HFTP® Acquires Leading Hospitality Industry Brands: Hospitality Upgrade, Hotel-Online, The CIO Summit and The Executive Vendor Summit
Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals | June 25th, 2024
Kennedy Wilson Sells the Ritz-Carlton, Lake Tahoe for $120 Million
Kennedy Wilson | January 16, 2019
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif.--January 16, 2019--Global real estate investment company Kennedy Wilson (NYSE:KW) announced today the sale of the Ritz-Carlton, Lake Tahoe for $120 million. In December, the company also sold a portfolio of hotels located across the U.K. for $54 million. A cash profit of $73 million to Kennedy Wilson was generated over the lifetime of the two investments. Kennedy Wilson and its partner acquired the Ritz-Carlton, Lake Tahoe's 170 hotel rooms, 23 condominiums and 3.4-acre development parcel in 2012 for $74 million and have since solidified the resort as one of the most upscale destinations in Northern California. The...
What Corked Wine Teaches You About Service Excellence
Larry Mogelonsky | January 16, 2019
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.hotelmogel.com) There's an important lesson in the form of what corked bottles – that is, wine that's gone off – can present as an opportunity to wow your restaurant patrons and hotel guests. For all of my fellow oenophiles out there, it's one of the worst feelings in the world. You pop open a bottle, pour yourself a glass, take a sip and your mouth is hit by a musty, astringent splash that eviscerates any lingering flavors. The wine is skunked and utterly worthless. This lesson all comes down to one of the hallmarks of a service culture in that it's not just about how well you provide ...
Synergy Global Housing Brings Volara-Powered Voice Assistants to New York Residences
Synergy Global Housing | January 16, 2019
Volara enters the temporary housing market at Synergy Chelsea; Voice-based engagement technology will enable guests to speak commands that will personalize their live/work/play experiences New York — January 16, 2019 — Synergy Global Housing, a subsidiary of The Ascott Limited and premier provider of furnished temporary accommodations for business and relocation stays, is voice enabling their new exclusive property in New York City with Volara-powered voice assistants. Synergy Chelsea, a smart apartment concept designed to deliver a premier guest experience through customer service and technology, will be the first furnished...
Chesapeake Hospitality Maximizes Data Management and Forecasting Efficiency With ProfitSword
ProfitSword, LLC | January 16, 2019
Leading third-party hotel management company adopts ProfitSage platform to ensure a uniform and intuitive data management process at all levels of organization Greenbelt, Md. – January 16, 2019 –ProfitSword, hospitality's premier developer of business intelligence and data integration software, has announced the implementation of its ProfitSage operational and financial reporting solution by Chesapeake Hospitality, one of the largest independent operators in the hospitality industry, specializing in full-service and upscale properties. Previously utilizing a separate third-party platform for data management and forecasting o...
St. Regis First Hotel in Washington, D.C. Metro to Feature Plum In-Room Wine By-the-Glass Amenity
St. Regis Washington, D.C. | January 16, 2019
Palo Alto, California (January 16, 2019) - Plum, the hospitality industry's revolutionary new wine by-the-glass appliance, today announced that the St. Regis Washington, D.C. is the first D.C. Metro-area hotel to offer guests a next-gen, on-demand experience. The Plum appliances, which dispenses a perfectly preserved and temperature-controlled glass with every pour, have been installed in St. Regis suite rooms, elevating and transforming the guest experience. Situated only two blocks from the White House and moments from the nation's capital's most significant attractions, The St. Regis Washington, D.C. has played host to dignitarie...
McNeill Hotel Investors Acquires Hampton Inn & Suites by Hilton and Springhill Suites by Marriott in Columbia, Maryland
McNeill Hotel Company | January 16, 2019
Germantown, Tenn. – January 16, 2019 – McNeill Hotel Investors ("McNeill") announced today the acquisition of a two-hotel portfolio of adjacent properties in Columbia, MD, the four-story, 124-room Hampton Inn & Suites by Hilton and the four-story, 117-room Springhill Suites by Marriott, adding to the company's growing portfolio. The announcement was made by Phillip McNeill, Jr., the company's Chief Executive Officer. Each hotel features an indoor heated pool, a market, business center and fitness center for guests, along with a complimentary breakfast and complimentary wireless internet. The hotels are nearby Interstate ...
Fairfield Inn & Suites Hotel to Open in El Dorado, Arkansas
The Sage Agency | January 16, 2019
The 75-room Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott in El Dorado, Arkansas is scheduled to open on Monday, January 21, 2019 with a new décor that provides guests with a feeling of warmth and calm while traveling. Located at 1800 North West Avenue, the Fairfield Inn & Suites El Dorado will operate as a Marriott franchise, owned by Blossom Town, LLC and managed by Shinn Enterprises, Inc. The Fairfield Inn & Suites El Dorado offers guests convenient access to the Murphy Arts District, Mystic Creek Golf Club, the El Dorado Recreation Complex and the Arkansas Museum of Natural Resources. Rates begin at $144 per night. "Deliveri...
Hotel Royal - A Place Where Time Stands Still
Valpas Enterprises | January 16, 2019
It's no wonder Hotel Royal has become one of Gothenburg's historical landmarks. It was built already in 1852 which makes it the city's oldest hotel. The first cornerstone of the building was placed in 1850 and two years later Sundbecks Nya Hotel För Resande, which eventually changed its name to Hotel Royal, was opened. A lot has changed since Hotel Royal first opened its doors almost 170 years ago: Gothenburg has grown from a backwater town to a trendy Nordic city that attracts millions of tourists from around the world every year. The population has grown from only thirty thousand to a half million inhabitants. No matter how much ...
McKibbon Hospitality Selected to Manage 200-Room Hyatt House Chicago Fulton Market District
McKibbon Hospitality | January 16, 2019
CHICAGO, IL. (January 16, 2019) – McKibbon Hospitality, an award-----winning leader in the hotel development and management industry, has been awarded the management contract for the Hyatt House Chicago Fulton Market District. The hotel is being developed by Sterling Bay and is owned by an affiliate of Wheelock Street Capital and Sterling Bay. Hyatt House Chicago Fulton Market District will be McKibbon Hospitality's first management property in the growing Fulton Market District of Chicago. Skender recently topped out construction of the hotel, which is expected to open in summer 2019. "We look forward to establishing a presence i...
IHG and Arab International Tourism Investment Company Partner for 2022 Debut of voco Giza Pyramids in Egypt
January 15, 2019
IHG® (InterContinental Hotels Group), one of the world's leading hotel companies, has signed a management agreement with Arab International Tourism Investment Company to debut the voco™ brand in Egypt, with the development of voco™ Giza Pyramids. Part of a mixed-use development, which will include a high-end mall, the 17,000sqm hotel is scheduled to open in 2022. Launched in June 2018, and debuting in the Middle East in December 2018, the voco™ brand combines the informality and charm of an individual hotel, with the quality and reassurance of a global and respected brand. Strategically located to cater for both bu...
HOTEL Signs With Hyatt to Rebrand Cleviá Grand Leon to Hyatt Centric Campestre Leon Expected in Q1 2019
HOTEL | January 15, 2019
MEXICO CITY, Jan. 15, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Grupo Hotelero Santa Fe, S.A.B. Of C.V. (BMV: HOTEL) ("HOTEL" or "the Company"), one of the leading companies in the hotel industry in Mexico, announces the signing of a franchise agreement with Hyatt for Hyatt Centric Campestre Leon, which will be rebranded from Cleviá Grand Leon. This 5-star hotel in León, Guanajuato, Mexico, has 140 rooms and is located in "Puerta Bajío," a premium location in a mixed-use real estate development including a shopping mall, residential apartments and office space. It is in the north of the city in the "zona dorada,"...
FANS International Hospitality Group to Convert Former Travelodge at Calgary Airport to Red Roof PLUS+ & Suites
FANS International Hospitality Group | January 15, 2019
COLUMBUS, Ohio, Jan. 15, 2019 -- Meeting the continuing and growing global demand for the brand, Red Roof® is expanding its presence into the Canadian market, with its first property in Calgary, Alberta. The company has partnered with FANS International Hospitality Group, an international hotel management company, to grow the brand beginning with the conversion of a former Travelodge hotel property at Calgary Airport into a Red Roof PLUS+ & Suites®. This is the first of multiple properties that Red Roof plans to convert in Canada, over the next five years. "FANS International Hospitality Group is one of the most respect...
Golden Entertainment Completes Acquisition of Two Laughlin, Nevada Casino Resorts From Marnell Gaming
Golden Entertainment, Inc. | January 15, 2019
LAS VEGAS Jan. 14, 2019 -- Golden Entertainment Inc. (NASDAQ:GDEN) ("Golden" or the "Company") announced today that it completed its previously announced acquisition of Colorado Belle Gaming, LLC and Edgewater Gaming, LLC ("Colorado Belle and Edgewater") from Marnell Gaming, LLC in a cash and stock transaction. The acquisition of the Colorado Belle and Edgewater adds two casino resorts adjacent to Golden's Aquarius Casino Resort in Laughlin. Golden Entertainment now owns ten casino resorts - nine in Southern Nevada and one in Maryland. In addition, Golden also operates video gaming devices at nearly 1,000 l...
The LCP Group and Blue Vista Capital Management Acquire 347-Room Hilton Kansas City Airport
Blue Vista Capital Management | January 15, 2019
NEW YORK, NY, January 15, 2019 —The LCP Group, L.P. (LCP) and Blue Vista Capital Management (Blue Vista) jointly announced today the acquisition of the Hilton Kansas City Airport in Kansas City, Missouri. The 347-room property is less than three miles away from the Kansas City International Airport and only 16 minutes from downtown. It is conveniently located near several corporate headquarters, including AmerisourceBergen, Toyota, Multivac, and Mastercard. The Kansas Speedway, host of two annual NASCAR weekends in May and October, and the Worlds of Fun and Oceans of Fun Amusement Park are both a short ride away. And, the nearby Z...
Lindsay Goldberg Acquires Affordable Suites of America
Lindsay Goldberg | January 15, 2019
NEW YORK--January 15, 2019 --Lindsay Goldberg, a private investment firm that focuses on partnering with families, founders and management teams seeking to actively build their businesses, today announced that it has acquired Affordable Suites of America, Inc. ("Affordable Suites" or the "Company"), a premier owner, operator and franchisor of extended-stay hotels in the Southeastern United States. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Based in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, Affordable Suites provides long-term, economy-minded travelers with a comfortable and relaxing environment ideal for business and leisure alike. Its hotels off...
The New Hyatt Place Sandestin at Grand Boulevard Provides an Ongoing Celebration of South Walton’s Artistry and Culture
Howard Hospitality | January 15, 2019
The New Hyatt Place Sandestin at Grand Boulevard Provides an Ongoing Celebration of South Walton's Artistry and Culture Hyatt Place Sandestin at Grand Boulevard, which opened last month, provides an upscale, select service hotel experience in South Walton and displays a living gallery featuring local artists' original works Miramar Beach, Fla (January 15, 2019) – The South Walton community is known for its beautiful beaches, friendly people, and its dedication to cultural experiences, making it the chosen location for world-renowned architects, writers, musicians, and artists. The Hyatt Place Sandestin at Grand Boulevard, a Howard...
Limited and Select Service Hotels: 5 Ways Your Front Desk Staff Can Increase Direct Bookings and Cut Distribution Costs
Doug Kennedy | January 15, 2019
By Doug Kennedy Like all segments of the hotel industry, limited and select service hotels are seeing distribution costs eating away at top-line profits. Of course OTA's and other third parties are important to the channel mix. However, the colleague at your front desk right now can be your hotel's best resource for increasing the most profitable of all channels, which is of course your direct bookings. Not only do reservations that are made directly have the lowest acquisition costs, but they also tend to have a higher ADR. The following are some action steps and then five training tips for your segment of the lodging industry. Action ...
ASSA ABLOY Hospitality’s Growth Leads to ASSA ABLOY Global Solutions
ASSA ABLOY Global Solutions | January 15, 2019
Expansion into new markets provides security hardware, software, installation maintenance and support services to more customers than ever before. Stockholm – January 15, 2018 –ASSA ABLOY Hospitality, provider of advanced security technologies for the hospitality industry, has announced a restructuring of its organizational hierarchy, with hospitality now becoming one of several specialized market-specific units operating under the new ASSA ABLOY Global Solutions name. Along with its mission to 'reimagine how people move through their world,' a driving force behind the company's restructuring has been its focus on investing ...
Ambassador Hotel Tulsa Implements Online Streaming, Voice Control and Enhanced Internet Connectivity With BeyondTV and Upgraded Wi-Fi by HIS
Hotel Internet Services, Inc. | January 15, 2019
Luxury four diamond property keeps pace with growing demand for content streaming, voice-activated room controls and robust internet Tulsa, Okla.— January 15, 2019 — Hotel Internet Services (HIS), a full-service provider of internet services and solutions for the hospitality industry, has announced its implementation of advanced guestroom content streaming and voice control technology at the Ambassador Hotel Tulsa with the adoption of BeyondTV and HIS Wi-Fi. A luxury boutique property based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Ambassador Hotel Tulsa is now able to ensure a fast and reliable guest internet connection, while also offering the...
Angie Hospitality Leverages Natural Speech Technology to Maximize Comfort, Convenience and Accuracy in Guest Room Voice Control
Angie Hospitality | January 15, 2019
Voice-activated hotel guest room virtual assistant programmed to respond to queries using natural language with no need for specific commands. San Jose, CA – January 15, 2019 – As the developer of the industry's first 24-hour interactive guest room assistant purpose-built for the hotel environment, Angie Hospitality is leading efforts to ensure that guests have the ability to communicate and make requests using natural speech, with no need to learn specific, pre-set voice commands that may be unknown or unnatural for them. Angie's advanced voice recognition technology was specifically developed using robust language processi...
Milestone to Showcase New ChatBot Software and Presence Cloud Digital Marketing Suite at New York Conference
Milestone | January 15, 2019
Milestone to showcase revolutionary new software platforms for digital marketers at HSMAI's Digital Marketing Strategy Conference in New York. January 15, 2019 - Silicon Valley, CA. Milestone, the leading provider of digital marketing software and services for location-based businesses, announced today it will showcase two new products at the upcoming HSMAI Digital Marketing Strategy Conference at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City. "The Milestone Presence Cloud is a core linchpin of our strategy to be a provider of both award-winning digital marketing software and award-winning digital marketing services," Said Annil Aggarwal...
IHG® Launches New Lead Sharing Program With Interactive Sites’ Lead Management Platform - ShareIt Online™
January 15, 2019
PHOENIX, AZ, January 22, 2019 – Interactive Sites, a leading developer of online solutions for the hospitality industry, has successfully launched another private labeled release of their cross-sell and lead share platform - ShareIt Online™ - for InterContinental Hotels Group. The new program serves all IHG® brands and is internally referred to as IHG® LeadShare. The solution enables IHG sales managers, across the entire portfolio worldwide, to share and track group leads with other IHG properties. After just a few short months of Interactive Sites working closely with the IHG IT team and sales leadership, the newly ...
Mews and OpenKey Announce Tech Integration
OpenKey | January 15, 2019
Automated Mobile Key Delivery adds utility to innovative cloud PMS DALLAS (January 15, 2019) – OpenKey, the industry standard for universal mobile key in hotels, today announced a partnership and integration with Mews to add Automated Mobile Key Delivery to the Commander PMS used by hundreds of hotels, hostels and campsites in over 40 countries across five continents. This new feature will make the provisioning and issuance of mobile keys to guests an automatic process once a mobile number is input into the Mews system. Mews was founded in 2012 by hoteliers who saw the need for an open property management system (PMS) that didn't ...
The Rise of Poshtels: How Hostels Went From Grit to Glam
JLL Real Views | January 15, 2019
Hostels have traditionally been for backpackers happy to share rooms with strangers, trek down hallways to shower and cook their own meals in basic kitchens in exchange for cut-rate accommodation. But now hostels are increasingly borrowing ideas from more highly-rated hotels: barista-served coffee drinks, late-night cocktails, plush bedding, big-screen TVs and free wi-fi. These hostel-iers seek to capture a slice of the youth market — specifically groups of friends traveling together, who want to keep an eye on their budget but aren't ready to sacrifice comfort or give up an opportunity to stay at an Instagram-worthy destination. ...
