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Sonesta Adds Sonesta Atlanta Northwest Galleria
Sonesta | September 24, 2020
Newton, MA (September 24, 2020) – Sonesta International Hotels Corporation is thrilled to introduce Sonesta Atlanta Northwest Galleria, expanding the brand’s national footprint in this key tourism and business region. With the addition of this hotel, Sonesta now has nearly 60 properties operating in the United States and over 80 properties operating worldwide. Sonesta Atlanta Northwest is the fifth Sonesta property in the greater Atlanta. Sonesta Atlanta Northwest Galleria, formerly Wyndham Atlanta Galleria, is in the heart of the city’s cultural attractions. Within minutes of the hotel, enjoy shopping at Cumberland Mall or a day...
Radisson Signs Radisson Blu Hotel, Sheffield in the UK
Radisson Blu | September 24, 2020
Radisson Hotel Group is pleased to announce the signing of Radisson Blu Hotel, Sheffield, expanding the brand’s UK presence in collaboration with the local city council as part of its flagship Heart of the City II development. The brand-new hotel, opening in 2023, will be housed in the striking Victorian architecture of Pinstone Street featuring 154 light, airy and spacious rooms with a prominent location including views of the Peace Gardens. The stylish property will also offer multi-functional and flexible meeting and events spaces as well as a modern gym for guests. The property will feature a high-end rooftop restaurant and bar lookin...
Preferred Hotels & Resorts Announces Winners of Annual Awards of Excellence and GIFTTS Pineapple Award Initiatives
Preferred Hotels & Resorts | September 24, 2020
NEW YORK, NEW YORK: Preferred Hotels & Resorts - the world’s largest independent hotel brand - is pleased to announce the winners of its annual Preferred Awards of Excellence and GIFTTS Pineapple Award initiatives. These awards recognize independent hotels and individual hoteliers represented within the brand’s worldwide portfolio that went above and beyond in their commitment to delivering meaningful travel experiences and selfless acts of genuine hospitality to their guests and local communities in 2019. “We are thrilled to recognize the incredible efforts of these member hotels and their strong leaders for continuously demonst...
UNWTO Launches Comprehensive Tourism Recovery Tracker
UNWTO | September 24, 2020
As growing numbers of countries around the world ease restrictions on travel, the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has launched a new Tourism Recovery Tracker to support global tourism. This represents the latest concrete action undertaken by the United Nations specialized agency as it leads the response of global tourism and guides recovery. The most comprehensive tourism dashboard to date, the Tracker is the result of a partnership between international organizations and the private sector. Available for free, it covers key tourism performance indicators by month, regions and subregions allowing for a real time comparison of the sector r...
Shaner Hotels Opens TownePlace Suites Columbus North-OSU in Upper Arlington
TownePlace Suites by Marriott | September 24, 2020
UPPER ARLINGTON, Ohio - TownePlace Suites by Marriott, part of the Marriott portfolio and loyalty program, today announced the opening of its newest property, TownePlace Suites Columbus North-OSU. The hotel features 119 suite-style rooms designed to allow extended stay travelers to feel at home and stay productive. The hotel is owned by a joint venture comprised of Dublin, Ohio-based Crawford Hoying, a leading full-service real estate company, and Shaner Hotels, an award-winning, international hotel owner, operator and developer. Shaner also operates the property. ”Our successful track record operating Marriott-branded hotels makes the ...
The Impact of COVID-19 on the European Hotel Sector
Russell Kett | September 24, 2020
By Russell Kett There is no doubt that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a most dramatic effect on the hotel business throughout Europe and words like ‘unprecedented’ and ‘unique’ are used liberally to describe the situation. Performance data from STR for the first half of the year compared with 2019 show how dramatic the effect on the hotel sector has been with RevPAR since March 2020 nose-diving, with many hotels closing their doors. Figure 1 shows the performance of those hotels which remained open during this period. (Adding in those hotels achieving zero RevPAR would make the graph look worse still.) Figure 1: European Hotels R...
IHG Opens voco Paris Montparnasse Marking Brand Debut in France
IHG | September 24, 2020
IHG® Hotels & Resorts (one of the world’s leading hotel groups) launches their newest upscale brand voco™ in France with the opening of voco Paris Montparnasse. voco™ will also debut in the picturesque Strasbourg later this year, in the unofficial champagne capital Reims in 2021, and in Burgundy’s Beaune in 2022. Launched in 2018, voco™ combines the reassurance of a big brand with the informality and charm of an individual hotel. The name voco™ means ‘to invite’ and ‘call together’ originating from Latin, representing the brand’s thoughtful, unstuffy and charming nature. The 102-room voco Paris Montparnasse embod...
STR: U.S. Hotel Results for Week Ending 19 September
STR | September 24, 2020
HENDERSONVILLE, Tennessee—U.S. hotel occupancy was nearly flat from the previous week, according to the latest data from STR. 13-19 September 2020 (percentage change from comparable week in 2019): Occupancy: 48.6% (-31.9%) Average daily rate (ADR): US$95.84 (-28.9%) Revenue per available room (RevPAR): US$46.54 (-51.6%) Demand rose slightly (+0.3%), and the highest occupancy markets were once again those housing displaced residents from Hurricane Laura and western wildfires, with California South/Central showing the highest level in the metric (74.7%). The Louisiana South (72.8%) and Louisiana North (72.3%) markets were als...
STR: Canada Hotel Results for Week Ending 19 September
STR | September 24, 2020
HENDERSONVILLE, Tennessee—STR data for 13-19 September 2020 showed slightly lower performance from prior weeks for Canada’s hotel industry. Year-over-year declines also worsened. In comparison with the week of 15-21 September 2019, the industry reported the following: Occupancy: 37.0% (-52.8%) Average daily rate (ADR): CAD121.94 (-32.2%) Revenue per available room (RevPAR): CAD45.17 (-68.0%) Occupancy for previous weeks came in at 39.8%, 41.9% and 42.1%, respectively For the week ending with 19 September, British Columbia (46.5%) was the only province to reach or surpass a 40% occupancy level. Among the major market...
Santiburi Koh Samui Appoints Alexandre Frenkel as New General Manager
Santiburi Koh Samui | September 24, 2020
Koh Samui, THAILAND – Santiburi Koh Samui, the high-end, experience-driven beachfront retreat on Samui’s north shore, has appointed Mr. Alexandre Frenkel as its new General Manager, effective 1stAugust 2020. A highly-skilled Swiss hotelier with almost three decades of experience, Alexandre has worked with leading hotels and resorts in five countries. He also has a deep knowledge of the Thai hotel sector, having spent the last 16 years living and working in the Kingdom. It was destiny that Alexandre would become a hospitality expert; he was born and raised in his family’s 24-room hotel in the countryside near Geneva, in his native ...
Update COVID-19 Hotel Attributes on 3rd Party Websites
Sonya Taylor | September 24, 2020
Every webinar, training, and travel-related article has heavily leaned on the notion that making travelers feel safe while staying in your hotel or visiting your city is how we will get our occupancy back up. By this point, you surely have a pop up or landing page dedicated to new protocols around COVID-19. If not, start there, then come back and read the rest of this article. Is your hotel utilizing all of the opportunities on local listings, OTAs and brands have done to help us get the word out? We have a feeling you may have missed a few and we are here to help you navigate those opportunities. Google My Business, TripAdvisor and OT...
Angie Hospitality Launches Cloud PBX Service, Modernizes Hotel Telephony and Reduces Costs
Angie Hospitality | September 24, 2020
Reliable Phone Alternative Offers Touchless Experience and Meets Safety Requirements LOS ANGELES, Calif. – September 23, 2020 – Angie Hospitality® by Nomadix, the leading provider of voice-activated and contactless technology solutions for hotels, today announced Angie PBX, a cloud phone service delivered through Angie digital guest room assistants that offers calling capabilities throughout the hotel and meets emergency calling requirements. As the hospitality industry continues to face hardships, this cost-effective solution allows hoteliers to remove outdated equipment, modernize the guest experience, offer touchless functionality ...
Contactless Technology Partners Share Exclusive Insights in New eBook About Budgeting During a Crisis
OpenKey | September 24, 2020
Dallas, TX - September 24, 2020 - StayNTouch, TrustYou, and OpenKey release today a new eBook for hoteliers, “Budgeting During a Crisis: What is Mission Critical for the Guest Experience?”. In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, the three contactless technology providers partnered together with the end goal of guiding hospitality professionals through a budget season like none other. The combination of a global health crisis with major economic repercussions and several worldwide travel lockdowns makes it difficult for hoteliers to plan their 2021 budget and foresee the next steps that the industry will follow. The eBook tackles the exact hote...
Hotel Amarano Burbank-Hollywood Debuts Renovation and Rebrand
Hotel Amarano Burbank-Hollywood | September 23, 2020
LOS ANGELES (September 23, 2020) – Hotel Amarano Burbank-Hollywood reemerges as Los Angeles’ latest luxury boutique hotel following a full-scale renovation to its lobby, public areas, guestrooms, meeting & event spaces, and a new bar and restaurant. Surrounded by film studio ranches, the 132-room Hotel Amarano is a private sanctuary in the heart of the world’s entertainment capital. The interior design and branding, conceived by Hirsch Bedner Associates (HBA), are personified by a fictional muse and gracious host named Amara. Stepping into Hotel Amarano is like stepping into Amara’s home, a welcoming, Southern California ret...
Raines Hospitality Selected to Manage The Foundry Hotel in Asheville, North Carolina
Raines | September 23, 2020
Raines, a premier hospitality management, development, and operating group based in South Carolina, is proud to announce the addition of The Foundry Hotel to its management portfolio. Asheville’s historic former steel foundry underwent extensive updates and renovations to open in 2018 as The Foundry Hotel, a Curio Collection by Hilton property. The 87-room boutique hotel offers an authentically Asheville experience complemented by Benne on Eagle, the award-winning Appalachian-inspired restaurant led by local chef and culinary pioneer John Fleer. “Asheville has become a leading destination in the Southeast and is consistently recog...
AC Hotel Washington, DC Convention Center Set for October Opening
AC Hotels by Marriott | September 23, 2020
Washington, D.C. (September 23, 2020) — AC Hotel Washington, DC Convention Center, the third AC Hotels by Marriott to open in the capital region, offers the brand’s intuitive and timeless European-inspired travel experience to guests beginning October 5, 2020. Conveniently situated in the heart of DC’s bustling Mount Vernon Triangle neighborhood, this architecturally stunning hotel is located at 601 K St. NW, just steps from the Walter E. Washington Convention Center and just a few blocks from both CityCenterDC and Capital One Arena. Built by DC-based Douglas Development, the hotel aims to interpret the AC brand’s spirit in a ...
JLL’s 21st Semi-Annual Hotel Investment Sentiment Survey
JLL | September 23, 2020
JLL’s Hotel Investor Sentiment Survey provides a perspective on the current state of the lodging industry and highlights investor expectations related to investment activity and hotel performance. The pandemic’s shock sparks resilience in the lodging industry Historically the lodging industry has proved to be one of the most resilient industries in the world and there is no reason why the industry cannot recover from the COVID-19 shock. As one of the real estate sectors most dependent on individual mobility, travel restrictions and government-mandated lockdowns induced a dramatic decline in hotel occupancies across the world with perfor...
Will More Hotels Get Into the Home-Sharing Business?
Linchi Kwok | September 23, 2020
There is no doubt that COVID-19 has had an unprecedented impact on the travel and tourism industry. With massive layoffs and closures, many hospitality professionals have noted that they had never seen such a detrimental event to the industry in their careers. Nobody knows when the recovery will take place. Yet, there is at least one exception. The home-sharing sector has already rebounded. Airbnb booking is up and ready for an IPO When the pandemic hit, Airbnb reported a 90% drop in booking, or a $400 million adjusted loss in the second quarter. Then, Airbnb laid off 7,500 employees, or 25% of its workforce, and cut its marketi...
Following the Shot In
Shep Hyken | September 23, 2020
By Shep Hyken Much of my life is spent traveling. Lately, I’ve been home more than usual, along with most other people in the era of COVID-19. When I am home, I play hockey three or four times a week. This is hardcore cardio training with some friendly competition worked in, which makes for an exhilarating workout. Before we go further, you should know this isn’t a super-competitive league. We’re just out there to get some exercise and have fun. We all agree that we’re going to work the next day, so we agree to no physical contact, known in the game as “checking.” We just skate hard, pass a lot and occasionally score a goal...
Covid Compliance Software to Mitigate a Second Wave
Larry Mogelonsky | September 23, 2020
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.hotelmogel.com) Second waves are a constant threat at present, and every hotel needs to do its part to prevent the virus from coming back and forcing governments to reenter lockdown conditions. More so than that, it’s a matter of reputation management, preventing personal lawsuits and safeguarding your room revenues by keeping properties open. Mitigating risk in today’s environment means that you need monitoring technology to straightforwardly prove via thorough and agnostic documentation that your entire team was compliant with the latest viral safety guidelines. Now with months of data on its...
AHLA, AHLA Foundation Honored at White House With Pledge to America’s Workers Presidential Award
AHLA | September 23, 2020
Over 100,000 Hotel Employees Supported through Industry Certifications, Apprenticeships, Scholarships, and Degree Programs WASHINGTON (September 23, 2020) – The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) and the American Hotel & Lodging Foundation (AHLA Foundation) today received top honors at the White House for their collective work to support and empower hotel industry employees. AHLA and AHLA Foundation were among a small group of companies and organizations awarded the Pledge to America’s Workers Presidential Award in recognition of outstanding comprehensive workforce development efforts to create new and enhanced educati...
Four Seasons and Paralelo 19 Partner for a New Luxury Resort Nestled on the Pacific Coast of Mexico
Four Seasons Resort Tamarindo, México | September 23, 2020
TORONTO, Sept. 23, 2020 - Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, the world's leading luxury hospitality company, and Paralelo 19 Desarrollos, a leading real estate development company in Mexico, announce a new luxury resort located in Tamarindo, Mexico. Debuting in 2021 as Four Seasons Resort Tamarindo, México, the project will be located on a private peninsula along the Pacific Ocean in the state of Jalisco, between the towns of La Manzanilla and Barra de Navidad. The area, known as "Costa Alegre" or "Joy Coast" is acclaimed for its picturesque beaches, lush landscape and unique topography. "As we grow the Four Seasons portfolio in Mexico...
How to Launch a Hospitality Business in an Economic Downturn
EHL Hospitality Insights | September 23, 2020
Financial turmoil: A perfect opportunity for start-ups If you’ve been toying with the idea of starting a hospitality business, but have been put off by the economic downturn as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, fret not. There’s hope. In fact, despite the global uncertainty and the unstable financial and political climate, now might actually be one of the best times to launch your business. Here’s why: Volatile markets create chaos and give rise to new problems. This means consumers are looking for new and innovative solutions, which presents the ideal opportunity for start-ups aiming to make a name for themselves. Co...
Trump International Beach Resort Miami Appoints Danny Williams as New Managing Director
Trump International Beach Resort Miami | September 23, 2020
Sunny Isles, Fla. – (September 22, 2020) – The independently owned and operated Trump International Beach Resort Miami has appointed Danny Williams as Managing Director of the 360-room resort, conveniently located between Miami and Fort Lauderdale in the upscale enclave of Sunny Isles Beach. Williams, who joins the Trump International Beach Resort family with more than 30 years of hospitality experience, will be responsible for overseeing all aspects of the resort’s day-to-day operations. “We are thrilled to have someone of Danny’s caliber and experience, especially at this key moment as we reopen our doors to travelers eager to ...
