Hospitality.

Hotels.

Hotel keeping is an arduous profession. It needs technical, managerial, marketing and economic expertise; what’s more, it demands total commitment. This book provides the complete purchasing toolkit. It removes all the complications and mystique and guides readers around the pitfalls of ownership, saving much heartache and expense.

In the tradition of Kitchen Confidential and Waiter Rant, a rollicking, eye-opening, fantastically indiscreet memoir of a life spent (and misspent) in the hotel industry. “Highly amusing."—New York Times Jacob Tomsky never intended to go into the hotel business. As a new college graduate, armed only with a philosophy degree and a singular lack of career direction, he became a valet parker for a large luxury hotel in New Orleans. Yet, rising fast through the ranks, he ended up working in “hospitality” for more than a decade, doing everything from supervising the housekeeping department to manning the front desk at an upscale Manhattan hotel. He’s checked you in, checked you out, separated your white panties from the white bed sheets, parked your car, tasted your room-service meals, cleaned your toilet, denied you a late checkout, given you a wake-up call, eaten M&Ms out of your minibar, laughed at your jokes, and taken your money. In Heads in Beds he pulls back the curtain to expose the crazy and compelling reality of a multi-billion-dollar industry we think we know. Heads in Beds is a funny, authentic, and irreverent chronicle of the highs and lows of hotel life, told by a keenly observant insider who’s seen it all. Prepare to be amused, shocked, and amazed as he spills the unwritten code of the bellhops, the antics that go on in the valet parking garage, the housekeeping department’s dirty little secrets—not to mention the shameless activities of the guests, who are rarely on their best behavior. Prepare to be moved, too, by his candor about what it’s like to toil in a highly demanding service industry at the luxury level, where people expect to get what they pay for (and often a whole lot more). Employees are poorly paid and frequently abused by coworkers and guests alike, and maintaining a semblance of sanity is a daily challenge. Along his journey Tomsky also reveals the secrets of the industry, offering easy ways to get what you need from your hotel without any hassle. This book (and a timely proffered twenty-dollar bill) will help you score late checkouts and upgrades, get free stuff galore, and make that pay-per-view charge magically disappear. Thanks to him you’ll know how to get the very best service from any business that makes its money from putting heads in beds. Or, at the very least, you will keep the bellmen from taking your luggage into the camera-free back office and bashing it against the wall repeatedly.

Starting a Successful Pet Hotel Business Do you love animals? Are you looking for a career that is recession-proof and always in demand? Would you like to be your own boss? You should start a pet hotel business! I have been in the pet care industry for over a decade. I first started working as a receptionist in my uncle's veterinary clinic at age 18. I had owned dogs and cats in my childhood but never thought about making it a career. When I was thinking about college, I realized that becoming a vet technician was a viable option. When my uncle retired and sold his practice, I worked with the new vet as a tech for a few years. We found ourselves with frequent requests to board animals for the short-term. Usually, these requests came from pet owners who were our usual vet clients going out of town for a few days at a time. We took these dogs and cats in for mostly weekends and holidays. I realized that in my area, the need for quality pet boarding was essential. I started my own pet boarding business out of an old daycare building. The daycare had been closed down for a while, but it had easily convertible facilities for pet boarding. The building had a nearly commercial-sized kitchen and 4 different classrooms, each with its own attached bathroom. It also had a large fenced-in yard which used to have playground equipment and big indoor community space, presumably for assemblies or indoor playtime. A building originally built to house children during the day was easily converted to a building intended to house cats and dogs. My pet boarding business was born on a shoestring budget. In this book, I will show you how to start your own pet hotel from the ground up. This book comes from my personal experiences combined with research that I conducted while starting out years ago. I will show you everything I learned about how to start a dog or cat boarding kennel business (or doggy daycare) so that you can start your business on the right foot. You will learn: What a Typical Day at a Pet Boarding Hotel is Like What Potential Profit this Business Can Bring Why Choosing the Right Location is Important What You Can Expect Your Initial Investment to Be Deciding if This is Right for You What Skills, Experience, and Knowledge is Needed What to Consider Before Starting How to Spot Industry Trends Crafting a Business Plan Advice for Naming Your Business Consider the Owner's Name Advice for Finding Financing Advice on How to Form a Legal Entity What Permits and Licenses You Will Need Insurance Concerns Construction Concerns (for New Builds or Remodels) How to Determine Costs and Pricing Advice for Amenities to Offer Designs for Cat Boarding Helpful Software for Client and Pet Management Marketing Your Business Building an Online Presence How to Use Your Website for Marketing How to Use Facebook for Marketing How to Use Retention Marketing to Keep Clients Daily Operational Considerations Hiring Your First Employee Retaining Good Employees Effective Daily Management Techniques You will learn about all this and more! Be sure to add this title to your cart by clicking BUY NOW.

Many people dream of buying a house in the country or near the coast, with outbuildings that can be converted into holiday lets; or of taking over an existing holiday cottage business. Gillean Sangster did it. She moved to Scotland with her husband where they started their own successful holiday cottage business. In this book, she tells you how you can do it too.