Wholesale Gold Group has released a video to accompany their latest report.
San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) June 04, 2012
Michael MacDonald and the team at http://www.WholeSaleGoldGroup.com has just put the finishing touches on a video that discusses the “what, why, when, where and how” of precious metal investing. The video report covers subjects such as currency devaluation, saving for retirement and the future of precious metal prices.MacDonald notes that he decided to replace the existing video on the site in order to help promote his two popular information products: The Silver Bomb and the Wholesale Gold Group Gold and Silver Investing Kit: “The video we used to have on the homepage was a person greeting to site visitors. However, I decided that I wanted to show our new visitors that I knew my stuff when it came to gold and silver investing. That’s why our new video is packed with practical tips related to investing. It also complements our free Gold and Silver Investing Kit which goes into much more detail about why precious metal investing is the premier investment of the decade.”
What information does the new video contain? According to MacDonald, the video takes a big picture approach to the current world economy: “As anyone who reads the newspapers today probably finds, there’s an overwhelming amount of information out there about the current world economy. From the potential collapse of the Euro to US unemployment, this deluge of information can make it hard for the average investor to see the forest for the trees. The video’s primary goal is to help people quickly make sense of what’s going on and why precious metal investing is the logical investment for the short and long-term. Because this is so important, we have the video running free on our homepage and can be watched without having to buy or sign-up for anything.”
Those that want to watch the video for themselves should head to: Wholesalegoldgroup.com
Michael MacDonald
Wholesale Gold Group
1-800-227-5866
Email Information
Chrysler stops taking wholesale orders for new Fiat 500 Abarth - detroitnews.com
Just over a month after the first models arrived in U.S. showrooms, Chrysler Group LLC has informed dealers that it is no longer accepting wholesale orders for the new 2012 Fiat 500 Abarth, according to company sources.
The high-performance version of Fiat's diminutive subcompact has been selling as fast as, well, an Abarth. And while customers can still find a few in dealer inventories around the country, those who place orders now will be put on a waiting list for the 2013 model, which is expected to ship this fall.
"I put my deposit down back in March and I found out today that I'm being bumped to the 2013 build batch and now have to wait until mid-September," wrote one disappointed customer on an enthusiast website.
The track-tuned Abarth went on sale in late April. By then, the company already had cash deposits from more than a thousand customers — about as many as it had originally planned to build this year. Fiat-Chrysler upped production to about 3,000 units, but sources said that is all the company's factory in Toluca, Mexico could handle.
Demand for the pocket rocket has been spurred by rave reviews in a number of leading automotive publications.
Most Americans had never heard the name "Abarth" before the automaker aired a steamy ad for the hot hatch during the Super Bowl featuring Romanian supermodel Catrinel Menghia.
Fiat sales were up a whopping 432 percent in the United States last month, according to Chrysler.
"Dealer orders for the Abarth, the ultimate high-performance small car, exceeded the production run of this model for the 2012 model year," the company said in a statement.
(313) 222-2443
Google Shopping Expands Trusted Store Program - Auctionbytes.com
Lost in the major announcement last week that Google Shopping was eliminating free listings was the news that Google is expanding its "Trusted Stores" program. One startup benefited from Google's renewed attention to the Trusted Store program, while another is in the process of suing Google over the badges.
Google launched Trusted Stores last year, and BuySafe filed a lawsuit against Google claiming patent infringement in December. Despite the lawsuit, Google acquired a company called KikScore last month to help it validate online merchants' "trustworthiness" through the Trusted Stores badge. KikScore provides trust seals for small businesses. (KikScore has patents of its own, which might have influenced Google's decision to acquire the company.)
When Google launched Trusted Stores, here's what KikScore had to say
Franky, Google looks to be focused on shipping and customer service issues, but does not really cover some other items that are important to the trust calculation for shoppers and these include:
1) Who is behind the website?
2) Where is the website hosted, is it in a country that has a high incidence of fraud?
3) Who is behind the business that runs the website?
4) Who manages the business and do they have a track record of financial reliability or a propensity for committing fraud?
5) Does the business owner or business have any liens or judgements pending against them?
Meanwhile, the BuySAFE lawsuit claims that the Google Trusted Stores program infringed on BuySafe's patent. The case continues to slog on - the lawyers were scheduled to explore ADR (dispute resolution) in April. A Markman Hearing is set for February 2013, and discovery is due by April 17, 2013.
Last week, Google Shopping Vice President of Product Management Sameer Samat told EcommerceBytes Google would begin giving merchants the option to participate in Google Trusted Stores over the summer. Currently Google Trusted Stores has piloted with only a handful of merchants.
In response to a request for more information on how Google verifies a merchant's delivery record, Samat said, "Unfortunately we can't talk about the specific methods we use to validate shipping information provided by merchants."
Here's a link to Google's October announcement of its Trusted Stores initiative.
China Online Shopping (B2C) Market Report, 2011-2012 - Yahoo Finance
NEW YORK, June 4, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Reportlinker.com announces that a new market research report is available in its catalogue:
China Online Shopping (B2C) Market Report, 2011-2012
http://www.reportlinker.com/p0819460/China-Online-Shopping-B2C-Market-Report-2011-2012.html#utm_source=prnewswire&utm_medium=pr&utm_campaign=e-Commerce
With the expanding of Chinese economy and the growing number of netizens, online shopping sees significant growth in market size and increasing investment activities. The number of online shoppers in China registered 158 million in 2010 and 198 million in 2011.
It is in the report that covers the followings:
Characteristics and status quo of B2C market and relevant policies in China;
Investment analysis of Chinese B2C market;
Status quo and development trend of 6 kinds of B2C websites including general merchandise, food & gift, clothing & bags, digital & home appliances, health care and beauty supplies, maternal & child care.
Operation, development, investment and sales of 23 B2C businesses covering Tmall, 360buy, Yihaodian, Xiu.com, Vancl, Newegg China and Suning Yigou.
Since 2010, investment activities intensively have arisen in Chinese e-commerce industry, which can be attributed to the following aspects. On the one hand, the Internet is increasingly used in business field more than in entertainment area; and on the other hand, e-commerce serves as the optimal medium to combine the Internet and traditional consumption.
In China, e-commerce firms usually thrive from vertical B2C, that is, focusing on one or two market segments in order to grow big and strong. However, some vertical websites have started to commit themselves to becoming big and all-embracing platform since 2010. The shift from vertical type to comprehensive platform can utilize market resources to the maximum and accelerate the process to become competitive. So Dangdang and 360buy, featuring books and electronics, spared no efforts in diversifying its product categories and in entering the fields of clothing and daily necessities.
The rapidly expanding market size of Chinese food e-commerce industry suggests that the demand is extremely large in China. But the industry access requirement is higher than expected, so the industry practitioners that lack advantages in product supply chain and are unfamiliar with the e-commerce service system are easily driven out of the market. On October 26, 2011, casual snacks B2C Ximi.com announced the closure and the CEO revealed that the website was overburdened by high logistics costs.
After the clothing and bag online shopping boomed in China in 2010, it tends to grow stable and is expected to break RMB100 billion in 2012.
According to the data from Tmall.com, the largest B2C portal in China, from January to November of 2011, the total online retail sales of large home appliances was nearly quintupled over the same period of the previous year, with growth rate far exceeding that of traditional retailing market, of which, the online transaction for home appliances in the second and third-tier cities saw the fastest growth rate. Consumers in the second and third-tier cities may not be able to purchase the latest products in local shopping mall, and the online shopping breaks through geographical boundaries, so the consumers can easily buy the latest electrical products as long as they can be reached by express delivery service. More manufacturers choose Tmall.com to release their new products, which also helps boost the sales in the second and third-tier cities.
In 2010, the drug retail market size in China approximated RMB173.9 billion, with online sales of just over RMB100 million, while the sales of online drug stores in the United States accounted for nearly 30% of the entire drug distribution industry, from which it can be seen the Chinese drug B2C market enjoys great development potential.
Table of Contents
1 Overview of Chinese B2C Market
1.1 Definition of B2C
1.2 Integrated B2C and Vertical B2C
1.3 Market Features
2. Development Environment of Chinese B2C Market
2.1 Large Number of Internet Users Help B2C Market Development
2.2 Logistics Distribution being a Hindrance to B2C Market Development
2.3 Related Policies
3 Current Development of Chinese B2C Market
3.1 Development Scale
3.2 Competition Pattern
3.3 Market Layout
3.4 Investments
4 Integrated B2C Portals
4.1 Overview
4.2 Tmall.com
4.2.1 Profile
4.2.2 Operation
4.3 Dangdang.com
4.3.1 Profile
4.3.2 Operation
4.3.3 Logistics
4.4 360buy.com
4.4.1 Profile
4.4.2 Operation
4.4.3 Logistics
4.5 Amazon.cn
4.5.1 Profile
4.5.2 Operation
4.5.3 Logistics
4.5.4 Open Platform
4.6 Yihaodian.com
4.6.1 Profile
4.6.2 Operation
4.7 Xiu.com
4.7.1 Profile
4.7.2 Operation
4.8 M18.com
4.8.1 Profile
4.8.2 Operation
5 Food and Gift B2C Portals
5.1 Overview
5.2 Womai.com
5.2.1 Profile
5.2.2 Operation
5.3 Yesmywine.com
5.3.1 Profile
5.3.2 Operation
5.4 Kadang.com
5.4.1 Profile
5.4.2 Operation
6 Clothing and Bag B2C Portals
6.1 Overview
6.2 VANCL.com
6.2.1 Profile
6.2.2 Operation
6.2.3 Logistics
6.2.4 Promotion Strategy
6.3 Mbaobao.com
6.3.1 Profile
6.3.2 Operation
6.4 Zbird.com
6.4.1 Profile
6.4.2 Operation
6.5 Vipshop.com
6.5.1 Profile
6.5.2 Operation
6.5.3 Logistics
6.5.4 Profit Model
7 Digital and Home Appliance B2C Portals
7.1 Overview
7.2 Newegg.com.cn
7.2.1 Profile
7.2.2 Operation
7.3 Lusen.com
7.3.1 Profile
7.3.2 Operation
7.4 139shop.com
7.4.1 Profile
7.4.2 Operation
7.5 Coo8.com
7.5.1 Profile
7.5.2 Operation
7.6 Suning.com
7.6.1 Profile
7.6.2 Operation
8 Health and Beauty B2C Portals
8.1 Overview
8.2 Jxdyf.com
8.2.1 Profile
8.2.2 Operation
8.3 Lafaso.com
8.3.1 Profile
8.3.2 Operation
9 Infant Supplies B2C Portals
9.1 Overview
9.2 Redbaby.com.cn
9.2.1 Profile
9.2.2 Operation
9.3 Lvhezi.com
9.3.1 Profile
9.3.2 Operation
Selected Charts
Industrial Chain of B2C
Subscribers of Online Shopping in China, 2007-2014E
Penetration of Online Shopping Subscribers in China, 2009-2014E
Revenue of Online Shopping Express Delivery Market in China, 2007-2012E
Policies concerning Online Shopping
Transaction Size of B2C Market in China, 2009-2011
Number of Online Retail Businesses in China, 2007-2012E
B2C Market Share Distribution in China, H1 2011
Top 10 B2C Portals by Subscribers in China, 2011
Penetration of B2C Portals in China, 2010
Geographical Distribution of E-commerce Firms in China, 2011
Investments in E-commerce Market in China, 2005-2011
Investment Cases in E-commerce Market in China, 2005-2011
Financing of B2C Companies in China, H1 2011
Sales Comparison of Platform and Integrated B2C Portals, 2004-2011
Sales of Tmall.com, 2008-2011
Sales of Tmall.com by Month, 2010-2011
Sales of Tmall.com by Sector, 2011
Sales Breakdown of Tmall.com by Sector, 2011
Sales of Clothing and Bags of Tmall.com by Month, 2011
Sales of Household Goods of Tmall.com by Month, 2011
Sales of Automotive and Sports Articles of Tmall.com by Month, 2011
Sales of Skincare and Cosmetics of Tmall.com by Month, 2011
Sales of Food and Health Products of Tmall.com by Month, 2011
Sales of Digital and Home Appliances of Tmall.com by Month, 2011
Sales of Maternal and Baby Products of Tmall.com by Month, 2011
Venture Capital Obtained by Dangdang.com
Sales of Dangdang.com, 2008-2011
Operating Revenue Breakdown of Dangdang.com, 2010-2011
Operating Expenses of Dangdang.com, 2010-2011
Gross Profit of Dangdang.com, 2008-2011
Gross Margin of Dangdang.com, 2010-2011
Net Income of Dangdang.com, 2008-2011
Growth Rate of General Merchandise Business of Dangdang.com, 2010-2011
Number of Digital Goods of Dangdang.com, 2011
Range of E-book Prices of Dangdang.com, 2011
Distribution of E-book Discount of Dangdang.com, 2011
Sales of 360buy.com, 2004-2011
Daily Order Volume of 360buy.com, 2005-2011
Overview of Operation Center of Amazon.cn
Development History of Yihaodian.com
Sales of Yihaodian.com, 2008-2011
Sales of Xiu.com, 2009-2011
Sales of M18.com,2006-2011
Sales Comparison of Food and Gift B2C Portals, 2004-2011
Venture Capital Obtained by Yesmywine.com
Sales of Yesmywine.com, 2008-2011
Sales of Kadang.com, 2006-2010
Sales Comparison of Clothing and Bag B2C Portals, 2004-2011
Sales of VANCL.com, 2008-2011
Sales of Mbaobao.com, 2008-2011
Sales of Zbird.com, 2006-2011
Number of Registered Users of Vipshop.com, 2009-2011
Number of Active Users of Vipshop.com, 2009-2011
Number of Repeat Users of Vipshop.com, 2009-2011
Sales of Vipshop.com, 2008-2011
Gross Profit of Vipshop.com, 2008-2011
Gross Margin of Vipshop.com, 2009-2011
Sales Comparison of Digital and Home Appliance B2C Portals, 2004-2011
Sales of Newegg.com.cn, 2004-2011
Sales of Lusen.com, 2006-2011
Partners of 139shop.com
Sales of 139shop.com, 2006-2011
Sales of Coo8.com, 2007-2011
Sales of Suning.com, 2010-2012E
Sales of Jxdyf.com, 2008-2011
Sales of Lafaso.com, 2009-2011
Venture Capital Obtained by Redbaby.com.cn
Sales of Redbaby.com.cn, 2005-2011
Sales of Lvhezi.com, 2009-2011
To order this report:
e-Commerce Industry: China Online Shopping (B2C) Market Report, 2011-2012
Check our Industry Analysis and Insights
__________________________
Contact Nicolas: nbo@reportlinker.com
US: (805)-652-2626
Intl: +1 805-652-2626
Shopping and dining while having their lives saved! - Examiner
I was at the Coconut Grove Gallery Walk this past weekend and noticed a lady walking with an oxygen tank, it was unobtrusive except for the hose going up to her nose. I didn't ask, but after we engaged in conversation (we all do at gallery walks), she mentioned she was in Miami, visiting from Central America, because she was here for medical treatment. She was seeing an oncologist and getting treatment at one of the local hospitals.
What I found interesting was that while here, she was enjoying the art at the Gallery Walk and also visiting restaurants, shopping malls and spending money on a hotel stay while here for her treatment; and she had her whole family with her, all here enjoying what the city has to offer, spending money and having her live literally saved in the process!
Tourism was way up in Miami in 2011 thanks in large part to a 7.2 percent increase in international visitors to 6.5 million. But how many were here not so much to enjoy the sand, sun and fun, but for medical treatment? Many! That's quite a large chunk of the tourism budget.
Large amounts of money flood the area in the form of medical tourism and many people in the know, cater to these special clients. An unknown aspect of medical tourism is that the tourists pay for their own medical care, they don't use medical insurance, and in the process, they not only spend money on hospitals, doctors and medical treatment, but they spend money on hotel stays, restaurant, shopping and more and the patient usually has family members along for the duration.
Navigating the US healthcare system is no simple feat, even for us Americans. Patients needs much needed medical treatment, but how do they begin? This is where medical concierge companies come into play, like <a href="http://www.ornoa.com/">ORNOA</a> (Oncology Referral Network of America).
ORNOA is a patient navigation service developed by Miamian Maria Freed. They've treated over 500 patients in almost two years.
"We provide patient navigation services for these members, and also direct patients to non-members because the goal is to match the patient to the most appropriate provider in South Florida. In light of the continued loss of professional income and the impending 27.4% reduction in Medicare reimbursement , local private practice physicians are starting to pay attention to the international market," says Maria.
In the last 18 months, 70% of the patients have been insured, and 30% were self pays. Medical concierge services negotiate fees for patients that have no insurance. Physicians are attracted to international cases because they offer higher reimbursement than Medicare or Medicaid local patients. In Miami Dade 1/3 of residents have no insurance coverage.
International health insurance carriers are looking for value, and no longer automatically refer to the big hospitals in South Florida, because they deem their fees as too high and service offered to their patients is not optimum. Medical Tourism continues to evolve with many more patients seeking care in places other than the U.S. However, there are still more people who travel to the U.S. for healthcare yearly (approximately 3 million) than travel to any other country.
The strongest service lines for international patients coming to South Florida include oncology, orthopedic surgery, cardiovascular, general surgery and pediatrics.
The next time you're lying out at the pool and shopping at Dadeland, consider the fact that the person right next to you may just have had their life saved last week!
China’s Easing Grip on Gas Opening Door to North America Exports - Bloomberg
Chinese consumers may buy natural gas at more than five times current U.S. futures prices as the government eases control over domestic costs, opening the world’s biggest energy market to more overseas sellers.
Wholesale, or city-gate gas, in China’s Guangdong and Guangxi provinces, where the country is running a pilot program linking prices to oil, cost as much as 2.74 yuan (43 cents) a cubic meter since December, according to the National Development and Reform Commission. That’s about $12 per million British thermal units, or five times more expensive than benchmark U.S. futures in New York.
China plans to extend the pricing nationwide in two to three years, according to the official Xinhua News Agency, potentially boosting imports from North America, where Henry Hub futures contracts fell to a 10-year low in April. While China seeks to boost the use of cleaner fuels such as gas, retail price caps are discouraging energy companies from increasing supplies because they have to pay international rates and sell at a loss on the domestic market.
“The price reform helps to create an environment that supports a high cost of gas,” Gavin Thompson, a manager at Wood Mackenzie Ltd. in Beijing, said in a telephone interview May 30. “U.S. pricing will be attractive to the Chinese buyers. Looking at our view of delivered cost into east coast China and Henry Hub gas prices, U.S. Gulf Coast exports look competitive.”
Executives from the world’s biggest gas companies including Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Exxon Mobil Corp., OAO Gazprom and PetroChina Co. are likely to discuss the prospect of rising North American exports to Asia when they meet in Kuala Lumpur this week for the World Gas Conference. Shell Chief Executive Officer Peter Voser last month called gas “the fuel of the future.”
U.S. LNG
The U.S. may export about 40 million metric tons of liquefied natural gas a year by 2022 as low-cost supplies from shale deposits encourage shipments to Asia, Jen Snyder, a Boston-based analyst at Wood Mackenzie, said May 22. LNG is natural gas chilled to minus 260 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 162 degrees Celsius), liquefying it for shipment by tanker.
U.S. exports will cost Asia buyers $9.35 per million Btu, based on a Henry Hub price of $3 and after accounting for freight rates, according to a May 29 presentation by Cheniere Energy Inc. (LNG), the Houston-based company that’s developing the nation’s largest LNG export terminal in Louisiana. That compares to $11.08 per million Btu that China paid on average in April, according to customs data.
Price Slump
Gas futures slumped to $1.91 per million Btu on the New York Mercantile Exchange on April 19, the lowest price since September 2001. The contract for July delivery was at $2.348 per million Btu today in New York.
“China will be seriously importing gas from North America as it offers potentially lower prices compared to other sources,” Neil Beveridge, a Hong Kong-based analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein, said in a telephone interview May 30. “There is a lot of interest from Asian buyers, but the question is very much a political one in terms of how much the U.S. will allow to export.”
If China’s gas pricing reform is rolled out nationwide, retail gas prices could double to as much as 5 yuan per cubic meter, from 2.5 yuan currently, Beveridge said in a May 9 report. Wellhead prices would be three times those implied by U.S. forward price curves, according to Beveridge.
Import Surge
China may purchase an additional 10 million tons of LNG a year by 2030 from overseas markets, including North America, South America and Africa, on top of a further 10 million tons from traditional sources in Asia and the Middle East, Fereidun Fesharaki, the Singapore-based chairman of Facts Global Energy, said in a report last month.
China, which aims to double gas use in five years by 2015, increased overseas purchases of LNG by 31 percent to a record 12.2 million tons last year, according to Chinese customs. Purchases may more than double to 30 million tons by 2015 and rise fourfold to 50 million tons by 2020, according to Bernstein.
The nationwide implementation of the pricing system may make gas too expensive for some industries and reduce China’s competitiveness, according to Beveridge, who forecasts the country’s prices may rise by 50 percent in the next two to three years as the government extends the trial.
Gas in Guangdong and Guangxi is linked to a benchmark price in Shanghai that’s based on the cost of imported fuel oil and liquefied petroleum gas in the city, the National Development and Reform Commission said Dec. 27. Transportation costs are added to the Shanghai price to reach the final price for the regions, according to NDRC.
Political Sensitivity
While market prices in China may be attractive to overseas suppliers, exporting low-cost fuel to a strategic competitor may be politically sensitive for the U.S., said Thompson at Wood Mackenzie. China may also view U.S. LNG supplies as relatively risky because export terminals require government approval, creating uncertainty, he said.
While future gas demand will be met with supplies from shale reserves, U.S. exports are likely to remain limited to keep prices from declining, according to Christophe de Margerie, chief executive of Total SA, Europe’s third-largest energy company. De Margerie will be in Kuala Lumpur this week.
Consideration of licenses to export gas from the U.S. will have to wait until at least the third quarter, when a study is completed after a delay of several months, according to the U.S. Energy Department. The assessments were initiated after complaints from some U.S. lawmakers, who said sales overseas might increase prices at home.
To contact the reporters on this story: Winnie Zhu in Singapore at wzhu4@bloomberg.net; Dinakar Sethuraman in New Delhi at dinakar@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Alexander Kwiatkowski at akwiatkowsk2@bloomberg.net
Mystery shopping uncovers guest satisfaction - Hotel News Now
Over the years, I’ve heard management company representatives ask the same questions when it comes to mystery shopping: Do we really need to perform mystery shops? What is mystery shopping going to tell us that we’re not already finding out through our existing measurement components? How will mystery shopping fit in with our current approach to measurement?
One of the easiest ways to determine whether you really need to perform mystery shops is to ask yourself what your quality inspections and guest satisfaction surveys are already telling you.
Quality assurance inspection programs tend to focus on your brand elements and the fundamentals of your property. Is the logo/signage current and compliant? Are you using the specified products? What is the condition of the facility with regard to brand initiatives or brand-wide updates? Quality assurance inspections measure your compliance within the brand or collection of which you are a part.
Guest satisfaction surveys tell you how satisfied your guests are with the elements of your brand, and, more specifically, with what your individual property delivers. The results let you know what it is that matters most to your guests. Is it cost, location, amenities or quality of service? Guest satisfaction survey results make it easier for you to identify the types of guests that frequent your property and what it is they really want and expect.
Mystery shopping delivers
What quality assurance inspections and guest satisfaction surveys don’t do a great job of telling you is how your brand elements are being delivered. A well-designed and well-implemented mystery shopping program fills in the blanks and allows you to gain a real understanding of how a typical guest experiences the products and services you offer at various points.
Mystery shopping uncovers what truly drives guests to return and recommend, or, what I like to call “brand positive indicators.” While some brand positive indicators can be measured through quality assurance inspections and guest satisfaction surveys, many can only be identified through mystery shopping.
Let’s say your quality assurance inspections tell you a location stocks all the wares and food items that are required for breakfast, but your guest satisfaction survey scores show low guest satisfaction when it comes to the location’s food-and-beverage service. If you haven’t performed a mystery shop, it is going to be very hard to uncover the reasons for the low guest satisfaction scores. A mystery shop will tell you things such as whether the items being served are fresh, whether breakfast is being served during posted hours, whether the attendant is greeting guests appropriately, and other important details pertaining to service delivery.
Bridging the gap
Mystery shopping tends to be the final measurement component hotel management companies incorporate, but it is more like the component that bridges the gap between inspections and surveys. If quality assurance inspections prove all your brand elements are in place, but guest satisfaction surveys show your guests are unhappy, a mystery shop not only can confirm the problem is execution, but also it can tell you the specifics about what’s wrong that will enable you to pinpoint trouble spots and develop and implement solutions.
When you have a three-pronged measurement program in place, it becomes much easier to expand your measurement arsenal and incorporate tools such as intercept visitor satisfaction surveys, employee opinion surveys, and social-media management technology. The key to developing a successful quality assurance program is having your bases covered by quality assurance inspections, mystery shopping and guest satisfaction surveys. Once these three measurement components are in place, you can build upon them as you improve upon and expand your business.
Patrick O'Bryan is COO at FreemanGroup, a customer service solutions provider that serves premier hospitality and tourism organizations around the world. Clients range from government and tourist boards to hotels, casinos, cruise ships, and airlines. In addition to offering a number of proprietary training workshops and follow-up training programs, FreemanGroup offers instructor certification programs and workshops specifically designed for human resource departments, leadership, and supervisors.
The opinions expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect the opinions of HotelNewsNow.com or its parent company, Smith Travel Research and its affiliated companies. Columnists published on this site are given the freedom to express views that may be controversial, but our goal is to provoke thought and constructive discussion within our reader community. Please feel free to comment or contact an editor with any questions or concerns.
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