Doug Kennedy, president of the Kennedy Training Network, has been a fixture on the hospitality and tourism industry conference circuit since 1989, having presented more than 1,000 conference keynote sessions, educational seminars, and on-premise training workshops for diverse audiences representing every segment of the lodging industry. Since 1996 Doug has been a regular contributor to Hotel & Motel Management, and he has written a monthly column online since 2001. For more information, visit www.kennedytrainingnetwork.com for details or e-mail doug@kennedytrainingnetwork.com.

• Email

Upselling creates additional revenue

August 31, 2010 | Article | Hotel and Motel Management | By Doug Kennedy

Many hotels overlook the opportunity to upsell guests to higher-priced options.

Master your telephone mystery shopping program

July 23, 2010 | Article | Hotel and Motel Management | By Doug Kennedy

When properly implemented, mystery shopping reports can help all agents provide a less transactional, more conversational, caller-focused sales experience.

Be proactive; know your product

June 1, 2010 | Article | Hotel and Motel Management | By Doug Kennedy

One common theme of most hotel industry hospitality training programs is an emphasis on encouraging frontline associates to be proactive in anticipating needs in advance and in voluntarily mentioning additional, relevant details. Yet in order to deliver proactive hospitality, frontline associates must first possess a strong working knowledge of their product.

Train your team to say "Yes!" to complaints

April 27, 2010 | Article | Hotel and Motel Management | By Doug Kennedy

It is more important than ever to train your staff to not only welcome guest complaints, but also to actually encourage them.

Train team to offer more than website inventory search support

April 1, 2010 | Article | Hotel and Motel Management | By Doug Kennedy

At the conclusion of a call, agents should ask themselves if they gave the caller information they couldn't have found online.

The telephone is your storefront window

March 19, 2010 | Article | Hotel and Motel Management | By Doug Kennedy

If a hotel does not present a positive impression over the telephone for inquiry callers, many guests will decide to call elsewhere.

Train maintenance staff to be ambassadors of hospitality

February 19, 2010 | Article | Hotel and Motel Management | By Doug Kennedy

When you stop to consider which hotel associates actually spend the longest period of time interacting with in-house guests, it's maintenance or engineering departments. In planning your next round of hospitality training, be sure to consider the important contribution of these employees.

Properly structured incentives motivate transient sales staff

January 4, 2010 | Article | Hotel and Motel Management | By Doug Kennedy

Many hotels have implemented transient reservations and front desk sales training along with processes for measuring transient sales effectiveness, but it is also important to implement a properly structured incentive program.

Lessons from Moscow

December 23, 2009 | Article | Hotel and Motel Management | By Doug Kennedy

As a child of the Cold War era, I never dreamed of a day when I might visit Russia. Yet it didn't take much time after my arrival in Moscow to realize just how special this experience was to be.

Hospitality lessons learned from my mentor: Howard Feiertag

November 13, 2009 | Article | Hotel and Motel Management | By Doug Kennedy

I first started reading Howard's articles in the mid 1980s when I was working in the hotel industry. Whenever my next issue of Hotel & Motel Management would arrive, Howard’s Sales Clinic column was one I read first. I can still recall the name of the very column he wrote in 1987, which inspired my ideas for my own career of more than 20 years.