maggie nichols
What Do Guests Want From a Modern City Hotel?
JLL Real Views | September 11, 2017
By Maggie Nichols If you flip through your grandparents' old photo albums, you'll notice that their vacation pictures look very different to yours. While they may have captured the moment they sat down for a themed dinner in a hotel restaurant, your snapshots are more likely to show off your best food truck finds. It's just one of the many ways that travel and tourism have changed in recent decades. To keep up with those modern trends and preferences, hotels must identify new ways to keep guests checking in year after year. "What guests want during their hotel stay is constantly evolving," notes Geraldine Guichardo, Head of Americas Res...
Hotel Groups Take Multi-Branding to the Next Level
JLL Real Views | September 9, 2016
By Maggie Nichols With dozens of hotel chains vying for a slice of the highly competitive U.S. market, a growing number of brands owned by the same parent company have decided that they are stronger together than on their own. Across the U.S., multi-branded hotels are opening their doors, typically offering separate guestrooms and breakfast rooms but shared common areas and back-end operations. Marriott broke ground on its first triple branded hotel earlier this summer. Located in Nashville, Tennessee, the property will feature an AC Hotels by Marriott, a Springhill Suites by Marriott and a Residence Inn by Marriott upon completion in 2...
Redefining Luxury for 21st Century Hotels
JLL Real Views | August 30, 2016
by Maggie Nichols | 30 August 2016 It's 1930 and you're checking into one of the finest luxury hotels in the atmospheric Italian city of Venice. You enter through the lobby, a sprawling foyer lit by a pair of crystal chandeliers, and check in at the marble-covered front desk. After receiving your key, you're greeted by a well-dressed elevator attendant who helps you load your luggage into the lift. A bellman opens the door to a guestroom that's straight out of a magazine, setting your suitcase near a bed festooned with decorative throw pillows. Fifty years ago, these features and amenities gave a hotel "luxury" status. Later, travelers ...
Why Timing is Everything for Convention Center Hotels
JLL Real Views | July 21, 2016
By Maggie Nichols Visit any major convention center in the U.S. and chances are there's a sizeable hotel development either on site or just around the corner. These convention center headquarters (HQ) hotels have sprung up over the last two decades in major cities including Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Chicago, Boston, Austin and Nashville, to name a few. They're continuing to grow in number – Cleveland opened a new HQ hotel in June, Houston will open its second one with 1,000 rooms in the fall, and Chicago will open its second HQ hotel in 2017. Furthermore, there are large HQ hotels in the planning stage in Kansas City, Miami Be...
