InnConcierge

Here we are at the end of the summer and the start of the school year: we all better be rested and ready to deal with the New Normal way of doing business and here’s why:
the BIG BOYS, those with a war chest of capital are starting to move…and here’s why: there is just too much supply of everything – cars, retail, airplanes and hotels /Inns, and the BIG BOYS are going to leverage this situation and start making offers that can’t be refused.

Does this mean that Wal-Mart is going to take over the world? certainly not, but it does suggest that the BIG BOYS will be expanding and as they do so, they become better positioned to improve their cross – selling, their integrated marketing, their advertising buy, their SEO, CRM…name it or find an acronym for it and they are going to be prepared to compete more effectively than every before.

Am I predicting that Starwood is coming to make you an offer? certainly not…what I am suggesting is that if you are not Partnership oriented, if you are not leveraging your network, your vendor relations, your associations, your data base…then you are headed for a very long year in 2010…(as if 2009 was not challenging enough, right?)

My notes always have a marathon theme to them – here’s how this theme relates; as I head toward Marathon # 60 this weekend in Michigan – I have 5 races on the calendar between now and the end of the year when I will finish my 50 states quest in Hawaii; my calculation is this – I need to expand my training schedule beyond just the 2-3 bike rides a day, to include some hill work, some more elliptical, some weights – for what got me this far will not be good enough to get me cross the finish line in December and IF I don’t do it all differently, it’s going to be a painful 5 races in 4 months.

Define your New Normal. and do it today!

By Jim Miller