Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Romantic Anniversary Weekend in Paris

plan your trip France
( photo taken from tripadviser.com)
Your sweetheart is going to be shocked when she finds out that your anniversary present is a weekend in Paris, France. She will love you until the end of time! How to make it the best present and trip ever? Planning is the key to it all. You need to plan out everything, from tickets, to hotel, to romantic excursions, and of course the best restaurants that Paris has to offer. Here are a few tips to help you create the most romantic holiday ever.

Hotel: 

Paris is filled with the most beautiful, romantic getaways, such as L’Hotel on the rue des Beaux-Arts, whose ancient cellar has been turned into a modern swimming pool, or the Mon, a boutique hotel located behind the Arc de Triomphe. A luxurious spa makes it a good choice. Lonely Planet and Tripadvisor are filled with excellent reviews so you can narrow down the choices and feel comfortable you are taking your sweetheart to the best place.

Dining: 

What more romantic place can there be than the Eiffel Tower? Le Jules Verne is a fabulous gourmet restaurant, with classic French cuisine, an extensive French wine list, outstanding service and the best view in all of Paris. It has garnered tons of great customer reviews on tripadvisor. The L’Abeille appears to be designed with romance in mind, with succulent dishes all evoking thoughts of love and closeness to your special lady. Check the travel reviews and book your romantic dinner as soon as you arrive.

Things to do: 

Special Weekend in Paris
Special Weekend in Paris?
It’s a special weekend, so skip the more touristy spots and take your sweetheart on some unusual excursions, such as the Paris Pastry and Chocolate Food Tour. A guide will take you to some of the best pastry, bakeries and chocolate shops in Paris. What woman does not love chocolate? End the day at the Club Raye in the Montorgueil section of Paris, considered to be one of the best piano bars in Paris.

Conclusion: 

Cover all your bases: smooth flight, top-notch hotel, romantic dinners, stress-free tours and chocolate.

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

The International Hospitality Industry Investment Conference: June 1 - 3, 2014

The annual "International Hospitality Industry Investment Conference" may be a mouthful but it signifies one of the cardinal events in the calendar of the entire hospitality sector. It takes place every year at the Tisch Center of New York University. This year's agenda was particularly interesting.

The Tisch Center: joining academia and industry

Jonathan M Tisch
The Tisch Center, in NYU's School of Continuing and Professional Studies, excels at teaching three related fields: hospitality, tourism and sports. It places high value on immersing its students in the inner workings of the industry that exists outside the classroom, in fact all around it, in Manhattan. It is this junction or meeting place between academia and industry that makes the Tisch Center and the conference itself so interesting. In fact, a careful look at the conference agenda reveals a number of other such intersections between apparent opposites. 

Students and leaders

One of the prime motivations of the Tisch Center is to create opportunities for its students to network with industry leaders. The students are able to participate in this annual event that brings together real decision makers around core issues. But the intent is also for the leaders to meet these exceptional students who are well-positioned to assume positions of leadership themselves in the future.

Putting out fires versus predicting trends

Industry leaders want to provide true leadership, rather than put out fires. A conference permits them to step away from the burning responsibilities that currently vie for their attention, and take a long view, so that they can be anticipate future crises and seize opportunities on time. Many of the panel titles were exactly about this. The hospitality industry, like the travel industry, is prone to sudden shifts and tremors in the economic climate. Understanding trends is crucial for success.

Is the economy robust or fragile?

Investors need to know when and where to invest but are currently faced with contradictory economic indicators. Many of the panel discussions dealt with the conundrums of the financial climate.

Consumer loyalty versus fickleness

Today's hotel industry mainstay may tomorrow be passé. Some of the panels tried to examine generational trends among consumers: how to create loyalty; when to introduce new features; changing attitudes to value and luxury; what the customers are looking for and why.

Competition versus cooperation

The conference topics were wide ranging, though very focused on real and pressing issues that can make or break fortunes. One of the most interesting questions is whether the industry is shaped more by competition or by cooperation. Conferences like this seem to prove that cooperation has a much higher value and that all players can benefit by networking, putting heads together, and leading the hospitality industry as a whole towards prosperity and success.

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

No Pain, No Game?


No Pain, No Gain? 

We’ve all heard the famous words intended to push us to our limits when competing in a sports event. For runners, challenges are everywhere and the sweet feeling of victory, not just against others but against themselves, inspires them to go that extra mile, quite literally. 

Most runners, when training, are battling endurance, time, and fitness limits to constantly improve on far or fast they can run. But what would happen to a runner who did not feel pain? Did not get that common resistance from their body telling them to stop, known in running terminology as “Runner’s Wall”? What may happen is an unexpected advantage.

Meet Kayla Montgomery, an 18 year old high school athlete with multiple sclerosis. For those that are not familiar, multiple sclerosis, or MS, is a disease that works to slow the body down, blocking nerve signals to the brain. Many people with this illness end up being confined to a wheelchair, having difficulty with their body movements. Montgomery is an exception.




Defying natural odds, she has chosen to not only continue running, as exercise is recommended for those diagnosed with MS, but to use this illness to her advantage. When Kayla is running, like others inflicted with MS, signals from her muscles are being blocked from reaching her brain – signals telling her she is tired and needs to slow down. What happens, instead, is that she can increase her speed, and continue running longer and faster than other runners. 

Basically, while her competition is getting signals to slow down, Montgomery is not. Without the pain from her nerve signals, she is able to gain a competitive advantage. However, once she finishes a race, she collapses.

Beating all the odds, this unlikely athlete has taken a golden nugget out of an otherwise debilitating illness. She is an inspiration to us all.