January 30, 2005

Hotel Online  Special Report Making Your Property Pet Friendly –  How To Guide Makes It Simple KNOXVILLE, TN – March 7, 2005 BringYourPet.com announces the recent release and success of the book, 'Making Your Property Pet friendly: A How -To Guide.' With fears of damages, barks, bites, and allergies many hoteliers have remained on the sidelines. The new BringyourPet.com book thoroughly addresses all of these concerns and provides an easy-to-understand blueprint for establishing a profitable pet friendly program at virtually any type of lodging establishment. “With no set industry standard, hoteliers who wanted to star...

The Rhode Island Convention Center Authority Votes to Sell the State-owned Westin Providence to The Procaccianti Group; The Board Rejects Governor

January 30, 2005

Hotel Online News for the Hospitality ExecutiveBy Andrea L. Stape, The Providence Journal, R.I.Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News Mar. 1, 2005 - PROVIDENCE -- The Rhode Island Convention Center Authority board of directors voted yesterday to sell the state-owned Westin Providence to The Procaccianti Group, rejecting a personal request from Governor Carcieri to halt the sale. The board voted 7 to 1 to sell the hotel to the Cranston company for $95.5 million. The only dissenting vote came from Chairman David Duffy, a Carcieri appointee who said he supports the governor. With the vote, the board -- which oversees the four-star hotel an...

Suntory Ltd. Sells the 252-room Princeville Hotel, Two Golf Courses to a Joint Venture Led by Resort Developer Jeffrey R. Stone / March 2005

January 30, 2005

Hotel Online  Special Report Suntory Ltd. Sells the 252-room Princeville Hotel, Two Golf Courses to a Joint Venture Led by Resort Developer Jeffrey R. Stone Kama'aina Partnership - Local Management Team to Guide Resort's Future PRINCEVILLE, Hawaii - March 18, 2005 -- Princeville Associates, LLC, a joint venture company led by resort developer Jeffrey R. Stone, announced today its purchase of the 9,000-acre Princeville Resort on Kaua'i. The acquisition includes the 252-room Princeville Hotel, two Robert Trent Jones Jr.-designed championship golf courses, the Princeville Tennis Club and Pro Shop, Princevi...

Hotel Workers' Union Earmarks $1 million to Block The Plaza's Makeover to Condos / February 2005

January 30, 2005

Hotel Online News for the Hospitality ExecutiveBy Lore Croghan, Daily News, New YorkKnight Ridder/Tribune Business News Mar. 1, 2005 - The owner of The Plaza has offered to build a new hotel -- with enough jobs for every worker who gets canned when most of the rooms in the storied landmark go condo. "I feel I'm being portrayed as the greedy developer," owner Miki Naftali said yesterday. Naftali's proposal, revealed yesterday in a Daily News editorial, calls for a joint $135 million venture with the union to construct a luxury hotel with up to 550 rooms and 750 jobs. He says he's found three possible sites in Manhattan where a hotel cou...

New York City Lawmakers Introduce Bill That Would Prevent Hotels, Including The Plaza, From Converting More than 20% Rooms to Condos / March 2005

January 30, 2005

Hotel Online News for the Hospitality ExecutiveBy David Saltonstall, Daily News, New YorkKnight Ridder/Tribune Business News Mar. 23, 2005 - Don't pack your bags just yet, Eloise. The City Council is expected to introduce a bill today that would bar any hotel -- including The Plaza, home to the fictional Eloise -- from converting more than 20 percent of its space to condos. That could scuttle controversial plans by Plaza owners Elad Properties to cut the number of rooms at the fabled hotel by 80 percent, from 805 to 150, and convert the remainder of the landmark to condos and shops. "The Plaza is synonymous with the City of New York,...

Peter R. Tyson Joins PKF Consulting As a Vice President / March 2005

January 30, 2005

Hotel Online  Special Report  Peter R. Tyson Joins PKF Consulting As a Vice President Well Regarded Industry Expert Adds 40 Years of Hospitality/Gaming Expertise to National Consulting Firm Philadelphia, March 15, 2005:  PKF Consulting today announced that Peter R. Tyson has joined the firm’s Philadelphia office as a vice president.  “Peter Tyson is highly regarded within the industry and brings 40 years of hospitality industry experience, and specifically 25 years of international experience in the gaming industry and in litigation assistance,” Dave Arnold, Executive Vice President said.  “His a...

Pet Friendly Travel Statistics Reported by BringYourPet.com / March 2005

January 30, 2005

Hotel Online  Special Report Pet Friendly Travel Statistics Reported by BringYourPet.com Knoxville, TN — March 14, 2005 — BringYourPet.com, a leading promoter of pet-friendly lodging, has reported its most recent pet travel statistics. The Web site continuously polls thousands of its Web site visitors, newsletter subscribers, and random households regarding their travel and purchase habits. All who participated in the survey own at least one pet. The following are some of the results as of March 2005: 64% would be more likely to lengthen their stay if given the opportunity to travel with their pets.   78% stay at ...

Pet Friendly Hotels Enlist BringYourPet.com To Increase Market Reach / March 2005

January 30, 2005

Hotel Online  Special Report Pet Friendly Hotels Enlist BringYourPet.com To Increase Market Reach KNOXVILLE, TN – March 9, 2005 – BringYourPet.com, the Internet’s leading pet-friendly travel Web site has announced some of its most recent property listings. Newcomers to BringYourPet.com include properties from Hampton Inn, Western International, Sleep Inn & Suites, Ramada Inn, Best Value Inn, The Inn At Fox Hollow, Marquis de Lafayette Hotel, Inn at Canal Square, Adobe and Stars Bed and Breakfast Inn, The Hotel Telluride, The University Inn at Emory, Land's End Ocean Resort, Country Inn & Suites Charlotte-Matthews, Ocea...

Developers of Proposed $60 million Downtown Lancaster, PA Marriott Hotel Answer Tough Questions Concerning Tax Relief / March 2005

January 30, 2005

Hotel Online News for the Hospitality ExecutiveBy John M. Spidaliere, Lancaster New Era, Pa.Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News Mar. 8, 2005 - Ask city and county officials what questions they have before they vote on tax relief for the proposed Marriott hotel project, and you'll get an earful. Why can't Penn Square Partners pay its taxes? Will the hotel make money? If the hotel flops, will city taxpayers get the bill? The New Era asked two county commissioners, two City Council members and three Lancaster school board members what they want to know about the $60 million hotel project. Then we posed those questions to Nevin Cooley, pr...

The Peninsula Hotels Now Provides 24-Hour Global Customer Service Center / March 2005

January 30, 2005

Hotel Online  Special Report  The Peninsula Hotels Now Provides 24-Hour Global Customer Service Center Worldwide Expert Team to Offer Personalized Assistance and ReservationsAround the Clock March 23, 2005 -- Continuing its ongoing quest to provide guests with the best service possible, on Friday April 1, 2005 The Peninsula Hotels launches its new “Global Customer Service Center (GCSC), a dedicated round-the-clock customer service by highly trained Peninsula staff who will assist guests with reservations, customer service...

Pelican Bay at Lucaya Acquired by Norwegian Investment Company Sundt AS; Magnus Alnebeck Named General Manager / March 2005

January 30, 2005

Hotel Online  Special Report Pelican Bay at Lucaya Acquired by Norwegian Investment Company Sundt AS; Magnus Alnebeck Named General Manager LUCAYA, The Bahamas (March 11, 2005) - Grand Bahama Island's Pelican Bay at Lucaya resort has been purchased by Sundt AS, a private investment company based in Norway.    As a result of the transaction, the property will now be managed by Pandox, based in Stockholm, Sweden.  The agreement includes operation, development and property management. Sundt AS is one of Pandox' two owners. Developed by First Hope Limited, Pelican Bay features 96 one-bedroom suites and an 87-room i...

New RateChecker Service from Pegasus Solutions Maximizes Yields for Hotels Through Online Tracking of Competing Room Rates / March 2005

January 30, 2005

 New RateChecker Service from Pegasus Solutions Maximizes Yields for Hotels Through Online  Tracking of Competing Room Rates Innovative Service Crawls Targeted Web Sites for Rate  and Package Details; Initial Rollout to Utell by Pegasus  Member Hotels Begins at ITB BERLIN (March 14, 2005) - Pegasus Solutions, Inc. (Nasdaq: PEGS) unveiled its new RateCheckerä service at ITB today, providing participating Utell by Pegasusä member hotels with a tool to track rates of competing hotels.  With a repeating stream of real-time competitive information, hotel staff can instantly adjust rates on ...

New RateChecker Service from Pegasus Solutions Maximizes Yields for Hotels Through Online Tracking of Competing Room Rates / March 2005

January 30, 2005

Hotel Online  Special Report  New RateChecker Service from Pegasus Solutions Maximizes Yields for Hotels Through Online Tracking of Competing Room Rates Innovative Service Crawls Targeted Web Sites for Rate and Package Details; Initial Rollout to Utell by Pegasus Member Hotels Begins at ITB BERLIN (March 14, 2005) - Pegasus Solutions, Inc. (Nasdaq: PEGS) unveiled its new RateCheckerä service at ITB today, providing participating Utell by Pegasusä member hotels with a tool to track rates of competing hotels.  With a repeating...

2,200 Utell by Pegasus Member Hotels Slash Rates Through Worldwide GREATRATE Promotion; Program Discounts Rates by as Much as 50 Percent at Prominent

January 30, 2005

2,200 Utell by Pegasus Member Hotels Slash Rates Through Worldwide GREATRATE Promotion;  . Program Discounts Rates by as Much as 50 Percent at Prominent Independent Properties Travel Agents Can Access Rates Via UI Code on all Major GDSs DALLAS (March 2, 2005) - More than 2,200 Utell by Pegasus member hotels are participating in the 2005 yearlong GREATRATE promotion.  The well-known discount rate program recorded increases in promotional bookings for many hotels and travel agencies in 2004, generating more than 400,000 room nights around the world.  Dallas-based Pegasus Solutions (Nasdaq: PEGS) is a global leader in pr...

Hyatt Hotels & Resorts First Major Hotel Chain to Implement Passkey GroupLink SM; All Group Reservations automatically transferred to Hotel Reservati

January 30, 2005

Hotel Online Special Report Hyatt Hotels & Resorts First Major Hotel Chain to Implement Passkey GroupLinkSM- All Group Reservations Automatically Transferred to Hotel Reservation System CHICAGO, IL & QUINCY, MA - March 9, 2005 - Hyatt Hotels & Resorts is the first major hotel chain to fully implement Passkey GroupLinkSM, which will electronically deliver all Hyatt group reservations for citywide and single property events near real-time into the individual properties' PMS system. With the implementation of GroupLink, Hyatt continues on its strategy to provide its meeting planner community leading edge solutions for effici...

A $13.6 million Plan to Buy and Overhaul the Historic Partridge Inn in Augusta, Georgia Includes Loan Request from Georgia's Tobacco Settlemen

January 30, 2005

Hotel Online News for the Hospitality ExecutiveBy James Gallagher, The Augusta Chronicle, Ga.Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News Mar. 18, 2005 - County development officials on Thursday ratified a loan application from an Atlanta company looking to buy and renovate The Partridge Inn. Walton Holdings LLC, a subsidiary of Atlanta-based Songy Partners Limited, is trying to borrow $275,000 from the OneGeorgia fund, which allocates tobacco settlement money for economic development purposes. The loan is a small part of a $13.6 million plan to buy and overhaul the hotel, said Walton Holdings spokesman Rick Patton. The sale is scheduled to c...

Recap: The 9th annual Hotel Decision Makers' Forum, Paris / March 2005

January 30, 2005

Hotel Online  Special Report Recap: The 9th annual Hotel Decision Makers' Forum, Paris Paris, March 14th 2005 - The 9th annual Hotel Decision Makers' Forum, held on March 7th by the MKG Group, was a true success. This forum, which took place in the Press Club de France rooms at the Sofitel Champs-Élysées Hotel, was an occasion to have a look at the results from 2004, and to envision the future via its more strategic aspects. Léon Bertrand, Minister for Tourism, "The restructuring of the hotel supply is not yet finished, and much remains to be done, notably in hotel rating system, which needs to be reconsidered i...

Pan Pacific Vancouver Completing $11-million Expansion and Renovation / March 2005

January 30, 2005

Hotel Online  Special Report Discount Hotels London, Sydney, Rome, AmsterdamParis, Melbourne, Lisbon, Barcelona, Berlin, Hong Kong, New York, Auckland Discount Hotels London, Sydney, Rome, AmsterdamParis, Melbourne, Lisbon, Barcelona, Berlin, Hong Kong, New York, Auckland Pan Pacific Vancouver Completing $11 million Expansion and Renovation Vancouver, BC - March 16, 2005 -  Pan Pacific Vancouver is set to become home to one of Western Canada's largest conference centres with the unveiling of its new Galley Level, designed by award-winning interior designer Robert Ledingham. The Gal...

First Significant Large Scale Hotel Development in the Palm Springs Area in 15 Years -Two Casino Hotels Add 571 Hotel Rooms in 2004 / March 2005

January 30, 2005

Hotel Online News for the Hospitality ExecutiveBy Kimberly Pierceall, The Press-Enterprise, Riverside, Calif.Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News Mar. 4, 2005 - Hotel room construction in Riverside County last year jumped 182 percent, due largely to the opening of hotels at Morongo Casino, Resort and Spa and Fantasy Springs Casino, according to an annual hospitality report. "The huge jump in rooms is really attributed to the casino hotels," said Alan Reay, president of Atlas Hospitality Group, a Costa Mesa-based brokerage and consulting firm that releases an annual state wide development survey. Riverside County saw the biggest increa...

Peabody Hotel Group Backs Out of Palm Springs Resort Development; City Approved Site for 400 room Luxury Hotel in 2001 Languishes / March 2005

January 30, 2005

Hotel Online News for the Hospitality ExecutiveBy Kimberly Pierceall, The Press-Enterprise, Riverside, Calif.Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News Mar. 23, 2005 - Palm Springs has 143 hotels, but none of them are four-star resorts. Now a lack of financing threatens the city's chance to change that. The Indian Oasis Resort, a 275-acre project that includes an 18-hole golf course, a 10-story 400-room hotel, 40,000 square-feet of convention space, homes, shops and office space on land leased from Agua Caliente tribe members has been approved since 2001. The project's developer, Ernest Noia, has had difficulty convincing a major hotel compan...

Patrick Sorge Named Director of Sales and Marketing at The Hyatt Regency Boston / March 2005

January 30, 2005

Hotel Online  Special Report Patrick Sorge Named Director of Sales and Marketing at The Hyatt Regency Boston Boston, MA: March 8, 2005 - Patrick Sorge has been named director of sales and marketing at The Hyatt Regency Boston. Mr. Sorge is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the hotel's sales, marketing and public relations efforts including that of the hotel's current $10.5 million guest room renovation and award winning restaurant, Avenue One. Mr. Sorge has an extensive background in hospitality and brings more than 17 years of hospitality expertise to his position. Previously, Mr. Sorge was Director ...

Are Hotel Employee Benefits Really Soaring? / Gregory J. Miller and Robert Mandelbaum / March 2005

January 30, 2005

Hotel Online  Special Report Are Hotel Employee Benefits Really Soaring? By: Gregory J. Miller and Robert Mandelbaum, March 20054 One of the most heated issues in the hospitality industry today is rising labor costs, especially with respect to employee benefits. Many of PKF Consulting’s clients have expressed their concerns that employee benefit costs grew much faster in 2004 than in the recent past. Given the revenue recovery that is occurring in the U.S. hotel industry, controlling expenses will be the key to maximizing future gains in profitability. Unfortunately, several employee benefit expenses are gov...

Pegasus Solutions Enhances Global Reservations Service with Instant Confirmations of Utell by Pegasus Member Hotel Bookings / March 2005

January 30, 2005

Pegasus Solutions Enhances Global Reservations Service with Instant Confirmations of Utell by Pegasus Member Hotel Bookings Agents Can View Confirmations Instantly at www.UtellAgent.com; Confirmations Also Delivered Via Email to Registered Travel Agents BERLIN (March 11, 2005) - Pegasus Solutions, Inc. (Nasdaq: PEGS) introduced a new electronic confirmation service for travel agents booking Utell by Pegasus member hotels.  The eConfirmation service integrates new technology that is linked to the central reservation system used by the 4,000 Utell by Pegasus member hotels worldwide.  Dallas-based Pegasus Solutions, a...

Interstate Hotels Names Paul Burke President, Hotel Operations / March 2005

January 30, 2005

Hotel Online  Special Report Discount Hotels London, Sydney, Rome, AmsterdamParis, Melbourne, Lisbon, Barcelona, Berlin, Hong Kong, New York, Auckland Discount Hotels London, Sydney, Rome, AmsterdamParis, Melbourne, Lisbon, Barcelona, Berlin, Hong Kong, New York, Auckland Interstate Hotels Names Paul Burke President, Hotel Operations ARLINGTON, Va. - March 16, 2005 -- Interstate Hotels & Resorts (NYSE: IHR), the nation's largest independent hotel management company, today announced that it has named Paul Burke, president, hotel operations. In addition, the company announced the organ...