Franchising
A look at the many different brands and resort and hotel branding companies that offer membership, franchising and collection opportunities in the lodging industry, including their fees and costs, marketing programs, management opportunities, brand standards and development and conversion opportunities.
Choice Hotels Reinforces Commitment to Cambria Suites
Choice Hotels says it is fully committed to the growth and success of Cambria Suites, its fledgling upscale all-suites brand. That’s a tall order, given that the brand was hatched at the worst possible time—the first Cambria opened the year before the start of the near-crippling recession—and has only been able to grow to 19 hotels (the latest, a 111-room property in Rapid City, SD, opens today). Still, Choice is putting its considerable ...
Hilton Airport Concept Takes Flight
Standing in the nearly 1,500-square-foot presidential suite, I can’t even hear the two planes that look close enough to touch. They’re the only reminder I’m at the Hilton Airport Frankfurt and not a five-star resort. If I look further down from the ninth-floor window, as instructed by the hotel’s GM and our tour guide, Charles Muller, I see the crossing ...
TRYP Coming to North America
Glass doors slide open to the lobby of the Tryp by Wyndham Hotel Quebec PUR. The deep charcoal and white lobby is austere, what Americans refer to as European or minimalist. Neutral shades carry the lobby, halls and rooms. Occasional pops of bright orange — a pillow here, a print there, the guest directory and even the desk pen — play with the eye....
Motel 6 Celebrates 50-Year Milestone
Fifty years go, homebuilders Paul Greene and William Becker built their first motel on the sandy shores of Santa Barbara’s Cabrillo Beach. That no-frills property offered rooms for just $6 per night. Today, 1,100 hotels in the Motel 6 chain still offer some of the lowest rates in the nation. In fact,...
Marriott's Lasting Legacy
Don’t ask Bill Marriott about his retirement. He’s not retiring and has no plans to. Ever. “I’ve seen too many people retire, get bored and die,” he says. He then leans forward, for emphasis it seems, and adds, “That’s not what I plan on doing,” before letting out a hearty laugh. ...
Hotel Executives See Clear Path Ahead
The Americas Lodging Investors Summit, held each January on the West Coast, is a good early bellwether of industry sentiment for the year. Budgets are complete, plans are made, and executives are hungry to execute. To get a reading on the sentiment for 2012, Lodging Hospitality gathered a roundtable of industry leaders during this year’s ALIS to gauge future developments, challenges and opportunities for the lodging business....
La Quinta: A Record-Breaking Hotel Chain
While La Quinta executives talked passionately about growth, property performance and the brand’s dynamic corporate culture at its annual conference this week in New Orleans, the big news was of a lighter variety. On the second day of the conference, La Quinta attempted and succeeded at breaking the world’s record for human mattress dominos. ...
Even a New Brand for IHG
InterContinental Hotels Group’s new brand Even will be a health and fitness focused limited-service brand positioned above Holiday Inn to compete against upscale brands like Courtyard by Marriott, Hilton Garden Inn and Four Points by Sheraton, says IHG’s Christian Hempell....
Carlson Rezidor Stays the Course
There was no major announcement, nothing like the bold Ambition 2015 strategy unveiled by Carlson Hotels in 2010, but one thing was noticeably different at last week’s global business conference: the company’s name was now Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group. ...
Can Room Key Be The Great Equalizer?
While sitting in the lobby of the JW Marriott at LA Live last month, John F. Davis III couldn’t keep his phone quiet. The CEO of Room Key was already a popular man, but now he was getting message after message about what Michael Shannon had just said on stage at the Nokia Theatre during the Americas Lodging Investment Summit. The managing director at KSL Capital ...
ALIS Returns to LA with Big Names, Numbers
The return of the Americas Lodging Investment Summit to Los Angeles and the new J.W. Marriott at LA Live brought out big numbers and even bigger names. The third largest crowd ever — approximately 2,400 — sat comfortably in the 7,000-seat Nokia Theatre for the opening of the event titled “Rebound!” Industry leaders, the chief economist for Wells Fargo Securities and legends Sam Zell and Bill Marriott took to the stage that has also hosted the Emmy Awards, the ESPYs and American Idol....
Marriott Retirement Heads List of Top Hotel Stories
Despite the relatively light volume of news this year, 2011 has produced a number of major stories. Yesterday we looked at the 10th through the sixth biggest stories of the year, and today we feature the five biggest....
Top Hotel Industry Stories of 2011
In many ways, 2011 has been a quiet year in the hotel industry. With most owners, operators and brand companies focusing on maintaining sales volumes and protecting margins, there was little time and resources for significant product initiatives, new brand development or mergers and acquisitions among chains, management companies or big ownership groups....
Vantage Hospitality Stays On the Move
In June of this year, Vantage Hospitality hit the 1,000-property milestone in the12th year since its founding. Last week at its annual convention and trade show, founder and CEO Roger Bloss made it clear Vantage was far from done. ...
Secrets to Hotel Brand Success From Jack DeBoer
People who work with Jack DeBoer say he’s hard to keep up with, even at 80. Those who followed the Kalamazoo, MI native as the father of extended-stay and creator of four brands attest to his drive, daring and compassion. Now the long-time Wichita, KS figure has laid down his story, refracting business history and commentary through an autobiographical prism in an entrepreneurial primer called “Risk Only Money.” ...
Past, Present and Future of Select-Service Hotels
When it was first introduced, the term select service was a euphemism—a marketing gimmick. Select service sounds much better than limited service or other options, but in reality, that’s what the first generation of select-service hotels in the 1980s were offering; a compromise: comfortable, clean, reliable lodging at an affordable price, with fewer bells and whistles. The idea was to reduce operating costs not by eliminating services and amenities, but by paring them to the essentials and minimizing costly extravagance....
Boutique Bash: 2011 LBHDC Recap
Richard Millard, who’d probably look like he was having fun at a funeral, wants you. The quirky and always engaging CEO and chairman of Trust Hospitality—Tecton and Desires until recently—ended the opening general session at last month’s Lifestyle/Boutique Hotel Development Conference with an impassioned plea about the allure of the lifestyle and boutique segments of the hotel industry:...
IHG’s Extended Stay Brands Keep on the Move
With InterContinental Hotels Group’s recent focus on the relaunch of Holiday Inn and now the repositioning of Crowne Plaza, the company’s extended-stay brands have flown beneath the radar, but both Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites continue to evolve and grow....
Hampton Flexes Its Hotel Marketing Muscle
For Phil Cordell, innovation is a guidepost. As global head of focused service, Hampton brand management, Hilton Worldwide, it’s up to Cordell to execute the company’s elastic vision. The 15-story, 221-room Hampton Inn & Suites Miami Brickell Downtown embodies it....
Farm Fresh: Fairfield Has Designs to Grow
Bill Marriott fondly remembers the Thanksgiving dinners at his father’s Fairfield Farm in the Virginia foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Reminiscing about the huge turkey in the tiny oven still draws a laugh from the chairman and CEO of Marriott International. That family farm — “my dad’s favorite place in the world,” says Mr. Marriott — became the name for the company’s first value-focused offering in 1987: Fairfield Inn....
