How people travel and what they seek in entertainment have had a major evolution in the past five years. The pandemic alone catapulted industry outliers into new processes and institutions.
In this post-pandemic world, hospitality professionals can gain inspiration and insight from other experts in the industry by reading some of the many cutting edge books that have come out in the last five years.
From how to improve revenue management to how to provide a better guest experience, here are 11 books about hospitality for hotel owners, general managers of hotel properties, and other hospitality industry professionals.
1. The Heart of Hospitality: Great Hotel and Restaurant Leaders Share Their Secrets by Micah Solomon
This handbook on hospitality management is full of practical advice and insights from world-renowned pros in the hospitality business.
Contributors include Isadore Sharp of the Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts, Restaurateur Traci Des Jardins and Chef Tom Colicchio. It also includes a forward written by Herve Humler, the President of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company.
Together with these important voices, Micah Solomon takes readers on a journey with a common theme: that perfecting the art of customer service is a process. With that in mind The Heart of Hospitality teaches how to provide the best level of service to all audiences, from millennials to boomers and beyond.
Related: Importance of the STR Report for Your Hotel
2. Marketing for Hospitality and Tourism (8th Edition) by Philip T. Kotler, John T. Bowen and Seyhmus Baloglu
Marketing for Hospitality and Tourism focuses on hotel marketing and includes real-world case studies to help hotel brands and hotel managers understand and address current industry trends.
In its recently released 8th edition, Kotler and associates cover what the industry is facing today, including how social media coverage and destination tourism have changed the game.
Kotler, Bowen, and Baloglu are hospitality professors at Kellogg, Cornell, and UNLV, respectively.
Need immediate tips? Read How to Get More Traffic to Your Hotel
3. A Wealth of Insight: The World’s Best Luxury Hoteliers on Leadership, Management, and the Future of 5-Star Hospitality by Rahim B. Kanani
In A Wealth of Insight, Rahim B. Kanani covers everything a hospitality pro needs to know about leadership and management, including:
- How to recruit top-quality employees
- How to market and brand a hotel
- How to create the right company culture
- How to make use of the right room technology in your hotel
Kanani spoke to 35 of the world’s best luxury hoteliers to compile A Wealth of Insight. It’s full of practical lessons and insights on how to manage a hotel to provide top-quality hospitality and customer service.
4. Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect by Will Guidara
In Unreasonable Hospitality, restaurateur Will Guidara (of Eleven Madison Park fame) talks about how to go above and beyond to create an exceptional customer experience — an art that he has perfected throughout his own career.
Guidara discusses his “hospitality-first” approach to business and how every decision should be made with the needs of both customers and internal teams in mind. He covers why it’s important to set the bar high and have lofty goals for an establishment, as well as how to boost and elevate the careers of those around you to build an even better team of employees.
