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Waldorf Astoria Stakes Heartland Claim
It’s bitterly cold in the appropriately named Windy City, a mid-February day best spent inside. Which makes a cozy suite in the recently rebranded Waldorf Astoria Chicago a particular pleasure....
How to Factor Generational Mindsets Into Hotel Sales
As hotel sales directors, do you take into account generational differences when planning a meeting or incentive? How much thought do you give to generational mix when selling a concept to a group? Here is a new method, with proven case histories, that can increase group business at your property by showing meeting planners how they can have a successful event at your hotel by creating generational functions....
Brace Yourself For Hotel Merger Mania
One sure sign an industry is trending upward is an increase in mergers and acquisitions activity. Given the lodging industry’s stellar performance over the last 18 months, it’s no surprise, then, that merger mania is about to break out in the hotel business....
Coast Hotels Looking to Expand in West
Shoppers who stay at the The Coast Bellevue Hotel in Bellevue, WA, can use their keycard as a discount pass for shopping at Macy’s department store. Hunters who stay at Alaska’s Coast International Inn have access to a walk-in freezer. Tourists ...
Behind Choice Hotels’ Marketing Power
Like most brand company conventions in this era of slow growth, last week’s Choice Hotels conference in Las Vegas was short on a lot of hard news. However, fascinating presentations by Choice executives Alexandra Jaritz and Pat Pacious pulled back the curtain on the company’s multi-layered, all-encompassing distribution and marketing efforts....
Weber's Inn Restaurant Drives Rooms
Weber’s Inn in Ann Arbor, MI, is backwards. Its 500-seat restaurant does nearly twice the business of its 158-room hotel. The restaurant practically drives the business. And, the hotel, with an ADR of $100, has a 75% to 77% occupancy rate. Not too shabby. ...
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 ...
Embassy Suites Surveys Business Travelers
If Embassy Suites fourth annual travel survey is any indication, the economy is improving. One-third of respondents say they’re traveling more than a year ago. And, those cutting back on business travel have dropped by one-fourth. ...
Hilton’s Do-It-Yourself Design
Hilton Design Studio can save owners, operators and designers time and expense, according to Hilton executives who demonstrated the sophisticated online tool at the 458-unit Hilton McLean Tysons Corner....
Another Key to Developing a Successful Short-Stay Destination
Of my three keys to developing a successful short-stay destination, the first is no surprise: location. In this case, the ideal spot is an established destination near a metropolitan area but accessible via quiet roads that transport travelers to a more tranquil or low-key environment. The second key is concept. Developing a unique design concept for a short-stay getaway is critical to its short- and long-term success....
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....
CMBS Distress Resolutions Are No Easy Feat
Commercial real estate professionals have always known that resolving distressed CMBS debt situations would be difficult, given the multitude of properties and note holders involved in every deal. A recent debt restructuring completed on the Atlantis Resort and Casino in the Bahamas proves just how tricky CMBS distress resolutions can get....
Extended Stay Takes Lead in Rate Growth
Extended-stay hotel operators seems to have learned a lesson others in the hotel industry have missed: Demand is rising, supply is non-existent, so it’s time to raise rates because that’s where the profits are found. In the first quarter, extended-stay hotels were able to push ADR by 7.2%, much higher than ...
New Appraisal Method Could Limit Lending
If you‘re not a real estate appraiser, you’re probably unaware of a major catastrophe looming that could effectively eliminate all types of hotel financing, making it all but impossible to either build or sell a hotel. Under potential new governmental lending regulations, hotel appraisers will be forced to utilize an appraisal methodology that will lower their hotel valuations by as much as 40%, forcing borrowers to finance significantly less of their acquisition prices at greatly inflated interest rates. While this topic is somewhat technical, I will attempt to describe the issues in simple terminology....
Who’s Got Money for Hotel Financing?
The long hotel financing freeze is slowly beginning to thaw. That’s a common sentiment of both participants in a recent roundtable of industry executives held at Michigan State and respondents to the annual Hotel Brokers International/Lodging Hospitality survey of lodging lenders. And if you’re looking for financing—and who isn’t?— be sure to register for ...
How Social Media Levels the Playing Field
Marketing intelligence can be gleaned from social media, a fact well documented. From recommendations to general opinions shared online, hotels gain great insight into the relevance and effectiveness of their marketing messages. ...
Another Optimistic Outlook for the Hotel Business
While the pace of the hotel industry’s rebound may at times seem to be excruciatingly slow, it is very real, particularly if you look street corner by street corner. “I think we were all hoping for a quick rebound, but ...
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,...
AWH Holdings Primes Lane Hotels for Growth
Bill DeForrest admits it wasn’t an industry secret that Lane Hotels was on the market. With the third generation of the family now involved in the business, the Lanes were looking to...
Panel Says Caribbean Tourism Is Hot, Financing’s Not
Despite the many challenges it faces—the state of the world economy, rising fuel prices, increased taxation—the Caribbean tourism industry is in good shape today and has a bright future. That was the conclusion of multiple speakers at last week’s Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Investment Conference in San Juan. Despite the worldwide economic downturn, the region’s hospitality industry saw record numbers of tourist arrivals in both 2010 and 2011....
Burwash Hits 37 Years of Tennis Management
Peter Burwash has been teaching tennis since the 1970s. After seven years on the professional circuit, he moved into the field in a big way — managing tennis programs for clubs and resorts....
Noble House Ready to Brand its Properties
Noble House Hotels & Resorts has added the 156-room Pelican Grand Beach Resort in Fort Lauderdale to its collection of managed properties. It’s the 17th property for the Seattle-based company which owns and manages boutique hotels and resorts spanning the four coastal corners of America. ...
Caribbean Tourism Relaunches Regional Marketing Initiative
Perhaps, possibly, the Caribbean tourism industry is about to realize one of its long-term goals: to create a viable and sustainable platform to market the Caribbean brand as one entity to potential visitors from around the world. Last year, a joint venture between ...
Sherwin-Williams Color Picks Affect Hotel Decor
The economy. Japan’s tsunami. The Mediterranean. Fashion. All contributed to the hottest colors — blues, reds, greens, neutrals and a pop of yellow — in the 2012 color palette identified by paint company Sherwin-Williams. ...
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