News Archive: March
Cooper Manning Joins AJ Capital Partners as Senior Managing Director – Investor Relations
AJ Capital Partners | March 31, 2016
Chicago, Ill. – AJ Capital Partners announced today the hire of a new member to its executive team. Cooper Manning joins the team as Senior Managing Director - Investor Relations, focusing primarily on new business development and managing and curating investor relationships. Cooper will assist in the future growth of the Graduate Hotels portfolio – a hotel collection targeting university-anchored markets across the country that celebrates each town's unique local culture and history. "Cooper is a longtime partner and friend of AJCP," says Ben Weprin, founder and CEO of AJ Capital Partners. "We've worked with Cooper together...
Highgate Appoints Rob Dann as Executive Vice President of Operations
Highgate | March 1, 2016
New York, NY – March 1, 2016 - Highgate, a premier hospitality investment and management company, has partnered with seasoned hospitality executive, Rob Dann. Dann plays a key role in expanding Highgate's global portfolio, currently 100 properties and nearly 27,000 rooms in key gateway markets. Through a joint venture, Highgate and Dann have invested in a programmatic roll-out of Home2 Suites by Hilton, an all-suite, extended-stay hotel brand featuring residential-like amenities and contemporary design. Dann will oversee the development and management of Highgate's Home2 Suites portfolio in the U.S. Highgate currently has one prop...
Ocean House Management Names Three Key Members to Management Team at Spicer Mansion in Mystic, Connecticut
Spicer Mansion | March 10, 2016
MYSTIC, C.T. – March 10, 2016 – Spicer Mansion, a new ultra-luxury inn set minutes from the maritime seaport of Mystic, Connecticut, is pleased to announce the key appointments of Louis Shapazian as Innkeeper, Jennifer Backman as Executive Chef, and Charlotte Berdensey as Food & Beverage Manager, in advance of its highly anticipated May 4, 2016 opening. All three team members bring extensive luxury hospitality experience, including roles at other hotels in the Ocean House Management Collection. Louis Shapazian joins the Spicer Mansion team with ten years of hospitality leadership experience. Most recently, Shapazian was ...
Marriott Counters – Starwood Accepts
Marriott International, Inc. | March 21, 2016
BETHESDA, Md. and STAMFORD, Conn., March 21, 2016 -- Starwood's Board of Directors determined that revised terms from Marriott constitute a superior proposal compared to previously announced offer by Consortium led by Anbang Insurance Group. Increased cash consideration to $21.00 for each share of Starwood common stock. Revised exchange ratio of 0.80 shares of Marriott common stock for each share of Starwood common stock. Targeted annual G&A synergies increased to $250 million run-rate. Marriott and Starwood special stockholder meetings to be held on April 8, 2016 with transaction closing planned for mid-2016. Marriott ...
Hoteliers, the Party is Over; Act Now
Joel Ross | March 2, 2016
By Joel Ross The black swans have landed and the party is over. U.S. hotels' revenue per available room in January grew 2.4%, according to STR data. Results for the week ending 13 February saw RevPAR up 0.2%* and occupancy down 3%. For months, the investors in the stock market have said hotels will get softer results, but the industry pundits at the Americas Lodging Investment Summit refused to pay attention. Although the macro situation is very different, and we are not having a financial crash and likely not a recession, the hotel industry pundits and others are acting just as they did in 2008 at ALIS—ignoring the world outside ...
10 Things You Need to Know About Millennial Travelers
nSight | March 23, 2016
Millennials already make up 40% of leisure travelers who book travel online. They've grown up in the digital age so tech is part of their DNA. They don't think twice about booking a flight online, posting online for a last minute hotel or restaurant recommendation, or even spending the night in a stranger's home in a city a thousand miles away from home. In an almost desperate attempt to win them over, the travel industry is throwing everything they've got at them – building niche brands, introducing mobile-driven amenities and just trying to be hip enough to matter. What the industry needs to understand is that this is not a demo...
Never Try To Prove Guests Wrong, Even When They Are!
Doug Kennedy | March 9, 2016
By Doug Kennedy Coming up through the ranks in the hotel industry, I remember well hearing my managers use the old adage "The customer is always right." At one hotel they even put a sign up that said: "Rule number one: the customer is always right. Rule number two: when the customer is wrong, see rule number one." In recent years I have learned that the original phrase dates back to 1909 and is now credited to Harry Gordon Selfridge, who was the founder of Selfridge's department stores in London. Of course in the hotel business we refer to our customers as guests, but the idea is the same. As my frontline career progressed from being a ...
Starwood Determines Revised Anbang Proposal is Likely to Lead to a Superior Proposal
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. | March 28, 2016
STAMFORD, Conn.- March 28, 2016 - Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE: HOT) ("Starwood") today announced that its Board of Directors, in consultation with its legal and financial advisors, determined that a revised, non-binding proposal from a consortium consisting of Anbang Insurance Group Co., Ltd., J.C. Flowers & Co. and Primavera Capital Limited (the "Consortium") is reasonably likely to lead to a "Superior Proposal" as defined in Starwood's merger agreement with Marriott International, Inc. (NASDAQ: MAR) ("Marriott"). On March 26, 2016, Starwood received a non-binding proposal from the Consortium, under which th...
