By Lark Gould What’s in store for the hotel room of the future? According to the pulse of this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, the word is plenty. CES 2018 was mostly about the Internet of Things — the connectivity between things that can be managed not as much by one cool app or one responsive [...]

CNBC Two California state lawmakers on Jan. 3 introduced a bill that would require hotels to provide housekeepers with a “panic button” to prevent violent assaults and sexual harassment. Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi, D-Torrance, jointly introduced the so-called hotel maid “panic button” bill with Assemblyman Bill Quirk, D-Hayward. If it gets passed, it would make California [...]

FacilitiesNet Heating and cooling systems in institutional and commercial facilities are essential for ensuring the comfort of both occupants and visitors. While these systems operate for most of their performance lives in a comfortable range of temperatures, that is not always the case. For maintenance and engineering managers in charge of the performance and reliability [...]

Proud Green Building Winter is here. Based on the most recent forecast of heating degree-days from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, temperatures this winter are expected to be colder than last winter across the country.  READ MORE

IFMA’s FMJ Magazine An FM’s inner geek cannot help but get excited when considering the technological capabilities available at our fingertips in today’s facilities. But the mood is quickly dashed with the realization that while such power and efficiency lie at our doorstep, most facility organizations have yet to truly embrace or leverage them.  READ MORE

Buildings Implementing natural light in your workspace isn’t always easy, especially in an existing building. Bringing in the most daylight possible sounds like a good idea until it brings solar heat gain and glare with it, driving up your cooling-related energy consumption and potentially prompting occupants to cover the window in the name of avoiding [...]

Planning & Building Control Today Following the Grenfell Tower disaster, the fire and building management industries have seen an increased focus on sprinklers, their role in fire suppression and the importance of regular maintenance. The London Fire Brigade has recommended that all high-rise residential buildings should be fitted with them, and the commercial sector is [...]

Facilitiesnet A new Center for Disease Control and Prevention study involving 196 cooling towers nationwide found that 84 percent contained Legionella DNA, indicating that the dangerous bacteria that causes a severe, even fatal type of pneumonia were present or had been at some point. This means the real question is not “if there will be [...]

Skift Marriott CEO Arne Sorenson thinks hotel security is a complex and “tough” issue, and he has no intention of trying to ban gun-show attendees or licensed-gun owners in right-to carry states. Speaking at the Yahoo Finance All Markets event in New York City Wednesday, Sorenson addressed hotel security, given the recent Las Vegas attack [...]

Forbes Many questions still surround the attack on the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas on October 1, from the motive of the mass murderer to the actual timeline of events, particularly within the Mandalay Bay Hotel. But the full range of consequences to the hospitality and travel industries is just beginning to be [...]

FMLink In addition to the overall devastating loss of life and property, Hurricane Harvey struck a significant blow to the Houston area, home to the sixth largest import terminal in the world, as well as all the shipping lanes in the Gulf Coast area. Given the strong economic linkages between the Gulf Coast and the [...]

The Commercial Appeal A Kentucky woman who was among nine people sickened by Legionnaires’ disease after staying at a Graceland-area hotel later died as a result of the ailment, an autopsy report confirmed. Linda Gail Godsey, 62, a resident of Breathitt County, died on June 21, just days after she and three family members returned [...]

New Scientist A combination of rusty water and stainless steel taps, or faucets, can put people at risk of life-threatening legionnaires’ disease. It’s already known that rust particles in a water system, which can come from iron pipes, encourage the growth of Legionella bacteria. These bacteria cause legionnaires’ disease, which can involve headaches, muscle pain, [...]

IFMA’s FMJ Magazine Workplace violence is an all-too-common factor in modern society. Consequently, facility managers face an array of challenges to maximize safety and security of personnel. A recently formulated concept, Preparedness Without Paranoia, recognizes telltale signs of an evolving threat and empowers people to take effective action on their own.  READ MORE

Facility Executive Consistency in the hotel business is key. Hotels operate and build large brands off of the idea that they can be consistent in every aspect when delivering a guest experience. One way that hotels express this consistency is through the policies and procedures they utilize for maintaining guest security. Most hotels have their [...]

IFMA’s FMJ Magazine An emerging theme within the security industry, but less familiar in the facilities industry, is the value stream of security. Securing assets and protecting the people and processes of an organization is a critical business function that has come to be called enterprise security risk management. The most important word in the [...]

Buildings Out-of-the-way locations, extreme weather and short schedules impose difficult restrictions on roofing projects. FMs who are preparing for a re-cover or re-roofing installation may find their choices limited to certain materials or specifications that can stand up to their building’s unique challenges. Take a cue from these seven roofing projects, each of which required [...]

Facility Executive Facility management executives can realize dramatic reductions in energy consumption and operating costs by installing high performance equipment. But without proper maintenance and monitoring programs, those cost and consumption reductions could eventually fade away. Inevitably, the performance of high efficiency equipment will begin to decline due to environmental factors as well as normal [...]

Sourceable Following the Grenfell Tower tragedy in London and the 2014 Lacrosse apartment blaze in Melbourne, Australia, fire safety within multistorey buildings has been the subject of considerable public attention. For facility managers, this raises questions about the types of issues which can be overlooked and strategies they should adopt to ensure that risks within [...]

Press Release ATLANTA (August 08, 2017) – A new study from pest control leader Orkin finds that eight of 10 hotels have dealt with bed bugs in the past year, and 40 percent have treated for bed bugs in the past month. In addition to revealing that bed bugs are not a rare occurrence in hotels, [...]