Brandt Hospitality Group Getting Great Results From Accounting Software Partner
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Hospitality Financial Leadership: Why Prioritizing Employee Development Has the Best ROI for Owners Too
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Venza Engages Puzzle Partner to Increase Brand Awareness and Solidify Thought Leadership Presence
Puzzle Partner | May 26, 2016
Toronto, CA, – May 26, 2016, Puzzle Partner Ltd., today announced that they have welcomed new client Venza, the leading global provider of solutions that enable hospitality organizations to mitigate data security vulnerabilities and ensure compliance. As the company expands its brand and scope of offerings for hotels over the course of 2016, Puzzle Partner will support messaging, content and public relations strategies for Venza. "The team at Puzzle Partner is unwavering in its commitment to bold, brave ideas," said Daniel Johnson, VENZA's COO. "Their experience and connections in the travel and hospitality space make them uniquel...
Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals Announces 2016 International Hospitality Technology Hall of Fame Inductees
HITEC | May 24, 2016
Michael Levie, CHTP and Prakash Shukla will be inducted into the Hall of Fame during HITEC 2016 AUSTIN, TEXAS, USA (May 24, 2016) — Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP®) is pleased to announce that Michael Levie, CHTP and Prakash Shukla will be inducted into the HFTP International Hospitality Technology Hall of Fame at the Hospitality Industry Technology Exposition and Conference (HITECSM) in New Orleans, La. next month. The induction ceremony will take place on Tuesday, June 21, 2016 at 8:30 a.m. in Great Hall A immediately before the keynote session that day. Levie and Shukla were nominated and selected ...
HFTP’s Entrepreneur 20X Pitch Competition Returns at HITEC 2016 with More Start-Ups, Top-Notch Judges and Exciting Changes
HITEC | May 24, 2016
The second annual E20X pitch competition is bigger and better than before AUSTIN, TX USA (May 24, 2016) — Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP®) is pleased to announce the selected start-ups and judges that will be participating in the second annual Entrepreneur 20X (E20X) pitch competition taking place at the 2016 Hospitality Industry Technology Exposition and Conference (HITECSM) in New Orleans, La. USA next month. The action-packed E20X session is scheduled for Monday, June 20, 2016 from 1:00 – 4:00 p.m. at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in the Rivergate Room. All HITEC badges are welcome ...
HFTP Holds 2016 Hospitality Operations Finance Roundtable in McLean, Va. USA
HFTP | May 19, 2016
Annual financial roundtable offers candid discussion among top global hospitality financial leaders AUSTIN, TEXAS (May 19, 2016) – To identify and discuss the primary issues faced by hospitality finance professionals today, the Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals' (HFTP®) Hospitality Finance Advisory Council (HFAC) held its inaugural hospitality operations finance roundtable on Wednesday, May 18, 2016 at the Hilton McLean Tyson Corner in McLean, Va. USA. The goal for the meeting is to gather hospitality finance executives to identify the key issues they are currently facing and discuss how they are being addres...
HFTP Allied Association, China Hotel Technology Alliance (CHTA), to Lead Educational Session at HITEC 2016
HITEC | May 18, 2016
CHTA will discuss China technology at the world's largest hospitality technology conference AUSTIN, TEXAS (May 18, 2016) — Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP®) has announced plans for a new educational session on hotel technology trends in China at the upcoming Hospitality Industry Technology Exposition and Conference (HITECSM). The Global China session will be organized by HFTP's allied association, the China Hospitality Technology Alliance (CHTA) and is scheduled for Wednesday, June 22, 2016 at 11:30 a.m. in the Rivergate Room at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, La. USA. The featu...
Warmbrodt Hotel Investments Announces the Sale of the Hilton Garden Inn Kansas City, Kansas
Warmbrodt Hotel Investments | May 17, 2016
WHI announced today they closed the sale of the Hilton Garden Inn Kansas City, Kansas. WHI was the exclusive adviser on behalf of the seller, KCK Hotel Group, LLC. The seller was a public/private partnership between the Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kansas and a local investment group. The property was sold to an affiliate of Fairwood Capital and HP Hotels has assumed the management of the hotel. The purchaser plans to renovate the guest room bathrooms. "This property was received very well by the national, regional and local investor community and the results for the seller were excellent. The transaction acc...
Industry Fundamentals Are Good Now and Will Continue Improve
Jim Butler | May 16, 2016
By Jim Butler and the Global Hospitality Group® Hotel Lawyers | Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com Hotel industry fundamentals are good, and will continue to improve. But the hotel industry is being punished by the disconnect between the investment community of Wall Street and actual performance of the hotels on Main Street. More on the nature of this disconnect shortly, but first, here is the current situation as summarized by Vail Brown of STR last week at the 26th annual Los Angeles hotel investment conference, Meet the Money®. Total United States Key Performance Indicator Outlook (% Change vs. Prior Year) 2016 – 2017 Note...
Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals to Host Inaugural CIO Forum in India
HFTP | May 5, 2016
AUSTIN, TEXAS (May 5, 2016) – Leading global hospitality association, Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP®), will host its first annual India CIO Forum from September 28-30, 2016 at The Oberoi Udaivilas property in Udaipur, Rajasthan India. The exclusive event will bring together leading hospitality professionals from around the globe, as well as some of the brightest minds in India's hospitality industry, in a highly-interactive forum to discuss pressing topics unique to hospitality technology. The event will offer networking and educational opportunities for hospitality chief information officers. "S...
STOP Selling to the Masses. Start by Creating Guest Personas
Donna Lewis | May 2, 2016
by Donna Lewis Essentially hotels offer a place to stay in a given location, and everyone needs that right? Which means a hotel's target audience is almost everyone right? Wrong and wrong. Ok, so maybe you already know that your target audience isn't everyone per se, but truly how specific is the audience you're targeting? How detailed is your guest profile? Do you even know what your guest persona is? Let us help raise your awareness of why your marketing and sales tactics might not be working, or working as well as desired. One of the biggest reasons is typically a lack of a defined guest persona. So let's get into the details of the ...
Pebblebrook Hotel Trust Reports First Quarter 2016 Net Income of $6.6 million, Compared to $0.7 million in the Year Ago Quarter
Pebblebrook Hotel Trust | April 28, 2016
Same-Property EBITDA Increased 15.2 Percent; Same-Property RevPAR Increased 8.0 Percent; Adjusted EBITDA Rose 44.8 Percent; Adjusted FFO Per Diluted Share Climbed 64.7 Percent BETHESDA, Md.-- Pebblebrook Hotel Trust (NYSE: PEB) (the "Company") today reported results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2016. The Company's results include the following: First Quarter 2016 2015 ($ in millions except per share and RevPAR data) Net income to common shareholders $6.6 $0.7 Net income per diluted share $0.09 $0.01 Same-Property RevPAR(1) $195.01 $180.50 Same-Property RevPAR growth rate 8.0% Same-Property EBITDA(1) $62.0 $53.8 Same-Property EB...
HFTP via HITEC Helps Commits to Donation to the Children’s Hospital of New Orleans
HITEC | April 26, 2016
HITEC 2016 attendees and exhibitors to work together to provide for the Children's Hospital of New Orleans AUSTIN, TEXAS (April 26, 2016) — Attendees and exhibitors at the 2016 Hospitality Industry Technology Exposition and Conference (HITEC®) in New Orleans, La. will have a chance to give back to the local community via HITEC Helps, the event's annual social responsibility project. This year at the HITEC closing keynote, a station will be set up for participants to fill attendee bags with all-ages arts and crafts supplies to be donated to patients at the Children's Hospital of New Orleans. HITEC, produced by Hospitali...
HITEC 2016 Exhibit Space Sold Out
HITEC | April 25, 2016
AUSTIN, TEXAS, USA (April 25, 2016) – Exhibit space for the 2016 Hospitality Industry Technology Exposition and Conference (HITEC®), a service of Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP®), is sold out. A waiting list is available on a first-come, first-served basis for booth space. HITEC 2016 is June 20-23 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, La. USA. HITEC 2016 is the world's largest hospitality technology exposition and conference with over 379 companies and 869 booths occupying this year's show floor. It offers a unique combination of top-notch hospitality technology education, ...
Paramount Lodging Advisors Successfully Advises On Another New England Hotel
Paramount Lodging Advisors | April 19, 2016
CHICAGO, IL – Paramount Lodging Advisors (PLA) has completed the sale of the Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham. The 129-room extended stay property is located at 246 Daniel Webster Highway in Merrimack, New Hampshire. PLA Managing Directors Bennett Webster and Brent Clemens arranged the transaction. "We're pleased to get this one over the finish line and also with our continued success in the market. The trade follows our recent success on a four hotel Boston area portfolio and our work in the Connecticut I-95 corridor," noted PLA's Webster. "Similar to our other New England hotel transactions, there was a significant amount of interest ...
HFTP to Sponsor the 2016 OpenTravel Advisory Forum
HFTP | April 19, 2016
Forum brings together technology leaders from numerous verticals of the travel industry AUSTIN, TEXAS (April 19, 2016) – Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP®) announced today that it is a sponsor of the 2016 OpenTravel Alliance Advisory Forum. The event provides an opportunity for technology leaders from numerous verticals of the travel industry to connect. Air, hotel, car rental, cruise line, rail, leisure and more will be represented. The Advisory Forum is at Disney's Coronado Springs Resort in Orlando, Florida from May 16-19, 2016. "HFTP is proud to sponsor the 2016 OpenTravel Advisory Forum,"...
Conrad Hotels & Resorts Signs Management Agreement with ASSETS for New Hotel in Doha, Qatar
Assets Real Estate Development | April 13, 2016
DOHA, Qatar and MCLEAN, Va. - 13 April 2016 - Conrad Hotels & Resorts, Hilton Worldwide's (NYSE: HLT) luxury hotel portfolio for the new smart luxury traveller, today announced the signing of a management agreement with Assets Real Estate Development Company for the 325 guestroom Conrad Doha, expected to open in early 2019. Carlos Khneisser, vice president of development, Middle East & North Africa, said, "Momentum for growth in Qatar's hospitality offering continues at a strong rate, owing to the significant focus being put on the country's future as a truly international destination, in line with Qatar's 2030 Vision. We ar...
Keynote Speakers for HITEC 2016 Announced
HFTP | April 7, 2016
The Hospitality Industry Technology Exposition and Conference adds world-renowned innovators to education program Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP®), producer of the Hospitality Industry Technology Exposition and Conference (HITECsm), has added three technology industry heavyweights to this year's education program. Jer Thorpe, co-founder of the Office for Creative Research; Josh Linkner, two-time New York Times bestselling author and founder and former CEO/chairman of ePrize; and Johnny Earl, founder of Johnny Cupcakes are set to present at HITEC's keynote sessions. Opening keynote, Jer Thorpe, will take the...
Paramount Lodging Advisors Assist in Two Auburn Area Hotel Transactions
Paramount Lodging Advisors | April 4, 2016
Paramount Lodging Advisors (PLA) announced today the sale of the Holiday Inn Express and the La Quinta Inn & Suites located in Auburn, Indiana. PLA Managing Directors Bennett Webster and Brent Clemens represented the seller on the two property, 135-room portfolio located adjacent to Interstate 69 and 20-miles north of Fort Wayne, IN. Webster noted, "We were pleased to run an efficient process with the transaction going from execution of the contract to the closing in approximately 30-days." Clemens continued, "This deal marks PLA's eighth and ninth successful transaction in Indiana in the preceding five months and we look forwar...
Knowland Releases New Groups and Meetings Market Analytics Platform
Knowland | April 4, 2016
Groups and meetings intelligence company introduces dynamic new product to help hotel enterprise-level management teams see the big picture of the group market. Washington, DC (April 2016) – Knowland today announced the global release of Insight Enterprise Market Analytics, a business intelligence platform that gives hotel sales organizations, sales operations teams, revenue management professionals, and hotel owner/asset managers deeper analytic data on market, brand, and portfolio performance within the meetings and group ecosphere. Market Analytics aggregates the meetings and events data Knowland collects daily through its exte...
HFTP Celebrates Success of First Annual Digital Learning Day
HFTP | March 31, 2016
16 different countries participated in the digital education event AUSTIN, TEXAS (March 31, 2016) – A total of 254 registrants representing 16 countries joined Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP®) for the organization's first Digital Learning Day on March 23, 2016. The completely online event offered a full day of digital education programming completely free of charge for anyone who wanted to participate. "HFTP's first Digital Learning Day event was a huge success with participation from 16 different countries," said HFTP CEO Frank Wolfe, CAE. "The well-rounded Digital Learning Day event featured sp...
Meet the Money® 2016 – May 2-4, 2016: 26th National Hotel Finance & Investment Conference in Los Angeles
March 31, 2016
By Jim Butler and the Global Hospitality Group® Hotel Lawyers | Authors of www.HotelLawBlog.com 31 March 2016 Getting to the winner's circle – marathon, sprint or obstacle course? LOS ANGELES – The 26th annual edition of Meet the Money®, the national hotel finance and investment conference, will be at the Sheraton LAX May 2-4, 2016. The conference will host hotel owners, developers, operators, brands, lenders, investors and other capital providers. Conference speakers will explore financing, re-financing, development, and deals, as they try to answer the questions: what part of the investment cycle are we in? And wha...
GE to Sell its U.S. Hotel Franchise Loan Portfolio for $1.4 billion to Western Alliance
GE | March 30, 2016
FAIRFIELD, Conn. - March 30, 2016 - GE (NYSE:GE) has reached an agreement to sell GE Capital's Franchise Finance U.S. hotel business to Western Alliance Bank, a wholly owned subsidiary of Western Alliance Bancorporation (NYSE: WAL). The sale includes approximately $1.4 billion in ending net investment (ENI) and the majority of the hotel business employees. The business provides real estate financing to owners of limited service hotel properties. Separately, GE also reached an agreement to sell its Canadian Franchise Finance business, including most employees, to a different buyer, representing about $0.3 billion in ENI. The business pro...
Three Secrets Your CMBS Banker Does Not Want You to Know
Brian Holstein | March 28, 2016
By Brian Holstein Navigating the CMBS market can be a confusing and challenging process. Here are three CMBS secrets that will strengthen your negotiating position and ensure that you leave nothing on the table. #1 – EVERYTHING is Negotiable! Remember, this is not a car loan, or even a home loan for that matter. If your attorney or broker does not have at least 30-50 individual comments to a loan agreement (not including the swapping of "sole and absolute" for "reasonable"), you are leaving money and excess risk on the table. Just like the legal system, the key to a well negotiated loan agreement is "precedent." If it's been done...
Hotel AG Closes 169-Room San Francisco Airport Hotel
Hotel AG | March 22, 2016
ATLANTA – March 22, 2016 – Hotel Assets Group, LLC (Hotel AG) is pleased to announce that it has arranged the sale of the Comfort Inn & Suites San Francisco Airport in South San Francisco, California. Eric Gunderson, a partner in the firms Los Angeles office exclusively represented the Buyer and Seller in the transaction. The Comfort Inn & Suites San Francisco Airport is located just north of the main terminal of San Francisco International Airport (SFO) and adjacent to the South San Francisco Caltrain Station. The hotel sits on approximately 2.91 acres of fee simple land. 2015 marked a record year for SFO with over ...
Cowart Hospitality Services, LLC Rebrands its Appraisal Division to Core Hospitality Advisors, LLP
Core Hospitality Advisors | March 7, 2016
BIRMINGHAM, AL‐‐Officials of Cowart Hospitality Services, LLC (CHS), a national appraisal/advisory and development/management company, today announced it has rebranded its appraisal/advisory division to Core Hospitality Advisors, LLP. This new name reflects the company's growth and direction. "Since 1994, Cowart Hospitality Services, LLC (CHS) has been known for its excellence in hotel appraising. In recent years, we have expanded into hotel development and management. As both sides of the business continue to grow, it is time to differentiate the two," said Adam Cowart, MAI, one of the Principals of Core Hospitality Advisors, LLP (...
