Together with a  friend Phindi, I have embarked on a project to provide a home for 6 young girls by 2016, as they will get 'kicked out' of the institutions and children's home they have been living in to date. At 18, the government stops funding their housing, school etc and these youth have to fend for themselves. I can't change the world, or the city, but I can make a difference to six young girls. 

Read more here.... 

We need not only funds, but contacts that can open doors, and for you to share your skills so that we can run a Lifetools programe to enable them to succeed. Why don't you join me?

Need to chair a difficult employee disciplinary - here are a few tips you might want to have handy . I wonder if this applies to 8 years olds too!- Wilna

JACQUELYN SMITH
FROM BUSINESS INSIDER

A 2002 study conducted by University of Massachusetts Amherst psychologist Robert S. Feldman found that 60% of people lied during a 10-minute conversation, and they told an average of two to three lies in that time.

Luckily, fibs are fairly easy to spot — you just have to know the signs.

Dr. Lillian Glass, a behavioral analyst and body language expert who has worked with the FBI on unmasking signals of deception, says when trying to figure out if someone is lying, you first need to understand how the person normally acts. Then you'll want to pay careful attention to their facial expressions, body language, and speech patterns, she writes in her book "The Body Language of Liars."

When their breathing changes, their shoulders will rise and their voice may get shallow, she adds. "In essence, they are out of breath because their heart rate and blood flow change. Your body experiences these types of changes when you're nervous and feeling tense — when you lie." 

3. They stand very still. It's common knowledge that people fidget when they get nervous, but Glass says that you should also watch out for people who are not moving at all.

"This may be a sign of the primitive neurological 'fight,' rather than the 'flight,' response, as the body positions and readies itself for possible confrontation," says Glass. "When you speak and engage in normal conversation, it is natural to move your body around in subtle, relaxed, and, for the most part, unconscious movements. So if you observe a rigid, catatonic stance devoid of movement, it is often a huge warning sign that something is off."

4. They repeat words or phrases. This happens because they're trying to convince you, and themselves, of something, she says. "They're trying to validate the lie in their mind." For example, he or she may say: "I didn't ...I didn't ..." over and over again, Glass says. 

The repetition is also a way to buy themselves time as they attempt to gather their thoughts, she adds.

5. They touch or cover their mouth. "A telltale sign of lying is that a person will automatically put their hands over their mouth when they don't want to deal with an issue or answer a question," says Glass.

"When adults put their hands over their lips, it means they aren't revealing everything, and they just don't want to tell the truth," she says. "They are literally closing off communication."

6. They instinctively cover vulnerable body parts. This may include areas such as the throat, chest, neck, head, or abdomen.

"I have often seen this in the courtroom when I work as a consultant for attorneys. I can always tell when someone's testimony has hit a nerve with the defendant, when I see his or her hand covering the front of his/her throat," says Glass.

"I never appreciated the potential use of this very telling behavior until I joined the FBI as a Special Agent," she says.

7. They shuffle their feet. "This is the body taking over," Glass explains. Shuffling feet tells you that the potential liar is uncomfortable and nervous. It also shows you that he or she wants to leave the situation; they want to walk away, she says.

"This is one of the key ways to detect a liar. Just look at their feet and you can tell a lot."

8. They provide too much information."When someone goes on and on and gives you too much information — information that is not requested and especially an excess of details — there is a very high probability that he or she is not telling you the truth," writes Glass. "Liars often talk a lot because they are hoping that, with all their talking and seeming openness, others will believe them."

9. It becomes difficult for them to speak. "If you ever watch the videotaped interrogation of a suspect who is guilty, you will often observe that it becomes more and more difficult for her to speak," writes Glass. "This occurs because the automatic nervous system decreases salivary flow during times of stress, which of course dries out the mucous membranes of the mouth."

Other signs to watch out for include sudden lip biting or pursed lips.

10. They tend to point a lot. "When a liar becomes hostile or defensive, he is attempting to turn the tables on you," says Glass. The liar will get hostile because he is angry that you've discovered his lies, which may result in a lot of pointing.

11. They stare at you without blinking much. When people lie, it's common that they break eye contact, but the liar could go the extra mile to maintain eye contact in attempt to control and manipulate you.

"[Bernie] Madoff, like most con men, overcompensated and stared at people longer than usual, often without blinking at regular intervals," says Glass. "When people tell the truth, most will occasionally shift their eyes around and may even look away from time to time. Liars, on the other hand, will use a cold, steady gaze to intimidate and control."

Also watch out for rapid blinking. 

Vivian Giang contributed to an earlier version of this article.

Couple leaves $100 tip for bad service to thank overwhelmed waiter


When Makenzie Schultz and her husband, Steven, sat down to a sushi dinner in Cedar Rapids, Iowa for their sixth anniversary, they were looking to have a special night out. But things didn't go as smoothly as they'd hoped.

First, they waited 20 minutes for water. Then, they waited 40 minutes for an appetizer. And then they waited an hour for their entrees. So, what did they do?

They left their server a $100 tip, and a note that read, "We've both been in your shoes. Paying it forward."

Schultz posted a photo of the receipt to her Facebook page on Sept. 27, and it went viral—racking up over 1.3 million likes (and counting) and mentions in blogs such as Eater.

She says she and her husband, who met while working as servers in a restaurant eight years ago, just wanted to do something to show they understood what it was like to be in their waiter's position.

"No matter how much you apologize to tables, there are going to be people rolling their eyes," she told TODAY.com, of life as a server on a night when nothing goes right. "Throughout the dinner we were like, 'We've been in his position.'"

Rather than posting an angry review online or blasting the restaurant on Facebook, Schultz and her husband decided to take a negative situation and make it positive, recognizing that "he probably isn't going to get tips."

So Schultz wrote the note and the two left before their server could see the tip he probably was not expecting to receive.

"This definitely was not the largest tip there ever was," Schultz said. "We thought it could make his night a little bit easier."

Schultz said she posted the image on Facebook for family and friends, and never expected it to go viral. She and her husband wanted to keep the name of the venue anonymous, but TODAY.com was able to confirm the authenticity of the receipt with the restaurant itself.

"This is more about being kind and being generous," Schultz said. "We just wanted him to know that we've been in his shoes."

"I'm just sharing this as a friendly reminder to think of the entire situation, before you judge," her Facebook caption concludes. "And always always always remember where you came from."

--By Jordan Melendrez, TODAY.com/money.
See more Money News from The TODAY Show at our Facebook andTwitter.

As you can see, I am on a service mission this month! Here are some Good and Bad examples of service... and some traps we so easily fall into, yet can avoid! I know it is a long blog - but you MUST read these - Wilna 


Bad Hotel Trends We Hate
By Karen Tina Harrison
Luxury Travel Expert

Bad: Charging for every amenity in your room, save the sheets
Better: Hiding it in a “resort fee”
Best: Including the wifi, water, snacks, and shoeshine in your room rate

Bad: Faux "pet-friendly" restrictions and fees that penalize your pet and you
Better: If you’re a hotel that doesn’t want pets, don’t give mixed signals; just bar them entirely
Best: Welcoming pets (cats too) with no restrictions or fees; that's a pet-friendly hotel policy (as at The Point in the Adirondacks

Bad: Paying on top of your room rate to use the hotel gym; or being told “the gym is under renovation” (and "here's a voucher" to a gym 15 minutes away)
Better: The gym is free, but closes at 9 or 10 p.m.

Best: The gym has free entry (and is 24 hours, with a fruit bowl, cold water, and iced towels)

Service Gaffes (this section contributed by Eric Weiss of ServiceArts Inc.)

Bad: Waiting an hour for your luggage to arrive in your room
Better: Your luggage arrives in your room within a few minutes that you do

Best: Your luggage gets to your room before you do and is placed out of the way

Bad: Your wakeup call never comes (I give it no more than a 50/50 chance, even in a top hotel)
Better: You get a mechanical wakeup call
Best: You get called on the dot by a real live human being

Bad: All staff uses the same exact greeting

Better: A neutral and appropriate greeting (time of day, weather, etc.)

Best: An individualized and appropriate greeting that seems spontaneous and authentic (as in, when you're carrying a briefcase: “Good morning ma’am, have a great meeting!”)

Bad: "What would you guys (referring to men and women or just men) like to drink?"
Better: "What can I get you to drink before you start your meal?"
Best:  "May I tell you about some of our house-made cocktails?"

Bad: "Just one for dinner?"
Better: “One?”

Best: "Nice to see you, let me find you a great table"

Bad: Knocking on the door when the Do Not Disturb sign is up
Better: Calling your room during Do Not Disturb 
Best: Least intrusively, slipping a note under your door 

Bad: Staff's clothing is either indistinguishable from guests', or cheap institutional uniforms (please, no vests for women, ever)
Better: Clean, pressed, well-fitting uniforms that identify staff as staff

Best: Definite uniforms, but designed to harmonize with the surroundings

Bad: No card in-room that instructs staff to greenly reuse your sheets and towels, so you have to make this request by phone 
Also bad: A card is offered, but housekeeping disregards it and changes the sheets (sadly, the usual)
Best: A card that is respected by housekeeping

Bad: Charging outrageous fees for room wifi 
Better: Charging a minimal fee for fast wifi or comping a basic connection

Best: Fast and free room wifi 

Bad: Room service indifferently served and hardly better than fast food
Better: A tasty room service meal taken off the metal trolley and served as a waiter would
Best: Room service as good as the hotel restaurant, served with distinctive flair 

Bad: A poorly informed concierge of the "least effort" school, or one who seems to be judging you, or one whose default recommendation is tourist traps
Better: A concierge who appears to be up on things but whose restaurant recommendations are the Top Ten on every website
Best: A concierge who finds out your tastes and does extra research to give you the best experience

Bad: No chocolates at turndown!
Better: Chocolates, but commercial kisses or wafer mints
Even better: High-end commercial chocolates like Lindt Lindor truffles
Best: Locally or house-made fresh chocolate bonbons (as at MGallery Hôtel de la Cité in Carcassonne, France)

Bad: No gift amenity in your pricey room
Better: A gift, but it’s another baseball cap or logo-ridden tote
Best: A nice bottle of local wine, or something you want to take home, like a straw hat or elegant beach bag (as at Mexico's NIZUC) 

Room Features

Bad: No dresser and no drawers or even shelves anywhere for your clothes; you can only hang them on hangers in the closet or pile them on the desk
Better: An all-in-one closet with at least shelves and maybe a drawer or two under the safe
Best: Plenty of shelves and drawers, or an actual dresser (like at The Grand Del Mar)

Bad: No slippers or bathrobe in the room

Better: A robe but no slippers 
Best: Two pairs of slippers and two robes 
Best of all: Two pairs of slippers and two pairs of robes: one for beach, one for bath (as at Phulay Bay, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve in Thailand)

Bad: Flimsy, generic white terry slippers
Better: Handsome cloth slippers
Best: Fashionable slippers to take home, like the black elastic-strapped sandals at Regent Bali

Bad: Jungles of electrical cords; as architect Mies van der Rohe said, "G-d is in the details" (he designed the iconic tower that now houses The Langham, Chicago)
Better: Electrical cords neatly shortened by twisties
Best: Nearly invisible cords

Bad: Motel-style non-removable hangers
Better: Nice wooden hangers, but typically not enough of them
Best: Ample wooden hangers made from the same wood as the closet (as at Regent Bali and Regent Phuket Cape Panwa)

Bad: Packets of chemical-laden non-dairy creamer beside your coffee maker
Better: Single servings of Half-and-Half
Best: Real milk for coffee in your fridge (as at Four Seasons Rancho Encantadoin Santa Fe)

Bad: Wood or stone floors with no rugs (and a girlfriends’ getaway in stilettoes above your room)
Better: Hardwood floors with a lot of area rugs
Best: Dare I say it? Quiet-enhancing wall-to-wall carpeting, beautiful, of course
Best of all: You requested and got a room on the top floor, or below an empty room

Bad: Noisy fridges in room (second thing I do, after removing the bedspread, is unplug it)
Better: Noisy fridge, but basically out of earshot in the vestibule
Best: A quiet fridge positioned where you can’t hear it at all

Bad: Minibars that are sensitive to touch: you move it, you buy it
Better: A small munchie threat delivered with turndown (as at Four Seasons Baltimore)
Best: Free minibar, as in all-inclusives

Bad: No bottled water in room
Better: A couple of bottles, replenished on the house
Best: Earth-friendly glass bottles of purified water (as at Four Seasons Rancho Encantado in Santa Fe)

Bad: No ice waiting in room, so you have to call and wait for it
Better: An ice machine not a long walk away, so at least you can get it yourself
Best: Ice is always in your room

Bad: Windows that cannot be opened (common in city hotels)
Better: Windows that can open, but you needed to call for help
Best: Easy-opening windows (as at Loews Philadelphia)

Bad: Noplace to hang your hand laundry (washing your own UW is a lifesaver forcarryon packers)
Better: Lots of hooks and racks for drying your scanties
Best: The hotel does your laundry gratis (a frequent feature of club floors)

Bad: No full-length mirror in the room
Better: A mirror on your closet door
Best: A heavy wall mirror (like at Four Seasons Nevis) or freestanding dressing mirror

Bad: A clock-radio (welcome to the Eighties!)
Better: A clock on a modern device like the Bose Wave
Best: A room with a view of a clock tower like Big Ben (Corinthia Hotel London) or Kowloon Station Tower (Peninsula Hong Kong)

Luxury Travelers' Obsession: Bathroom

Bad: A generic porcelain throne
Better: A generic john in a partitioned area
Better still: A john and a bidet
Best: A Japanese-made TOTO toilet (as at Palace Hotel Tokyo)

Bad: It's a tub! It's a shower! It's a tub!
Better: A separate tub, but not generously sized 
Best: A deep soaking tub made for two, with water jets (as as Corinthia Hotel London)

Bad: And that tub-shower has a depressing sliding glass door
Better: The shower is separate, with a stone bench inside
Best: The glamorously lit, marble-lavished 'throom feels like a spa suite (as atHazelton Hotel in Toronto)

Bad: No wall-mounted makeup mirror for Madame
Better: A makeup mirror without a light
Best: A mirror lit in non-Halloween fashion

Bad: Outsourced made-in-China toiletries
Better: Global luxury brands like Bulgari and Bliss 
Best: Locally made bathroom toiletries (like Byredo at Nobis Hotel Stockholm, soaps made in the Yucatan at Viceroy Riviera Maya), or custom-made (like Rosemary and White Tea potions by Natura Bissé at Nobu Hotel Caesars Palace and Lady Primrose's Piñon-Eucalyptus at Rosewood Inn of the Anasazi in Santa Fe)

Bad: Those toiletries are either too masculine or flowery
Better: Unscented toiletries
Best: Genderless herbal aromatherapy scents or green fragrances like L’Occitane Verveine

Bad: Micro sizes of toiletries (Ace Hotels’ soap is the size of a matchbook)
Better: Wall-dispensed, Earth-friendly refillable bottles like at Viceroy New York)
Best: Take-home sizes close to the TSA limit of 3.4 ounces for carryon packing (as at Le Negresco in Nice)

Bad: Arty, raised, bowl-shaped sinks that splash everywhere
Better: Deep porcelain sinks
Best: A pair of capacious sinks side-by-side

Ready for Your Tech Challenge?

Bad: Electric control panels that are ultra-high-tech and so hard to figure out, not even the staff know how
Bad variation: You program your room and service controls on the remote screen – hey, you're on vacation, not a competitive corporate team-building challenge
Better: When you check in, your valet or butler shows you how to use the overcomplicated electric panels
Best: The room's tech aspects are familiar enough for you not to need a tutorial

Bad: It's nice to offer a tablet in your room. But no one wants a knockoff brand that requires instructions
Better: An iPad you can borrow from the front desk
Better: An iPad in your room (as at Regent Phuket Cape Panwa)

Bad: An old-style coffeemaker with packets of inferior java that create, basically, hot brown water
Better: A basic coffeemaker with good choices like Starbucks Breakfast and Blonde
Best: A pod coffeemaker that's easy to use (no programming, please!), with a choice of strong brews

Bad: Nothing to plug your iPod or iPhone into, so to hear music, you have to play it on your laptop
Better: A player device with only an aux jack, so your iPod plays but doesn't charge
Best: an iHome device or similar style of iPod/iPhone dock and charger (as atFour Seasons Resort Nevis)

Bad: No in-room safe
Better: An off-brand safe with obscure instructions, or any safe too small for your laptop
Best: An Elsafe-brand safe sized for a laptop, with a charger outlet and a jewelry tray inside (as at The Pierre New York)

Bad: A room phone that requires a master's in engineering to use, and whose voicemails are impossible to retrieve
Better: A phone that doesn't give you a headache
Best: Free local calls and free international calls to the US and Canada (as atLe Blanc in Cancun)

It’s All About the Bed!

Bad: A dated, fusty, maybe even synthetic bedspread that’s not only potentially viral but ugly
Better: A handsome bedspread with natural fibers
Best: No bedspread but a fine cotton duvet with a newly laundered, spanking-white cover (as at InterContinental Montreal or Mukul Beach, Golf and Spa in Nicaragua)

Bad: Puffy, foam-filled pillows
Better: A pillow selection on your bed or in your closet, or a “pillow menu” you can choose from
Best: A pillow concierge offering a range of therapeutic pillows (as at The Benjamin in NYC)

Bad: Heavy down quilt in a tropical hotel, forcing you to blast the AC
Better: An appropriately chosen down quilt
Best: A choice in your closet (in case you like to blast the AC)

Bad: Wrinkled linens or any other remnants of past guests

Better: Pressed and clean sheets, made with military precision
Best: A well-made bed with sheets from Frette, Pratesi, Delorme, Dr. Porthault, or Frette (as at Hotel St, Francis in Santa Fe and Windsor Court in New Orleans) and embroidered by Lesage (hopes Eric Weiss)

Thank you for paying attention, hotels!

Some more info on Millennials - the little video is also great. Wilna 


The Key Facts:
written by Jeff Fromm

• Millennials are people born between 1977 and 2000. Although, there is not a universal agreement on this definition.
• There are more than 80 million of them. This makes their generation larger than Baby Boomers and 20 percent bigger than Generation X.
• Millennials make up 25 percent of the U.S. population.
• Currently, Millennials has 21% of consumer discretionary purchases, which is estimated over a trillion dollars in direct buying power and a huge influence on older generations . Their influence in some categories on other generations is far greater and cannot be ignored
• Millennials are not a homogenous cohort.
• Millennials often seek peer affirmation before making decisions — even small ones.

Barkley has been a part of publishing five major reports on millennials. We published our first report in 2011, “American Millennials: Deciphering the Enigma Generation,” a comprehensive study of the attitudes and habits of this consumer group.  Our most recent report,  The Millennial Generation Becomes New Parents, was published in October 2013.  This study focuses on a new wave of American pragmatism and the trends that follow.

Based on our research we know that: 

• Millennials include some of the earliest digital natives.
• Millennials are interested in participating in your marketing.
• Millennials are known as content creators and users.
• Millennials crave adventure- often “safer” adventures.
• Millennials strive for a healthy lifestyle.
• Millennials seek peer affirmation.
• Millennials are “hooked” on social media in much the same way older. generations are “hooked” on email at work.
• Millennials are not a homogeneous cohort.
• Millennials embrace authentic cause marketing and align to brands with a purpose.
• Millennials are in many ways similar to older generations.

For more information on any of the five major reports on millennials, contact Jeff Fromm atjfromm@barkleyus.com. To purchase the Millennials As New Parents report click here. 

If you’d rather learn about the findings another way, you can watch this handy video:

... I am fascinated about how to communicate to Millennials -and here are some trends to look out for. - Wilna 




Top 10 Hospitality Industry Trends in 2014
By Robert Rauch, CHA

1. Millennials will become the core customer within the hospitality and travel industries over the next five to ten years. The majority of airlines, hotels and travel companies will benefit from this sector as they enter into their peak earning, spending and travel years. Within this group of GenY travelers, there are many different markets considering the fact that exploration, interaction and experience are the major focus of Millennials. Willing to pay more for a greater experience, "foodies" are a prevalent subset of this market; looking for an overall gourmet experience for a reasonable price will cause the industry to revamp their lobby bars, restaurants and food service. Internet bloggers, culture buffs, LGBT and Multi-generational travelers all looking for a unique, novel experience will command change within the market.
2. Speed and precision will be a requirement when it comes to accommodating Millennials in upcoming years according to Hotels.com's latest Hotel Price Index report. Fast booking, fast check-in, fast WiFi and fast responses to customer service needs will need to be implemented within hotels. Considering Millennials have no problems speaking up, if what they are seeking is not quick enough, they will turn to Twitter, Facebook, Yelp or TripAdvisor to voice their complaints.
3. WOW customer service will become even more influential this year. Service today consists of four levels: basic, expected, desired and WOW. Basic service can be found at the post office whereas expected service can be found at most fast food restaurants and many businesses. Desired service is often found at good hotels and restaurants but WOW Service is the only way to ensure repeat business. By creating an impressive, unique guest experience that exceeds all expectations, you are able to capture the customer.
4. Leadership is modeling the way and showing your management team how critical it is to "walk the talk." Each and every employee, including myself, all have something we can work on. Forming a connection with guests can improve dramatically with genuine, individual interaction. It is my goal as a leader to instill the value of building relationships by sharing the knowledge I have and learning from them as well. For instance, I run with our guests staying at the Hilton Garden Inn and Homewood Suites San Diego/Del Mar and offer personal training sessions for others.
5. Expectation of more international visitors. Average rates and occupancy levels in the U.S. are likely to increase over the next few years, influenced by a very new market. "Leisure demand from abroad, fueled in part by the new Discover America campaign, will stimulate a new demand" according to Arne Sorenson, President and CEO of Marriott Hotels & Resorts. China is preparing to send about 100 million leisure tourists into the international market every year. If the U.S. gets its typical share, that will mean an additional 10 million visitors from China alone. Considering the average Chinese traveler spends a week in the U.S., demand is created for an additional 70 million room nights in a market where prices are steadily rising. The globalization of travel will prove to be a massive force.
6. Social media and mobile will be inseparable. Social media and mobile already live in symbiosis and we will only continue to see them merge over the course of this year. Mobile activity has allowed social media to live in real time by allowing users to create updates, tag friends and check in on their mobile devices. Smartphones represent 50 percent of new mobile devices being purchased and the growth of connected devices will only continue to rise. Ericsson estimates that there will be over 50 billion connected devices in circulation by 2020, including laptops, tablets and smartphones. In North America, 2014 will mark the first year that online access is greater from mobile devices than a desktop or laptop. Keeping an eye out for authentic ways to make use of emerging social/mobile applications will be of great value to those in hotel marketing.
7. Content marketing will replace traditional advertising. Traditional advertising is rapidly losing value as hotel marketing professionals begin to take advantage of effective content marketing. Marketing's new mantra, "Brands must now act as publishers," has come about due to social media and its potential to engage in meaningful conversations with loyal fans and clients alike. You will be able to drastically reduce investments in traditional paid media by implementing media tools such as blogs, social media, newsletters, webinars, eBooks, photo or video sharing and shared media. If brands begin to "opt out" of being a producer, SEO efforts will be affected. Google is now weighing current content, social proof and author scores in their results ranking. Simply put, you need to create and share content while engaging people if you want to be recognized moving forward.
8. Renewed focus on property websites. Finding ways of encouraging direct bookings will be one of the most important parts of a marketing director's job in 2014. Considering travelers are increasingly taking their transactions online, the hotel's own website needs to become the most important avenue for bookings to gain the highest ROI. After American hotels spent an estimated $2.7 billion on OTA commissions, the rates rose and restrictions tightened. Hotels are looking at any and all ways to increase direct bookings in 2014. This means that hotel websites will need to create incentives through booking with them directly rather than via the OTAs. Fresh content, consistent updates of promotions and rich media will draw in the guests.
9. Review site tactics. According to The Wall Street Journal, Yelp reports 50 million users across its web and mobile platforms. TripAdvisor has become the world's most popular travel website with 34 million unique users each month. Google Places is the Yellow Pages of the digital age meaning that business listings also show up on iPhone searches as well as on Google Maps. In 2014 there is a need to:
   • Monitor Yelp, TripAdvisor and Google Places reviews and alert management of any low reviews twice a week
   • Comment on glowing reviews to thank them
   • Comment on low reviews and how the property intends to handle future situations
   • Feature Yelp deals
10. Reputation Management. There is much anticipation that reputation management will begin to dictate the hotel industry in upcoming years. Considering there are millions of reviews written each day across a plethora of different platforms, the world wide web has the power of influencing one's decision making process; being able to manage your businesses reputation will determine success or failure. TrustYou had made it their mission to influence travel decisions in a positive way, developing a technology and software making it simple to monitor, manage and market a businesses reputation. Another company, Flip.to, has been making strides to tap into the market of potential travelers' family and friends considering 70% of customers take recommendations from their family or friends when choosing a product, brand or business.

ROBERT A. RAUCH, CHA
Robert Rauch serves as President of R. A. Rauch & Associates, Inc. He is a nationally recognized hotelier serving clients in all facets of the industry. Rauch has over 35 years of hospitality-related management experience. Widely recognized as the "hotel guru," Mr. Rauch maintains a blog where he expounds upon insights and trends in the hospitality industry at www.hotelguru.com.

Generation Y, also known as the Millennial Generation, are the demographic cohort following Generation X. There are no precise dates for when Generation Y starts and ends. Commentators use beginning birth dates ranging from the early 1980s to the early 2000s (decade).

Millennials are sometimes called Echo Boomers, due to the significant increase in birth rates during the 1980s and into the 1990s. Millennials are mostly the children of baby boomers or Gen Xers. The 20th century trend toward smaller families in developed countries continued, however, so the relative impact of the "baby boom echo" was generally less pronounced than the original boom.

Millennial characteristics vary by region, depending on social and economic conditions. It is generally marked by an increased use and familiarity with communication, media, and digital technologies. In most parts of the world its upbringing was marked by an increase in a neoliberal approach to politics and economics; the effects of this...

Source: millennials on Freebase, licensed under CC-BY 

I recently attended a seminar and a lot was said about Klout.com and how to use it to grow your social presence... so I thought I would find out some more  (My score is only 23, looks like there is some work to be done!)- Wilna 

Clout Vs. Klout: They're Not The Same, And Never Will Be
Guest post written by Tony Greenberg

Tony Greenberg is founder and CEO of RampRate Sourcing Advisors.

There’s been a lot of noise lately about Klout, which creates a single numerical value designed to encapsulate your online influence.

Marketers trying to connect with social-media “influencers” love this idea of One Number to Rule Them All. Klout explicitly tries to emulate for individuals what Google’s PageRank system does for website reach and reputation.

But lots of people complain vociferously about Klout, even as its corporate partners dish out “Klout Perks,” such as free entry to events and early peeks at hot products, based on its scores. Complaints include:

• The score algorithm is opaque. You know, kind of like Google’s PageRank system.
• The system can be gamed. One skeptic used Twitter bots to artificially generate a strong Klout score with a couple of months of “work.” You know, like what can happen with PageRank.
• The system doesn’t measure off-line influence (or even most blog services). As one writer put it, Klout can’t up Marc Andreessen’s score just because the dude helped found the modern Internet. Basically, Andreessen’s clout far outweighs his Klout. But again, the inability to factor in many sources of influence is hardly unique to Klout. In fact, PageRank faces many of the same challenges.

So, Klout already has attained one big goal: it is like PageRank, except nobody complains about Google for trying to rank them (Google whiners probably would be consigned to Eternal Search Limbo if they did, but that’s another story).

“I have as much authority as the Pope, I just don’t have as many people who believe it.” – Geroge Carlin

But I’m not here to slag Klout, whose CEO says the company is constantly trying to improve. The real issue is the true nature of influence, and what that means for marketers and others trying to leverage it.

Klout outrages some in ways Nielsen, comScore or other media-measurement services never have. Why? Because, in this era of self-created media/social networks, Klout isn’t measuring some distant and massive media corporation. Rather, it’s measuring you.

In The Search, John Battelle details the Google Dance, the Darwinian tech tango caused every time Google tweaks its ranking algorithms. For site owners, such algorithmic shifts can make the difference between living on a yacht and living on the street, fueling an endless evolutionary minuet of action and reaction between Google engineers and SEO gurus.

Klout makes this tango personal. In Your Brain at Work, David Rock describes how neural circuits and brain chemicals influence our capabilities for status, connection and fairness, resulting in inexplicable behaviors such as why people spend so much on designer items, or battle ferociously to be “mayor” of the corner coffee shop.

Mix the Google Dance with the hunt for status, and you can see why Klout conjures such strong opinions. As Cloudonomics founder Joe Weinman observes, Klout combustibly mixes rational economic decisions with “lazy, hazy, and crazy” behavioral economics.

“The history of American politics is littered with bodies of people who took so pure a position that they had no clout at all.” - Benjamin C. Bradlee

But why are we online, tweeting and posting and sharing? What’s ourmotivation? Are we trying to influence others when we post about our life, or products we like, or stuff we find interesting? Are we shilling when we’re sharing?

To put it another way, is the most influential and powerful person in a room the one with the most keys (or most widely shared social-media posts), or the one who can get the most doors opened for him/her?

At the heart of these rather cosmic questions is a really important truth that a Klout score can’t quite capture: other people grant power and influence toyou. You only have influence when someone else gives it to you.. cont. 

Article from Forbes...read more 

Singles - the ones to market to in the future? Is your marketing strategy up to it? - Wilna

Faith Popcorn has made the following predictions regarding singles and the future  It is a long read - but well worth it.... 

It's official. The nuclear family has had a meltdown. 

In the last decade Single households have increased by 30% worldwide. By 2020 there will be 331 million single households globally. The US will lead with 36.3 million followed by Japan, 31.6 million, and China, 18.2 million. Singles come from every nationality, age demographic, religion, sexual orientation and gender. But they have one thing in common. Living uncomfortable and ignored in a married person’s world. In 2013, it’s changing on every level.

Read the whole fascinating article here...