News Archive: June
Construction Begins on 95-room Staybridge Suites in Cheyenne, Wyoming
June 28, 2014
June 28--CHEYENNE -- Site work has begun on a new 95-room hotel a few blocks north of Dell Range Boulevard in Cheyenne. Officials with Staybridge Suites are building a four-story hotel on land just north of Target and east of the Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant. Grading is underway at the site now, Matt Ashby, director of planning services for the city of Cheyenne, said Friday. Hotel officials bought the land from Ed and Lester Cole. The address for the new hotel is 5109 Frontier Mall Drive. Staybridge Suites is part of the InterContinental Hotels Group, which operates 4,700 hotels in nearly 100 countries. Hotels in the group include Holi...
Kalahari Resorts and Conventions Selects Percipia for Guest Mobile Application Project
Percipia | June 23, 2014
Wisconsin Dells, WI - June 24, 2014 - Kalahari Resorts and Conventions, the authentically African-themed resorts in Wisconsin, Ohio, and soon to be opened in Pennsylvania, selected Percipia for the development and deployment of the customized mobile application across all properties. Home to America's largest waterparks, Kalahari wanted to extend the "world-away" waterpark resort and conference experience to guests' personal devices. Making the most of their stay with the concierge section, including interactive maps, special direct requests, and wake up calls. Navigate the way through the amazing wet and dry parks with "The Fun" showca...
Hospitality Experts Declare Unsold Rooms the Industry’s Most Valuable, Untapped Asset
Innovative Travel Marketing (ITM) | June 27, 2014
Monetizing rooms via trade is a cash-saving strategy for fortifying brand, rate and profitability at NYC panel discussion New York, NY - Monetizing unsold hotel room inventory is - by a wide margin - the largest available asset for management and ownership at many properties to drive additional profitability, demand and brand awareness, according to industry expert Sean Hennessey, CEO of Lodging Advisors. His comments were made at a recent HSMAI-NYC symposium in May on Creative Solutions to Expand Your Marketing Dollars, which also featured Jody Merl, President of Innovative Travel Marketing. In NYC alone, many properties are running a...
Harry Spirides Selling Tybee Island’s Ocean Plaza Beach Resort After 50 Years of Family Ownership
June 9, 2014
June 09--Harry Spirides, owner of Tybee Island's 200-room Ocean Plaza Beach Resort, announced Monday that he and his family have agreed to sell the hotel at the end of the summer season. Spirides said Linchris Hotel Corp. of Hanover, Mass., has made an all cash offer that "exceeded everyone's expectations" and plans to invest millions of dollars in improvements to the resort. "I believe this will be a win-win scenario everyone can be proud of," Spirides said, adding that representatives of Linchris will visit Ocean Plaza in the coming weeks to meet employees and conduct interviews as well as meet with Tybee Island officials to discuss t...
Former Best Western Hotel in Rochester, MN Rebrands as Centerstone Plaza Hotel Soldiers Field
June 10, 2014
June 10--A new brand name is now displayed over the entrance of a longtime Rochester hotel as the latest move in the very active local hotel market. The former Best Western Soldiers Field hotel at 401 Sixth St. S.W. officially became Centerstone Plaza Hotel Soldiers Field on June 1. While the name is different, guests and diners at the popular Twigs Tavern & Grille won't see a lot of dramatic changes at this point. Myron Salz has owned the 214-room hotel since 1999. The staff remains the same under the new name, as do amenities like the pool, shuttle service, banquet space and extended-stay suites. However, the hotel did recently un...
The Evolution of Hotel Branding: The Changing Focus of Hotel Brands
HMG Hotels | June 24, 2014
by Randy Hulce Travelers who favor a particular hotel brand know what to expect when they arrive. The rooms look identical whether they are located in Maine or California. Guests don't know, or care, if the franchising company or the franchisee owns the property. Everything is the same. This is an ideal situation for property owners who wish to identify strongly with a brand. The name attracts a predictable type of guest, and the owners have fewer decisions to make. They don't have to worry about furnishings or layouts; they just have to follow the master plan. Because of the rising popularity of this enforced uniformity, many major hot...
Recent Surge in Hotel Foreclosure Auctions Unnerve Some in Newport News, VA Hospitality Industry
June 27, 2014
June 27--NEWPORT NEWS -- Area hospitality officials are taking note of a recent round of hotel foreclosure auctions occurring in Newport News, many questioning the health of the city's overall hotel industry. "It's never a good thing when a hotel fails and winds up in receivership," said Maureen Coon, president of Newport News Hospitality Association on Thursday. "Other than retail, there have been no new demand generators in recent years." Newport News, the Commonwealth's fifth-largest municipality, has seen a wave of hotel foreclosure sales in recent months -- a recent trend that has worried long-time hoteliers and hospitality officia...
Hotel Lawyer: Growing Together – China and Los Angeles County
June 17, 2014
By Jim Butler and the Global Hospitality Group® Hotel Lawyers | Authors of www.HotelLawBlog.com 19 June 2014 The growth of outbound Chinese investment Earlier this month we posted an article about the surge in Chinese investment as reported by Tiffany Hsu in the Los Angeles Times. See, "China and JMBM's Chinese Investment Group™ are in the news again!" That article prominently featured the Sheraton Gateway LAX hotel, its 15% increase in Chinese travelers since the beginning of the year, and its purchase by our Shenzen Hazens Real Estate Group, and JMBM's role as counsel to Shenzen Hazens. Special Report Just Released: Growing Togethe...
