It is always about the Visitor and Guest Experience. The Meeting/Convention Planner agenda has been transformed. Of course, they still look for value, prime location, price, capacity, logistics and support services. People will always gather.

The airline industry used to set the standards for Customer Experience – comfort, attention, impeccable service. We also know that that plane has flown. The business traveler, the bulk of revenue for airlines as well as hotels, is squeezed, uncomfortably 'Trapped in the Middle Seat', as aptly described by a recent article in the New York Times.

Hopefully, John Cleese will not greet you au naturel, but Fawlty Towers Resort owner, Paul Hodge might. As of this week his 32 room lodging in Cocoa Beach, Florida goes clothing-optional.

Has our Hospitality Industry lost focus - exceeding the expectations of our Guests, as measured by their satisfaction? That is the bottom line - our Guests, their hopes and our delivery.

A Company’s culture typically has management structure, expectations, and policies to guide the day to day activities. We have understood conduct and comportment. We have respectful interactions. We have teamwork, dedicated personnel, high caliber talent. So, why is it when there is an off-site meeting, forum or convention that our better sense is sometimes thrown to the wind?

We Consumers, who are now beset with Surveys at every turn, are always evaluating Customer Service, how it makes us feel and how our overall Experience is impacted. The Walt Disney Company has been a beacon out there, once upon a time the gold standard. Disney left little to chance, everything was very orchestrated - studied and implemented, uniformly. It worked!

As a play on Tip O'Neill’s, former Speaker of the House, renowned phrase, 'All politics are local', Hospitality relationships are initiated, molded and maintained on the local level, as well.

The Customer Experience is so Retro. Some may remember when UAL owned WESTIN Hotels, and those United Airline folks really had all the gifts and training to make the Experience so memorable. They even offered to the WESTIN operations, particularly convention hotels, special workshops. They were very good. We have come full circle (the airlines could now use some help), and the answers and applications rest in Hospitality.

As of April 30, 2012, companies will be required to post a notice advising employees of their rights under the National Labor Relations Act.

Let's look at the Hospital Revenue Ledger, after so much cutting and trimming of costs and expenses. To the bone for many hospitals and medical centers. That has been the emphasis, and there is not much fat left - pretty near just marrow.