniform System of Accounts for Hotels and really measure performance based on what is controllable and what is not.

The recent announcement by a major Hospitality Consulting group that Budgets are no longer the best measurement of performance was met in my office with a huge yawn. The arguments are well thought through theoretically and I invite my readers to review the logic here, 

http://www.hotelsmag.com/MembersOnly/webNews/details.aspx?item=23901

The logic is sound in the hallowed halls of academia but, respectfully, does not hold water in the hallowed halls of my School of Hard Knocks. It is also a fine method of demonstrating to the industry that Consultants are indeed a worthwhile entity, providing alternate methods of measurement for management's excuses for not meeting or exceeding budgets.

If I did not make myself clear by this introduction to this new theory, let your imagination roam to the possibilities that exist in measuring the variables of our industry. And variables in one hotel may not represent the variables in another property.

It is my belief that the time has come to use the full power of technology to break down performance on a regular and scientific basis so that management can 'land this baby on a dime'. We have long heard the extraordinary stories from NASA's headquarters of the millimetric precision of their space engineers as they control the destiny of their missions in space. The time has come to use it in our industry.

Hospitality is not space science!!

Space science is 'details'.

Hospitality is 'details'. 

Hospitality is in the present and the future, not in the past.

REVPAR is the past, not the present or the future.

The ability of management to foresee the future and plan to deal with it determines the hotel's eventual performance. Future events are either fixed or variable. Revenues are either fixed or variable. Expenses are either fixed or variable. Measurement therefore of the results should therefore be focused on the variable components because let's face it, what can you do with something that is fixed?

That's easy to say, one might conclude. But some expenses are partly fixed and partly variable.  And some revenues are partly fixed and partly variable. Yes, that is true and who is best at determining whether it is one or the other? Managers.

http://davidmcmillangroup.typepad.com/consulting/2007/07/profit-or-break.html

 My position in this argument is that measuring financial performance uses an antiquated method of gauging the success of a General Manager and is hugely dependent on who does the measurement and by what subjective means. I would make the argument that we now have the methods, the means and the intellect to determine precisely the effectiveness of an operation financially and then start to measure.

Or at least start the measurement of other more important factors such as

1. Guest Satisfaction
2. Employee satisfaction, 
3. Innovation, 
4. Quality Assurance, 
5. Time management, 
6. Community involvement, 
7. Employee performance evaluation & reward, 
8. Employee turnover, 
9. Employee development 
10. Local procurement or Carbon Footprint reduction

.............and other stuff that goes by the inspector's nose as he seeks to impose his accounting-based performance measurements on the whole team.

Think about it!! Because margins in the coming years are going to be squeezed. 

TOURISM GENERATES CURRENCY FROM ABROAD & MUST BE RECOGNISED AS AN EXPORT INDUSTRY.

Most politicians need to be educated to the reality that the hotel industry, to a great extent, generates foreign currency and therefore creates sustainable jobs that can not and will never be exported.

Every country, 'developed' or 'developing' measures carefully its internal and external consumptions to ensure that there is a balance of trade. Too much reliance on the purchase of external goods creates an imbalance that is not sustainable. This hunger for cheap or exotic goods and services creates a vacuum that must be balanced by the sale of local goods and services such as hotel rooms.

A foreign hotel visitor is spending either his own money or his company's money which has a positive trickle down effect on the whole of the local community. This trickle down effect must be looked at strategically as we make improvements in our sustainability factor. 

Several years ago, I was involved in and with Cuba. They were going through what was known as a 'Special Period', that awkward period when the Soviet Union was disintegrating and the flow of foreign goods and painfully needed spare parts from the Eastern Bloc dried up. A time when they had fully transformed their agricultural base from market gardens to sugar in order to trade it for food that they had previously grown...... and gas and spare parts........for and with the Eastern Bloc. 

At about this time, Cuba attracted about 300,000 tourists per year, mostly from Eastern Europe,  Spain and Canada. Cuba decided that they needed to increase their tourism industry and a period of building, renovations and frenetic growth started. By the way, they almost reached 2 million in ten years and have broken that in the years since.

The goal was the generation of hard currency.

As an interested player involved in the management of a couple of resorts in the area of Pilon, I was specifically interested in renovating one of these properties which was a popular but very dated, unimaginative, old dump that was staffed with an attractive hoard of enthusiastic Cubans, the
effervescence of which I had rarely seen anywhere. No wonder this property generated over 60% 'repitentes' or repeaters!!

 As I started the task of planning its' refurbishment, I set in motion a navel-gazing excercise in which I challenged our team to scour the countryside for materials that could be used in this renovation. A way in which the local Cuban community could become involved in the industry of reconstruction and renovation.  A way in which the ultra valuable hard currencies earned could be saved and the local pesos used to reduce the debilitating currency leak in which some 70% + of the renovation & operating hard currency expenses were leaving the country to buy beds, beef etc and, believe it or not, Cuban lobsters (caught locally, shipped to Spain and resold back to Cuban hotels!) This was currency that was needed for the basics, food, gasoline, spare parts, school and medical supplies......everything.

Our navel gazing team uncovered huge opportunities in the Cuban countryside. In fact virtually everything necessary to restore and renovate our crumbling hostelry back to gorgeous. In some cases, the findings were extraordinary and would have positioned this property as uniquely Cuban and fully sustainable.

Our Cuban partners were adamant. "Cuban suppliers were unreliable, goods were inconsistent, production was limited, we will buy foreign and nothing but foreign is good enough for us and our visitors".

The madness continued and the currency leak still continues. But not just in Cuba........it's everywhere!

Fast forward 20 years to today where my involvement in a huge project where 160 million people inhabit a country the size of Wisconsin or Saskatchewan. People who are willing and capable of fine work. People with a history of manufacturing. A country that is desperately trying to develop, now on the first step of the tourism ladder with less than 300,000 tourism visitors per year.

Guess what? Same story. Everything that is good comes from abroad. All the Italian or Chinese furniture and British textiles, the fixtures, the German equipment, the Australian meat, the Danish beer. In comes a dollar, out goes 0.90 cents. 

Is it better? No.

Foreign is perceived as better.

Local is perceived as unacceptable.

This has to change. Particularly in those areas that can not afford the extravagance........YET. Perhaps even it needs to change forever. Perhaps the green movement will eventually gravitate from fresh local vegetables to locally produced furnishings, artwork and music. 

In the meantime, many hotels are virtual 'foreign currency machines' that must be recognised as exporters and encouraged to expand tourism in their region with local attractions and tourism services. 

Now I do accept that Scotch Whisky or French Champagne will always need to be imported but let's recognise that the growth of sustainable tourism products will always and forever have their foundation in the local community and their participation in the provision of goods and services.

The time has come to both recognise the power of the hotel industry as an exporter and to emphasize the importance of buying local.

..........except of course, make sure you have some good Scotch whisky!!

WHAT'S HAPPENING IN OUR INDUSTRY? THIS IS UTTER MADNESS! WE ARE ALL SINGING FROM THE SAME SONGSHEET BUT AT DIFFERENT SPEEDS. WE NEED SOME HARMONISING.

The Big Boys are indecisive, the medium ones are entrepreuneurial and the small ones have the money. This is completely upside down.

It has been an interesting five years for me. In fact it has been an interesting fifty years but there is not enough space for that story here, yet. These five years have allowed me the opportunity to test the waters in three critical areas of our industry.

• Global Participation in Issues
. As CEO of the International Hotel & Restaurant Association, I was in a position to evaluate the interest and involvement of the worldwide hotel industry in its own global affairs and international issues. All of them had a monumental multi-million dollar financial impact on their owners' bottom lines. With few exceptions, these issues were dealt with by Owner/Operators.
• Lack of Corporate Agility. Under a consulting agreement that was relatively free of restraint, I had to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the Top Ten global hotel operators and select the best for a major North African new build, fast-track' project. Then we watched and waited to see them attempt delivery in the little time left. What got in the way was policies, procedures, regulations and other unwritten hogwash that guaranteed that all of the major budget, design and operating decisions had been taken before they officially arrived.
• Indecision. Under a consulting agreement, I assisted an owner to select a major 5 Star operator requiring a review of the Top Five global hotel operators and the Top Three medium or regional hotel operators. The management of this opportunity by half of them was totally juvenile with decisions made and reversed, changed, updated, confirmed and then cancelled; later reinstated and renewed.

Here therefore are the Top Ten Trends that I have observed from this ongoing but fascinating work.

1. Disconnect with International Issues. The major international hotel chains are not interested in global issues largely because they are no longer property owners whose livelihood relies on the bottom line, they earn their money from fees. This reflects a total disregard for their prime clients, their owners. Special interest groups are working on developing standards which will cost owners millions. Big Boy operators have little or no interest at all. International issues have ramifications that far exceed their span of vision which seems to be short and medium term stock prices. 
2. Loss of Integrity. The major international hotel chains are unreliable, indecisive and change major decisions with extraordinary regularity and are rarely if ever embarrassed by
   these indiscriminate 'flip-flops'. Senior executives over-ride other senior executives. Designers over-ride Vice Presidents. Directors do not understand where their responsibility begins and ends. The client is not impressed!
3. Conference-itis vs Growth. Some Development executives seem to be more interested in attending hotel conferences than in doing new deals because they are networking for their next job. Two major brands' executives gave up the chance at two no-risk management contracts  to attend investment conferences in nice places.
4. Company Jello or 'Brand standards'. These are movable feasts that are not standard in the majority of hotels with that brand and are changing as fast as new-hires can come up with new ideas for which owners must pay. Applying them to a property that is almost 50 years old takes creativity and that is where the medium size companies shine and the big boys fail.
5. Lack of Consistency in communications. Medium size operators who hang on to their executives through thin periods deliver on their promises because their is a link between the promise and the delivery. Multiple management layers all communicating with owners is now creating huge volumes of mixed messages.
6. Mis-communication. Think thrice, act twice but speak once. 'Reply to All' is a button that should probably be removed from international hotel chains' development executives who unknowingly share their secrets with their clients. It seems that there is a need for better organisation of communications with the clients, or even a situation in which communications with the client only go through one representative. Maybe there is a need to maintain the link between the development executive and the client after the deal is done.
7. Non- Exclusivity. Geographical protection as it used to be is now a joke within the multi-brand hotel groups. This is an unfortunate development for which there are some creative ways in which both could have their cake and eat it. Formulas exist that could be taken out of the bag and used to allow the operator the freedom to develop while providing the owner with protection..................... but this is like pulling teeth.
8. 'Chin-Dia' Complex.  If it's not in China or India, we do not have time. Yes we all know that these two countries are dominating the attention of everyone whether they are selling goods & services or buying them, but this is ridiculous. Admittedly development in those two countries is like shooting fish in a barrel with each brand announcing 100 new properties of this brand or that in 5 years and then dashing off to the country club to write the contracts. But there are other countries and they are being overlooked, ignored and under-served. The days of lumping ASPAC together need to be 're-thunk'. China, yes. India, yes. But then we need "ROAPAC" or the Rest of Asia & the Pacific.
9. Hook-em and Strangle-em. 25 and 30 year management contracts with 2 X 5 year options do not necessarily mesh with investment timelines which are generally much shorter. Creative ways of providing exit windows have gradually disappeared and a take it or leave it attitude has resulted in the ultimate erosion of brand integrity.
10. Lead with your Worst Product. Back in the day, an operator would start with his best. The strategy seemed to be common to all. Now it seems with a range of brands on offer, keep the best until last. Offer the brand with the least appeal to try and boost the volume of this failing or soiled product. At the last minute, move up a notch. 

Now that I have vented my frustration with the apparent problems, allow me some 'virtual ink' in the development of some real-life solutions.

1. VP/Director Industry Initiatives. The top 100 companies in the world should each designate a prominent, existing senior representative to coordinate their own resources to deal with global issues and the bodies that become involved in these issues. A budget for cost recovery of say $20,000 would cover out of pockets and participation. These 100 senior reps would agree to pool their efforts and pursue the interests of their constituents which includes their owners who are their prime clients.
2. Agility Monitor. To be able to respond to the numerous mixed messages that come out of a multi-layered, multi disciplined corporate, multi-brand giant, I believe that an Owner or Investor Rep that is given the additional prime function of increasing the company's agility for and with its' Owners would be a huge step forward to eliminating these frustrating blunders. Most of our large publicly owned hotel groups have Investor Relations departments to respond to their investors. How many have such an animal to take care of their real 'clients'? The annual convention does not do it!!
3. Brand Standards. The time has perhaps come to more scientifically differentiate what is 'absolutely required' from a 'want', a 'preference' or a 'nice touch'. There are probably a number of other variations. If the brand standards apply to absolutely and utterly everyone, that is probably a small list of basics. If there are exceptions, then it is subjective and not a standard.  Thirty year contracts with a foundation in brand standards that were in place in Year One are unlikely to be current thirty years hence. Does this open the possibility for a 30 year management contract and a 10 year brand contract........... with appropriate geographic protection? I think that I detect a certain flexibility entering the scene but this spoken flexibility is not reflected yet in the ranks. 
4. Close the Loop. The departure of the 'Development' executive at the point where he has inked the deal is short sited and counter-productive. A relationship has been built up through trust, through verbal and written presentations, conversations and negotiations and in most cases, the decision on the brand is made on the basis of this person's personality and perceived character. Through this individual, all communications should be channelled. Through perhaps a quarterly or semi annual review meeting, this still brittle relationship can be strengthened. This relationship, in my opinion is one that should be cherished, polished and nurtured...........not severed or eliminated because of an org chart or job description.

 For assistance in dealing with any less worldly issues, contact davidmcmillangroup@gmail.com