Linchi Kwok, Ph.D.

Though the dinosaurs went extinct millions of years ago, traces of their existence can be found scattered throughout the Earth. In the case of an older salesperson, it is a little different. The “fossils” of the salesperson cannot be found no matter where you look. Their existence is not apparent in today’s ever-changing world. Technology is their meteor and it buried them deep. Now, from the ashes, came a new way to market and sell. It either adapts or dies. Only decades ago, the salesperson reined supreme. We can still picture a prototypical salesperson. The preconceived notion was that they were extroverts. With fewer communication channels, a salesperson would often rely on their wits, tenacity, humor, and strong verbal skills to excel at their job. Whether it was making presentation calls, going door-to-door, or setting up face-to-face meetings, things were more or less in their control. If they could find a way to relate to a prospective buyer, crack a good joke at the right mo

Welcome to the era when machines begin replacing humans at work. Machines are now able to perform many complicated tasks that could only be  performed by real human beings  in the past. Service jobs that can be performed by machines Machines or robots are capable of performing many service jobs in restaurants and hotels  already , from reservations, actual productions, service delivery, to collecting payment. For example, restaurants can accomplish the following tasks with machines: Accept and manage reservations Put customers in queues after the customers perform self-check-in in a store Direct customers to the seats Take orders (e.g., self-ordering service ) Prepare or cook the food items (e.g., Sally, the robot that makes salad and burger-flipping robots at CaliBurger ) Deliver the food items (e.g., conveyor belt  and  delivery robots ) Deliver the dirty dishes back to the kitchen, fill the dishwasher, and let the dishwasher automatically wash the dishes C

If you cannot beat them, join them. Hotels have been trying very hard to stop the growth of Airbnb, but until today, Airbnb remains to be  the supersize rival of hotels. Despite the fact that more destinations are now tightening up the regulations for short-term residential rentals, Airbnb turns out to be an even stronger competitor in the market. Airbnb is ready to fight against hotels by  debuting the new brands of Airbnb Plus and Beyond by Airbnb and against the OTAs (online travel agents) as the company is set to become a full-service travel enterprise . Guess what? When it is impossible to get rid of Airbnb, hotels are now entering the room-sharing business. Following the footprint of Wyndham , which recently purchased Love Home Swap, as well as Hyatt , which just added “handpicked” homes that meet Hyatt’s standard into the hotel’s “Unbound Collection,” Marriott - the world's largest hotel chain is also taking on Airbnb as it gets into the market for short-te

Imagine working at a company for over three years but never getting moved up to a higher position. Imagine putting a substantial amount of your time into the company, being dedicated, working hard, and trying to be the best employee within the company, but without recognition.   That must sound awful to current employees, especially when a company is trying to recruit top talents who want to grow with the company. Employers look for those quality employees and search for someone to represent their company in the best way possible.  Restaurants strive to make their guests feel comfortable and to make sure they are having fun while at their establishment. They focus on “carefully choosing the people who take care of you.” Meaning, restaurants would carefully select and offer jobs to the most qualified applicants in the pool, who they believe can take care of every guest in the most respectful, reliable, and friendly manner, making sure the guests are having “a good time, every t

Over the past couple of years, major mergers and acquisitions have taken place in the hotel industry, predominantly the larger hotel groups acquiring smaller brands. What will be discussed here is the ramifications such action could or already have and its effects on both us as consumers and potential employees. In the past twenty years or so, hundreds of acquisitions and mergers have occurred in every industry, not just the hotel sector. Whenever this occurs, the American idealist side of our minds always has this thought pop into our heads: “are we headed towards a monopolized industry?”. This train of thought stems from the American ideal of fair competition. As human beings, we are suspicious of any entity controlling too much of the industry and its products and forcing us to settle on unfavorable prices. As a society, we embrace competition and the innovation of better products and market that results from the need to one-up each other. That being said, should we be suspicious

We have all seen the unfolding of an ugly reality amongst all industries: sexual harassment in the workplace. After a few people came forward about sexual assault allegations against Harvey Weinstein in 2017, a flourish of hundreds of other accounts has come into the limelight. Perhaps some of the most disturbing allegations are the most recent ones that were unveiled last week: Senate and Assembly leaders made public a dowry of documents that contained cases of sexual misconduct, now available to the public. Some may ask: “What is happening to our industries amid all the sexual misconduct cases, and where does HR play its role? Is HR even doing its part?” A specific document that was released exposed Senator Mendoza of making staffers uncomfortable with “flirtatious” texts and made inappropriate advances. A hostile work environment causes extreme turmoil, stress, and anxiety. How can people work in such an environment? They don’t. The message is clear and simple: HR needs to do mor

With the purposes of winning new customers and keeping the existing ones happy, hotels are making continuous efforts to reinvent their loyalty programs . The two hotel giants, for example, Hilton and Marriott also updated their loyalty programs earlier this month. These new upgrades are good news for frequent travelers. Hilton Honors Hilton operates 14 brands in the global market, ranging from upper midscale to luxury hotels. Hilton is now offering more perks to its elite members , with the following changes: ·       Silver members --- those accumulated a total of four stays or 10 nights in a year --- can earn 20 percent bonus points for eligible stays. ·       Gold members --- those accumulated a total of 20 stays, or 40 nights, or 75K points in a year --- can earn 80 percent bonus points. ·       Diamond members --- those accumulated a total of 30 stays, or 60 nights, or 120K points in a year --- can earn 100 percent bonus points. ·       Hilton introduced the