January 1, 2010
FORUM
Hotel Leaders Believe 2010 Will Be Better
OPINION: What It Will Take For Good Times To Return
If you listen to some hotel industry leaders, you'll discover that many of them are optimistic about the year that's just begun. Whether it's reasoned judgment or just wishful thinking, these leaders believe we've turned the corner ...
CHECK IN
Co-Branded Hilton Properties Open in Jacksonville
FEATURE: Homewood/Hilton Garden Inn Combo Yields Cost Savings, Efficiencies
Hilton seems to be leading the market in dual-branded properties. Its latest, a Homewood Suites/Hilton Garden Inn combination in the Southbank neighborhood near downtown Jacksonville, FL, is an elegant example of how two hotels can operate as one yet serve distinct sets of guests with amenities, facilities and services each expects....
Hotel Brokers Forecast A Better 2010
NEWS: Deal Flow Will Start With Smaller Transactions
The hotel brokerage community thinks 2010 will be a better year for them than was ’09. After all, they reason, it couldn’t get much worse. Indeed, according to Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels, just $9 billion in global hotel transactions were completed last year, down substantially from $25 billion in 2008. ...
ABVI Celebrates 10 Years And Looks Ahead
NEWS: Unit Growth, Marketing, Member Services Top List of Priorities
While Americas Best Value Inn spent part of its annual convention this week celebrating its 10th anniversary, chain officials devoted more time to looking forward. ...
Hospitality Law Conference Tackles Tough Issues
NEWS: HospitalityLawyer.com Hosts Legal Confab In Houston
The lodging industry faces a number of important and potentially treacherous legal issues this year and beyond. Many of these topics will be explored ...
Now’s the Time to Develop New Hotels
OPINION: Reduced Costs, Competition Among Reasons to Build
It amazes me during this economic downturn—when hotel values have in some areas declined 50 percent or more and existing properties can be purchased at bargain prices—that hundreds of hotel developers all over the world are still looking to build new projects. In fact, HVS has never been busier performing feasibility studies for ...
Timeshare Looks For A Better 2010
FEATURE: ARDA Chief Calls For Developers To Get Back To Basics
Creating lemonade from lemons has never been a problem for Howard Nusbaum, president of the American Resort Development Association, the vacation ownership industry trade group. Despite a year concluding he describes as “humbling,” Nusbaum remains convinced the timeshare industry will recover from its problems...
FEATURES
David Kong Takes AH&LA Into Second 100 Years
FEATURES: Best Western Chief Sets His Agenda As Chairman
David’s Kong’s path to the pinnacle of the hotel industry began during his boyhood years in Hong Kong where a weekly ritual for the family was Sunday lunch in a fine hotel. “From that early age,...
Trickle of Transactions
Mixed amid the recent wave of bankruptcies, defaults and foreclosures, there has been a trickle of hotel transactions sparking hope that distressed assets...
Lessons Learned From a Fallen Economy
FEATURE: Three-Part Series Examines Industry’s Response to Downturn
When the economy kicked and gasped what would become its last breaths of vitality in the fourth quarter of 2008, some in the hospitality sector called for a “reset,” while others continued business as usual and others still charged headlong into what in retrospect can only be called uncharted waters. No matter the response, all came to the inevitable understanding that what “was” would no longer be....
DESIGN PERSPECTIVE
Recalls a Reminder About Crib Safety
FEATURE: Baby Bedding Can’t Be Overlooked by Hotels
At the end of November, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) recalled 2.1 million baby cribs, the largest crib recall in U.S. history. It’s the 22nd recall in the last two years, which all told has affected 6.3 million cribs across 10 brands. What does all that mean to the lodging...
Design Elements January 2010
The Ritz-Carlton, Amelia Island (FL) finished a $22-million ballroom expansion this fall. Wilson Associates managed the design of the 11,000 square feet...
TECHNICALLY SPEAKING
TeleMatrix Absorbs Teledex
A flurry of legal and financial dealings late last year ended with telephone marketer Scitec/TeleMatrix acquiring the assets of competitor Teledex following...
New System Links Cell Phones, Lock Systems
The long-held- promise of mobile technology linking with guestroom lock systems may finally be coming to fruition. At last fall's International Hotel/Motel...
Products January 2010
IN-ROOM TECHNOLOGY Brandstand Connection Panels bring power and data to the desktop for added guest convenience. With a modular platform, each panel is...
BACK OF HOUSE
Products January 2010
IN-ROOM TECHNOLOGY Brandstand Connection Panels bring power and data to the desktop for added guest convenience. With a modular platform, each panel is...
