Brandt Hospitality Group Getting Great Results From Accounting Software Partner
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David Lund | March 27th, 2023
HFTP Sells Out Exhibition for Upcoming HITEC Amsterdam 2018, A 20 Percent Space Increase from Previous Year
HITEC | February 26, 2018
European extension to the world's largest and oldest hospitality exposition and conference brand Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP®), an international nonprofit association and producers of Hospitality Industry Technology Exposition and Conference (HITEC®), has sold all exhibit spaces for the upcoming HITEC Amsterdam 2018. HITEC Amsterdam will feature 84 exhibiting companies – a 20 percent increase from the inaugural 2017 event. A floorplan with a list of participating companies is available on the HITEC Amsterdam website. HITEC Amsterdam will take place from 11-13 April at the RAI Amsterdam Conventi...
IDeaS Revenue Solutions provides superior revenue strategy data for The Newport Harbor Hotel & Marina
Shaner Hotel Group | February 22, 2018
Independent property in Newport, RI gets competitive with an automated revenue management solution Tweet this: @IDeaS_RevOpt provides superior revenue strategy data for @Newport_Hotel. www.ideas.com/news #revenuestrategy MINNEAPOLIS – February 22, 2018 – With nearly 50 properties in their portfolio, both independent and branded hotels, the Shaner Group made a necessary choice for their Newport Harbor Hotel & Marina to advance their revenue strategy from a manual structure to an automated system. After looking at multiple solution providers, The Newport Harbor Hotel selected IDeaS Revenue Solutions (IDeaS), the leading pr...
Women in Leadership: A Rallying Cry
Dr. Sowon Kim | February 19, 2018
By Dr. Sowon Kim The financial services sector has finally begun shedding light on the gender pay gap within the industry, with Citi becoming the first major Wall Street bank to disclose internal data – albeit somewhat selectively – on gender pay, following activist shareholder pressure. The Financial Times (FT) reported earlier this month that, in a message to staff, Citi's head of human resources put the gender pay gap in the US, UK and Germany at just one percent. However, according to the FT's own research, while women account for up to 51 percent of Citi's global workforce, they make up only 42 percent of mid-level exec...
Hospitality Financial Leadership – Is Your Hotel Culture Blame or Appreciation?
David Lund | February 19, 2018
By David Lund In my career, I have seen both. Lots of appreciation for hard work and a challenging workplace. On the flip side a horror story of the blame for "mistakes" and lack of preparedness. Blame is the easy one to master. Management by embarrassment as I like to refer to it. One of my past hotels was a classic blame game hotel. After a much-publicized error or screw up or service interruption the GM would warmly ask, "Where is my victim?" or state, "Bring me the victim." What usually followed was paramount to a public flogging. Everyone got their turn and the others would just watch in stunned disbelief only being thankful that i...
The Ayre Group and the Government of Antigua to Develop New Luxury Resort on Valley Church Beach Funded in Whole with Bitcoin Cash (BCH) Profits
February 19, 2018
A new and unique five star resort in Antigua was announced by the Ayre Group today. The development is located on the Valley Church beach and design work is already underway, with works scheduled to commence on site in late summer of 2018. The construction cost of the resort is expected to be in excess of USD $100m and will be entirely funded by profits made through the appreciation of Bitcoin Cash (BCH). The announcement was made by His Excellency Calvin Ayre, the Chairman of The Ayre Group, who also acts as Special Economic Envoy for the Government of Antigua and Barbuda. Hon. Ayre warmly thanked the Prime Minister, The Hon. Gaston Br...
Hotel Transactions in India: What Will Move the Needle?
Hotelivate Private Limited | February 16, 2018
Hotel Transactions Earlier this year, two portfolio deals shaped the hotel transactions market of India with a consolidated transaction value of approximately US$85 million. This is no mean feat for a country where buying or selling of hotel assets has historically been as rare as sighting a snow leopard! Sarovar Hotel Group's acquisition by Louvre Hotels Group was primarily a non-asset deal aimed at gaining the scale and distribution of a management vehicle, with management income from over 70 hotels. In addition, Whitbread PLC from the UK exited India and sold their hotel real estate of five assets. However, other than these, the tran...
Rainmaker Executives Featured at Hotel Revenue Conference 2018
Rainmaker | February 15, 2018
Presentation to focus on optimizing group business for higher conversion rates and increased revenue ALPHARETTA, GA – Feb. 15, 2018 – The Rainmaker Group (Rainmaker), a leading provider of cloud-based hospitality revenue and profit optimization software, announced today that Amy Forss, senior sales director, and Mike Pavicich, director of hospitality sales, will be featured speakers at the Hotel Revenue Conference 2018. The conference will be held Feb. 21-22 at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel in Seattle. Rainmaker is a gold-level sponsor of the event. Forss and Pavicich will speak on optimizing group business for higher conversio...
How Amazon Go ‘No Checkout’ Stores Will Influence the Future of the Hospitality & Travel Industry
Alan E. Young | February 14, 2018
By Alan E. Young Our world is endlessly transformative, with a wealth of technological innovations and advances coming to life and capturing large-scale societal attention on what feels like a weekly basis. Self-driving cars, cryptocurrency, artificial intelligence — the future seems to be arriving faster than some of us have a chance to take a breath. At the heart of most revolutionary technology exists the progressive desire for increased convenience and efficiency as it applies to our day-to-day lives, businesses and more. Staying true to this trend, Amazon Go recently opened a grocery store like we've never experienced (but pr...
CooperWynn Real Estate Completes the Sale of the Holiday Inn Express Albuquerque -I 40/Eubank
CooperWynn Real Estate | February 13, 2018
Park City, UT – February 14, 2018 – As exclusive agent to Express Investments, Inc., CooperWynn Commercial Real Estate, is pleased to announce the sale of the 104-room Holiday Inn Express located at 10330 Hotel Circle in Albuquerque, New Mexico to Dallas based Newstream Hotels & Hospitality, a subsidiary of Newstream Commercial. Built in 1994, the property is well located on the northeast corner of the intersection of Interstate 40 and Eubank Blvd NE proximate to major demand generators such as Kirkland Airforce Base and Sandia National Laboratories. "The property was in excellent physical condition and garnered signific...
Rainmaker’s revcaster® Powers Newly Enhanced Market Intelligence for Omni Hotels & Resorts
Rainmaker | February 13, 2018
revcaster's next-generation platform recently implemented across the Omni brand ALPHARETTA, GA – Feb. 13, 2018 – The Rainmaker Group (Rainmaker), a leading provider of cloud-based hospitality revenue and profit optimization software, today announced that it has expanded its partnership with Omni Hotels & Resorts (Omni) by transitioning them to the recently launched, next-generation of revcaster® across the brand's portfolio of properties, covering more than 20,000 rooms across 60 properties in North America. In addition to being a revcaster customer since 2015, Omni is a longstanding customer of Rainmaker's guestrev&...
Orlando Tops 2017 Markets with 21 Hotels Sold and Average Selling Price Per Room of $96,402
Lodging Econometrics | February 12, 2018
February 12, 2018 – PORTSMOUTH, NH – According to analysts at Lodging Econometrics (LE), through the end of 2017 the markets with the largest number of hotels with selling prices reported into the public domain were: Orlando with 21 hotels and an Average Selling Price Per Room (ASPR) of $96,402, followed by two markets with 19 hotels sold, New York with an ASPR of $426,443 and Washington DC with $260,681. The next three markets with 15 hotels sold each were: Seattle with an ASPR of $236,958, Phoenix with $205,265 and Atlanta with $136,321. ...
Hospitality Financial Leadership – Creating a Hotel Accounting Policy Manual – The Dos and Don’ts
David Lund | February 12, 2018
By David Lund After recently completing a policy manual for a client, I want to share what worked for this hotel company and what could work for you. I also want to clear the air on policy vs. procedure. I know it is a big challenge to get a policy manual together for a hotel or hotel company. The big brands have resources to get the job done but the smaller brands and management companies do not have the same bandwidth. It is a project that always gets kicked down the calendar to another month or quarter. Check out another article I have written on why creating a hotel accounting policy manual is so challenging: http://hotelfinancialco...
Avison Young Hospitality Group Announces January 2018 Closings
Avison Young | February 12, 2018
ATLANTA – February 12, 2018 – The Avison Young Hospitality Group announced today that it has brokered the transaction of six hotels in January. The hotels included a full-service Marriott, a Courtyard by Marriott, two Marriott Fairfield Inns, one Red Roof Inn and one Comfort Inn. The hotels were located in Chicago, Washington, D.C., El Paso, Texas, High Point and Greensboro, N.C., and Columbus, Ga. Avison Young Hospitality Brokers involved in these sales were Brad Sinclair, Andy Broad, Rick George, Wendy Blissett, Rex Cagle, Michael Bernath, Thierry Roch and John James. "Our market advice to sellers for the last eight months...
Hotel Zephyr Appoints Reggie Kumar as Director of Operations
Hotel Zephyr | February 8, 2018
SAN FRANCISCO (February 8, 2018) – Hotel Zephyr, a boutique waterfront property located in San Francisco, is pleased to announce the recent appointment of Reggie Kumar as director of operations at Hotel Zephyr. In his new role, Kumar is responsible for spearheading all operations for the 361-room property, including strategic planning, maximizing hotel efficiency, project management, and front office staff management. "We are so pleased to welcome Reggie to the Hotel Zephyr team," said Jason Williams, general manager at Hotel Zephyr. "With over a decade of experience working in the hospitality industry in Northern California, his ...
Hotel Sales Volume Declines, Average Price Per Room Increases Moderately
Lodging Econometrics | February 8, 2018
February 8, 2018 – PORTSMOUTH, NH – According to analysts at Lodging Econometrics (LE), in 2017 there were 827 hotel transactions where selling prices were reported into the public domain. The Average Selling Price Per Room (ASPR) for the period was a reported $141,479, down from the peak of $154,230 set in 2015, but up 8.6% Year-Over-Year (YOY). There was $15.3B in purchases of hotel assets and property transfers in 2017, excluding M&A activity, down substantially from the peak established in 2015 of $26.1B. REITs were the largest net investors for their portfolios with $4.2B in investments, followed by privately held e...
Vertical Booking Adds More Than 1000 New Hotels in 2017
Vertical Booking | February 8, 2018
Portland, Ore – February 8, 2018 – Vertical Booking, a recognized leader in global reservation technology, announced today tremendous growth in 2017 with the addition of more than 1000 hotels utilizing their revenue generating solutions. "Vertical Booking continues to expand and grow worldwide because more and more hotels are realizing the benefits of a real-time, centralized solution designed to assist hoteliers in making more informed decisions and maximizing revenue," said Mark Lewis-Brown, President/CEO of Vertical Booking USA. Hotels rapidly jumped on board to utilize the plethora of reservation upselling tools designed...
Urgo Hotels & Resorts Selects Aptech’s Enterprise Financial Systems for 42 Properties
Urgo Hotels and Resorts | February 8, 2018
Urgo Taps Aptech's Execuvue Business Intelligence, Targetvue Budgeting and Forecasting and PVNG Enterprise Accounting for Growing Family Business PITTSBURGH – February 8, 2018 – Aptech Computer Systems announced Urgo Hotels & Resorts selected its Execuvue® Hospitality Business Intelligence, Targetvue Budgeting and Forecasting and PVNG® Enterprise Accounting Systems. Aptech will automate data gathering, performance reporting and analysis, and accounting for Urgo's portfolio of properties. Aptech is the leading provider of business intelligence, budgeting and forecasting, and enterprise accounting hotel software s...
Free eBook: 6 Digital Marketing Trends that will Matter in 2018 | Milestone Inc.
Milestone | February 7, 2018
Free eBook from Milestone: The 6 Digital Marketing trends that will matter in 2018 Santa Clara, CA | February 7, 2018: Milestone announced today that it is making available its 2018 eBook titled: 6 DIGITAL MARKETING TRENDS THAT WILL MATTER IN 2018. In this free eBook, Milestone lays out the six major technology and digital marketing trends that will be critical to hoteliers worldwide in the ever changing world of digital marketing. The key trends included in the report are: DOWNLOAD THE eBOOK HERE The role of mobile in 2018 From mobile-first experiences to new technologies, a more interactive "app-like" experience will force marketers t...
HFTP Introduces Keynote Speakers for HITEC Amsterdam 2018
HITEC | February 5, 2018
World's largest hospitality technology exposition and conference adds Frits van Paasschen and Nancy Rademaker to education program Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP®), producer of the Hospitality Industry Technology Exposition and Conference (HITEC®), is pleased to announce that Frits van Paasschen and Nancy Rademaker will serve as keynote speakers for HITEC Amsterdam 2018. Rademaker will present the opening keynote on 12 April from 09:00 to 10:30 about "Extreme Customer Centricity in a Networked World." Van Paasschen will present the closing keynote on 13 April from 13:30 to 15:00 about "Im...
HVS 2018 European Hotel Lending Survey Reports Positive Outlook for Financing Although Banks Showing Caution on Over-Supply
Peter Szabo | February 5, 2018
by Peter Szabo and Simon Hulten A survey of leading European banks has shown that despite on-going uncertainty surrounding Britain's exit from the EU they are still positive about lending on hotel projects in Britain, ranking the UK as their most preferred hotel lending market along with Germany and the Netherlands. According to the European Hotel Lending Survey 2018, published today by brokerage and investment services specialist HVS Hodges Ward Elliott, debt is widely available for all types of hotel projects across the continent. "Over the past year cautiousness due to increased political risks and economic policy challenges has been...
Hospitality Financial Leadership – Free Property Management Software – More Disruption?
David Lund | February 5, 2018
By David Lund Our industry is ripe for all kinds of disruption. The two big disruptors today are online travel agents and home sharing services. If we look back, we see all kinds of "other" disruptors that seemed on first glance to be negative. In many cases, they ultimately helped solve a problem we could not master. Or, they ended up being better at the task than we were. The first and largest one that comes to mind is in food and beverage operations. The disruption comes in two forms: pure outside competition and internal desire. The outside disruption—the free-standing restaurant—has been prolific and its effects are deb...
Participate in HFTP’s Entrepreneur 20X at HITEC Amsterdam
HITEC | February 1, 2018
Startups should apply online by 16 February, and mentors and volunteers should apply by 20 February Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP®), producers of Hospitality Industry Technology Exposition and Conference (HITEC®), is currently accepting applications for participants, judges and mentors for Entrepreneur 20X (E20X) at HITEC Amsterdam. Those who wish to participate in the European version of E20X can apply online; startups can apply here, and mentors and volunteers can apply here. E20X Amsterdam, a pre-conference event, will take place at 14:30 on Wednesday, 11 April at the RAI Convention Center in Amste...
The Rainmaker Group Ends 2017 with Record-Breaking Growth
Rainmaker | February 1, 2018
Company experiences a 64 percent increase in hospitality property deployments year-over-year ALPHARETTA, GA – Feb. 1, 2018 – The Rainmaker Group (Rainmaker), a leading provider of cloud-based hospitality revenue and profit optimization software, today announced that the company ended 2017 with record-breaking performance and growth. Year-over-year, Rainmaker experienced an astounding 64 percent increase in hospitality property deployments. The revintel® business intelligence solution led the way, with an almost 78 percent increase in property deployments. During 2017, a number of new customers joined Rainmaker's global h...
Authenticity Confronts Branding: Non-Branded Hotel Properties Offer Great Opportunity to Those Who Understand the Market
Steven Marx | January 31, 2018
By Steven Marx Commercial mortgage brokers are always trying to keep up with the latest trends, risks and developments when it comes to real estate. Hotel lending has historically been a specialty understood and embraced by few. What other class of real estate relies on leases that may be as short as one night and also sometimes sees a decrease in net operating income (NOI) as more product is sold? What other real estate type includes an operating business that is often at least as important as the real estate itself? In days gone by, mortgage brokers were most comfortable when their hotel assets were backed by nationally recognized fra...
