Brandt Hospitality Group Getting Great Results From Accounting Software Partner
Aptech | June 5, 2024
Hospitality Financial Leadership: Why Prioritizing Employee Development Has the Best ROI for Owners Too
David Lund | March 27, 2023
Finance
The 2019 LIIC Top Ten — Hotel Real Estate: Mostly Sunny Days Clouded by Labor Issues
Jim Butler | May 8, 2019
By Jim Butler and the Global Hospitality Group® Hotel Lawyers | Authors of www.HotelLawBlog.com 08 May 2019 Greetings from Los Angeles and the beautiful Hyatt Regency LAX! Yesrerday, we kicked off Meet the Money® 2019 – the National Hotel Finance & Investment Conference hosted by JMBM's Global Hospitality Group® – with the LIIC Top Ten. Presented by my friend, Mike Cahill, CEO and Founder of HREC and one of LIIC's co-chairmen, the LIIC Top Ten reflects the perspectives of the industry's most active members in the hospitality market. — Jim About the LIIC Top Ten For the past 15 years, the members of the ...
Choice Hotels and Athena Hospitality Group Break Ground on Cambria Hotel Nashville Airport
Cambria Hotels | May 7, 2019
ROCKVILLE, Md., May 7, 2019 -- Cambria Hotels is doubling its Music City presence as Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH) and Athena Hospitality Group, LLC, announced the start of construction on the brand's second upscale hotel in Nashville, Tenn. The Cambria Hotel Nashville Airport, scheduled to open in 2020, joins the Cambria Hotel Nashville Downtown, which opened in 2018. The 130-room hotel, located within Royal Park Owners Association at 44 Rachel Dr., offers convenient access to the Nashville International Airport as well as downtown Nashville. The Cambria Hotel Nashville Airport is less than two miles from One Centur...
Hospitality Financial Leadership: The Financial Forecast Disconnect and How to Correct It
David Lund | May 6, 2019
By David Lund When I work with hotel clients around their financial leadership it's often centered on getting the team to do their monthly financial forecast. A greater interest in doing it produces better and more consistent results. When doing financial leadership workshops and individual coaching, I inevitably discover the same thing time and time again. It's the disconnect between the executive team/director of finance part of the operation and the department line managers. In this piece I am going to explain why this disconnect exists, how to detect it and what you can do to fix it. First, why the disconnect exists. It exists becau...
How Hotel Design and Concept Development Can Benefit From Revenue Management Insights
Patrick Landman | April 30, 2019
By Patrick Landman Over the last few years we have gotten more and more involved in the businesses of our hotel clients. We have seen a clear difference in revenue and profitability in hotels where we got involved at project definition stage vs coming in at pre-opening. There are many key points that increase the revenue potential of a hotel or resort, which architects, designers and investors are overlooking. And we are not talking about pocket change. I estimate the upside by utilizing revenue management insights to be easily 10% to 25% in top line income. Just think about how much this would impact your bottom line profit. We have de...
JMBM’s Global Hospitality Group® to Host the 29th Annual Meet the Money® National Hotel Finance and Investment Conference May 6-8, 2019 in Los
Meet the Money | April 29, 2019
By Jim Butler and the Global Hospitality Group® Hotel Lawyers | Authors of www.HotelLawBlog.com April 29, 2019 LOS ANGELES—JMBM's Global Hospitality Group® will host Meet the Money® national hotel finance and investment conference May 6-8 at the Hyatt Regency LAX in Los Angeles. Now in its 29th year, this annual event will bring together hotel owners, operators, developers, consultants, investors, brands, lenders and other capital providers to discuss current developments in the industry as well as strategies for the future. "Our line-up of more than 70 speakers include top hospitality leaders who will share their expe...
Hospitality Financial Leadership: Investing in Financial Leadership in Your Hotel
David Lund | April 29, 2019
By David Lund CFO to CEO: "What happens if we invest in developing people and they leave?" CEO: "What happens if we don't and they stay?" I found this exchange in, of all places, the internet. Go figure. It's an interesting back and forth that I know plays out in many organizations. Investing in anything training related in business is tricky. Not only when it comes to the money and resources it takes, but it's also the matter of finding the appropriate training. I also believe one of the biggest stumbling blocks to creating and investing in a culture where we train and develop our leaders continually, is the ability to have it result i...
Xanterra Investing $30 Million for Rebuild of Maswik South Lodging at South Rim, Grand Canyon Slated for 2020 Opening
Xanterra Travel Collection | April 25, 2019
SOUTH RIM, GRAND CANYON — April 25, 2019 — Grand Canyon South Rim is getting a "birthday present" for its Centennial: as part of its concession contract with the National Park Service (NPS), Xanterra Travel Collection is investing $30 million to rebuild the Maswik South Lodging complex at South Rim. The existing 90 rooms, constructed in 1971, will be replaced with 120 new lodging units within four new lodging structures in the same general location. The new Maswik guest lodging is anticipated to open in Summer of 2020. The new units will greatly improve the guest experience adding new amenities to the two-story structures in...
In Revenue Management, You Can Have Good Timing AND Good Forecasting
Dan Skodol | April 25, 2019
By Dan Skodol I recently read a piece about an international resort company that introduced a Revenue Management System (RMS) within the last five years. Like many resort properties around the world, their hotels have a high degree of dependence on contracted tour business and other leisure-oriented distribution channels. Because of the long lead-time associated with forming these contracts, "timing" is a very important focus of Revenue Management as missing a contract season means missing out on bookings that are essential to their performance. This certainly makes sense. But I got lost was when the Revenue Manager stated in an intervi...
Hotel Revenue Leaders to Convene at HSMAI’s ROC Americas in Minneapolis
HSMAI | April 25, 2019
ROC Americas is the world's largest gathering of travel industry revenue professionals (McLean, VA, April 25, 2019) The Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI) is convening hotel revenue professionals for two days of education, collaboration, and innovation at its ROC Americas in Minneapolis, Minnesota. ROC 2019 will be held June 18–19 and is co-located with HITEC 2019. The event is the world's largest gathering of revenue professionals in the travel industry with more than 650 in attendance. With powerful educational and networking opportunities, ROC is the must-attend conference of 2019 for learning...
IDeaS Announces 2019 Cornell Revenue Management Scholarship Recipients
IDeaS | April 25, 2019
IDeaS works to help advance the careers of six next-generation hotel revenue leaders through its ongoing scholarship program Tweet This: @IDeaS_RevOpt awards six hospitality professionals with prestigious revenue management scholarships in partnership with Cornell University www.ideas.com/news #RevenueScience #TheFutureofRM MINNEAPOLIS—April 25, 2019—IDeaS Revenue Solutions today announced the 2019 IDeaS Cornell Management Scholarship recipients. As the leading provider of revenue management software and advisory services, IDeaS works in partnership with the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration within the Corne...
St. Kitts Marriott Resort & The Royal Beach Casino Installs Aptech PVNG Enterprise Financial Accounting
Aptech Computer Systems, Inc. | April 24, 2019
Aptech Recognized as The Industry Standard for Hospitality Financial Systems PITTSBURGH, April 24, 2019 – Aptech Computer Systems announced St. Kitts Marriott Resort & The Royal Beach Casino installed PVNG Enterprise Financial Accounting system to simplify back office processes and provide comprehensive reporting. The St. Kitts Marriott Resort & The Royal Beach Casino is a 389-room luxury destination on Frigate Bay featuring nine dining outlets, the Emerald Mist Spa, and many other amenities. Aptech Computer Systems is the leading provider of business intelligence, budgeting and forecasting, and enterprise hotel accounting softw...
Hospitality Financial Leadership: Negative Flow Thru
David Lund | April 22, 2019
By David Lund One of the most read articles I have written is on the topic of flow thru and how to use it in your financial statements. Understanding flow thru is not something that comes easily to most people immediately, but once you look at it and do the calculation it usually clicks. Once it drops in place you have got it for good. To take things one step further in this piece I am going to discuss negative flow thru. Negative flow thru or retention is something that most people in North America have not had to deal with very much in the past decade. We have just crossed over a massive stretch of growth in our industry that was mark...
Premier Palace Hotel Treats Guests Like Diamonds
PHNR | April 18, 2019
Kyiv, Ukraine is a city in between. In between old and new. In between modern and classic. In between past and present. I recently returned from a balmy mid- April trip to attend CISOLAR 2019, 8th SOLAR ENERGY Conference and Trade Show of CE. Since it wasn't my first time visiting Kyiv, I decided to bring some friends. I wanted to impress them and show them the charm, elegance and European influence of Kyiv. And I think I did. We had the pleasure of staying at one of the most charming hotels in the city, the Premier Palace Hotel. The Premier Palace Hotel is part of The Kyiv Hotel Collection which boasts an impressive collection of upsca...
Can Artificial Intelligence Replace Human Intelligence in Hospitality Revenue Management?
Hotelogix | April 18, 2019
A lot has been said in the recent past about revenue managers and artificial intelligence and whether revenue managers in hospitality need to panic about being replaced by AI-driven tools, and so on. Can a revenue management tool ever actually replace the human intelligence that a hospitality revenue manager brings to the table? I feel we need to dig a little deeper and explore a few related concepts, which could help us get a better grasp of ideas like AI replacing humans in revenue management in the near future. It is, no doubt, a sensational debate, but we hope to discuss the finer details of why this debate is premature and how. The...
CBRE Arranges Sale of the Hyatt Place Emeryville/San Francisco Bay Area
CBRE | April 17, 2019
CBRE has announced the sale of the Hyatt Place Emeryville/San Francisco Bay Area, a 175-unit hotel located in Emeryville. Henry Bose and Mark McDermott of CBRE Hotels in San Francisco represented the seller in the transaction. Opened in 2016, the six-story hotel contains 175 units and enjoys a premier location in the vibrant Bay Street lifestyle center, surrounded by major corporate employers, such as Pixar, Novartis, Peet's Coffee corporate office and the Joint Bio Energy Institute. Hyatt Place offers visitors access to a fitness center, a patio with fire pits, a business center and a total of 150 parking spaces, along with sweeping vi...
Avison Young Announces Portfolio Sale in San Francisco
Avison Young | April 17, 2019
ATLANTA – April 17, 2019 – Avison Young Hospitality Group announced the firm closed a four-property hotel portfolio in downtown San Francisco. The portfolio contained 418 rooms and consisted of the following properties; Hotel Vertigo, Good Hotel, Americania Hotel and the Carriage Inn. The transaction closed on Monday April 8th. Avison Young represented Haiyi Hotels as the seller and the buyer was Oxford Capital Group LLC. This transaction represents the 6th closing Avison Young has completed in San Francisco within the last two months and the firm's 15th closing for 2019. Chris Stark, a Principal with the Avison Young Hospit...
Rainmaker Enters Q2 With High-Growth Momentum and Exciting New Advances
Rainmaker | April 16, 2019
Alpharetta, GA – April 16, 2019 - The Rainmaker Group (Rainmaker), a leading provider of cloud-based hospitality revenue and profit optimization solutions reports continued growth coming out of Q1, a steady pipeline and new advances to their revenue and profit optimization suite of solutions. "We're excited to kick off 2019 with a strong sales quarter," says Mike Cowles, CEO at Rainmaker. "We've added a lot of great names to our growing customer list, continued to make strides in expanding our global footprint, and are making great product enhancements to help our growing all-inclusive customer base." Rainmaker had a very successf...
Hospitality Financial Leadership: Nobody Gets to Be Wrong, Everyone is Wrong, No One Gets to Be Right, Everyone is Right
David Lund | April 15, 2019
By David Lund I use this quote to start many of my workshops. To me it's the way I want the participants to stand in their individual power during our time together. It's also how I see our industry. In the hotel business we all need to have an opinion and even more important we need to be able to share those thoughts. Reason being is, we all have something important to bring to the table. That's what I tell my workshop participants. To illustrate this, I often ask the following question. "What would you rather have to increase your GOP in your 300-room hotel that is currently operating at 75% occupancy with a $150 average rate, a $4 ro...
Avison Young Closes 260 Million YTD 2019
Avison Young | April 11, 2019
ATLANTA – April 11, 2019 – Avison Young Hospitality Group announced today the firm closed on its 15th hotel transaction of the year with year to date sales totaling 260 million. Since 2013, the Avison Young Hospitality Group has closed 106 Marriott branded hotels, 72 Hilton branded assets, 49 IHG branded assets and 158 historic, upscale boutique, resort and other branded hotels. ...
PDSI Completes $75M Restoration Project of Puerto Rico’s El San Juan Hotel, Curio Collection by Hilton
PDSI Inc. | April 10, 2019
ATLANTA, April 10, 2019 -- PDSI, a premier hotel development consultancy, is thrilled to announce the completion of the restoration of the El San Juan Hotel, Curio Collection by Hilton, after extreme damage from Hurricane Maria in 2017. The El San Juan is not only the most beautiful hotel on the island of Puerto Rico, it now stands as the epitome of luxury throughout the entire region. The resort is comprised of 388 guestrooms, suites, and oceanfront villas, as well as 40,000 sq. ft. of flexible meeting space, including an 11,000 sq. ft. grand ballroom. PDSI previously managed a $65M renovation of the El San Juan Hotel that completed 2 ...
Perception Is Reality: Pricing Psychology for Hotel Revenue Managers
the Author | April 9, 2019
By Dan Skodol, Vice President of Revenue Analytics, The Rainmaker Group "All our knowledge has its origin in our perceptions." ~ Leonardo da Vinci Is a pair of $50,000 Sennheiser Orpheus headphones really fifty times better than a pair that costs $1,000? Expensive items and experiences are often branded as high quality, exclusive, or bespoke. But are they really better than their less-expensive counterparts? And what truly motivates people to pay more for something? In the hectic daily life of a hotel revenue strategist, coming up with optimal pricing presents the greatest challenge – a challenge that's typically handled through r...
Hospitality Financial Leadership: OH, BROTHER
David Lund | April 8, 2019
David Lund It was early October 1987. I was newly married and questioning my hotel career plans. I aspired to be a general manager, but this hotel environment veered me off track. As these thoughts occurred to me, this was one of the places where fate and other people changed my life's direction. I'd been with the hotel for 18 months. Just another day at the office started with a ringing phone. It was the hotel manager's administrative assistant requesting my appearance in his office. Now! What did the manager need to see me about? My head was spinning with the possibilities. Most of them not good. I didn't know what I might have done t...
World-Class Mohegan Sun Partners With Duetto to Drive Innovation
Mohegan Sun | April 3, 2019
The massive tribal-owned casino business looks to implement a more modern approach to revenue management. Uncasville, Connecticut, April 3 — The Mohegan Sun gaming and entertainment destination in Connecticut and Mohegan Sun Pocono in northeastern Pennsylvania have implemented two of Duetto's cloud-based applications – GameChanger for pricing and ScoreBoard for reporting – as well as Duetto's newest product – the Duetto Rate Engine (DRE) – to drive more profitable revenue at the casino hotels. With GameChanger, Duetto's flagship revenue management application, Mohegan Sun has better visibility into total cu...
Avison Young Hospitality Group Announces Recent Closings
Avison Young | April 2, 2019
ATLANTA – April 3, 2019 – Avison Young Hospitality Group announced today the firm closed five hotel transactions in the month of March. The properties include two west coast boutique properties, a Hampton Inn in Pennsylvania, an hotel on the national historic registry in the southeast and a very exclusive resort in New England. The firm has seven transactions closing over the 20 days representing an upscale Marriott branded hotel north of Washington DC, a select service hotel in the Midwest, a resort hotel on the west coast and a portfolio of four hotels in the CBD area of a top 10 US market. Since 2013, the Avison Young Hos...
