LRA Worldwide and Stowe Mountain Resort to Present Case Study at Cornell Hospitality Research Summit

HORSHAM, PA, September 26, 2012 (Press-News.org) Rob Rush, CEO of LRA Worldwide, Inc., and Mike Colbourn, Vice President of Marketing for Stowe Mountain Resort, will co-present a case study at the upcoming Cornell Hospitality Research Summit (CHRS) on Monday, October 8th at 2:00 PM. Titled "Transforming Stowe Mountain Resort to the Aspen of the East," the presentation will focus on LRA's work to help Stowe better understand the needs of its shifting customer base as the resort invested in a physical transformation from "ski mountain" to "five-star resort."

"We all understood the physical transformation that would take place at Stowe, but LRA has been our guide in the cultural transformation," explained Colbourn. "The case study outlines how LRA has helped us define and identify the new customer segments that are coming to Stowe and how to engage them emotionally in the Stowe experience. The key takeaway from the case study is that this approach has yielded better financial results, even in years where the ski industry as a whole has suffered."

The LRA-Stowe case study is part of the "Service Experience Management" track at the CHRS, which will be held October 8-9 on the Cornell University campus in Ithaca, NY. The other presenters during this session are Jonathan Douglas, Managing Principal of VOA Associates Incorporated, and Mary Beth McEuen, Executive Director of the Maritz Institute.

"We are pleased to have Rob and LRA as presenters once again," said Rohit Verma, Conference Chair, CHRS. "Their presentation is illustrative of the power of research to serve as a strategic tool in all facets of an operation - marketing, operations and human resources."

The Cornell Center for Hospitality Research organizes this bi-annual event, which was designed to allow leaders in the hospitality industry and academia to share "thought leadership" in a variety of areas of interest, including customer satisfaction & loyalty, branding, revenue management, social media and sustainability. This year, the CHRS is being used as a platform to celebrate the Center's 20th Anniversary.

For more information on the CHRS or to register, you can visit the conference website.

About LRA Worldwide, Inc.:
LRA Worldwide is a leading research and consulting company in the emerging discipline of Customer Experience Management (CEM). We work with our clients to help them design and deliver consistently exceptional customer experiences in order to drive customer satisfaction, loyalty and advocacy, and company growth and profitability.

In LRA's 30-year history, we have grown from a provider of customized quality assurance evaluation programs for the hospitality industry, to a leading CEM consulting company offering a variety of client solutions. The evolution has been driven by our clients asking us one question - "How do we get better?" In response, we have built a range of performance measurement, research, training and consulting solutions to help them do so. Today, we are a growing company operating in more than 120 countries throughout the world, helping clients such as Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Marriot Hotels International, the National Basketball Association, The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, Hyatt Hotels Corporation and Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group deliver exceptional customer experiences. Every touch. Every time. For more information, visit us at http://www.LRAworldwide.com.

About the Cornell Hospitality Research Summit:
Designed as a unique environment that matches participation of industry and university, the Cornell Hospitality Research Summit is scheduled for October 8-9, 2012, on the beautiful Cornell campus in Ithaca, NY. The CHRS was developed at the suggestion of the advisory board of the Cornell Center for Hospitality Research, to create a forum for the exchange of actionable ideas and strategies for the hospitality industry and related businesses. Early registration featuring a reduced price is currently under way.

The CHRS Title Sponsor is The Leading Hotels of the World; Platinum Sponsor is HotelNewsNow.com, a division of STR; Gold Sponsors are Deloitte, Hilton Worldwide, HVS, IDeaS, J.D. Power and Associates, LRP Publications, PKF Hospitality Research, Proskauer, SAS, STR, Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces, and Wyndham Hotel Group. Media Sponsors are Cleverdis, eCornell, Hotel Business, HotelExecutive.com, Hotel Online, HSyndicate, and Travel Weekly.

For details on the agendas, presenters, and accommodations, please visit us at http://www.hotelschool.cornell.edu/research/chr/events/chrs/

About The Center for Hospitality Research
A unit of the Cornell School of Hotel Administration, The Center for Hospitality Research (CHR) sponsors research designed to improve practices in the hospitality industry. Under the lead of the center's 77 corporate affiliates, experienced scholars work closely with business executives to discover new insights into strategic, managerial and operating practices. The center also publishes the award-winning hospitality journal, the Cornell Hospitality Quarterly. To learn more about the center and its projects, visit http://www.chr.cornell.edu.