Caroline Cooper, author of the Hotel Success Handbook and the Hospitality Business Toolkit presents:

Hotel Business Insight Interviews

“Join me as I interview hospitality industry experts and specialists to reveal their secrets, strategies and insights on
How to Give Your Hotel a Competitive Edge”

Dear Hotel Owner or Hotel Manager

How would you like to have some of the most experienced names in the Hotel Business come and join you in your office every month bringing you their valuable insights and strategies, and sharing their secrets on how you can give your hotel a competitive edge?

Twice per month I host a 35 – 50 minute interview with a different hotel industry expert. The focus of each interview is to learn about their ideas, suggestions, and recommendations for hoteliers so that you can implement the best in your own hotel.

I have a fantastic line up of interviews on the latest hot topics, all designed to give you that edge in developing your hotel business, including the following:

• How to get more PR exposure to your hotel
• How to attract more wedding business to your hotel
• How to boost off peak bookings to your hotel
• What to do to attract more conference and meetings business
• How to set up and run a successful email marketing strategy

Here’s your opportunity to team up with industry’s leading experts and specialists as they share their secrets to help you make a truly successful business and gain a competitive edge.

Scroll down to see who you’ll have the chance to ‘meet’ over the next few weeks

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Dear CarolineI have found your series of hospitality industry interviews extremely useful. I make a point of reserving time in my diary to catch the interviews sometime during the 24 hour play time. Even with many years in sales and marketing I find it helps to go back and check on the basics and in addition to new business you have covered many other interesting and relevant subjects. We started trading at Tottington Manor just over a year ago and the business has benefited from the many handy tips I have picked up. Thank you so much. Sara Calder-Jones Director Skylane Hotel Ltd

Your “How to Give Your Hotel a Competitive Edge” Mentor for September is:

Andrew Foulkes ~ 20th September Andrew joined Le Manoir in January 2005 as a junior sous chef, after working for Heston Blumenthal at the three Michelin starred restaurant the Fat Duck, and Kit Chapman at The Castle in Taunton.Under the guidance of Executive Head Chef Gary Jones, Andrew soon gained promotion to sous chef and subsequently Kitchen Systems Manager. It was during this time that Andrews passion for training, development and managerial skills emerged. In February 2009 Andrew stepped out of the kitchen environment and into an employee development role.In October 2009, Andrew gained promotion to Assistant Manager-Operations under the mentorship of Philip Newman-Hall, working alongside the senior management team, setting and delivering new standards, developing people and teams, and continually promoting Le Manoir’s and Raymond’s ethics and culture. “My ambition is to develop myself to the highest level I can personally achieve. I would like to achieve this through constant development of other people, businesses and communities. I intend, as I travel through my career to eventually own my own business, that will be sustainable enough to give back something to the industry that has supported me throughout my career to date. I enjoy leading from the front, being a champion employer and most importantly developing and mentoring the future talent. It is people who make the industry, and I just want to make a significant contribution.” In this inspiring interview Andrew talks about his own journey to a successful career, what he believes are the key things hotel managers need to consider to get the best from their team, as well as giving his advice to others who want to get on in the industry.

 

Recent Interviews Fiona Robson Fiona is Managing Director of Rocketseed, who are a leading email marketing company with offices in the UK, US, Australia and South Africa handling over 1 billion emails per year. Fiona’s background is in sales and marketing roles in hotels and tourism, most latterly Hilton. Current clients include Thistle Hotels and Malmaison.In my interview with Fiona she will be sharing: What role email marketing plays as a part of a hotel’s overall marketing strategy How to build the all-important email customer database Her top tips on how email marketing is evolving with new technology – both newsletters and everyday Her 4 key criteria for making email marketing effective

Jody Warner Jody has over 6 years experience as an interior designer. Prior to joining Jane Clayton & Company in April 2010, Jody was a director of a successful property development company. She also spent several years designing for Fox Linton Associates, most recently on a complete refurbishment of Piccadilly’s renowned Athenaeum Hotel. Other notable projects that Jody has worked on include Coworth Park in Berkshire and The Dorchester Spain central London.In our interview Jody will be sharing: The four most important factors to consider when planning any refurbishment The two biggest mistakes that hoteliers make with their refurbishments, and how to avoid them How to minimise any disruption during work, and even capitalise on it as a sales marketing opportunity How to maximise the impact and small steps you can take even on a limited budget

Greg Knight Greg is Venue Sales Executive for Conferences-UK, and manages the commercial partnership with the venues, ensuring venues and their clients get the most from the conferencing service.Did you know that 30% of all conference and meetings enquiries go through hotel booking agents? So in my interview with Greg we’ll be discussing: How a conference agency operates and how it could helpyou grow your conference and meetings business How to remain competitive against the big hotel chains Questions to ask before signing up with an agency, and how to get the best from them

Petra Clayton Petra is Managing Director at Custard Communications, and has a broad background in the Hospitality and Marketing industry specialising in hospitality marketing and PR. She started her career at Pelican Restaurants which soon became Café Rouge, then progressing to Princess (P&O Cruises) as the loyalty and PR manager before taking a year out to train as a chef at Leiths and at Tante Marie. Petra continued her training following her completion of a Cordon Bleu Diploma, catering for parties, working in shooting lodges and a local French restaurant.Returning to marketing Petra then worked in several Marketing agencies as an Account Director and Marketing Consultant before securing a post at the Institute of Hospitality as the Director of Marketing & Communications. In 2007 Petra created ClaytonGiles with co-founder Spencer and has recently transformed this agency into a pure PR and Communications agency for the hospitality industry – Custard Communications.In my interview with Petra she will be discussing: The role PR has to play in a hotel’s overall marketing strategy Her tips on how to get on the radar of the editors to increase your chances of getting your name in print What to look out for to ensure you maintain a good reputation online Her invaluable ideas on hosting events at your hotel to raise your profile 3 quick wins for any hotel increase your visibility

Andrew Latham Andrew has spent almost 30 years in the hospitality industry and more recently as an interim Director and consultant. He is MD of ALE Consulting and Chairman of the sales and marketing business, Irun Ltd and Hotels4.biz Andrew has held many senior appointments in hospitality and he has extensive experience in the development and enhancement of businesses. His career includes positions with Grand Metropolitan (restaurants, hotels and pubs), Surrey Free Inns plc (country pubs and hotels), The Royal Household, The Refreshment Department, House of Commons, The Greenalls Group plc (De Vere, Village Hotels, Premier Lodge, family dining and restaurants) SFI Group plc (hotels, pubs, bars, restaurants and entertainment) Andrew will be discussing effective ways of boosting off peak business for hotels to help you: Identify effective options for attracting new business to your hotel Plan how to build relationships with your customers to get more repeat bookings

Kim Neville Kim is Director of the Pink Pumpkin Wedding Design, and works with clients of high budget weddings on the design and planning of their big day, from start to finish. This naturally includes them helping find the perfect venue. Here’s your opportunity to learn what makes a venue stand out and what you can be doing to get your hotel on the radar of couples and planners alike.In my interview with Kim she reveals: How to get on couples’ (and planners’) radar What to consider when conducting the show round to help sway the couple’s decision in your favour Her top tips for securing more wedding business for your hotel

Simon Thompson Simon Thompson is Director and Co-Founder of Conferences:UK, ConferenceVenues.com and ConferencesGroup. Simon is a council member for the Hotel Booking Agents Association (HBAA) and strongly supports Accreditation in Meetings (AIM).In my interview with Simon shares with us: What meeting organisers are looking for so you can tap into the conference and meeting opportunities out there Where to look to ascertain what opportunities exist, so you can market accordingly How you can build the relationship to increase your chances of converting business What you need to check to ensure you aren’t turning business away

Although you can dial-in to listen I completely understand that busy schedules and time zones may prevent you from attending the calls live. Therefore, I am making sure you can hear an on line replay for 24 hours after each interview. This will give you the opportunity to listen within 24 hours, at your convenience.

But to hear the replay, you still need to sign-up below.

It’s free to register, but the value of these calls is priceless. If you to get just 1 extra night’s booking per month it would be worth anywhere between £600 to £2,000, dependent on rates. But I’m confident you’ll learn enough to gain ten fold this value. But it’s yours FREE to listen in to the calls as they are broadcast. All you pay if you dial in is the cost of your call, and you don’t even need to pay this if you want to listen on line afterwards as each interview will be still be available for 24 hours. Just sign up once and you’ll receive details of all the calls. You decide which ones you want to listen in to.

Just type in your First Name and Primary Email Address, then click the “Register me” button to reserve your space immediately

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NOTE: We will NOT rent, trade, or release your information to any third party for any reason – ever.

I do hope you can join us.

Best wishes