News Archive: August
7 Trends for the Internet of Things in Hospitality
Telkonet | August 24, 2016
By: Jesse DePinto, Product Manager at Telkonet, Inc. There is no doubt that the Internet of Things will impact the way we do business today. Intel estimates that the number of connected devices will grow from two billion objects in 2006 to a projected 200 billion by 2020, or 26 smart objects for every human on Earth. Giants like GE are calling the Industrial Internet of Things the "Third Wave of Innovation" following the Industrial Revolution and the Internet Revolution. The hospitality industry possesses great potential for increasing revenue and decreasing expenses by integrating IoT technologies in their operations. For example, a s...
Austin, Still Not a Top 25 U.S. Hotel Market?
Chris Remund | August 17, 2016
By Chris Remund Over the past several years, Austin has been one of the fastest developing cities in the United States. Festivals such as South by Southwest, Formula One racing at the Circuit of the Americas, and its long standing reputation as the "Live Music Capital of the World" has propelled the city onto the international stage. Austin is a growing technology hub, home to major offices for multi-national companies such as Oracle, National Instruments, Dell, and IBM, to name a few. The city was once again named America's fastest growing city by Forbes magazine in 2016, taking the number one spot in five of the past six years. Home t...
Ranking Hotel REITS: Highest EBITDA & Lowest Overhead
Hans Detlefsen | August 10, 2016
Which Hotel REITs Achieved the Highest Hotel EBITDA Margins and the Lowest Management and Overhead Expense Ratios in 2015? By Hans Detlefsen, MPP, MAI Private equity funds, family offices, and other investors have several choices when seeking to increase exposure to real estate, specifically within the hotel sector. They can buy hotels, build hotels, invest in hotel mortgages, or invest in joint ventures that own or develop hotels. Perhaps one of the easiest methods of investing in hotel real estate, however, is simply to purchase shares of Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) that own hotels. Some REITs are more effective than other...
Hotel Guests Engaged During Stay 40% More Likely to Come Back
Local Measure | August 24, 2016
Local Measure, the leading location-based social media platform for hotels, today released the results of a 16 month study across 75 hotels and 56,000 customers. The study showed that hotels who engage with their guests during-stay see higher guest return rates than for those guests who are not engaged digitally. Speaking about the study, Local Measure CEO said "We've been telling our hotel clients for a long time that during-stay engagement and real time reputation management is just as important as a hotel managing post stay reviews. It's nice for us to now be able to back this up with data that shows those forward thinki...
Howard Karawan Appointed President and Managing Director of Atlantis, Paradise Island Resort in The Bahamas
Atlantis, Paradise Island resort, The Bahamas | August 30, 2016
PARADISE ISLAND, THE BAHAMAS (August 30, 2016) – Brookfield Asset Management is pleased to announce the appointment of Howard C. Karawan as President and Managing Director of Atlantis, Paradise Island resort in The Bahamas. Karawan will succeed Paul Burke, who recently resigned from the position to pursue new career endeavors in the United States. Karawan will assume his new position on September 19, 2016. A luxury hospitality and gaming veteran with over 30 years of experience, Karawan will make his return to Atlantis after previously holding the position of President and Chief Marketing Officer for Kerzner International, the pri...
US RevPAR Forecast Lowered to 3%-4% Amid Signs of Fatigue
Fitch | August 2, 2016
NEW YORK - August 2, 2016 - US lodging fundamentals are decelerating and signs of fatigue are signaling a negative turn could be ahead, according to Fitch Ratings. We had expected RevPAR to accelerate modestly during the remainder of the year. However, lodging fundamentals are softening and RevPAR growth continues to decelerate, with 2016 likely to come in below the low end of our original 4% to 5% estimate. Supply is growing but restrained by available capital. Fitch now projects that US RevPAR will increase by 3%-4% during 2016 and by 1%-2% during 2017, with monthly comparisons possibly turning negative during the latter half of the y...
Three Tips to Create a Memorable Experience For Your Guests
Bryan K. Williams | August 22, 2016
by Bryan K. Williams Could it be? Is it even possible? What are the chances that every touchpoint is memorable? Each team member is engaged. All leaders act as though they are not just managers, but rather CEOs of their respective departments. Vince Lombardi famously said…. "We will chase perfection, and we will chase it relentlessly, knowing all the while we can never attain it. But along the way, we shall catch excellence." The real leaders live and breathe that philosophy. Good is never good enough. Only excellence will do. It usually only takes a few minutes, but I can always tell when I've encountered a culture of ...
17 Things to Consider When Planning for 2017
Aspire | August 17, 2016
1. BUILD YOUR ANNUAL STRATEGIC PLAN Include as many of your leaders, supervisors and up-and-comers as possible in your planning process. Don't worry about tactics until you have the strategic direction defined. Many people think tactically. Tactics are only effective if you have the right strategies. Strategies answer the question "what will we do?" First, think about "what" (the key strategies). Then ask, "how can we be disruptive?" The strategic direction should be defined by your entire senior leadership and key department heads team. Take a strategic look at these 7 places: Guest experience Associ...
