ON THE WEB HOTELSMAG . COM
THE NEWS
CHOICE ACQUIRES WOODSPRING
hotelsm . ag / ChoiceWoodSpring
Choice Hotels International recently dropped US $ 231 million on the brand and franchise business of WoodSpring Suites from WoodSpring Hotels Holdings , a portfolio company of Lindsay Goldberg . The acquisition will add nearly 240 extended-stay hotels in 35 states to Choice ' s portfolio , creating an extended-stay category of more than 350 properties with existing brands , MainStay Suites and Suburban Extended Stay .
THE BLOG
AIRBNB FEELING THE HEAT
hotelsm . ag / AirbnbSorenson The war between Airbnb and some of the bigger hotel companies has waged on for awhile now : Recently , Arnie Sorenson found himself accused by the home-sharing giant of being “ unwilling and unable to defend your industry ’ s longstanding commitment to price-gouging consumers , depressing wages and replacing workers with robots .” It ’ s a move that shows Airbnb to be on the defensive and feeling the pressure of a regulatory environment , writes HOTELS blogger Daniel Lesser . Capitalist competition is meant to be fair and balanced , and Airbnb and its hosts and users must comply with state and local laws , codes and regulations that apply to traditional types of transient lodging facilities , he says .
THE TALK
WHEN SERVICE GOES SOUTH
hotelsm . ag / ServiceStandardsNow In hospitality , we tend to think of ourselves as experts on service because it ’ s the essence of what we do , but for customers , that isn ’ t always the case . Why do so many companies get service wrong ? It ’ s simple : They get stuck on standardizing service behaviors , says eCornell ’ s Elizabeth Martyn , instead of standardizing a way of thinking about and perceiving customer interactions so employees can make decisions that truly meet customer needs .
4 hotelsmag . com January / February 2018