The Refinishing Touch Blog

This Fourth of July, 37.1 million Americans are expected to travel more than 50 miles from home. In the wake of hard financial times, even luxury hotels are putting their best foot forward with a mixture of extraordinary discounts and some really innovative online campaigns to broaden communications with potential customers.

With the typical U.S. hotel's net operating income expected to fall 37.8% in 2009 and a predicted further decline of 9.2% in 2010, it's no surprise that hotels are turning to online marketing, social media and new web initiatives to boost awareness of their deals. Competition is rife. Services are becoming more tailored at the point of booking from what will be stocked in the mini-bar, through to delivery time of breakfast.

Hotels are still being built, although at a sporadic rate. An estimated 48,000 fewer hotel rooms will be built this year, a 23% drop from last year, according to Smith Travel Research.

In the interim – it's a time of opportunity: for hotels to innovate at every level – from room design, services and how they market, and for consumers to support the industry and our own economy by trying out some of the best hotels in the world.

From all of us here at The Refinishing Touch, we would like to wish everyone a happy Fourth of July weekend!

Labels: Financial Crisis, Hospitality, hotel, July 4th 2009

It seems the recent financial state of our nation has begun affecting our educational sector. News of cutbacks and hiring freezes has surfaced, raising eyebrows and concern levels even amongst some of our nation's most prestigious educational institutions.

Boston University announced its plan to freeze non-critical hires in anticipation of rising demand for financial aid, while universities such as Stanford and other California universities have responded with plans to tighten their belts as well - all in an effort to brace themselves for expected budget cuts.

When news that the Ivy League's 'Big Red,' Cornell University, had responded to financial difficulties with budget cuts of its own, we were again struck with the overwhelming realization that distressing times often result in defining movements. In the days to come, individuals, families and corporations will continue to restructure their daily lives according to the vitality of our nation and its economic prosperity. We have all been urged and invited to redefine the way we manage our assets, and to reclaim control of our financial health

Today, Americans are exercising their right to vote in one of the most focal Presidential elections of our time. Whomever the American people choose to elect into office will be responsible for leading our nation out of a global financial crisis with a renewed sense of establishment towards restored economic security.

As the election campaigns have shown, education is a common priority throughout our nation. Further education is preparing our future generation of leaders. The Refinishing Touch is proud to have had a hand in collaborating with universities and looks forward to work yet to come. We can't think of a better investment than one in our future.

Labels: Education, Election, Financial Crisis

In my last post I chronicled my recent trip to China and shared more of my personal experiences throughout the journey. I wanted to take some to write about the trip from a business perspective as well and highlight the journey to the stone manufacturers plant as well as share some of my overall business and economic observations that came about during my trip.

The relationship between China and the United States becomes more and more apparent as the financial crisis continues to impact our economy. The housing economy has supported China's growth and the financial issues in the US have greatly affected China as a whole. US factories in China are continually growing more concerned about our economy and the potential loss of business due to our struggling economy. I learned, in fact, that many factories and businesses are closing down due to the economic slow down. China is throttling back exports to avoid overheating internal growth.

As we entered Hong Kong through customs we were the 5^th car in line and saw less than a dozen containers on trucks. Coming through customs usually takes 2-3 hours and seeing thousands of cars and containers on trucks is not an unusual sight. Even the hotels were empty - a sure sign of the times taking effect world wide.

On my trip I travelled to Shenzhen, now known as the furniture capital of the world. More than twenty years ago, Shenzhen just was a small fishing village called Baoan County, but in 1979, it was renamed Shenzhen City. When the Special Economic Zone was built, the city was divided into six zones, four of which are located in the Special Economic Zone.

While in town, I had dinner with a furniture manufacturer for whom we had done business with to finish furniture pieces on their arrival to the states. They own the factories and reported firsthand that many small and large factories are going out of business. Mostly all of the factories were dependent on the housing market bubble in the US, however now because of decline in the housing market they are now shutting down more and more.

The Chinese have a different approach to business. The locals I spoke to share a more thoughtful way of doing business they say it is "communism that works." Despite the fact that there are strong Western influences everywhere, the business side of things is still very rooted in Communism. I learned the average pay of a factory worker is $65-150 per month. I had the pleasure to have dinner with a group of workers from the solid surface factories and these people are highly educated with engineering degrees from universities. What astounded me was that these people make $350 a month at the factory and they are thankful for their pay.

The work ethic, conditions and culture in China are certainly nothing like they are in the US. Something struck me as interesting as I was sitting in the car waiting for some friends, I noticed leaves falling off of the trees onto the side walk- just as they do on an ordinary fall day in the states. The peculiar thing was not the leaves but that there were two women walking up either side of the street sweeping the sidewalks by hand to clear them of the fallen leaves. I couldn't help but think how this incident showed a very distinct culturally difference between the US and China - which is reflected in the culture both personally and professionally. This trip truly enlightened me.

Labels: China, Culture, economy, Financial Crisis