Genesis, a Costa Rican Developer, to Build an Ultra-Luxe St. Regis Resort and Residences in the Playa Coyol Area of Costa Rica / May 2006

February 28, 2006

Hotel Online  Special Report Genesis, a Costa Rican Developer, to Build an Ultra-Luxe St. Regis Resort and Residences in the Playa Coyol Area of Costa Rica WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.- May 22, 2006 -- Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE:HOT) today announced an agreement has been reached with Genesis, a Costa Rican-based development firm, to build a new St. Regis Resort and Residences in the Central Pacific region of Costa Rica. Scheduled to open in 2008, the resort will be developed with the participation of Lionstone Development, a Miami-based luxury hotelier and developer and will be managed by Starwood's ultra-luxe ...

Correction & Praise – Foundation for Excellent Front Desk and Sales Training / Neil Salerno / May 2006

February 28, 2006

Hotel Online  Special Report Correction & Praise - Foundation for Excellent Front Desk and Sales Training By: Neil Salerno May 2006 Many people, including some sales trainers, believe that learning takes place in the training classroom. Don’t believe it. The important task that takes place in the classroom is the introduction of new ideas which create interest in and peak curiosity for improving sales performance. Real learning, however, only begins after they leave the classroom and put the new ideas into actual practice. Because of this, most of those great sales ideas, introduced during training, never g...

Local Governments and Residents in South Florida Becoming Cncerned with Boom in Condo Hotel Developments; May Seek New Rules / May 2006

February 28, 2006

Hotel Online  News for the Hospitality Executive By Todd Wright, The Miami Herald Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News May 7, 2006 - The new Hollywood Grande is supposed to look like a hotel, act like a hotel and give off the feel of a hotel. But Broward County and Hollywood officials and beach residents are concerned the development and other hybrid condominiumhotel proposals might actually be more condo than hotel. And with few rules to regulate the latest concept by real estate developers, some think condohotels could flood beach areas with people when the inf...

Responding to the Growth of Condominium Hotels, A Non Profit Association Formed to Provide Information for Prospective Condominium Buyers / May 2006

February 28, 2006

Hotel Online  News for the Hospitality Executive By Christopher Boyd, The Orlando Sentinel, Fla. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News May 02, 2006 - Responding to the dizzying string of new condominium hotel projects, a newly formed nonprofit organization launched a Web site Monday aimed at giving buyers detailed information about the projects and their markets. The National Association of Condo Hotel Owners, formed in February, says it will offer a rating system for evaluating condo hotel projects. The site evaluates market conditions and provides association members ...

Naman Hospitality and Sree Hospitality Group LLC Each Plan to Build Limited Service Hotels in Downtown, Columbia, South Carolina / May 2006

February 28, 2006

Hotel Online  News for the Hospitality Executive By Delawese Fulton, The State, Columbia, S.C. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News May 24, 2006 - Two new hotels are on the horizon for downtown Columbia as the city center experiences new growth and investor interest. Naman Hospitality and Sree Hospitality Group LLC plan to build hotels along the Huger Street corridor -- the first since the Comfort Suites at Taylor Street opened four years ago. Charlotte-based Sree plans to build a $15 million hotel with at least 120 rooms at Huger and Lady streets. Naman,...

Kingdom Hotels International and Colony Capital Complete Acquisition of Fairmont; The Fairmont and Raffles' Portfolios Now Combined with 120 Hote

February 28, 2006

Hotel Online  Special Report  Kingdom Hotels International and Colony Capital Complete Acquisition of Fairmont;  The Fairmont and Raffles' Portfolios Now Combined with 120 Hotels in 23 Countries,  Headquartered in Toronto TORONTO, May 11, 2006 - Fairmont Hotels & Resorts Inc. ("Fairmont" or the "Company") (TSX/NYSE: FHR) today announced that the previously announced Plan of Arrangement has been completed and all of Fairmont's outstanding common shares have been acquired by a company (the "Purchaser") owned by affiliates of Kingdom Hotels International and Colony Capital. Under the terms of the Plan of Arrangement, the ...

Holiday Inn Hotel and Conference Center Long Beach Airport Listed for Sale / May 2006

February 28, 2006

Hotel Online  Special Report Holiday Inn Hotel and Conference Center Long Beach Airport Listed for Sale Irvine, California - May, 2006 - Colliers International Hotels has been retained to exclusively represent the owners of the 222-room Holiday Inn Hotel and Conference Center Long Beach Airport, located in Long Beach, California, announced Bob Kaplan and Rod Apodaca, senior vice presidents with Colliers International Hotels - Southern California.  This offering represents an outstanding opportunity to acquire the leasehold interest in a full-service hotel in the Long Beach Airport/I-405 office corridor. The landmark pro...

Nuances of the Cocktail; A Toast to 200 Years Of Cocktails / May 2006

February 28, 2006

Hotel Online  News for the Hospitality Executive By William Weir, The Hartford Courant, Conn. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News May 9, 2006 -- Much of the cocktail's appeal comes from just being in the know - knowing the right glass, the right jargon, the right grade of ice (rocks, shaved or crushed? Which grade of crushed?). A bartender caught unawares can kill your cocktail buzz instantly. That's why Jacki Anderson devotes a day to just the nuances of the cocktail at the Boston Bartenders School of America in Windsor. "We need 2 ounces of the primary ...

World-Famous Golf Resort Driving Sales More Effectively with Clairvoyix Software / May 2006

February 28, 2006

World-Famous Golf Resort Driving Sales More Effectively with Clairvoyix Software . Property’s revenue director compares impact of Clairvoyix’s database marketing tool to the advent of the yield-management concept in the mid-1980s LAS VEGAS — MAY 9, 2006 — For Florida’s PGA National Resort & Spa, a sales-and-marketing task that was once next to impossible for staff to accomplish is now being done as if it were, well, par for the course. In November, the luxurious 391-room PGA National Resort & Spa, which is affiliated with the Professional Golfers’ Association and has hosted countless top golf tournaments over the years...

Choice Hotels International Promotes Mary Beth Knight to SVP eCommerce and Bill Carlson to SVP Consumer Revenue Growth / May 2006

February 28, 2006

Hotel Online  Special Report Choice Hotels International Promotes Mary Beth Knight to SVP eCommerce and Bill Carlson to SVP Consumer Revenue Growth Silver Spring, MD (May 2, 2006) — Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE:CHH) today announced the promotions of Mary Beth Knight and Bill Carlson to senior vice presidents.  Mary Beth Knight is the company’s senior vice president, eCommerce, and Bill Carlson is Choice’s senior vice president, consumer revenue growth.  Both continue to report to Wayne Wielgus, Choice’s executive vice president and chief marketing officer.  Knight and Carlson, in conjunction...

Chicago Losing Ground in Convention Battle; Drops to No. 3 in the National Ranking for the First Time / May 2006

February 28, 2006

Hotel Online  News for the Hospitality Executive By Kathy Bergen, Chicago Tribune Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News April 27, 2006 - Chicago, which lost its title as trade show king to Las Vegas in the mid-1990s, suffered a fresh indignity Wednesday when it dropped to No. 3 in the national ranking for the first time, behind Orlando. The city hosted 20 of the nation's 200 largest trade shows last year, six fewer than Orlando and 24 fewer than Las Vegas, which set a record, according to Tradeshow Week magazine, whose annual ranking is closely watched as a baromete...

The Hilton Philadelphia Cherry Hill Receiving $5 million Renovation and Brand Conversion to Crowne Plaza; the 408 room Hotel Opened as the Hyatt Regen

February 28, 2006

Hotel Online  Special Report  The Hilton Philadelphia Cherry Hill Receiving $5 million Renovation and Brand Conversion to Crowne Plaza; the 408 room Hotel Opened as the Hyatt Regency in 1975 and Later Converted to a Hilton ATLANTA (May 24, 2006) – InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) [LON:IHG, NYSE:IHG (ADRs)], the world's largest hotel group by number of rooms, today announced plans to convert one of South JerseyÂ’s landmark hotels to a Crowne Plaza hotel next month. With the addition of the new Crowne Plaza Cherry Hill, there will be seven Crowne Plaza hotels with more than 1,500 guestrooms in the state of New Jersey.Â...

Charleston Place Offers Top-Floor Luxury for Business and Pleasure; The Club at Charleston Place Delivers Service and Cachet for Elite Visitors / May

February 28, 2006

Hotel Online  Special Report Charleston Place Offers Top-Floor Luxury for Business and Pleasure;  The Club at Charleston Place Delivers Service and Cachet for Elite Visitors Experienced travelers coming to Charleston, S.C., know that Charleston Place – a 442-room crown jewel in the luxury-focused Orient-Express Hotels portfolio -- is the most comfortable hospitality address in the city.  What they may not know is that just above their heads in the 4-Star, 4-Diamond property is the elegant 80-room Club at Charleston Place, a separate hotel and experience. ‘The Club’ is the exclusive boutique hotel that occupies the ...

February 28, 2006

Hotel Online  Special Report Hospitality Safe Corporation Installs 8,500 Challenger Series Safes in Casino and Hotel Guest Rooms in 1Q’06 . Flamingo Las Vegas, Tropicana Tap Market Leader for Reliability, Uptime, Security for Guest Valuables Ft. Lauderdale, Florida – May 16, 2006 – Hospitality Safe Corporation, the hospitality industry’s leading provider of reliable guest-room safes, announced today it installed over 8,500 Challenger™ series in-room safes in the first quarter of 2006.  Properties utilizing Challenger safes include The Flamingo Las Vegas, Omni Hotels and the Atlantic City Tropicana.  The Flamin...

February 28, 2006

Hotel Online  Special Report  The Softwear Group Introduces Chain-Link™,  a Multi-Branded Hotel Company Solution Overland Park, Kansas – May 31, 2006 … The Softwear Group, LLC announced today the introduction of Chain-Link™ - a new multi-property hotel company solution that allows multiple branded hotel companies to cross traditional system boundaries for booking reservations and other enterprise management functions.   Chain-Link™ is designed to work within The Softwear Group’s INNterprise™ and INNcompass™ solutions or can even be used to plug into other third-party system solutions.  Chain-Link™ can be like...

Big Daddy Is Big Winner for Cendyn; Cendyn's eVisibility Product Generates Increased Revenue for Clients Based on Google Changes / May 2006

February 28, 2006

Hotel Online  Special Report "Big Daddy" Is Big Winner for Cendyn; Cendyn's eVisibility Product Generates Increased Revenue for Clients Based on Google Changes BOCA RATON, FL (April, 2006) – Google unleashed its latest update termed "Big Daddy", which contained new code for sorting and examining web pages, changes in its data center infrastructure and how it reads sites. eVisibility, an electronic marketing service for managing Search Engine Optimization(SEO) provided by Cendyn (www.cendyn.com) successfully dealt with these changes and enabled its client’s to generate over the top revenue and page rankings. "Our prope...

The $75 million Umstead Hotel and Spa Being Built in Cary, North Carolina, Sets Sight on Five Star Ranking / May 2006

February 28, 2006

Hotel Online  News for the Hospitality Executive By Vicki Lee Parker, The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News May 24, 2006 -CARY -- How do you build a five-star hotel? If you're Ann Goodnight, you start with a prototype, a full-scale replica of not one, but two, guest rooms: one in blue and gold; the other in green and beige. In them, you place every detail that will be in the real thing: furniture, artwork, linens, water sprinklers, vents -- even room-number plates. When you're spending $75 million on a hotel, you want to make sure ever...

The Caribbean Hotel Association and The Caribbean Tourism Organization Launch New Branding Campaign with Single Identifiable Logo / May 2006

February 28, 2006

Hotel Online  Special Report The Caribbean Hotel Association and The Caribbean Tourism Organization Launch New Branding Campaign with Single Identifiable Logo NEW YORK, NY (May 18, 2006) -- The Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) and the Caribbean Hotel Association (CHA) along with a group of “Charter Partners” from both the public and private sectors in the Caribbean have launched a new branding campaign.  The aim is to raise awareness of the unique vacation experiences available to consumers, as well as the diversity of the destinations and facilities throughout the region, all linked with one identifiable Caribbean...

Canyon Ranch and LR Development Company Building 128 Hotel Condominiums and 256 Residential Condominiums in a 67-story Tower in Downtown Chicago / May

February 28, 2006

Hotel Online  Special Report  Canyon Ranch and LR Development Company Building 128 Hotel Condominiums and 256 Residential Condominiums in a 67-story Tower in Downtown Chicago TUCSON, Ariz. - May 18, 2006 -- Spa and wellness pioneer Canyon Ranch and Chicago's LR Development Company are joining to create luxury condominiums, a hotel and a combination spa and wellness center in a 67-story tower overlooking the Magnificent Mile. Canyon Ranch Living - Chicago will be the first urban application of Canyon Ranch's innovative hotel-residence-wellness center concept.  "Our two companies have emerged as the recognized leaders in ...

Candlewood Suites Approves Two Locations in Canada, Plans New Bedding Package / May 2006

February 28, 2006

Hotel Online  Special Report  Candlewood Suites Approves Two Locations in Canada, Plans New Bedding Package WICHITA, Kan., May 1, 2006 - At its 10-year milestone, Candlewood Suites today announces it has approved two locations for the first Candlewood Suites properties outside the U.S., in Canada. With nearly 90 properties in the pipeline that will nearly double the brand's current portfolio, the brand is also pursuing development in several large metropolitan markets, including New York City. Executives from InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), parent company of the Candlewood Suites brand, made the announcement at a pre...

Manitoba Based Canad Inns Makes Pitch for 260 room Hotel with Water Park Adjacent to the Bismarck Civic Center / May 2006

February 28, 2006

Hotel Online  News for the Hospitality Executive By Gordon Weixel, The Bismarck Tribune, N.D. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News May 26, 2006 - Canad Inns made its pitch to construct a 260-room, 16-floor tower hotel and water park adjacent to the Bismarck Civic Center on Thursday to an advisory committee. The presentation came in response to the city's request for proposal to build such a facility. Two other groups also had responded but later withdrew, leaving only Canad. Leo Ledohowski, president-CEO of the Manitoba-based Canad Inns, made the presentation ...

Cambria Suites, Choice Hotels New All-suites Brand, Has 23 Executed Contracts, With Boise, Idaho, and Green Bay, Wisconsin Under Construction / May 20

February 28, 2006

Hotel Online  Special Report Cambria Suites, Choice Hotels New All-suites Brand, Has 23 Executed Contracts, With Boise, Idaho, and Green Bay, Wisconsin Under Construction   Silver Spring, Md. (May 30, 2006) – Momentum keeps building for Cambria Suites, the new all-suites, select-service, upscale brand launched by Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH) in January 2005. The company entered 2006 with 13 executed contracts for the brand, and first quarter 2006 saw the execution of 10 more contracts. Two Cambria Suites hotels—one in Boise, Idaho, and one in Green Bay, Wisconsin—currently are under construction. A ...

Chris Tsoi Appointed Hotel Manager at the St. Regis Hotel, Shanghai / May 2006

February 28, 2006

Hotel Online  Special Report Chris Tsoi Appointed Hotel Manager at the St. Regis Hotel, Shanghai Shanghai, June 2006 – St. Regis Hotel, Shanghai has announced the appointment of Mr. Chris Tsoi as the Hotel Manager. Mr. Tsoi has about 20 years of hotel experience focusing on sales and marketing management. He had worked in various global hotel management companies in Hong Kong, Vietnam, Beijing and Shenyang.  Graduated in US and fluent in English, Mandarin and Cantonese, Mr. Tsoi will oversee all aspects of the hotel’s day to day operation. Contact: Jacqueline Wong Tel: (86 21) 5050 4567 Email: jacq...

What You Must Do to Create a Hotel Experience Based on Service at the Level of Creating Truly Memorable Experiences? / Peter McAlpine / May 2006

February 28, 2006

Hotel Online  Special Report What You Must Do to Create a Hotel Experience Based on Service at the Level of Creating Truly Memorable Experiences?  By Peter McAlpine, May 2006 It is inevitable that more and more hotels will try to upgrade their service to the level of creating truly memorable experiences (CTME). Some will succeed better than others. In my opinion, the hotels or hotel groups which succeed the most will be those that focus on ALL four of the following areas, and not just on the first two, and do so the quickest: Experience-creating technology Actions that create memorable experiences Aligning the...