Spokane Tribe Resort & Casino Partners With Travel Outlook to Elevate Guest Service Experience
Travel Outlook, The Premier Hotel Call Center™ | October 2, 2024
Debunking Common Myths About AI: Why Human Hotel Staff Are Still Irreplaceable
John Smallwood, President of Travel Outlook | September 17, 2024
Operations
White Lodging Celebrates Topping Off of New Hampton by Hilton in Fort Wayne, Indiana
Hampton by Hilton | January 28, 2019
FORT WAYNE, Ind., Jan. 28, 2019 -- White Lodging announced today the "topping off" of its new hotel in Fort Wayne, signifying that the structural framework is now complete. The new 136-room Hampton Inn & Suites by Hilton Fort Wayne Downtown, immediately adjacent to Parkview Field and the Grand Wayne Convention Center, is on schedule to open in July 2019. "The Hampton Inn & Suites by Hilton is going to be a tremendous addition to our downtown. We're impressed with the positive progress we're seeing with the construction of the new hotel," said Fort Wayne Mayor Tom Henry. "White Lodging is an outst...
GreenTree to Acquire Majority Stake in Argyle Hotel Management Group (Australia) Pty Ltd.
GreenTree Hospitality Group Ltd. | January 28, 2019
SHANGHAI, Jan. 28, 2019 -- GreenTree Hospitality Group Ltd. (NYSE: GHG) ("GreenTree" or the "Company"), a leading franchised and managed hotel chain in China, today announced that it has entered into a share purchase agreement to become a major shareholder of Argyle Hotel Management Group (Australia) Pty Ltd. ("Argyle"), an owner and operator of hotels in China and South East Asia. Mr. Kevin Zhang, its founder and CEO and his management team will remain one of the largest shareholders of Argyle, and become an integral part of GreenTree's management team. This transaction is subject to customary closing ...
Beekeeper Reveals Game-Changing Capability at ALIS
Beekeeper | January 28, 2019
New 'Locations' features empower multi-property management companies and brand enterprises to impact employee engagement locally and scale globally; Visit Beekeeper in the ALIS Tech Lounge Jan. 28 to 30 in Los Angeles San Francisco, Jan. 28, 2019 — Just how engaged are a hotel's employees? A robust set of new features from Beekeeper will be unveiled today at the Americas Lodging Investment Summit (ALIS) that will make it fast and easy for multi-property management companies and global brand enterprises to better gauge and impact engagement. Called "Locations", this new feature set means that Beekeeper is the only product...
Hotel Equities Selected to Manage The 394-Room Westin Prince Toronto
Hotel Equities | January 28, 2019
Atlanta, GA – January 28, 2019 – Today, Atlanta-based hotel owner, operator and developer, Hotel Equities (HE), announced they have been selected as the management firm for the 394-room Westin Prince Toronto. The luxury resort style hotel is located at 900 York Mills Road in North York and offers 28,000 square feet of versatile event space. The ownership group has invested in a major renovation including guest rooms and public space. The renovations are expected to be completed in the summer of 2019. "I'm proud to announce the addition of this beautiful hotel to our portfolio," said Joe Reardon, Chief Development Officer for...
Paramount Lodging Advisors Sells Bakersfield, CA Four Points by Sheraton Hotel
Paramount Lodging Advisors | January 25, 2019
Paramount Lodging Advisors (PLA) has successfully executed the transaction of the 198-room Four Points by Sheraton Bakersfield, California. The property is located at 5101 California Avenue, Bakersfield CA 93309. Senior Managing Director Scott Griemsmann and Senior Associate Subu Thiagarajan represented the seller in the sale. This transaction presented the buyer a unique opportunity to acquire a core-branded Marriott hotel at a fraction of replacement cost in a market with significant growth prospects. The hotel is situated on ~7.7 acres of prime commercial land in Central Bakersfield which also offers the buyer the potential for futur...
Lowe Launches CoralTree Hospitality Group Led by President Thomas Luersen
CoralTree Hospitality Group | January 25, 2019
January 28, 2019 LOS ANGELES - Lowe, a national real estate investor, developer and manager, announced today that it has formed a new, wholly-owned hotel and resort management company, CoralTree Hospitality Group. Led by senior executives who built their hospitality careers at Lowe-affiliated hotel management companies, CoralTree Hospitality Group launches with a portfolio of 17 lifestyle hotels and resorts under management across the U.S. and in Puerto Rico. "We have the opportunity to return to our hospitality roots with a spirit of individuality, a focus on each property's attributes and identity, and an emphasis on personalized, exc...
Hawkeye Hotels Acquires SpringHill Suites Shreveport-Bossier City/Louisiana Downs
Hawkeye Hotels | January 25, 2019
BOSSIER CITY, LA – On Thursday, Iowa-based firm Hawkeye Hotels acquired the SpringHill Suites Shreveport-Bossier City/Louisiana Downs, a Marriott hotel in Bossier City, LA. This is the company's third Louisiana property. Hawkeye Hotels also acquired the Hilton Garden Inn in Baton Rouge and the Hotel Modern in New Orleans, which will soon re-brand as a Holiday Inn Express. Located within three miles of both Barksdale Airforce Base and the Cyber Innovation Center, the property sits in front of Harrah's Louisiana Downs Casino and Racetrack. It is visible from both Interstates 20 and 220. The Red River District and the Louisia...
CHECO Purchase Company, LLC and Choice Hotels Ink Agreement to Develop 27 WoodSpring Suites Hotels
January 24, 2019
ROCKVILLE, Md., Jan. 24, 2019 -- Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH) signed an agreement with CHECO Purchase Company, LLC, a subsidiary of Concord Hospitality, which has newly formed Common Oaks Lodging LLC, to develop 27 new WoodSpring Suites hotels. The hotels will be built throughout Michigan and North Carolina, as well as in the metropolitan areas of Jacksonville, Fla. and Nashville, Tenn. The transaction comes on the heels of the brand's record-setting growth year in 2018 where the WoodSpring Suites brand significantly exceeded the number of new contracts awarded in a single year. The brand now has more than 100 hotel...
SHR Announces Powerful Megasys and SmartHOTEL Integrations
SHR | January 24, 2019
THE HAGUE, NL, TULSA, OK, AND HOUSTON, TX, January 24, 2019—SHR, Sceptre Hospitality Resources, a pioneer of advanced hotel distribution technologies and developer of Windsurfer® CRS, has unveiled two new best-in-class integrations; the Portfolio HMS by Megasys Hospitality Solutions, and SmartHOTEL's PMS connectivity hub. Primarily serving the U.S. market, Portfolio HMS is feature-rich, with options such as Reservation Sync from CRS to PMS, Inventory, Rate Code Create, Rate Value Sync, Restrictions, and Group Blocks. Based out of Tulsa, Oklahoma, the company serves a wide range of hoteliers, from independent hotels to conferen...
Jay Virk & Choice Hotels Enter Multi-Unit Agreement to Develop 15 New-Construction Midscale Hotels
Choice Hotels | January 23, 2019
ROCKVILLE, Md., Jan. 23, 2019 -- Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH) has signed an agreement with Jay Virk to develop 15 new-construction midscale hotels in the Western region of the U.S. through 2026. Five Sleep Inn hotels and five dual-brand Sleep Inn and MainStay Suites properties will be built across California and Arizona: Sleep Inn hotels: Elk Grove, Manteca, Three Rivers, Turlock, and Watsonville, Calif. Sleep Inn and MainStay Suites dual-brand locations: Phoenix; Merced, Palmdale, Palm Desert, and Porterville, Calif. "Our decades of midscale expertise and proven brands continue to attract developers coast to c...
TripAdvisor Reveals America’s Best Hotels With 2019 Travelers’ Choice Awards
TripAdvisor | January 23, 2019
Charleston's French Quarter Inn is the #1 Hotel in the U.S.; Tulemar Bungalows & Villas in Costa Rica is World's Top Overall NEEDHAM, Mass., Jan. 23, 2019 -- TripAdvisor®, the world's largest travel site, today announced the winners of its Travelers' Choice® awards for Hotels. Travelers' Choice award winners were determined based on the millions of reviews and opinions collected in a single year from TripAdvisor travelers worldwide. In the 17th year of the awards, TripAdvisor has recognized 7,812 properties in 94 countries and eight regions worldwide in the categories of Top Hotels Overall, Luxury, Bargai...
Drawbacks to Outsourcing Your Hotel Labor Force
Larry Mogelonsky | January 23, 2019
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.hotelmogel.com) The growing prevalence of outsourced labor within the frontline ranks of many guest-facing departments may have deep-rooted consequences that aren't immediately discernable on a balance sheet. Whether your property is thinking of contracting out its valets, bellhops, restaurant servers, banqueting staff or housekeepers, what we stand to lose may be far greater than any apparent cost savings or reductions in employee benefit packages. While the two abovementioned advantages of outsourcing are indeed quite lucrative – and not to mention the overall decrease in risk involved with...
ALICE Celebrated As the #1 Best Place to Work in Hotel Tech 2019
ALICE | January 22, 2019
ALICE is excited to share we have been named 2019's #1 Best Place to Work in Hotel Tech by Hotel Tech Report. HTR surveys thousands of hotel tech employees around the world about what it's like inside the operations of the industry's greatest technology companies, and topping this list is truly an honor and a testament to our commitment to our people. With a #3 ranking in 2018, ALICE is thrilled to have jumped to the top spot in 2019. In the past year, ALICE has grown rapidly, recently surpassing the 100-employee threshold, and expecting to hit 150 global team members by the end of 2019. Throughout this growth, we've been able to create...
BENCHMARK®, a global hospitality company, Adds The Kartrite Resort & Indoor Waterpark to Its Operating Portfolio
Benchmark Resorts & Hotels, | January 22, 2019
The Woodlands (Houston), Texas, January 2019 … BENCHMARK®, a global hospitality company, has added The Kartrite Resort & Indoor Waterpark(www.thekartrite.com) to its expanding Benchmark Resorts & Hotels brand operating portfolio. Located in Monticello, in New York's Catskill Mountains, the new property will open in March 2019 on 1,600 wooded acres, the site of the Resorts World Catskills entertainment complex. The new luxury hotel will include a state-of-the-art, two-acre indoor waterpark with activities and amenities geared to family fun. The hotel and indoor waterpark will also feature multiple dining options, a rel...
Meyer Jabara Hotels Selected to Manage Cambria Fort Lauderdale
Meyer Jabara Hotels | January 22, 2019
Management contract marks the sixth Cambria hotel to be operated by MJH; Scheduled to open in 2020 the property will feature views of the ocean and intercoastal [Danbury, Conn., January 22, 2018]—Meyer Jabara Hotels (MJH) has been selected to manage a new construction Cambria hotel in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., scheduled to open in 2020. Owned by Jai and Jessica Motwani, president and CEO of real-estate development group Hotel Motel Inc., the 97-room asset will be located at 2231 N. Ocean Blvd., across the street from the Auberge Beach Residences & Spa, considered to be Fort Lauderdale's most extraordinary beachfront property....
Hotel Equities Opens New Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott in El Reno, Oklahoma
Hotel Equities | January 22, 2019
Atlanta, GA – January 22, 2019 – Today, Atlanta-based hotel owner, operator and developer, Hotel Equities (HE), announced the opening of the new Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott in El Reno, Oklahoma. The hotel, located at 1501 Domino Drive, is owned by Sky Hospitality, Inc. and managed by Hotel Equities. Jennifer Straffon serves as the hotel's general manager. "We are proud to open this contemporary new hotel in the city of El Reno," said Rob Cote, Regional VP of Operations for HE. "With Jennifer's strong leadership and operation's experience, combined with our sales and marketing team's knowledge of the market, the ho...
Hospitality Financial Leadership: Bring Multi-Tasking to an End for Hotel Leaders
David Lund | January 21, 2019
By David Lund I am going to begin this piece with a quote because I know there is BIG TIME pushback on the idea of multi-tasking. Being so popular in our modern work society the idea of multi-tasking is more than a fad, more than say IMU (Individual Business Units) or MBWA (Management By Walking Around). These are two of my personal all-time favorite business practices. In the hotel business, we need to be able to differentiate between when it is appropriate to do more than one thing at a time and when it is not. Here is a great quote. "Studies show that the human mind can only truly multitask when it comes to highly automatic behaviors...
sbe Partners With Be Grand and CEO Nicolas Carrancedo for Ten Mondrian Hotel & Residential Projects in Mexico
sbe | January 18, 2019
Mondrian Polanco Hotel & Residences to Debut in 2021 Followed by Mondrian Del Valle in 2022 NEW YORK, Jan. 18, 2019 -- sbe, a leading international hospitality group that develops, manages and operates award-winning global hospitality brands, today announced a partnership with Be Grand and its CEO Nicolas Carrancedo to continue the aggressive expansion of the Mondrian brand with the first-ever Mondrian Hotel & Residences in Mexico City. This property will also be the first of ten sbe-branded properties that sbe and Be Grand will bring to Mexico City and its metropolitan area in the next five years. The second project to be annou...
Hotel Equities and Owner GGDE Open 186-Room Four Points by Sheraton Atlanta Airport West
Hotel Equities | January 18, 2019
Atlanta, GA – January 18, 2019 – Today, Atlanta-based hotel owner, operator and developer, Hotel Equities (HE) announced the opening of the Four Points by Sheraton Atlanta Airport West, Georgia's first Four Points by Sheraton. The 186-room hotel is owned by GGDE, LLC and offers 4,500 square feet of state-of-the-art, flexible meeting space able to accommodate 400+ guests. Hotel Equities will manage the new hotel. Mark Lesser will lead the team as general manager and Stefanie Little will oversee sales and marketing as director of sales. "We are proud to open this beautiful, full service Four Points by Sheraton hotel," said Joe...
Your Top 10 Digital Marketing New Year’s Resolutions for 2019
HEBS Digital | January 18, 2019
By Kerryn Gower After saying goodbye to 2018, we're starting the new year with fresh priorities and goals. January is a great time for hoteliers to reflect on last year's strategies and analyze results in order to create a blueprint for a successful new year. Determining your hotel's most successful digital marketing initiatives is the first step to executing a strong plan that will achieve greater results this year than last year. With new technology and digital innovations announced daily, it can seem overwhelming for hoteliers to stay on top of trends and work them into their own strategies. With voice search and AI, omnichannel mark...
Black Oak Casino Resort to Implement INTELITY’s Guest Experience and Staff Management Platform
INTELITY | January 17, 2019
The state-of-the-art property looks to implement the industry's leading technology platform to streamline staff, increase guest engagement, and better connect hotel operations to the casino floor Los Angeles, CA (January 18, 2019) — INTELITY™, the global travel industry's first and most powerful enterprise guest engagement and staff management platform, announced today that it inked a deal with The Hotel at Black Oak Casino Resort in Tuolumne, Calif. The property will be incorporating the INTELITY platform's custom-branded mobile app and in-room tablets at its hotel, giving guests the opportunity to better manage their ...
Hotel Equities Adds Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott Tacoma DuPont to Portfolio
Hotel Equities | January 17, 2019
Atlanta, GA – January 17, 2019 – Today, Atlanta-based hotel owner, operator and developer, Hotel Equities (HE), announced the addition of the Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott Tacoma DuPont to their portfolio of hotels. The hotel, bearing the brand's latest design and décor, offers 500 square feet of meeting space and is located at 1515 Wilmington Drive. The hotel is owned by Northwest Lodging, LLC. "We are thrilled to mark our entry into the state of Washington with the addition of this great Marriott hotel in the Tacoma DuPont area," said Joe Reardon, Chief Development Officer for HE. "Our above-property team i...
Beekeeper Continues to Dominate in the Hotel Technology Arena; Named ‘Top Operational Product’ for Employee Engagement by HotelTechReport
Beekeeper | January 17, 2019
Company recognized for adding immense value for hoteliers by helping them compete in the digital age; This is the 5th technology award presented to Beekeeper in the last eight months for its operational communication platform San Francisco, Jan. 17, 2019 — Beekeeper is on a roll! This week the company earned its fifth hotel technology award as a "2019 Top Rated Operations Product" by HotelTechReport for its Employee Engagement app that helps hotel teams "save time, improve efficiencies and collaborate better." Winners were selected from more than 180 of the top technology products around the world. The HotelTechAwards are the indu...
Park Inn by Radisson Opens in Quito, Ecuador Following Multimillion Dollar Renovation Led by General Manager Alejandro Bonilla
January 17, 2019
Park Inn® by Radisson, the upper midscale hotel brand that delivers stress-free experiences, good food and upbeat environments, is proud to announce the opening of Park Inn by Radisson Quito, Ecuador following an extensive $4.5 million renovation, which included upgrades and a fresh new design throughout the entire hotel. Guests can enjoy the hotel's excellent location near the popular Zona Rosa section of the city at Reina Victoria Avenue and Calama. This places guests within walking distance of the upscale shopping, restaurants and nightlife at Foch Square, in addition to the city's fast-growing financial and business districts. "...
