Are you looking to book a keynote speaker for your hotel, travel or tourism organization’s next meeting or conference?  Do you want a speaker who can address your organization’s sales, hospitality, reservations, and revenue management issues with enthusiasm, energy, and an entertaining style? 

A keynote speaker who has useful, real-world content for your conference participants to take back and apply in their every work environment?  

Do you want a keynote speaker who can really connect with your group and who has content that is relevant, timely, and most of all applicable daily in the real-world?  Someone who knows how to work a group regardless of the time of day, the weather outside, or how long before or after lunch? 

Douglas Kennedy has been a fixture on the travel, tourism, and lodging and hospitality industry keynote speaker circuit since starting in the business 1989 at age 28, preceded by an eight year hotel operations career.  His interactive, informative, and engaging presentation style has reached audiences in 7 countries and throughout the USA and Canada.   When it comes to the lodging and hospitality industry, few keynote speakers boast a resume like Doug, who has presented over 1,000 conference keynote sessions, educational break-out seminars, and customized training workshops that have touched an overwhelming majority of hotel companies and associations throughout North America.

Drawing on content from his now-monthly column at www.hotelmotel.com, which he has written since 1996, as well as his correspondence with readers of the 16 publications he’s written for worldwide, Doug messages are always refreshing.  In additional to the hospitality and tourism industries, Doug has also been a keynote speaker for the healthcare, retirement housing, vacation rental, and call center industry conferences, so he excels in front of those audiences as well. 

If you really want to make sure your conference attendees walk away raving about the keynote speakers, Doug is just the keynote speaker you need to make it happen!

Here is a list of program topics:

• How To Get Lucky Together: Driving Our Own Destiny and Creating Luck For Our Company and Ourselves. This session is an ideal keynote address for any annual meeting of conference themed around embracing positive change, being more proactive, or planning for the coming fiscal year.

• The Politics of Revenue Management In this presentation Doug Kennedy first shares his experiences in co-founding HSMAI's Revenue management association and guiding it for three years as the project manager and board advisor.

• Hospitality Industry Participation: Where To Find The Visionary Leaders Of Tomorrow, And Become One!

• Creating Ordinary Excellence, DAILY! Re-Humanizing Your Guests And Delivering Excellence In Ordinary Ways Through "The Customer Circle Of Life".

• So You Really Like Working With People?  Five Principles For Finding Personal Fulfillment In Service Excellence. 

• Cooking Up New Sales! A Cookbook Of Techniques For Making New Sales With Ingredients We Already Have In Our Kitchen

• Hey, We're You're Customers (and Co-Workers) and We Don't Want To Talk To You Anymore. Capturing Your Prospects And Servicing Both Internal And External Customers Via E-Mail

• "Building Revenue and Increasing RevPar" ...By Training Your Frontline Associates In Fundamental Revenue Management Principles And Tactics".

• Maximizing Reservation Sales Success!

• Management Action Steps For Creating Sales & Service Superstars

How To Get Lucky Together Driving Our Own Destiny and Creating Luck For Our Company and Ourselves This session is an ideal keynote address for any annual meeting or conference themed around embracing positive change, being more proactive, or planning for the coming fiscal year. Participants first discover that luck is not just the random occurrence of good or adverse fortune, but rather something which we can and do impact more often than not.

Part One of the program explores a process for expanding our internal belief systems, and then offers Doug's Luck Improvement Formula as the basis for taking positive actions towards tangible, measurable goals.

• Expanding our belief systems and taking action steps to creating luck.

• Life is an "I'll see it when I believe it" proposition, not the opposite!

• How to expand our belief systems through affirmations, visualizations, symbolic reminders, and re-programming our reaction to change.

• Understanding that belief systems alone don't create luck, and using the Five-Step Luck Improvement Formula as a template for creating our own action plans.

Part Two of the program looks at how we can apply the Luck Improvement Formula to create more "luck" in our businesses, (i.e. sustainable, long-term revenue growth), by taking action to capitalize on specific, tangible opportunities to increase sales and improve service.

While the exact content is customized to incorporate the overall goals of the conference, and tailored for the businesses attending, the universal themes of session are very effective at helping your group drive its own destiny whenever it can, which is surprisingly frequent.

Scheduling Options: 60 to 90 Minutes

The Politics of Revenue Management In this presentation Doug Kennedy first shares his experiences in co-founding HSMAI's Revenue Management Association and guiding it for three years as the project manager board advisor.

The program first explores the historical perspective on the emergence of RM these past 15 years and how it has coincided with record breaking increases in RevPAR and overall hotel profitability. Next, Doug discusses highlights and lessons learned by he and his board during the production of HSMAI's newly-released educational publication entitled: Defining Revenue Management. After interviewing over 40 of the hotel industry's top RM professionals from its leading companies, the authors and advisory board's biggest lesson was that RM is fast evolving from a person into a process. In this section an overview is presented of the components of revenue management as defined by the HSMAI Revenue Management Association.

Finally, Doug shares his experiences and observations that it is not the systems nor the lack of technology that is preventing hotels from actualizing their profit potentials, but rather the people and their corporate politics. Participants are encouraged to expand their paradigms and visions and work collectively as a team to integrate the concepts of profit optimization into all areas of marketing and operations, and well beyond the task of transient channeled management.

Hospitality Industry Participation: Where To Find The Visionary Leaders Of Tomorrow, And Become One!

Participants in this program first look at the characteristics of visionary leaders, exploring how they are both "dreamers" and "doers" and that taking action is the real key. Using his personal stories about legendary hotel industry icons like Howard Feiertag, Bob Gilbert, and Scott Anderson as examples, Doug leads the group through an exploration of other characteristics common to industry leaders, and how all of these leaders participate actively in the hospitality industry. The presentation then covers the benefits for both the company and the associate when they get involved with hotels and tourism associations, followed by an overview of the various local, regional, national and international hospitality/tourism associations available for members of virtually every hotel profession.

Finally, Doug offers suggestions for getting the most ROI for your investment of time and energy in participating in professional societies and associations such as the ones recommended.

Program length: 60 - 90 minutes.

Creating Ordinary Excellence, DAILY! Re-Humanazing Your Guests And Delivering Excellence In Ordinary Ways Throughout "The Customer Circle Of Life".

This session first explores how in the last 15 years the hotel industry training programs have traditionally focused on creating "legendary", "wow", or "outrageous" service experiences, while most travelers say that customer service continues to erode. While it is still important to go above and beyond when guest encounter extraordinary challenges, what most guests really want is simply what was originally promised and expected.

Participants then learn how to train their staff on the concepts of Re-Humanizing Our Guests and having Situational Sensitivity regarding the circumstances, situations and quandaries that guests find themselves in while staying with us. The group then explores how they can train their staff to assist various prototypical "guests" as they journey through the examples of circumstances, situations, and quandaries encountered during each phase of "life".

Along the way, participants learn ways to encourage their frontline staff to not only become more sensitive to special needs, but also to use creative thinking in unusual situations.

Scheduling Options: 60 - 90 minutes

So You Really Like Working With People??? Five Principles For Finding Personal Fulfillment On The Road To Service Excellence

While most hospitality and guest service training focuses on the "how to" component of customer service excellence, such as the interpersonal communications techniques, phone etiquette, and service recovery tactics, little is said about the "What's In It For Me?" from our staff's perspective. This session gives you training tools to help your operations team remember how fun this business can be, despite its numerous challenges, and how much easier our workdays become when we get On The Road to service excellence.

• The important position of "hospitality" on "The Tricycle of Guest Service".

• Understanding that hospitality is more than a communications technique.

• Bringing out the best in others to bring out the best in ourselves.

• Spend your day helping "real people" and you'll be surprised at who you'll meet!

• Building your "Power of Release" to shield yourself from the negativity of others.

• Remembering that the road to service excellence is a joy ride!

Scheduling Options: 60 Minutes to Three Hours

Cooking Up New Sales! A Cookbook Of Techniques For Making New Sales With Ingredients We Already Have In Our Kitchen!

Top salespeople know that they can never get enough training on "sales basics," so make sure your company gets on the road to sales excellence by participating in this fun yet effective training program developed by KTN President Doug Kennedy, who has been writing and delivering sales training for more than 17years. Cooking Up New Sales is an upbeat, fun alternative to "old-hat" sales basics presentations. While still covering the fundamental building blocks of success in all lodging industry sales environments, Cooking Up New Sales! provides alternative sales terminology that is surprisingly well-retained and useful in handling today’s millennium-era callers.

• Discovering your "recipe" for success.   (Know your product and know your customer.)

• Double-checking your list of ingredients, and going shopping if you have to.  (Always strive for a higher level of achievement.)

• Having fun while you sweat it out in the kitchen!

• Finding out what the people you are cooking for like to eat.  (Listen and discover what they need to know to buy.)  

• Using the proper utensils for the cooking task at hand.  (Adjust the sales strategy according to the sales call at hand.)

• Spicing up the meal according to individual tastes.  (Personalized, benefit selling techniques.)

• Adjusting the menu according to all dietary needs.  (Overcome objections.)

• Pacing the meal; eating slowly is better for everyone.  (Control the sales cycle.)

• Serving-up a sweet tasking desert.  (Providing more than was expected or required.)

• Presenting the check with a smile.  (Closing the sale benefits everyone.)

Scheduling Options 60 Minutes to Three Hours

Hey, We're You're Customers (and Co-Workers) and We Don't Want To Talk To You Anymore. Capturing Your Prospects And Servicing Both Internal And External Customers Via E-Mail

No so long ago, returning from a long meeting or rare day-off would mean coming back to a stack of pink telephone message pad slips. Then came the age of voicemail, and the pink slips were replaced by flashing light indicator on the phone. Now the dozens of daily voicemails have dwindled to a few, and so quickly we find ourselves struggling with 50 - 75 - or even 100+ e-mails daily. This session will help you train your sales, guest contact, and operations/management staff to maximize your organization's efficiency and make e-mail their friend.

This session first differentiates between "external" e-mails, such as those from our clients, prospects, and vendors, and "internal" e-mails, from our co-workers and colleagues. Then, specific training tips are provided for selling and servicing our internal and external customers via e-mail such as:

• Why is training on e-mail so essential?

• When and how should we sell and service our customers via e-mail?

• Adjusting your e-mail communications style to "mirror and match" the customer.

• Choosing your words carefully and making sure key points are not missed.

• Organizing your staff to ensure a quick response time.

• Strategies for providing for personalized, customized customer contact experiences via e-mail.

• Using safe, low-risk cyber-humor to humanizing this cold hard medium.

• Being specific on what is promised and precise in the terms.

• Incorporating age-old sales and service fundamentals into your written communications.

• Knowing when not to use e-mail.

• Making internal e-mail work: focusing on efficiency and avoiding e-mail overload.

During this session Douglas will also provide both good and bad "real world" examples of key points, including his own anonymous e-mail inquires to the participating group. Depending on the group size and program length, this program includes an interactive component during which participants practice composing sales-related e-mails using the new techniques.
Scheduling Options: 60 Minutes to One Half Day

"Building Revenue and Increasing RevPar" ...By Training Your Frontline Associates In Fundamental Revenue Management Principles And Tactics".

This program provides participants with useful ideas and realistic suggestions for training the front office and reservations staff to understand the fundamental principles of Revenue Management and how these principles impact our decisions relative to pricing and distribution. It then offers tactical training tips to help the entire sales and service team capitalize on opportunities they encounter every day. In Step One the program covers:  

• Understanding how difficult and challenging it must be for your staff to confidentially quote rates during periods of peak demand; to themselves comprehend why rates are adjusted significantly according to market conditions; and especially to properly explain these perceived "pricing discrepancies" to guests.

• Training your team on the basic principles of Revenue Management, and to understand how and why profit margins vary according to the distribution channel.

The group then explores ideas for taking Step Two, which is to provide tactical training for your frontline associates to help them capitalize on opportunities that are all too often being overlooked such as:

• Eliminating "slippage" from guests who re-negotiate during registration.

• Mastering "Channel Conversion" techniques in order to best-utilize third party electronic distribution marketing channels.

• Upselling effectively at all points of contact, including the initial inquiry and during registration.

• Converting more reservations inquires into bookings.

• Better-handling e-mail inquires and using e-mail effectively throughout the sales cycle.

• Capturing more walk-in business.

• Helping the sales team focus on selling.

• Capitalizing on "after-hours" leads whether via walk-ins or telephone inquiries.

• Implementing your own "Think Strawberries - Everybody Sells" campaign.

Scheduling Options: 60 Minutes to Three Hours

Maximizing Reservations Sales Success!

In this program Doug Kennedy presents his latest sales training tips for maximizing success in the ever-changing landscape that today's lodging industry reservation agents traverse. The content will be based on the monthly column he writes for Hotel & Motel Management Magazine, as well as on his many conference presentations and consulting projects he's undertaken for the top lodging companies in North America in the past year. Here is an overview:

• "Downselling to Maximize Revenue During Peak Demand."

• "Sales Tips For Handling Today's Multi-Tasking Callers"

• "Closing The Sale Benefits Everyone."

• "Traffic-Flow Management Key To A Positive Check-In Experience"

• "Providing The Personalized, Customized Experiences Today's Caller's Want."

• "Building Your Power Of Release When Encountering Negative Guests."

Scheduling Options: 90 minutes to a half day.

Management Action Steps For Creating Sales & Service Superstars

This workshop represents a unique opportunity for managers who are looking to get (or keep) hotel or lodging company’s sales and service levels on the continuous journey onward and upward to success.  Participants get the chance to hear Doug Kennedy address key action steps for achieving significant and ongoing positive results from your in-house training and staff development programs such as:

• Establishing individual and team goals for sales and service success.

• Measuring productivity on a “by agent/associate” and “by team” basis. 

• Sorting-through the myriad of reporting options today’s technology systems provide us with and focusing your staff’s attention on key metrics such as call conversion ratios, average revenue per booking, and total revenue vs. “goal.”

• Implementing an ongoing mystery shopping – or preferably -  real-call monitoring processes.

• Providing staff recognition programs and contests for positive reinforcement and celebration.

• How to create an environment where hospitality and sales superstars will emerge from your existing staff.

• Ideas for conducting ongoing internal training to continuously reinforce sales and service fundamentals.

Scheduling options:  90 Minutes to a half day.