There is no FREE hotel booking This story explains the marketing economics behind how a hotel guest finds and books your hotel. Many years ago, when I managed a large front desk and reservation department at a 400-key hotel, I became fascinated by hotel distribution. I wanted to understand how a guest somewhere in the […]
The Banana Republic Hotel Reader’s Note: The story that follows is presented as fiction. It is inspired by experiences accumulated over more than thirty years in hospitality and organisational advisory work. Events, conversations, characters, timelines, and organisations have been altered, combined and fictionalised to protect confidentiality and prevent the identification of any individual or enterprise. […]
Hospitality Taught me Humility This story is about how hospitality taught me humility. Over the years, I have been part of, or supported owners and managers of, hotels, resorts, restaurants, tourism businesses, and hospitality platforms as they succeeded, struggled, recovered, and sometimes failed. One observation has remained remarkably consistent. Hospitality assets rarely fail for lack […]
The People Who Taught Me This story is about gratitude. The most valuable teachers are not always the most impressive. Often, they are simply the people who leave us unable to think exactly as we did before we met them. I carry many such people with me. Not their titles. Not their positions. Not their […]
The Professional I Could No Longer Trust Not every lesson arrives through success and admiration. Some arrive through disappointment, hurt, and betrayal. This story is about discernment: the ability to recognise that competence and trustworthiness are not the same thing. Competence creates confidence. Trust creates relationships. When I was younger, I believed competence naturally created […]
The Most Admirable Hotel General Manager I Know This story is about how authenticity taught me that leadership begins with understanding who you are. Throughout my career, I have encountered many leaders who tried to imitate others. The successful ones rarely did. The strongest leaders usually possess a deep understanding of who they are. They […]
The Dome in the Pamir Mountains This story is about purpose. Some moments stay with me far longer than the hotel budgets, RevPAR reports, or quarterly reviews I once spent so much time preparing. This photograph captures one of those moments. Just before the COVID pandemic, I stood high in the Pamir Mountains of Kyrgyzstan […]
Hotels + Public Money This story is about how institutional work taught me that trust is built when reality and representation remain aligned. Years later, I entered institutional advisory work. It was a very different world from hotel operations. Instead of guests, employees, and owners, I found myself working with international financial institutions, donor-funded development […]
The Empty Castle This is another story about the “Highest-and-Best-Use” (HBU) for hotels. When people imagine hotel consulting, they usually picture boardrooms, PowerPoint presentations, and strategy workshops. Interim management represents another, far more practical side of hotel consulting. It is often the solution hotel owners turn to when an organisation needs experienced leadership without permanently […]
The Gourmet Restaurant That Happened to Have Rooms This story is about the “Highest-and-Best-Use” (HBU) for hotels. Forget about “location, location, and location” and possibly licensed branding. It’s all about market positioning, and you really do not need a licensed brand for this. The hotel was a little gem just outside the city center and […]