May 15, 2011
FORUM
The Demise of the Cork Sniffer
When asked to explain the essence of the lodging business, I have a simple answer: It’s part real estate and part retail. A hotel is developed as a real estate investment, but profits generated from the retail component of the business ultimately drive its value, justifying the developer’s initial decision to build and allowing him to develop more product....
CHECK IN
Hersha Hospitality Management Helps Clean the World
Hersha Hospitality Management takes its obligation as a steward of the environment seriously. The Philadelphia-based operator of more than 80 diverse lodging properties recently partnered with Clean the World, a non-profit group that fights the spread of preventable diseases by recycling hotel soaps and bottled amenities. Like all its sustainability and social action initiatives, Hersha looks at the partnership as a way to do well by doing good....
Accor Hotels Are Ready For Hurricane Season
At least three major hurricanes are predicted this year, according to the AccuWeather.com Hurricane Center. That’s not all: If the meteorologists are right, Gulf Coast hotels may weather as many as a dozen other serious storms during the June to November hurricane season. The question, as always, is where and, thus, which hotels may be effected. ...
Vacation Ownership May Be An Option For Distressed Condo Projects
An ambitious developer builds a whole ownership condo building in Florida. The beachfront property has 60 units. While the developer has purchase contracts with 10% deposits on 50 units, just 20 of the purchasers under contract have closed on their units. The project’s construction loan matures in 120 days, but the developer will be unable to meet the obligation. What are his options?...
Inside Look at Hotel Franchise Fees
Every two years HVS evaluates the fees charged by hotel franchise companies in the U.S. The purpose of this analysis is to provide a comparative review of various hotel franchise brands based on the applicable franchise fees. The selection of an appropriate franchise affiliation affects a property’s ability to compete in the local market, generate profits, achieve a certain image or market orientation and benefit from referral business. Because the success...
FEATURES
Baymont At Home With Wyndham
Quick, name the hotel company that created the Baymont Inn & Suites brand. Yes, the midscale limited-service brand currently resides with Wyndham Hotel Group, but no, that’s not where it began. Baymont was briefly La Quinta’s other brand, but it actually started in 1974 as the Budgetel Inn brand from Milwaukee-based Marcus Corp....
Michigan State Panel Believes Hotel Investments Are Hot Again
What a difference a year makes. Participants at a recent roundtable discussion at The School of Hospitality Business at Michigan State University were a lot more upbeat about the state of the hotel industry than was the case at a similar event last year. The panel, all members of The School’s Real Estate & Development Advisory Council, was awed at how quickly hotel performance has improved...
Survey Says: The Return of Hotel Financing
Hotel lending is back. Yet while financing is more plentiful than it has been in several years, it’s still generally only available for top-quality transactions and at rates and terms that might be difficult for some borrowers to accept. These are some of the conclusions from the annual survey of lodging industry lenders by Hotel Brokers International and Lodging Hospitality....
TECHNICALLY SPEAKING
Do You Know The Total Value of Your Guests?
It’s good business for a large, multi-faceted lodging property, like a casino hotel, to approach revenue management from a different point of view. That’s what The Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa does. The 2,000-room casino hotel in Atlantic City sets its rates using what it calls “total guest value-based revenue management.” In short, the hotel sets rates depending on how much total revenue a guest will spend at the property, not just what he or she pays for a room. ...
DESIGN PERSPECTIVE
Hilton Brand Makeover Starts With Lobby
“Hilton is not going to be the brand your father stayed at,” declared Hilton Hotels & Resorts global brand head Dave Horton Tuesday during a media tour of the newly renovated lobby at the Hilton McLean Tysons Corner....
