Different Ways to Restructure a Hotel Loan
After four years of negative and negligible growth, the U.S. economy is finally showing signs of recovery. Despite this, global events including financial challenges throughout Europe and political turmoil in the Middle East may contribute to tipping our economy back into a recession. ...
ScanINN Shortens Hotel Lines at Motel 6
Check-in lines will be shorter at Motel 6 properties with the implementation of Intellicheck Mobilisa’s ScanINN technology. Guest services representatives simply swipe a guest’s driver’s license to capture information and populate forms. ...
Locals Help Drive Iron Horse’s Success
Most developers who venture into hospitality view the independent boutique hotel as their baby — the most draining, hand wringing and rewarding property in their portfolio. For the Iron Horse Hotel, it has been a particular labor of love because our hotel opened simultaneously with the worst credit crunch in U.S. history. That meant opening $7 million short, with no working capital and in a secondary market. ...
First Impressions Start at Parking Garages
Imagine driving through the exciting new environs of the vacation getaway you have planned on for months, fresh off a six-hour flight. Eager with anticipation, you pull up to the all-inclusive resort where you will be spending the next week in sensory bliss. As you reach the property’s gates ...
Great Opportunity Exists for Non-Institutional Buyers
While REITs and many private equity buyers remain quiet, opportunities exist for other investors to take advantage of a lodging market ripe with promise....
Affinia Hotels Launches Tender Loving Comfort Movement
Men and women like to be communicated with differently. Women like face to face, while men prefer side to side. That makes a difference in providing customer service, says Christina Denihan, chief comfort officer for Affinia Hotels...
Personality Test Identifies Strongest Employees
If I worked at a hotel, I’d make a good fine dining server or maybe a concierge, according to a recent personality profile. The profile test I took helps hotel managers identify the strongest job candidates, and thus, curb turnover and associated human resources costs....
Hyatt’s Leaning Tower an Architectural Marvel
With a tilt of 18 degrees — greater than the famed Leaning Tower of Pisa — the Hyatt Capital Gate Abu Dhabi opened on the first day of winter last year. The unique architecture cantilevers rooms over the city, giving guests panoramic views and a feeling of floating above it all....
Reviewing Social Media Sites Critical
Last April, I wrote a column about how online travel agency websites (like Expedia and Priceline) affect hotel values. I received quite a bit of mail about that article—a lot of people have been wrestling with how to control this new and increasingly important technology. One of the key messages...
Taxes: What You Don’t Know May Cost You
A capital gain occurs when an asset increases in value. Under most circumstances, this event is taxable only when the asset is sold and the gain (or loss) is realized. In general, capital gains taxation in the U.S. has been at 15% for several years. What you may or may not be aware of is starting in January, that rate will increase to 20% above the first $250,000. ...
Marriott's Lasting Legacy
Don’t ask Bill Marriott about his retirement. He’s not retiring and has no plans to. Ever. “I’ve seen too many people retire, get bored and die,” he says. He then leans forward, for emphasis it seems, and adds, “That’s not what I plan on doing,” before letting out a hearty laugh. ...
$65 Milllion Turns NYC’s Helmsley into Westin
By early summer, the Helmsley Hotel in New York City will be no more. The circa 1981 building is undergoing extensive renovations and will become the Westin New York at Grand Central. This marks Starwood Hotels & Resorts’ second Westin in the city. The first is the nearby Westin New York at Times Square....
Kimpton Chief Talks Adaptive Reuse
CEO Mike Depatie claims Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants is likely the biggest adaptive-reuse boutique hotel company in the country. Of the company’s 52 properties, 12 are adaptive-reuse projects. The latest project is the Schofield Building in the heart of Cleveland, OH. Built in 1902, the 110-year-old office building will open this year as a 161-room Kimpton-style boutique hotel with a chef-driven restaurant. The yet-unnamed property, owned by CRM Real Estate, will include 25 luxury apartments and ground-floor retail....
The Impact of Politics on the Hotel Business
As always seems to happen when politics enters the conversation, discussions and debates about the role of government and regulatory impact on the hotel industry tend to become polarized depending on your political affiliations....
Be Sure Your Political Voice Is Heard
The Marriott brothers Bill and Richard are in for $1.5 million. And Omni Hotels owner Robert Rowling has kicked in a million bucks. How much money will you be donating to political candidates for this fall’s presidential and other elections? I doubt if it will be anything close to what these super-rich hotel guys can afford and have so far donated to various Super PACs, but it’s just as important you participate in the process this year and every year. ...
Hotel Executives See Clear Path Ahead
The Americas Lodging Investors Summit, held each January on the West Coast, is a good early bellwether of industry sentiment for the year. Budgets are complete, plans are made, and executives are hungry to execute. To get a reading on the sentiment for 2012, Lodging Hospitality gathered a roundtable of industry leaders during this year’s ALIS to gauge future developments, challenges and opportunities for the lodging business....
Pillar Hotels Eyes Aggressive Growth
When Marriott was adding bistros to its Courtyard properties, it was no problem for management company Pillar Hotels & Resorts. The seven-year-old Irving, TX-based company has supervised enough capital improvements that it was more than ready to manage changes to the lobbies and food and beverage operations....
LH Design Awards Call for Nominations
It’s once again time for Lodging Hospitality’s annual Design Awards competition. The Design Awards will run in the April 15 print issue and online, and we need your help identifying the year’s best hotel and resort design. ...
La Quinta: A Record-Breaking Hotel Chain
While La Quinta executives talked passionately about growth, property performance and the brand’s dynamic corporate culture at its annual conference this week in New Orleans, the big news was of a lighter variety. On the second day of the conference, La Quinta attempted and succeeded at breaking the world’s record for human mattress dominos. ...
Even a New Brand for IHG
InterContinental Hotels Group’s new brand Even will be a health and fitness focused limited-service brand positioned above Holiday Inn to compete against upscale brands like Courtyard by Marriott, Hilton Garden Inn and Four Points by Sheraton, says IHG’s Christian Hempell....
Classic Hyatt Regency Atlanta Gets Updated
Architect John Portman’s Hyatt Regency Atlanta, the first atrium hotel, has gotten a re-do. Last renovated in 1995, the 45-year-old hotel was due for a renovation to stay competitive....
Starwood Allows 24-hour Check-in/Check-out
Starwood Hotels & Resorts is allowing really late checkouts for top-tier loyalty-program members. In fact, the company is replacing the familiar 3 p.m.-check-in, 11 a.m.-check-out standard with a rolling 24-hour program for its most frequent guests....
Anticipate Good Returns with Hotel Real Estate
The value of a hotel, or of any type of real estate, is always based on the concept of anticipation. Anticipation is the expected utility that will come to the real estate owner in the future. For example, when you estimate the price you would be willing to pay for a ...
Homewood Suites Slims Down
Upscale extended-stay chain Homewood Suites recently introduced a next-generation prototype that’s smaller and less expensive to build than previous incarnations of the product. The Gen 9 prototype, which is currently being rolled out for new projects, gives developers an opportunity to build Homewoods on slightly smaller or oddly shaped land parcels....
The Time Has Come for Amenity Dispensers
One of my favorite authors is Malcolm Gladwell, who among other books wrote The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference. As Malcolm adeptly put it, the “tipping point” is that magical moment when an idea, trend or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire. Another definition of tipping point is “the point at which the buildup of minor incidents reaches a level that causes most to do something they had formerly resisted.” ...
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