Check-In Time

Hotel industry news and insight, direct from the Source

Author Archives: Steven

A Cure For Hotel Boutique Blandness

With the homogenization of boutique hotels and the often-debated definition of what a lifestyle hotel should be, it’s refreshing to find entrepreneurs who are committed to creating unique lodging in this crowded world of boutique blandness.

“It’s not the room, it’s the experience,” is the vision of Austin-based Bunkhouse Management. This unconventional organization operates the spectacular [...]



Room Rate Integrity?

These are tough times in the hotel industry but I am still amazed that “rate integrity” remains a buzzword. I frequently visit the websites of third party booking engines for hotel rooms and routinely find rooms at 4+ star luxury hotels for rates lower than limited-service hotels in inferior locations with smaller rooms in the [...]



Careless or care less?

I recently stayed at a 1,000-room, nationally franchised, full-service, center city convention hotel. From the moment I stepped out of the taxi until checkout time, almost everything that could go wrong did go wrong. I realize that most road warriors could easily tell countless similar stories, but what makes this experience most disconcerting is that [...]



Investment and Financing Issues

We just created a new category within our blog to address issues pertaining to investment and financing for hotel projects today. Please share your thoughts on these subjects!



“Full Service” With An Empty Stomach

I recently visited a 1,500+ room full-service convention hotel in downtown Chicago. At one time the property had ten restaurants and bars. Can you believe there is now nowhere to eat dinner on a Friday night? What does full-service mean? Perhaps the room service staff could deliver food to the bar?



Check-In Time starts now

On behalf of Hotel Source, Inc., I’d like to welcome you to our brand-new blog, where starting today we’ll be serving up fresh doses of “hotel industry news and insight” on a regular basis.

I’m Steve Marx, and along with my colleagues Seth Glickman and Dave Ditmars, will be bringing you a mix of news, links, [...]