And here's the view from Stateside
Over the past year of writing to you with my news, three of my very good friends, all highly respected British hoteliers, have given me something of a hard time, claiming that they would like to hear more about news from the USA.
So, Andrew Phillips, Simon Henty and James Thomas, I dedicate this month's diary to y'all - as they say in the South.
A statistic on New York hotels: the metropolitan area contains nearly 75,000 rooms in 277 hotels, and is the busiest and most expensive hotel market in the country. Room occupancy was 83% last year and achieved rate reached $206 (£145). A cutback in business travel this last year has dropped occupancies by nearly 7% with no increase in revpar (revenue per available room). You got foot-and-mouth and the USA got a "slowdown".
There has been a lot of talk recently of "global markets" and the fact that, in today's business culture, there are few geographical boundaries. How can we effectively market, develop and compete? The first Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International Executive "THINK" (Travel and Hospitality Innovation, Network, Knowledge) got the top minds in marketing and sales together to debate the impact on our industry.
Among Fortune 100 companies, 37% of Web sites already incorporate a language other than English.
A quick point on staffing: Las Vegas's MGM Grand has developed a $4m (£2.82m), 21,000sq ft child centre, accommodating as many as 330 children, operating 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Travel purchases online here, just to US destinations, will more than triple to $63b (£44.5b) by 2006, according to Jupiter Media matrix.
And to finish: technological advances in the USA still take the biscuit for bringing the biggest competitive edge in a hotel market of "sameness".
Most of you know how I feel about technology in our business. I'm scared that, with the advent of technology and the more we try to compete through it, we will offer less value to our guests.
Let's face it, a good guest history programme is great, but only when the information is placed in the hands of a proactive human being, not a computer. Motivated staff are still the answer to increased competition.
Euan McGlashan is general manager of the Barnsley Inn &Golf Resort, north of Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Next diary from Euan McGlashan: 9 August
