Carlson Hotels Has Big Plans
NEWS: Five-Year Strategy Includes Radisson Revitalization
While the new management team at Carlson Hotels has big plans for the company’s brands, it’s not ready to reveal the strategies it will deploy to pump up the Radisson flag in North America and to continue the steady growth of the midpriced Country Inn & Suites brand. ...
New Lodging Cycle to Start in Late 2010
Don’t expect commercial real estate to begin to rebound until the second half of 2010, according to a new forecast from Jones Lang LaSalle. In addition, says JLL, the latter part of next year will also “mark the start of a new lodging cycle, a period when the investment community will start to transition from the year of realization (2009) to the year of increasing opportunities.”...
Clock Ticking on 300 Holiday Inn Owners
NEWS: IHG Makes Case as Deadline for Relaunch Looms
By the end of this month, 1,400 Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels around the world will have completed their relaunch, leaving 1,300 properties in the North American system that haven’t finished the process. Seven hundred of those have paid for and are in the process of the overhaul and another 300 have committed and paid for at least one of the six new components. That leaves 300 properties left dangling,...
Inside Look at Staybridge Suites
NEWS: IHG Partners With SCAD for New Interior Design
Rob Radomski, InterContinental Hotels Group global vice president of extended-stay brands, unveiled Staybridge Suites’ new look to 80 or so owners at last week’s annual leadership conference in Washington D.C. Radomski wanted an out-of-the-box look, so he went outside the box to find the designers to create it....
Country Inn & Suites Opens in New York City
NEWS: Hotel Joins Slew of New Properties in Queens
The trend toward outer borough hotel development in New York City continues. A new Country Inn & Suites that opened last week in Long Island City joins a number of other branded properties in the Queens neighborhood. ...
IHG Confident Despite Downturn
NEWS: Company’s Relaunch of Holiday Inn Still Top Priority CEO Andy Cosslett closed his speech at the opening general session of InterContinental Hotel Group’s annual Americas Investors & Leadership Conference Wednesday by quoting General George Patton: “Success is how you bounce off the bottom.” Cosslett said the company’s massive relaunch ...
Hyatt IPO Starts at $25
Hyatt Hotels this morning announced its initial public offering of 38,000,000 shares of Class A common stock at $25 per share. The stock will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ‘H.’...
Kindred Resorts Join Forces
NEWS: Seven Luxury Hotels Form Partnership for Sales & Marketing
The independent hotel has always faced an uphill battle, but as the downturn continues to deepen, especially at the luxury level, the mountain is even steeper. To help make the climb, seven luxury properties have banded together to form Kindred Resorts & Hotels. ...
Best Western’s Breakfast Blues
NEWS: Chain Seeks to Improve Product, Presentation, Presence
The most important meal of the day is causing problems for Best Western. Calling it “one of the brand’s competitive weaknesses,” chain executive Ron Pohl recently told Best Western members they need to focus on “the 3Ps: Product, Presentation and Presence. We must be consistent in offering our brand standards and present them well.”...
Best Western Bids to Build Market Share
NEWS: Loyalty Program is Top Marketing Priority
Market share, the holy grail of hotel marketers in a down economy, is a top priority for Best Western, and the chain is backing its efforts with lots of money and a marketing strategy that focuses on loyalty, partnerships, promotions, social media and advertising....
Best Western Looks For Product Definition
NEWS: Chain Ponders Descriptor Strategy
David Kong wants the world to know Best Western is neither segmenting its brand nor launching new ones. “It’s really a marketing communications strategy,” the chain’s president and CEO emphatically told members last week in describing a proposed “descriptor” initiative that, if adopted, would better differentiate the group’s properties for consumers. ...
Creativity Is Critical For Growth
NEWS: Companies Look For Development Alternatives
Traditional financing may be difficult to secure, but hotel companies are looking for alternatives to keep their growth engines humming. “While there is a complete lack of financing today for new construction, some money is available for conversion projects,” said Yoav Gery, Marriott’s senior vice president of boutique development, at last week’s Lifestyle/Boutique Hotel Development Conference...
Boutique Design About Creating an Experience
NEWS: Sense of Place Also an Important Factor
Not a panel or session went by the inaugural Lifestyle/Boutique Hotel Development Conference last week without referencing great design. It’s the one thing everyone agrees helps define the boutique concept. "It’s the evolution ...
Boutique Marketing Requires Emotional Connection
NEWS: ‘Love Mark’ Should Be Focus of Marketing Efforts
A boutique hotel is nothing without a “love mark,” that essence of the property that creates an emotional connection to guests. So said Douglas Carrillo, partner and senior vice president of sales and marketing for Desires Hotels, during a panel discussion at last week’s Lifestyle/Boutique Hotel Development Conference in Miami. Carrillo said...
Financing Boutique Hotels a Challenge
NEWS: Tax Incentives Can Provide Needed Equity
Bob Sonnenblick, chairman of real estate development firm Sonnenblick-Del Rio LLC, said if you hit a homerun with a boutique project and it becomes the “hip” hotel, the results will be off the charts, but if you miss, it can be a costly mistake. Like with any segment in the lodging industry, the problem is finding the money ...
Service Key to Boutique Vibe
NEWS: Being Genuine, Not Scripted Gives A Property Its Soul
If design is where a boutique or lifestyle property starts, service is often where it ends. Service is the critical infrastructure that gives a property its vibe and culture, according to panelists at last week’s Lifestyle/Boutique Hotel Development Conference at the Fontainebleau in Miami Beach. “We’re selling experiences, not ...
Rowley: Good Design Has Won
NEWS: Conference Keynoter Says Boutique Business Proves That
Cheryl Rowley quoted the movie Back to the Future, got emotional while reminiscing about Bill Kimpton and declared good design has prevailed during her keynote address at the inaugural Lifestyle/Boutique Hotel Development Conference....
Investors Still Bullish on Boutiques
NEWS: Properly Run Boutiques Create Higher Margins
When the market to buy and build hotels returns to normalcy, the boutique and lifestyle segments may lead the way. That was one conclusion from a panel discussion during this week’s Lifestyle/Boutique Hotel Development Conference at the ...
Boutique Business Still Buzzing
NEWS: Conference Shows Passion, Profits Central to Growing Segment
Maybe Richard Russo, the director of development for Morgans Hotel Group, best answered the question posed in the title of the opening general session of the inaugural Lifestyle/Boutique Hotel Development Conference held Tuesday at the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach. It was titled “Why Invest in a Boutique/Lifestyle Hotel?” and Russo explained ...
Innovation Is Key to Hotel Recovery
NEWS: Thayer Lodging Chief Sees a Bumpy but Bright Future
The path back to prosperity for hotels and hotel companies is clear but treacherous, lodging company mogul Fred Malek told an audience of hotel asset managers last week in Arlington, VA....
Hotel Show Highlights Hospitality Products
NEWS: AH&LA Holds Fall Conference in Conjunction With IH/M&RS
Next month’s International Hotel/Motel & Restaurant Show in New York City will showcase the latest and most innovative products and services available to the hospitality industry. The 94th edition of the show will be held Saturday, Nov. 7 through Tuesday, Nov. 10 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center....
Hotel Slide Is a Reset, Not a Cycle
NEWS: Focus On Costs, Advises Magnuson
What the U.S. hotel industry is experiencing today isn’t simply the downside of a highly cyclical business, emphasizes Thomas Magnuson, but rather a massive fundamental shift. “It’s a reset,” declares the CEO and principal of Magnuson Hotels, ...
Concord Hospitality Launches Equity Fund
NEWS: A $300-Million Pool To Buy Distressed Hotels
One man’s crisis is another’s opportunity. And in this economic environment, those companies with spotless operating records and clean balance sheets are best able to take advantage of the situation. That’s what Concord Hospitality Enterprises hopes to do with a $300-million private equity fund ...
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