Here’s a very cute article on the evolution of guest amenities, by John R. Hendrie, CEO of Hospitality Performance. My favorite part:

A simple tub begat a Jacuzzi, leading to the Spa.  Ordinary cable television has turned into Movies on Demand.  Lone soda machines were replaced by mini-bars.  Complimentary coffee in the Lobby morphed into a coffee maker, a fridge and a microwave in every room.  Rigid hours for Room Service are now 24/7 with pizza.  Maybe you began to participate in the “bedding wars”, extolling your beds, linens, furniture – actually anything that moves is for sale.  Goodness, I can have my laundry done, a newspaper delivered, and, in some cases, my shoes shined.  If you could only find me a good woman (and some said, “no problem”), I would change my address and become a permanent resident.

I’ve always wanted to start up a site like hotelchatter.com–glad to see someone’s actually doing it. It’s a place where real people can go to post their experiences with various hotels. Seems like a great way to get the scoop on potential issues and great amenities for your next hq hotel. And you can post your views, too, if you sign up for a free membership. It includes a section for "hotel heaven," "hotel hell," and "celebrity scoop," among others. And you can search for a specific property to see if anyone’s given it a thumbs-up or ‘down. Hmm, I have a few kudos to give…maybe I’ll sign up for a free membership and get scooping.

That’s the title of this (I think) totally hilarious editorial in the Library Journal, sent to me by my Capsules co-blogger Anne Taylor-Vaisey. Obviously not a fan of blogs or bloggers–he thinks the word itself sounds like "something you would find stuck in a drain," the librarian-writer, Michael Gorman, would make an excellent blogger himself. A snip:

For the record, though I may have associated with Antidigitalists, I am not and have never been a member of the Antidigitalist party and would be willing to testify to that under oath. I doubt even that would save me from being burned at the virtual stake, or, at best, being placed in a virtual pillory to be pelted with blogs. Ugh!

I’d love to hear more from this guy–beware the wrath of the wronged librarian. OK, back to our regularly scheduled program…

Amazon.com is doing something I think is very cool–and if you’re with a nonprofit doing innovative things to improve the world, I urge you to go for it!

Amazon.com is proud to announce that it is now accepting applications for the Amazon.com Nonprofit Innovation Award, which recognizes and rewards nonprofit organizations whose innovative approaches most effectively improve their communities or the world at large. If your nonprofit is powered by breakthrough ideas, we encourage you to read more about our program and how to apply for the award.

Ten organizations selected as finalists will have a unique opportunity to raise funds and awareness for their programs on Amazon.com. All 10 finalists will be profiled on their own Amazon.com pages, where customers will be invited to vote for their favorites by making monetary donations. The organization that receives the largest amount of customer contributions by the deadline will receive the award, along with a matching grant of up to $1 million from Amazon.com.

To be eligible to enter, the organization must be recognized by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) as exempt from federal income tax under IRC §501(c)(3), qualify as a charitable organization under IRC §170(b)(1)(A)(vi) and have public charity status under IRC §509. The organization also must have been in existence for a minimum of two years and may not have Amazon.com employees, officers, or directors serving as employees, officers, or directors.

Travel Insider David Rowell is sick and tired of feeling mistreated by the airlines, so he drafted this air passenger bill of rights. It includes things like being compensated for delayed and cancelled flights, compensation for lost luggage, and other things along these lines. If you have any suggestions, e-mail him.

Speaker, writer, and consultant Jeffrey Cufaude has two interesting posts (here and here) about change, resistance to change, and the need to overcome that resistance. This is something that has fascinated me for ages. Meeting planners deal with this all the time–that board that won’t try a new destination that’s perfect for the meeting, or a committee that refuses to even think about a format other than talking-head lectures, etc. So do journalists like me, who see the Internet evolution changing their jobs, or at least questioning their role in the new world of information gathering.

Change is hard. I like to think I embrace change when change is needed, and sometimes I do. But when I start getting all indignant about meeting planners who, even after 9/11, even after SARS, still don’t have a plan to deal with catastrophe or an epidemic (and this with all the dire warnings about the potential for the Avian flu to turn into a pandemic that could kill millions–that went over well with my morning coffee today), I have to dismount off my high horse.

It’s hard to admit it, but when it comes to thinking about horrible things and what we need to do to prepare for it, well, we don’t want to think about it. We’re comfortable. It won’t happen in our lifetimes, anyway. It could never happen to us. The excuses are plentiful, and convincing, especially when you don’t need a lot of convincing because you really don’t want to deal with the difficulties of making change happen. And, you know, change could be for the worse, right? Better the devil you know, and all that.

So we continue on our old paths, our old ways, doing things we know work because they’ve always worked in the past. Why change? As Jeffrey so beautifully put it:

Many people seem to attach a state of presumed permanence to things. Because something is a part of the current landscape it is meant to be so forever. Perhaps this brings them a sense of security and balance when surrounded by constant change. And continuity can be a good thing, but it also gets in the way of the natural process of renewal and rejuvenation

We’re not sitting on the shores of the world, watching it go by while we stay safe and dry. Nope. We’re in a kayak shooting those rapids, and complacency–wonderful, comfortable complacency–is self-deluding. Life is change, for better and for worse.

As of this morning, I’m recommitting myself to studying that river, its eddies and sinkholes, its waterfalls and smooth stretches. Then I’m going to grab my paddle and ride that sucker wherever it may lead, because while change is hard, and scary, it also can take us to places we never thought we had it in us to see. Care to join me?

Speaker, writer, and consultant Jeffrey Cufaude has two interesting posts (here and here) about change, resistance to change, and the need to overcome that resistance. This is something that has fascinated me for ages. Meeting planners deal with this all the time–that board that won’t try a new destination that’s perfect for the meeting, or a committee that refuses to even think about a format other than talking-head lectures, etc. So do journalists like me, who see the Internet evolution changing their jobs, or at least questioning their role in the new world of information gathering.

Change is hard. I like to think I embrace change when change is needed, and sometimes I do. But when I start getting all indignant about meeting planners who, even after 9/11, even after SARS, still don’t have a plan to deal with catastrophe or an epidemic (and this with all the dire warnings about the potential for the Avian flu to turn into a pandemic that could kill millions–that went over well with my morning coffee today), I have to dismount off my high horse.

It’s hard to admit it, but when it comes to thinking about horrible things and what we need to do to prepare for it, well, we don’t want to think about it. We’re comfortable. It won’t happen in our lifetimes, anyway. It could never happen to us. The excuses are plentiful, and convincing, especially when you don’t need a lot of convincing because you really don’t want to deal with the difficulties of making change happen. And, you know, change could be for the worse, right? Better the devil you know, and all that.

So we continue on our old paths, our old ways, doing things we know work because they’ve always worked in the past. Why change? As Jeffrey so beautifully put it:

We’re not sitting on the shores of the world, watching it go by while we stay safe and dry. Nope. We’re in a kayak shooting those rapids, and complacency–wonderful, comfortable complacency–is self-deluding. Life is change, for better and for worse.

As of this morning, I’m recommitting myself to studying that river, its eddies and sinkholes, its waterfalls and smooth stretches. Then I’m going to grab my paddle and ride that sucker wherever it may lead, because while change is hard, and scary, it also can take us to places we never thought we had it in us to see. Care to join me?

Don’t you wish there was a brochure for every destination that had as much wit and inside information at this one for Barcelona? A snip:

If you enjoy a good swill and spit, there are few places with a more fruitywithanoaksmokedhintofautumn than D.O. Just reading the wine selection is enough to give you gout…

I love it–brochures with attitude, your time has come! (Via BoingBoing)

Forget rates, accessibility, staff, and F&B costs–according to this survey by YPB&R, both corporate and association planners said the thing about which they are most concerned is “making the agenda relevant.”

We’ve come a long way, babies! This tells me that more planners are looking at their meetings strategically, and at their jobs as more than dealing with logistics. We are entering the era of relevant content, and that is a very good thing.

Update: Rich at the TSMI blog has some interesting things to say about this–check out his take.

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If your attendees are feeling in the chips, you’ll be glad to know that there’s a company that will arrange poker tournaments for meetings. This, I hadn’t heard of before, but nothing surprises me anymore. And, they say, business is so good that they had to open up two new offices.

So, do we give them a hand or what? (Sorry, I just can’t play it straight this afternoon. But these puns are so bad, I feel a flush coming on…)

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According to this article on hotel-online, San Jose is looking at San Francisco’s ongoing hotel labor woes with UNITE NOW as a well-stocked stream from which to fish. And what trout there might be in those troubled waters–San Jose just caught itself the 2,000-attendee meeting of The Organization of American Historians. OAH is moving its event out of the San Francisco Hilton and taking it to San Jose next month. OK, so a 2,000-person meeting isn’t exactly Comdex (then again, even Comdex wasn’t Comdex this year), but it could be a prime catch of about $2 million for San Jose.

I guess San Jose must like its fish poached. But I’m not so sure San Francisco buys this hook, line, and sinker.

John Marks, president of the San Francisco Convention & Visitors Bureau, said he is somewhat concerned about San Jose’s tactics, particularly if they involve paying the group’s cancellation penalty.

"At what point do you meet the ethical question of trying to become a predator, trying to prey on someone else’s business? I have a little bit of concern about that," said Marks. "It is a fine line."

While they didn’t pay off the Hilton cancellation fee directly, "To entice them, [Dan Fenton, president and chief executive of San Jose Convention & Visitors Bureau] said the cost structure took into account the hotel cancellation fee."

We’ve been hearing stories–off the record, of course–about how certain hotels in areas dense with Elvis impersonators have been offering to pay cancellation fees if planners agree to move their meeting from, say, Chicago or Orlando to their properties. Sounds like San Jose is going on the record with its marketing tactics.

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