News Top: September
How Digital Signage Benefits Hotels and their Guests
Steve Chang | September 14, 2015
By Steve Chang Digital signage has many benefits for hotels and guests. It enables access to timely and relevant information that enhances the overall guest experience. It also drives engagement, helping guests feel more connected with the hotel while reinforcing key aspects of the brand. There are a variety of ways in which digital signage is transforming the hotel guest experience, including several that are outlined below. Inform guests about offerings and amenities. Digital displays can be used to provide guests with information about check-in and checkout times, restaurant hours and key amenities like fitness centers, gift shops, s...
Google Just Upended Hotel Distribution
Greg Abbott | September 28, 2015
By Greg Abbott Google has quietly changed its approach to the hotel industry in a big way. Separate initiatives have combined to expand Google's hotel distribution influence. 1. Consumers no longer have to leave Google to book a hotel – bookings can be made right on the Google site via Google Instant Booking. 2. The bookings are cutting out the middleman – the OTA's – and going straight to the hotel itself. NB: OTA's are some of Google's largest ad spend so they could indeed be cannibalizing some of there revenue. 3. Google is using a commission model rather than a merchant model. 4. Particip...
Strategic Hotels & Resorts Enters Acquisition Agreement with Blackstone for Approximately $6 billion
Strategic Hotels & Resorts, Inc. | September 8, 2015
CHICAGO, Sept. 8, 2015-- Strategic Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NYSE: BEE) ("the Company") today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with affiliates of Blackstone Real Estate Partners VIII L.P., under which Blackstone will acquire all outstanding shares of common stock of Strategic Hotels & Resorts, Inc., for $14.25 per share in cash, and all of the outstanding membership units of the Company's subsidiary, Strategic Hotels Funding L.L.C., not held by the Company, for $14.25 per unit in cash. Including outstanding debt of the Company, the total transaction value is approximately $6 billion. "Our board and managem...
Benchmark Hospitality International Names Greg Champion President & Chief Operating Officer
Benchmark Hospitality International | September 21, 2015
The Woodlands (Houston), Texas, September 2015 … Benchmark Hospitality International, a leading U.S.-based hospitality management company, has announced the promotion of Greg Champion to President & Chief Operating Officer. Alex Cabañas, chief executive officer for Benchmark, made the announcement. "Bringing Greg on board as a senior executive for Benchmark Hospitality is one of the most important decisions our company has made in its 35-year history," said Mr. Cabañas. "Since he came to us, our growth trajectory and profitability has increased exponentially under his leadership. His commitment to Benchmark's 'B...
What Every Hotel Owner (& Operator) Needs to Know About “Data Security” After Wyndham Worldwide Case
Bob Braun | September 2, 2015
By Jim Butler and the Global Hospitality Group® Hotel Lawyers | Authors of www.HotelLawBlog.com Massive data breaches affect hotels and their legal responsibilities. As unauthorized hacking of confidential data explodes in volume and seriousness, minimum expected standards are evolving that hoteliers and others must follow. Interestingly, the latest guidelines are provided in an August 24, 2015 appellate court decision involving Wyndham Worldwide as if to emphasize that these rules (really) apply to the hotel industry. How did this case arise? What are some basic steps that everyone with confidential data is expected to take? What h...
Are You Interested in Finding Hotel Construction Leads? Hotel-Online Partners with Construct-A-Lead
Construct-A-Lead | September 22, 2015
Access to Over 11,000 new and renovated hotel construction projects - all within your fingertips. If you're looking for a way to grow your business in an easy, cost efficient way, then you should take the free trial at Construct-A-Lead.com. Construct-A-Lead.com is an online construction projects database, helping contractors, service providers, manufacturers, distributors, suppliers and businesses in related industries gain information on all large scale commercial construction projects. Sifting through extraneous data can be time consuming and exhausting. Hotel Online is partnering with Construct-A-Lead, offering a discounted rate on a...
Hilton Worldwide Unveils Industry-Leading Parental Leave Policies
Hilton Worldwide | September 4, 2015
Benefits Will Cover All New Parents MCLEAN, Va. - Hilton Worldwide (NYSE: HLT) today announced parental leave policies that will be the best offered by any major global hospitality company in the United States and Puerto Rico. The benefits will be available to Team Members at owned and managed hotels and corporate offices¹ with one year of service or greater. Beginning on January 1, 2016, the benefits will include: All new parents - including fathers and adoptive parents - will receive two weeks of fully paid parental leave. New mothers who give birth will receive an additional eight weeks of maternity leave, for a total of 10 weeks...
Donald Trump’s 12 Business Lessons
September 2, 2015
Sept. 02--Donald Trump is one controversial guy. Love him or hate him, though, no one denies he is a good businessman. In 2004, I was a contestant on his TV show, The Apprentice. During that time and the years following the show, I learned 12 helpful things about business from my exposure to Trump. Trump's presidential campaign has gone from what many considered a political sideshow to making him a formidable contender. Part of Trump's appeal is his success and zeal as an entrepreneur. Rather than getting political, I'll stick to my comfort zone and discuss what I learned from The Donald. The dozen business lessons that we can all learn...
The Four Horsemen of the Hotel Apocalypse
Larry Mogelonsky | September 2, 2015
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.lma.ca) We survived Y2K. We outlived the end of the Mayan calendar. But are you ready for the total annihilation of everything your property holds sacred? These four ever-present issues are what I see have the four largest problems that we hoteliers will need to confront within the next decade. As I present the hypothetical 'Four Horsemen of the Hotel Apocalypse', let's keep in mind that not only has the idea of the biblical four horsemen changed over time, but so too will the four main detractors to our industry's current practices. PLAGUE (red horse) – The OTAs This one is like beating a dead h...
Denver Marriott Tech Center to Begin Major Transformation this Fall Including Guest Room Overhaul
Sage Hospitality | September 14, 2015
Hotel will remain open as it undergoes the refresh to offer guests more meeting space, new luxury Extended Stay Executive Accommodations and a Marriott M Club lounge Denver, Colo. (Sept. 14, 2015) - The Denver Marriott Tech Center will launch a massive property transformation this fall, elevating the hotel to be one of Colorado's top destinations for both leisure and business travelers. The major renovation scheduled to kick off this fall and be completed by next September will include a complete overhaul of the hotel's lobby, 605 guest rooms and more than 50,000 square feet of meeting space. The hotel's two towers of guest rooms will u...
Selecting a Hotel Brand: Why House Profit Margins Can Vary by Brand
Hans Detlefsen, MPP, MAI | September 25, 2015
By Hans Detlefsen, MPP, MAI Contributors: Emiliia Gordiienko, Yoshihiro Kanno, Devanjali Luthra, and Anjali Peterson Introduction Does hotel brand selection significantly affect your investment returns? Do different brands within the same chain scale produce different profit results? These questions were the focus of a recent hotel brand comparison study conducted by Hotel Appraisers & Advisors (HA&A). Researchers at HA&A analyzed more than 500 hotel financial statements from across the United States. Our research focused on evaluating the importance of brand selection for hotel investors and developers. We studied the prof...
Rambleside Willing to Pay $507 million in Cash to Acquire Hudson Hotel & Delano Hotel from Morgans
September 14, 2015
NEW YORK, Sept. 14, 2015-- Today, Rambleside Holdings, an investment firm specializing in real estate assets and securities, released a letter sent to the Board of Directors of Morgans Hotel Group Co., expressing serious concern with the "strategic process" and its own plan to maximize value for all shareholders. The full text of the letter can be found below: September 14, 2015 Members of the Board of Directors Morgans Hotel Group Co. 237 Madison Avenue New York, NY 10016 Attn: Mr. Howard M. Lorber, Chairman of the Board Dear Members of the Board: Rambleside Holdings, and its affiliated entities ("Rambleside"), are currently among the ...
The Gwen, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Chicago Debuts in the City’s Historic McGraw-Hill Building
DiamondRock Hospitality Company | September 1, 2015
CHICAGO, Ill. – September 1, 2015 – Following the conversion of the hotel formerly known as Conrad Chicago, The Gwen, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Chicago will debut today offering unparalleled luxury and personalized service in a prime downtown Chicago location with direct access to the upscale boutiques along the Magnificent Mile shopping district. Owned by DiamondRock Hospitality Company and managed by Crescent Hotels & Resorts, The Gwen marks the first hotel in Chicago as part of Starwood Hotels & Resorts' The Luxury Collection brand. "We are delighted to debut The Luxury Collection in Chicago in this ideal downtown locati...
Waterford Hotel Group Adds Five Hotels to Growing Portfolio
Waterford Hotel Group, Inc. | September 3, 2015
Waterford, CT (September 4, 2015) --- Waterford Hotel Group, one of the nation's leading hospitality companies, has added five hotels to its portfolio year-to-date. The addition of the five hotels brings the firm's portfolio to 28 properties and more than 3,800 rooms, representing a diverse portfolio ranging from independent inns to full-service hotels and convention centers. "We have successfully executed our 2015 growth strategy to date and anticipate continued progress in the coming months," said Rob Winchester, President and COO. "We are honored that the varied ownership groups have chosen Waterford as a partner and look forward to ...
When You Turn The Lights Off They All Look The Same!
Doug Kennedy | September 8, 2015
By Doug Kennedy September 8, 2015 There is one thing that every hotel room in the whole world has in common; when you turn the lights off they all look the same! When you stop to think about it, the activity which most guests spend the most time doing in their hotel room is sleeping! When you subtract out sleep time from their total time in the room, the hours a guest spends awake and conscious in a room is actually quite few. For a business traveler, this might be as little as three or four hours in the evening between dinner and bedtime and maybe one or two more hours in the morning before the workday. Even for a leisure traveler on v...
New Study Reveals: Some 15 Million Online Bookings are Scams by Rogue Websites
the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) | September 29, 2015
Biggest Inconveniences: Incorrect accommodations, extra fees, no refunds Washington, D.C. (September 29, 2015) – When it comes to booking a hotel, it pays to go straight to the source. A new study conducted by the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) reveals that one in three people are worried about online booking scams, which affect millions of unsuspecting consumers. Early estimates suggested that some 2.5 million hotel bookings a year were affected by deceptive practices through rogue third-party online travel agency (OTA) affiliates who pose as direct hotel booking sites. The study, conducted by GFK Custom Re...
La Quinta Holdings Enters Definitive Agreement to Sell 24 Owned Hotels
La Quinta Holdings Inc. | September 8, 2015
IRVING, Texas, Sept. 8, 2015 -- La Quinta Holdings Inc. ("La Quinta" or the "Company") (NYSE: LQ) today announced that it has signed a definitive purchase and sale agreement to sell 24 owned hotels. This portfolio is geographically dispersed and the vast majority of these hotels will be removed from the La Quinta system. The sale price for these assets represents an attractive EBITDA multiple and the Company expects to close the sale prior to the end of 2015, subject to customary closing provisions, providing additional balance sheet flexibility at that time. As a result of this transaction, the Company expects to re...
Wyndham Worldwide Closing its Aberdeen, SD Facility; Move Comes as Shock to Employees
September 10, 2015
Sept. 10--Wyndham Hotel Group in Aberdeen will be closing in the months to come, employees learned Wednesday. The move will affect hundreds of employees who handle reservations, the company's loyalty program and customer care at Wyndham's Aberdeen location. "Wyndham Worldwide is always looking at its operations around the world. This is a decision we gave a lot of thought to," said Geoff Ballotti, president and CEO, while in Aberdeen on Wednesday. "It was not taken lightly. This is a decision that will allow a significant population in Aberdeen to work remotely." Those details, though, have yet to be worked out, he said. Amber Kjer has ...
StepStone Hospitality Leadership Team Adds Business Development Role to Drive Continued Expansion
StepStone Hospitality | September 9, 2015
New Chief Development Officer Brings Extensive Hotel Experience PROVIDENCE, R. I. (Sept. 9, 2015) StepStone Hospitality, a premier hospitality management company specializing in full and select-service hotel operations, today announced that Jeffrey Dallas has been named Chief Development Officer. Dallas is charged with continuing to expand StepStone's portfolio. "This newly created position is devoted to focusing on our growth strategy, through both acquisitions and third-party management contracts," said Thomas Russo, Chief Executive Officer, StepStone Hospitality. "We're delighted to have someone with Jeff Dallas' skills and industry ...
Best Western Introduces Masterbrand and Reveals New Logos to Broaden Appeal
Best Western Hotels & Resorts | September 30, 2015
New Company Name, New Abbreviation, New Logos, New Hotel Brand HONOLULU (September 30, 2015) – The long trusted and familiar logo for the Best Western brand has been a constant along its journey of global expansion and quality improvement, as the company has grown to a diverse collection of more than 4,100 properties in over 100 countries. Yesterday, at its annual convention, the company's leadership team revealed plans to signal to the world Best Western's amazing journey. "For more than two decades, Best Western has had a familiar, recognizable, and visible logo. But with our investments in this 69-year old brand during the last...
Can You Increase Bookings With Color Psychology?
Taylor Smariga | September 11, 2015
By Taylor Smariga Color influences our perception. It can change the way we think and feel about things.. For example, studies show that yellow stimulates appetite, whereas blue suppresses it. Darker colors like red and black can increase visual weight, while pastels lighten things up. More interestingly, perhaps, teams wearing red win more often! But how can they be used to power up your hotel website for maximum conversions? In today's post, we'll look at the power color does—and doesn't—have to drive a potential guest's decisions. Let's go. Color: How It Steers Our Emotions Colors are often used to com...
Social Tables Continues Global Expansion to 1,200 New International Customer Users
Social Tables | September 22, 2015
Washington, DC (September 22, 2015) - Social Tables (www.socialtables.com), the industry leading provider of cloud-based hospitality software, today announced their presence on 6 continents, where they support over 1,200 international customer users, throughout 51 countries. The Washington-D.C. based company is pleased to introduce two global Directors representing APAC and EMEA, who will support the company's international expansion. Social Tables' suite of products, available in English, Spanish, and French, brings each customer's event team together online – many of whom are planning their events from different countries, and c...
The Future of Luxury Resort Gaming in Los Angeles Soon to Arrive with The Bicycle Hotel & Casino
The Bicycle Hotel & Casino | September 17, 2015
BELL GARDENS, Calif., Sept. 17, 2015 -- Bell Gardens' landmark Bicycle Casino is stacking the deck on hospitality. Introducing The Bicycle Hotel & Casino, a seven-story, 117,907 square-foot boutique luxury hotel addition to the Bicycle Casino, unveiling December 1st, 2015. Raised by commercial luxury general contractor R.D. Olson Construction with architecture by Lee & Sakahara Architects and interior design by Hager Design International Inc., the hotel will open with 99 elegant rooms and suites, innovative dining concepts such as The Bike Brewery, and resort amenities including a full spa and elevated outdoor pool deck with pri...
Lawsuits & Fallout from Intl. Crime Investigations Intensify Battle for Control of Crowne Plaza
September 14, 2015
Sept. 14--Lawsuits and fallout from international crime investigations have intensified a battle for control of the Crowne Plaza Universal hotel. Legal disputes over the hotel at 7800 Universal Blvd. now include a request for a U.S. court-appointed receiver to take over, and an accusation that one of the shareholders solicited a prostitute on the hotel property. Miami businessman Zilbert Zanchet, a minority shareholder, filed suit in Orange County Circuit Court on Sept. 4 to wrest control away from the hotel's current administrator, Brazilian judicial appointee Francisco Bomfim. Although open for business, the hotel ownership is caught ...
Plans Move Forward for JW Marriott – Anaheim and Other Hotel Construction Projects
Construct-A-Lead | September 9, 2015
Hotel-Online and Construct-A-Lead reported today that there have been 393 new/updated hotel construction leads added to the Construct-A-Lead hotel project database in the past 30 days. Interested parties are invited to visit construct-a-lead.com and enter promo code hotelonline for a reduced rate available only to Hotel Online subscribers. Interested parties are invited to visit construct-a-lead.com and sign up for a free trial. This a no obligation, no credit card necessary sampling allowing customers 5 live construction reports over a 3 day period. Users are encouraged to view and track projects, online, an examples of which is listed...
