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- Hello, and welcome to this course

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on Sustainable Lodging Operations.

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I'm Todd Comen,

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and I'll be your guide
for the next four modules

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over the four-week period

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that you'll be taking this course.

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I've been a professor for 21 years,

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first at Johnson State
College in Northern Vermont,

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and then as Dean of
the Hospitality Program

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at Endicott College.

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So I'm well versed in the theory,

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but also the practice of
hospitality and tourism management.

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I love hotels.

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I'm a hotel junkie, as I
love to tell my students.

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Anytime I get a chance, I go to hotels,

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resorts, theme parks, ski resorts

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just to experience what the visitor,

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what the guest is experiencing.

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It's fun to observe, it's fun to have fun,

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but you have to know how.

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So I hope you have a little
bit of fun in this course,

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but I also hope you learn a lot.

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What makes hospitality so different

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from other forms of enterprise?

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Well, there are several variables,

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and I'm sure you are already
aware of some of those,

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whether or not you've been
in the hospitality industry

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as an employee, as a
manager, or as a guest,

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but some of these are vitally
important to understand

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and to take stock of as we
move through this course.

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I'll mention a few now

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before we really get into
the bulk of the course,

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but these will be recurring
themes throughout.

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The key concepts that make
up lodging and other services

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such as restaurants, spas, ski areas,

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airlines, guided tours,
national parks, experiences,

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and these kind of things,

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the unique aspects of this
industry, this service industry,

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first of all is simultaneous
production and consumption.

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What? What's that mean?

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Well, basically it means
that if I'm your server

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and I'm taking an order from you,

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you're experiencing the
product right then and there.

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That's the service.

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You're consuming it, and I'm delivering it

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as in real time.

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Service is an intangible product.

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It can't be inventory.

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You can't touch, feel, taste, or smell it

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before you get it.

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You're getting the service

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at the same time as you're consuming it.

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So it's intangible.

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It can't be inventoried,

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which means it can't be sold another day.

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You can't put the service
encounter on a shelf

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and wait for tomorrow.

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That's called perishability as well.

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If I don't sell that airline seat

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now for this takeoff period,

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that seat's gone.

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It's in the air, it's
left its place of origin.

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So that idea of perishability

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spans throughout the service sector,

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especially in the lodging industry,

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you have to sell a room today.

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You can't sell that room tomorrow

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when it's in inventory today.

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Once midnight hits,

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it's the next day,

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and so you've lost the
opportunity to sell that room.

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Very important concept

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just to always have in
the back of your mind.

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Of course, there's seasonality.

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Right now, we're in the middle of winter,

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well, I should say the end of winter,

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but it feels like the middle of winter,

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now mid-March

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in like a lion out like a lamb.

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Hopefully it's been cold and snowy

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and the skiing's been fantastic.

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That's the winter season.

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Of course, we've got mud season coming up.

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That is always gonna be great,

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and this year's gonna
be a doozy, I'm sure.

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Hopefully not too many
people will visit Vermont,

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at least the back roads during mud season

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because invariably they're gonna get stuck

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and we'll have to pull them out.

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There's also the idea of periodicity.

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What? What's that?

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Well, during the day,

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you have different meal periods.

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During the day, you have
different busy times

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and slow times.

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You know that if you're in the industry.

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Check in time, four o'clock,

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it's gonna be pretty
busy from 4:00 to 6:00.

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Later, late check-ins,

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maybe early check-ins if you allow them.

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That's periodicity.

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So we can track the busy times,

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we can track the slow times,

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and we can make staffing decisions.

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We can make inventory decisions.

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We can make work task decisions

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based on periods of the day periodicity.

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So these ideas,

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perishability, intangibility,

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simultaneous production and
consumption, seasonality,

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they're very instrumental in influencing

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how we operate a lodging property

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in a sustainable fashion.

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Now, I'm not gonna get too
much into the weeds right now,

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I just want to introduce
these ideas to you

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to let you know that this
course over the next four weeks,

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four different modules,

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it's gonna have some pretty
deep stuff in it to consider,

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and I want you to consider
these things seriously,

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and especially in your
writing and your reflection

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on the questions I ask you

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to grapple with during the course.

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There are gonna be small projects,

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especially writing projects,

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because I think writing's very important.

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It's all about communications
in this industry,

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especially with the guests,

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but also between teammates.

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So writing is, I want you
to take that seriously.

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I'm not gonna be correcting your grammar.

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I'm not going to tell you how
to punctuate your sentences.

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I would like you to be polite,

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to be respectful,

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to not swear.

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These kind of things

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that typically gets into the
common vernacular these days.

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Common language, I hear it all the time,

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but in a professional setting,

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that's just inappropriate.

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So let's refrain from any
anything inappropriate

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in our communications.

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Pretend you're working with guests.

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I mean, guests, you're
there to make happy,

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to work with closely

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to respect no matter where they're from,

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how they got to you,

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who they're with,

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it doesn't matter, their guests,

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and we're here to satisfy
their needs and expectations

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to keep them safe and secure.

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We'll be going through
all of this in the course

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over the four weeks.

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So we do wanna be
respectful in our writing,

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but I also want you to
explore your own ideas,

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to present your own ideas,

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and I will provide feedback
as we go through the course.

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My job is to facilitate
the learning process.

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I think I've done a thorough job

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of filling the content of this course

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with aspects of lodging operations

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that are gonna be essential
to you in your career

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no matter where you start,

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no matter how far you go.

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These are essential aspects of
the lodging operations sector

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that should be paid attention.

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So you can read the rest of my intro.

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I've posted it on the website

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for the course.

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And please feel free to
send me any questions,

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comments, or concerns via email's best.

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But if you need to phone me,

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my phone number is at the
bottom of the intro page,

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my email, Tcomen, C-O-M-E-N,

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@uvm.edu.

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Email me anytime and I'll get
back to you within 24 hours.

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If you wanna schedule an appointment,

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be nice if it's between the
hours of 7:30 am and 7:30 pm

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any day of the week works for me.

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We're in hospitality, we're open 24/7.

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It's no different here in this course,

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open 24/7.

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Although best are the waking hours

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between 7:30 and 7:30 am and pm.

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I expect if we're gonna talk,

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it'll be professional.

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If you're working in an environment

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that's working with others in hospitality,

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you're professional,
dressed professionally.

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And may seem old fashioned,

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but old fashion still is good fashion

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if you wanna succeed in this industry.

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Thanks very much for being here,

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and I look forward to working with you

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as we proceed through this course.