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Indy Hotels Take Center Stage for Super Bowl
Two years ago Tom Cappucci went to Miami Gardens, FL to see how the city — and its hotels — handled with the Super Bowl XLIV crowd. Last year, the general manager of Indianapolis’ University Place Conference Center & Hotel took a chef and a conference planner to Dallas where they observed operations for the big event. ...
Saving the Last Frank Lloyd Wright Hotel
Famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed just five hotels and only one remains in operation, the Historic Park Inn in Mason City, IA. Following a $20-million restoration, the property has returned to its position as the center of the town’s business and social life. Here’s how this improbable feat was accomplished:...
Innisfree Launches First New-Build Holiday Inn Resort
In the past two years, Innisfree Hotels pushed through a tough market to develop and launch the first new-build Holiday Inn Resort. Opened last February on Pensacola Beach, the 206-room hotel earned Innisfree IHG’s 2011 Developer of the Year Award for mid-scale brands....
Controlling Costs & Liabilities Related to Housekeeper Injuries
Hotels continue to deliver increasingly higher levels of luxury for their guests, including now providing luxurious guestroom beds that have more than doubled in weight and thickness in just the last 10 years. Unfortunately the increase in weight has led to a dramatic increase in housekeeper injuries and associated ...
Final Words on ALIS: Rebound With a Question Mark
The 11th Americas Lodging Investors Summit, held last week in Los Angeles, featured a shiny new venue, controversial security procedures and some format changes. But what was most different from last year’s event held in San Diego was the intensity of industry optimism. Last year, the mood was irrational: many industry people were expecting an even more robust 2011 than ultimately developed. This year, the smart money was on bullishness with a healthy dose of concern, mostly about risks beyond control of the industry and individual owners and operators....
Trump Shares Secrets of Hotel Development at ALIS
He won’t admit it in public, but in his heart Donald Trump is a hotelier first and foremost. At this week’s Americas Lodging Investors Summit, America’s most-famous businessman gave a bombastic and ego-driven, but passionate speech on virtues of hotel development and ownership....
ALIS Gets Back to Business
Pegasus Solutions CEO Mike Kistner gave perhaps the best description of the mood at the Americas Lodging Investment Summit: “It’s business-as-usual optimism,” he explained while sitting in the far quieter lobby of the JW Marriott at LA Live Wednesday morning as the conference and crowd dwindled. “It’s not the hopeful or cautious optimism of the last two years. It’s real.”...
ALIS Update: A Cloud Over Hotel Transactions
The big story at this year’s Americas Lodging Investors Summit is no story. Sure, everyone here in Los Angeles says they’re positive about the near term; yet every pronouncement of optimism comes with a but: Hotel fundamentals look good, but macroeconomics could derail recovery. Hotel transactions may pick up this year, but debt financing is still scarce. Billions in CMBS debt comes to maturity this year, but many of those assets may not come to market....
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....
Capital Markets Key to Hotel Real Estate Rebound
Unlike the operating side of the hotel industry, the real estate recovery hasn’t been as clearly defined. Transaction volumes rose again in 2011, values have grown faster than anyone expected and overall industry sentiment appears positive starting the new year, yet the forecast for 2012 remains partly cloudy. ...
Lodging's Winding Road to Recovery
Vantage Hospitality President & CEO Roger Bloss was watching sports on TV last month when he discovered what might be the perfect metaphor for the hotel industry outlook in 2012. “Instead of football, I was watching a road rally and noticed that sport is a lot like what’s facing the economy and our business...
Carlson, Rezidor Go to Market As One
As the saying goes, perception is reality. That’s the rationale behind yesterday’s announcement of the formation of The Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, the merging of two lodging giants—U.S.-based Carlson and European-based Rezidor—as a platform to go to market under one identity. Since the two firms have different ownership structures—Carlson is private, Rezidor is publicly traded with Carlson as majority shareholder—the arrangement only involves strategic and tactical maneuvers. ...
Hotel Spas Look For Improved Performance in 2012
It’s been a tough five years for hotel spas, but 2012 should a better year, particularly for those hotel operators who approach their spas as businesses, rather than just property amenities. According to a new study from PKF Consulting, hotel spas had sharper declines in revenues and profits in 2008 and 2009 than did hotels overall. And while improvements in the hotel industry started in early 2010, the spa business didn’t begin to get healthy until a year later....
The Dangers of Third-hand Smoke in Hotels
Most of us have heard the term “second-hand smoke.” This is the smoke that comes from the end of a lighted cigarette or is exhaled by a smoker. It’s airborne and noticeable because it has a distinct odor. Some studies indicate that frequent inhaling of second-hand smoke can be as dangerous—if not more so—to the nonsmoker as it is to people who do smoke. Now a new term has emerged: “third-hand smoke.” ...
8 Items Every Front Desk Should Have Available for Guests
The front desk serves as the hub of a hotel’s operation. It’s the area from which guests register and depart, where the current occupancy status of the hotel is maintained, where inquiries are answered and requests for service are dispatched, and for many hotels it may be the only department that is staffed 24 hours each day. This round-the-clock nature of the front desk makes it a logical focal point for guests to seek out remedies for their immediate problems at all hours of the day and night. ...
A Closer Look at the Launch of Room Key
The challenge of answering to six of the largest hotel brand companies who are also his biggest clients doesn’t faze John F. Davis III, the CEO of new hotel search engine Room Key. In fact, he says, it’s much easier than when he started THISCO (The Hotel Industry Switch Company now known as Pegasus Solutions) in 1989 with 16 hotel company board members....
What’s Ahead For Hotels in 2012
2011 may not have been the hotel industry’s best year, but it sure could have been a hell of a lot worse. As we discuss in this month’s industry forecast story (starting on pg. 22), lodging demand, rate and RevPAR all improved in 2011, and this should be another year of gains. But what else is ahead for 2012 and beyond for the industry? Managing Editor Eric Stoessel and I present our thoughts on what will be the big news stories and trends in the coming 12 months...
North Dakota Is the Hottest Hotel Market
Follow the energy may be the best advice for someone looking for promising development opportunities in the U.S. hotel industry during this year and beyond. And if you follow the energy, you may end up in North Dakota, the hottest hotel market in the U.S....
Is Outsourcing the Answer for Hotel F&B?
Hoteliers have long struggled with what to do with food and beverage. Is it a profit center, an enticement to book a meeting, or a necessary evil? Regardless of your opinion, f&b typically accounts for more than one-fourth of a full-service hotel’s revenues and...
Training Academy Key to Wequassett’s Success
The Wequassett Academy, the training program of Wequassett Resort & Golf Club on Cape Cod, is so successful the founders just may spin it off as a separate business. If that happens, the 77 (and counting) hospitality classes would be available to hoteliers outside the property....
The Splendor of Kohler’s American Club
While its name is synonymous with the quality bathroom fixtures it manufactures, Wisconsin-based Kohler Co. also maintains a significant presence in the lodging industry, anchored by The American Club, its luxury hotel in Kohler’s hometown....
AH&LEF Golf Classic Marks 25 Years
One of the lodging industry’s most important philanthropic events is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. The American Hotel & Lodging Educational Foundation Golf Classic will held Aug. 19-22 at La Costa in Carlsbad, CA. The previous 24 Golf Classics have raised a combined $2.25 million to support the AH&LEF’s core missions of research, grants and scholarships....
LaSalle Hotel Properties Acquires Park Central Hotel for $396.2M
LaSalle Hotel Properties has acquired the Park Central Hotel in New York City for $396.2 million. Located in Midtown Manhattan on Seventh Avenue between West 55th and 56th Streets, the full-service hotel features 934 rooms....
Valuing the Same Hotel Across Five Regions
In a previous column, I showed the development of a projection of revenue, expense and net income for five regions of the world: South America, China, Europe, India and the U.S. These projections were made under the assumption the hotel would be a 200-room Marriott type hotel with identical revenue per available year numbers for each of the five regions. ...
Downtown Making Orlando More Than Just Disney
Orlando is known for its amusement parks and related hotels. These destinations override the visibility of downtown, making that, perhaps, under-built. ...
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