bedding

There’s a fascinating article on Hilton’s investments in information technology in the August 12 issue of Hotels Magazine. Their system is called OnQ: OnQ is the IT centrepiece of a two-year-old Hilton customer relationship management (CRM) strategy – officially known as ‘customers really matter,’ though company wags prefer ‘customers rejecting Marriott,’ Hilton’s chief rival and the only other hotel company expanding at such a pace. The strategy is pinned on the idea that employees with a clearer idea of who customers are and what their past Hilton experiences have been can engineer constant improvement. The system is geared towards meeting customers’ preferences, speeding their checkin process, and in the future may allow Hilton to sell additional value-added products like theatre tickets based on show availability and guest interests.It can also tell the hotel chain when…

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The CEO of USAirways announced the need for new cost cuts next year. Most of these cuts will come from labor. Northwest has labor cost problems, too — although theirs are perhaps even greater because they haven’t used the bankruptcy process to restructure their labor expenses.The interesting thing is that across the board, most of the labor cost savings of the last year have come from a smaller workforce rather than lower pay. In other words, the airlines have done a fairly good job of wringing featherbedding out of the contracts. Southwest Airlines remains profitable even though it is just as unionized as the other major carriers. The difference in labor contracts is workrules. JetBlue, also profitable, has a huge cost advantage in labor. The contract with their pilots is less than thirty pages. The…

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