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3 Tips for Choosing a Hotel Loyalty Program

April 11, 2012 by Michael Belfry

I travel for business…  A lot.  If you don’t believe me, ask my wife and kids.  Business travel was fun at first but the novelty soon wore off.  It was around that time that I realized I was spending a lot of money on travel but I wasn’t reaping any of the rewards other experienced travelers were talking about.  I wasn’t enrolled in any loyalty programs.

Loyalty programs are everywhere.  Airlines, car rental companies, grocery stores, drug stores, department stores, and restaurants have all devised programs to keep customers coming back but we’re going to talk about hotels.

Here are three suggestions to help you choose a hotel loyalty program:

Forget About the Loyalty Program (For Now)

When it comes to hotels, we all want different things.  Some people like upscale accommodations, others need to observe corporate guidelines and adhere to a strict budget.  Sometimes a downtown location works, other times an airport location is a better fit.  Some hotel brands are focused on a particular region, other brands provide national coverage.

Select a hotel that meets your criteria but, just as important, select a hotel you’d stay with even if they didn’t have a loyalty program.  Choose a hotel where you feel comfortable and welcome.

Choose Rewards That Matter to You

Most loyalty programs offer free nights, room upgrades, and other perks too numerous to mention (early check in, late check out, free Internet, etc.).  Personally, I think free stays are wonderful and I appreciate complimentary room upgrades and welcome snacks but I ALWAYS give preference to hotels that award Aeroplan miles.

Choose a loyalty program that offers incentives that will make your life on the road easier – and if you’re serious about maximizing your rewards, choose a hotel that bolsters your Aeroplan / Air Miles account.

Focus Your Spending

Once you’ve selected a hotel (and hotel loyalty program) that provides value and rewards that matter to you, focus all of your spending with that hotel brand.  Loyalty programs usually offer an increasing number of benefits based on the number of times a year you stay with them.  Your goal should be to acquire top-tier status as soon as possible.

Top-tier status will provide the widest range of benefits, the most Aeroplan /Air Miles per stay, and it demonstrates your commitment to the hotel as a loyal customer.  You’ll be first in line to find out about special rates, promotions, and discounts – and there’s nothing quite like being greeted by name as you head to the express check in desk!

Photo via (CC) – Flickr user prayitno

Posted in Travel | Leave a Comment »

Is eLearning a Magic Bullet?

March 27, 2012 by Michael Belfry

Benefits

It’s convenient. You learn where it’s convenient for you, you learn when it’s convenient for you, and you learn at your own pace. With the ability to connect from any device, eLearning is available 24/7. Pause lessons and repeat segments as often as you like.

It’s cost-effective. Most eLearning content is available at a fraction of the cost of traditional instructor-led courses or workshops. Some eLearning content is offered on a subscription basis: access as many courses as you want for one monthly (or annual) fee.

It works. The real measure of a course’s effectiveness can be determined by answering two questions. Did you learn anything? Can you apply what you’ve learned in a practical situation? For some people, eLearning can be a very effective way to acquire new skills.

Challenges

It’s not for everyone. eLearning requires a strong commitment. You have to set aside time to learn, you have to practice your new skills. Most of the time, there’s no one there to monitor your progress or encourage you.

Conclusions

If you thrive on social interaction and working with a group, eLearning might not be a good fit. If you have difficulty staying focused or motivating yourself, eLearning will be an uphill battle.

If you’re goal-oriented and able to make a strong commitment to learning – and you’ve had prior success learning new skills through self-study – eLearning might be a powerful way to build your skillset and advance in your career.

eLearning is NOT the best solution for everyone. Some people will find tremendous value in eLearning courses, others will experience frustration. But eLearning isn’t going to disappear any time soon. It offers a number of advantages for training departments – lower costs, scalability, etc.

Learning and development professionals need to recognize the limitations of eLearning and determine when a blended approach to training might be more effective than a pure eLearning solution. eLearning practitioners need to make content interactive and incorporate social elements where possible. (Wouldn’t it be awesome if every eLearning course had an associated Facebook page where participants could discuss course content and encourage each other?)

Have you had an eLearning experience you’d like to share? Answer in the comments below!

Posted in eLearning | Leave a Comment »

Have you done anything different?

January 10, 2012 by Michael Belfry

We all want value for our money.  When you purchase something, you want to feel that you’ve spent your money wisely – and that the item you’ve purchased will improve your life somehow.  But how do you measure return on investment when it comes to training?

I think the simplest measure of a course’s value is to ask yourself “have I done anything differently since the training session?”

Training can be considered a resounding success if it helps you:

  • Save time
  • Eliminate frustration
  • Simplify a process

Notice that these benefits can only be realized if you put what you’ve learned into practice.  Did you do anything differently after the last course you attended?  Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Posted in Training | Leave a Comment »

So What?

January 5, 2012 by Michael Belfry

Ideally, training should be targeted and relevant.  As an instructor, if I can help someone save time or become more productive, I feel I’ve done my job.

Here is one of my secrets:  when I prepare for a course, I always try to imagine someone raising his / her hand to say “so what?”

In other words, after I’ve presented a key concept, if one of the participants asks “how is this relevant to me”?  I need to respond with an example that is specific to the learner’s environment.

Think about the last course you attended.  Was the content targeted to your requirements?  Share your answer in the comments below.

Posted in Training | Leave a Comment »

Book Review: Beyond Bullet Points

September 16, 2011 by Michael Belfry

BOOK REVIEW – Beyond Bullet Points: Using Microsoft PowerPoint to Create Presentations that Inform, Motivate, and Inspire
by Cliff Atkinson | Microsoft Press, May 2011

Think about the last PowerPoint presentation you endured…  If it was anything like most PowerPoint presentations, it probably consisted of slide after slide of text – sentence fragments arranged as bullet points.  Pictures and clip art were added as an afterthought and the presenter’s core message was hopelessly lost in the barrage of slides that followed.

Afterwards, people may have mumbled about what a waste of time the presentation was.  Others may have referred to the presentation as a “data dump” and suggested that the presenter could have simply e-mailed his slide deck and achieved the same results.  Very few people would be able to recall important details from the presentation.

In contrast, the Beyond Bullet Points approach helps you craft your message and clearly identify key points you want your audience to remember.  Using research in the fields of cognitive science and educational psychology, Cliff Atkinson outlines a complete framework for creating presentations that are effective and memorable.  The system ensures that you distill your message to its essence and present your information in a way that is easy for people to process.

Here is my candid assessment of the book.

Pros

  1. Beyond Bullet Points is a complete system for creating effective presentations.
  2. The process will focus your presentation and help you clearly communicate your key points.
  3. The BBP approach will help you connect with your audience and increase knowledge transfer.

Cons

  1. It’s not a quick fix – the process takes time to learn and time to implement.
  2. If you work with a team, everyone needs to be on board and understand the system.
  3. The BBP approach deliberately excludes extraneous information – including branding elements mandated by your company’s marketing department.

Beyond Bullet Points isn’t a quick fix – but if you’re willing to make an investment in the time necessary to learn a new way of building presentations, these specialized techniques have the potential to transform your content and help you connect with your audience in a powerful and meaningful way.

Have you read Beyond Bullet Points?  Have you incorporated and (or all) of the techniques?  Leave your answers in the comments below.

Posted in Book Review, Presentations | 3 Comments »

2 PowerPoint Shortcut Keys Every Presenter Should Know About

September 2, 2011 by Michael Belfry

Most of us know basic navigational techniques in PowerPoint:

  • Press [F5] to start your presentation from the beginning
  • Press [SHIFT] + [F5] to start from the current slide
  • Press the [SPACE BAR] to go to the next slide
  • Press [P] to go to the previous slide
  • Press [ESC] to end the presentation

Here are two additional keyboard shortcuts I have used over the years.

When you’re giving a presentation and you need to temporarily take the focus off your current slide, press “B” on your keyboard.  Your screen will black out.  To continue with your presentation, press “B” again.  This is a great technique for anyone who needs to stand in front of the projector without going blind – during introductions, extended explanations, etc.

If you’re projecting your presentation onto a whiteboard, and you’d like to draw on the whiteboard, press “W” on your keyboard.  This will project a bright white light – and focus everyone’s attention on what you’re drawing.  Press “W” again to resume your presentation.

For a complete list of keyboard shortcuts you can use while you’re presenting, press [F1] while you’re in Slide Show view.

Posted in Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 | Tagged , , | Leave a Comment »

3 Steps to Dramatically More Effective Training

August 29, 2011 by Michael Belfry

In a perfect world, training would be delivered precisely when participants needed it.  Course content would be relevant and engaging – and everyone would return to the office eager to implement all they had learned.

The real world requires more planning.

Here are 3 steps you can take to make training significantly more effective:

  1. Clearly define the problem you need to solve
    Involve the people who will benefit most from the training.  Determine the source of their biggest frustrations and ask what would help them streamline their processes.  Allow adequate time for discussion and don’t evaluate potential solutions until you achieve consensus within the group.
  2. Create a prioritized list of training objectives
    Based on your analysis of the challenges facing your team, create a prioritized list of training objectives.  Describe the anticipated workflow once training has been delivered and confirm with the group that you have addressed all of their requirements.  Once again, allow adequate time for discussion and incorporate any feedback from participants into your analysis.
  3. Identify the best solution and plan to implement new skills
    immediately
    With your team’s learning objectives in mind, consider the complexity of topics to be covered, the location of employees to trained, and the impact of a successful rollout.  Select the best training solution based on your stated criteria and put a system in place where your people can use their new skills right away.

This approach is effective because it produces measurable results.  You involve the people who will be impacted most by the training during the goal-setting phase, you achieve commitment / buy-in by soliciting their input and approval at key points in the process, and everyone understands that the application of new skills is mandatory.

Does your company use a process to determine how training resources should be allocated?  Answer in the comments section below.

Posted in Training | Tagged , , | Leave a Comment »

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