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....
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. ...
Are You Correctly Accounting for Barter Business?
Many hotels that employ media trade programs use the cash accounting principles contained in the Uniform System of Accounts for the lodging industry. In reality, these rules were never meant to be the principles to exchange empty roomnights to the media for advertising....
Vegas Building Business, Not New Casinos
The Cosmopolitan’s debut in December likely marked the end of a two-decade run of multibillion-dollar luxury developments on the Las Vegas Strip that began in 1989 with the opening of the Mirage. As the battle for customers rages amongst the five-star resorts—Wynn, Encore, Palazzo, Venetian, Aria, Bellagio, Mandalay Bay and now the Cosmopolitan—news of Sahara’s closing comes as little surprise ...
Cosmopolitan Reaches New Heights in Vegas
It’s almost hidden, tucked down a long hallway on the third floor of the new Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. The small pizza place without a name or storefront serves the best ...
Hoteliers Have Plenty to Worry About
The hotel industry is grappling with a lot of issues these days: the still-weak consumer economy, stagnant rate growth, worries over potentially restrictive legislation in Washington and in state capitals, and political conditions and natural events beyond its control. Here are a few other concerns that could derail the ongoing recovery in the lodging business:...
Hunter Honors Legendary Hotelier Bruce White
Organizers of last week’s Hunter Hotel Investment Conference honored one of the hotel industry’s dynamic, but low-profile entrepreneurs: Bruce White of White Lodging Services. White was recipient of the conference’s second Award for Excellence and Inspiration. ...
‘Bright Light in a Long Tunnel’
The Americas Lodging Investment Summit is the annual bellwether of the industry, setting the tone for the year in lodging. To get an even better understanding of where the hotel world is heading, Lodging Hospitality gathered a roundtable of industry leaders immediately following the conference to discuss their takeaways and to get their thoughts on the year ahead. ...
Carlson Revamps Loyalty, Eyes New Brands
Yesterday at its annual conference, Carlson launched a rebranded and revamped loyalty program and outlined broad plans to add new brands in the economy and luxury lodging segments. But company officials were most anxious to talk about Carlson’s ongoing Ambition 2015 initiative to grow the company’s revenues and portfolio and to revitalize its lodging brands....
Hotel Receivers Talk Turnaround Strategies
Working as a hotel receiver isn’t for the faint of heart. The assignment often comes on short notice, sometimes includes a surprised and hostile borrower and a property whose physical structure, staff and cash flow have deteriorated. ...
Resort Investments Promising for Discerning Players
With the prospect of resorts outperforming hotels in 2011, more investors will be attracted to this exciting comeback market. In Hotel Horizons, Colliers PKF Hospitality Research forecasts U.S. resorts will show year-over-year RevPAR growth of 12.3 percent this year versus 10.4 percent for all hotels. Investors must be careful, though, because...
Hotel Industry Is Ready to Rebound
2011 will be a pivotal year for the U.S. hotel industry as owners and operators strive to keep last year’s momentum intact. While operational performance should continue to improve, questions remain on how robust the transactions market will be and when new hotel development will return. ...
Radisson Revival Well On Its Way
As Carlson CEO Hubert Joly said during the company’s global conference in March, it’s easy to announce ambitious plans for growth. It’s an altogether different thing to execute such plans. But according to Thorsten Kirschke, Carlson is well on its way. ...
A Guide to Discounting as Demand Recovers
As the dust settles and the lodging industry starts moving into recovery this year, now is the perfect time for hoteliers to revisit their discounting strategies to start gaining more value for their properties and stop giving money away when they don't have to. ...
Savvy Management Is Key to Success at Distressed Hotels
Lodging is the most management-intensive segment of the commercial real estate industry. And while location and financial structure are critical, operating performance may be the primary driver of value in a hotel investment. So when a property becomes distressed or goes into default or bankruptcy, it’s crucial that competent, experienced and honest management be able to step in quickly to stabilize the situation....
Using OTAs to Drive Rate
As the industry recovers from historical lows in occupancy and average daily rate, I’ve been hearing a common question from many hotels: “How are we going to grow rate?” Occupancy growth has to come before rate growth, but in markets that are already seeing occupancy come back, hotels have the ability to achieve ADR increases. ...
RCI, Interval Up Ante in Timeshare Business
The two big dogs in the vacation ownership industry—RCI and Interval International—made news this week. RCI introduced a unique enhancement to its RCI Weeks program that gives its members greater transparency and flexibility as they plan vacations using timeshare exchange. ...
