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Raffles Maldives Meradhoo Welcomes New General Manager, Amila Jeewantha Handunwala
Raffles | June 24, 2021
MALDIVES, 24th June 2021 – Raffles Maldives Meradhoo is pleased to announce the appointment of Amila Jeewantha Handunwala as General Manager. With over 25 years of experience in the luxury hospitality sector, his expertise will play a significant role in elevating the renowned twin-island hideaway to new heights. Possessing an extensive background with esteemed hospitality marques, Amila has previously lead hotel operations, sales, marketing, revenue management and distribution strategies in the Middle East, South Asia and Europe. Most recently, he held the position of Executive Assistant Manager for St. Regis Maldives Vommuli, with pr...
ESG in Hotel Real Estate: Systemic Solutions for a Systemic Problem
Kimberly Yoong | June 24, 2021
By Kimberly Yoong The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) reported that in 2019, emissions from building operations had reached record-high levels and estimated that direct building carbon emissions must be halved by 2030 in order to reach 2050 net-zero targets. Meanwhile, from the hotel sector’s standpoint, the situation is not anymore rosy: as the industry’s global footprint continues to grow rapidly, hotels will need to reduce their absolute carbon emissions by 66% by 2030 and 90% by 2050, to avoid a corresponding increase in carbon emissions. A social awakening on all levels For decades, we have been putting off envi...
CoralTree Hospitality Group Opens The Eddy Taproom & Hotel in Golden, Colorado
CoralTree Hospitality Group | June 23, 2021
GOLDEN, Colorado – June 23, 2021 – The Eddy Taproom & Hotel, located where the Great Plains meet the Rockies in Golden, Colorado, opened today. Managed by Denver-based CoralTree Hospitality Group, The Eddy experience is inspired by the region’s mining history and surrounding outdoor adventures. Named after the river respites where kayakers and whitewater rafters rest and relax, The Eddy promises to be a confluence of outdoor pursuits and lively, comfortable welcoming service. “Everything about The Eddy is a nod to the region’s history and the outdoor lifestyle that Golden is known for,” said John Drugan, general manager of ...
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 250: Hotel History: Mohonk Mountain House, New Paltz, New York
Stanley Turkel | June 22, 2021
By Stanley Turkel, CMHS In 1869, Albert Smiley, a nature-loving Quaker schoolteacher, bought a property at a good price; 300 acres surrounding a lake and a tavern in a spectacular natural setting in the heart of a 26,000-acre area in the Shawangunk Mountains, New York. Alfred and Albert Smiley, devout Quaker twin brothers, created the resort in 1869 when they bought Mohonk Lake from John F. Stokes. As the Smileys expanded the hotel, they operated in accordance with their Quaker beliefs: no alcohol, dancing, smoking or card playing. The hotel offered concerts, prayer sessions, lectures as well as swimming, hiking and boating. Under the...
HRI Lodging Assumes Management of Aloft Santa Clara in San Jose, California
HRI Lodging | June 3, 2021
NEW ORLEANS, June 3, 2021 – HRI Lodging, LLC, a leading third-party management company, will assume management of the Aloft Santa Clara in San Jose, California. The 175-room property, located in the bustling technology hub of California’s Silicon Valley, features an outdoor splash pool, a 24-hour re-charge gym, re:fuel at Aloft, a one-stop gourmet grab-and-go food and beverage area, 2,800 sq. ft. of flexible meeting space plus an outdoor deck, and the brand’s signature W XYZ bar. Guestrooms are tech-forward and enhanced by oversized spa showers and bright décor. The hotel is conveniently located in Alviso within the America ...
Using an On-Demand Worker Platform to Thrive When Groups Return
Larry and Adam Mogelonsky | June 2, 2021
By Larry and Adam Mogelonsky When are groups coming back? This is undoubtedly a question on many hoteliers’ minds, but perhaps the better question is, how are you going to manage operations when they do come back? Right now, the industry is narrowly focused on two central issues – the post-pandemic surge in leisure guests (as epitomized by the concept of ‘revenge travel’) and the labor shortages resulting from so many furloughed staffers permanently leaving the industry (amongst other factors). Both of these matters not only influence the groups segment, but also compound many of their underlying problems. To help navigate th...
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 249: Hotel History: Ocean House at Watch Hill
Stanley Turkel | June 1, 2021
by Stanley Turkel, CMHS Hotel History: Ocean House at Watch Hill (49 rooms) Ocean House is a large, Victorian-style waterfront hotel originally constructed in 1868 on Bluff Avenue in the Watch Hill historic district of Westerly, Rhode Island. The original 1868 hotel closed in 2003; it was demolished in 2005 and a new facility opened in 2010 on the same site which retained much of the original structure’s form and appearance, as well as the original name. Both the original and its reconstruction are noted for their rambling Victorian architecture and distinctive yellow siding. The original Ocean House was the last waterfront...
HFTP Announces 2021 Paragon Award Recipients – Tanya Venegas and Sanjay Nadkarni
HFTP | May 27, 2021
Both recipients have been essential to the association’s research and academic endeavors. Tanya Venegas, MBA, MHM, CHIA and Sanjay Nadkarni, Ph.D. have been selected as the 2021 Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP®) Paragon Award recipients for their excellent direction of the HFTP Research Centers and their impactful tutelage over hospitality students and HFTP student members. Venegas is Global Head of Customer Success for HotStats, Inc., but had previously served as director/executive director of the HFTP Americas Research Center at the University of Houston from 2002 – 2018. Nadkarni is Director of Innova...
Selecting the Right Call Center
Travel Outlook | May 27, 2021
How to Outsource Your Reservation Department without Sacrificing the Personal Touch Your Guests Know and Love As a hotelier and a business owner, it can be hard to let go of certain aspects of your business. After all, it’s hard enough to find hardworking employees who care about your business like it’s their own, let alone outsourced workers. Outsourcing typically has a negative connotation surrounding it. When people think of outsourcing, they think of cookie-cutter call scripts, aloof call center agents, and long hold times accompanied by nauseating elevator music. As it turns out, there are ways to outsource your reservation depar...
More Tech Needed for Managing Group Contracts
Larry and Adam Mogelonsky | May 26, 2021
By Larry and Adam Mogelonsky The rumors are true…groups are already starting to rebound. You may not be seeing that in the form of RFPs and spikes in search traffic. Rather, it’s happenings amongst friends and corporate executives. “Hey, we’re all vaccinated now, and the government is saying we’ll be able to gather soon, so let’s start planning something for this fall because we all haven’t seen each other in a long time,” said the CEO to the CFO during their latest fireside Zoom chat. True, large-scale conventions with thousands of attendees intermingling will be the last segment to return, but smaller meetings and regi...
Lone Star Court Appoints James Wilson as Executive Chef
May 24, 2021
Lone Star Court, a Valencia Hotel Group property, is excited to announce James Wilson as executive chef of the retro-inspired boutique hotel and on-site bar and restaurant, The Water Trough. “We are thrilled to welcome James to the Lone Star Court team,” said William Barba, general manager of the hotel. “Aside from his impressive background, he leads by example and offers a deep understanding of the hospitality and service we aim to provide to our guests.” A SEASONED PROFESSIONAL Originally from North Carolina, Wilson started cooking in a professional kitchen when he was just 13 years old. After discovering a passion for cr...
AC Hotel by Marriott Maui Wailea Opens in Hawaii Marking Brand Debut
AC Hotels by Marriott® | May 24, 2021
AC Hotel by Marriott Maui Wailea officially opens its doors today as the newest hotel and the first property in the Hawaiian Islands for the design-driven AC Hotels lifestyle brand. Part of Marriott Bonvoy’s portfolio of 30 extraordinary brands, the hotel marks a significant milestone in delivering an effortless travel experience that strikes the perfect balance between everything you need, and nothing you don’t, in the stunning leisure destination of Maui. Nestled on three acres on the sunny southwestern coastline, AC Hotel by Marriott Maui Wailea features 110 guestrooms with 12 suites, and an infinity-edge pool with a hot tub and cab...
BENCHMARK® Adds Bermuda’s Historic Cambridge Beaches Resort & Spa to Expanding Portfolio of Leisure & Incentive Travel Properties
BENCHMARK®, a global hospitality company. | May 20, 2021
The 90-year-old resort becomes Benchmark’s first entry to the Atlantic island destination The Woodlands (Houston), Texas, May 20, 2021 … BENCHMARK®, a global hospitality company, today announces the addition of Bermuda’s Cambridge Beaches Resort & Spa to its international collection of resorts, hotels, and conference centers. The 90-year-old resort becomes the first property the management group will operate in the British territory widely known for its pink sand beaches and turquoise waters. “The addition of Cambridge Beaches Resort & Spa to the Benchmark family marks an exciting milestone for our team: we prepare to...
Colebrook Financial Announces Receivable Loan to Latitude Vacation Club
Colebrook Financial Company | May 20, 2021
Caribbean Resort Offers Latitude Vacation Club+ Featuring Ancora Cap Cana Marina Resort and Villas in the Dominican Republic Middletown, CT (May 20, 2021) –Latitude Vacation Club has entered into an agreement with Colebrook Financial Company, a leading lender to the timeshare and travel club industries to provide a receivable loan. Latitude Vacation Club’s home resort, Ancora Cap Cana Marina Resort & Villas is inside Cap Cana, a gated community of 33,000 acres—twice the size of Manhattan-- located 10 minutes from Punta Cana’s International Airport. This is a first-time development for Cecil Latta, well known for his sales an...
The End of Third-Party Cookies and What It Means for Your Hotel
Tina Markowitz | May 17, 2021
By Tina Markowitz Digital marketers are currently being faced with a once-unimaginable shift: the end of third-party cookies. Over the past few years, users have become more aware of how companies track their data, and they’ve started pushing back on an increasingly intrusive online experience. Regulators have even stepped in and enacted laws to protect users, including GDPR in Europe and the CCPA in California. At the same time, the rise of mobile has decreased the value of browser-based, desktop-focused cookies. As a result, marketers are scratching their heads as to how they will proceed. Meanwhile, experts are predicting that U....
Ballyfin Demesne Appoints Peter White as General Manager
Ballyfin | May 17, 2021
County Laois, Ireland (Ballyfin), May 17, 2021– Ballyfin is pleased to announce the appointment of Peter White as General Manager. White’s career spans 30 years of experience in hospitality management at 5-star hotels around the world. Ballyfin will reopen June 2, 2021, after an extended closure due to pandemic restrictions in Ireland. "I’m delighted to soon welcome back our first guests to Ballyfin and to continue the tradition of exceptional Irish hospitality that has been created here over the past ten years. This is the pinnacle and highlight of my 30-year career, and to achieve that in my favourite hotel makes me very excited ...
Senior Team Alignment Critical for Leisure and Group Recovery Success
Larry and Adam Mogelonsky | May 5, 2021
By Larry and Adam Mogelonsky The recovery in the leisure sector is imminent, and we argue that small groups aren’t far behind given that ‘revenge travel’ also implies a strong yearning to reconnect and congregate. A return to healthy numbers won’t be evenly spread across all hotels, though. It will favor those properties and those organizations that are already prepared for a diverse range of ramp-up scenarios, with others leaving revenue on the table by not having plans in place prior to this next phase. While hotels could hardly have predicted or prevented the advent of COVID-19, what we’ve witnessed in the latter half of 20...
In a World of Mobile Lifestyles and Remote Working, What Role Will Hotels Play?
Kimberly Yoong | May 4, 2021
By Kimberly Yoong, Borivoj Vokrinek At a time when many of the world’s events continue to be plagued by COVID-19, making plans even a week in advance may seem difficult, much less 10 years into the future. Nearly overnight, the dialogue shifted from “where to for lunch?” to “can you hear me?”. And as hotels emptied out and travel restrictions drag on, many may wonder, where lies the future of hotels? To answer this question, it is first important to recognize that the hotel sector does not exist as an individual silo, but one which forms part of a much wider network: the ecosystem of how we live and work. The cities in which ...
RBH Hospitality Management Selects StayNTouch’s Guest-Centric PMS for Their 4 Fragrance Group Properties
StayNTouch | May 4, 2021
RBH Hospitality Management, a UK based hospitality management company which manages over 45 properties across the UK, has selected StayNTouch Cloud PMS and Contactless Solutions for their four Fragrance Group properties totaling over 400 rooms. RBH specializes in full-service management for luxury assets and chose StayNTouch’s guest-centric PMS because they wanted a dynamic and mobile platform that could unburden their staff, drive profitability, and empower their guests with a seamless and digital experience. Vibhu Gaind, the Chief Information Officer of RBH, said, “We felt that the StayNTouch guest-centric model was an optimal f...
Hilton Signs With Shimao Group Holdings to Launch Four Luxury Hotels in China
Hilton | April 30, 2021
SHANGHAI, China and MCLEAN, Va. - Leading global hospitality company Hilton (NYSE: HLT) and Shimao Group Holdings Ltd. (Shimao) today announced the signing of a landmark agreement to launch four luxury hotels in China: Waldorf Astoria Shenzhen, Conrad Shanghai, Conrad Wuhan and Conrad Zhuhai. When they open, the hotels will mark the entry of Hilton’s iconic luxury brands, Waldorf Astoria and Conrad, in the four cities, while Conrad Shanghai takes the spotlight as the largest Conrad hotel in Asia to open, with more than 700 rooms. The multi-deal signing signals optimism from both companies on the luxury tourism outlook in China and a...
Five PMS Features to Help Grow TRevPAR
Larry and Adam Mogelonsky | April 29, 2021
By Larry and Adam Mogelonsky In case you need a refresher on your acronyms, TRevPAR stands for total revenue per available room. The key difference between it and RevPAR is that it takes into account all other outlet purchases from each guest to give a more holistic picture of sales and growth. As a basic example, consider a couple traveling for a relaxing getaway versus two single occupancy business travelers, both midweek. While the couple may take up only one guestroom versus two, its utilization of the restaurant, spa and other amenities will be substantially higher than the corporate guests. Having differential data on these types ...
Siegel Sez: The COVID Year – What Tech Changes Will Last?
April 23, 2021
I will encourage you to read Doug Rice’s column that follows which includes the latest technology news. This week Doug talks about the technology changes inspired by COVID-19, which will stay, and which won’t. For those of you who have been out to eat - would you really want to look at a menu any other way than holding it in your hand when COVID-19 is behind us? Doug brings up some good points as to possibly why you wouldn’t, especially if you owned the restaurant. There will be a transition in the world and especially in the hotel industry as the recovery gains legs. Leisure travel will probably set records this year and groups and ...
Caesars Entertainment to Invest $400 Million Into Its Atlantic City Resorts By 2023
Caesars Entertainment Atlantic City | April 22, 2021
Master plan includes remodeled room towers, new restaurants and amenities, and a focus on revitalizing the Company's flagship casino-hotel, Caesars Atlantic City, on the world-famous Atlantic City Boardwalk First phase of $170 million in guestroom and suite upgrades at Harrah's Resort Atlantic City and Caesars Atlantic City will debut Summer 2021 ATLANTIC CITY, N.J., April 22, 2021 -- Caesars Entertainment, Inc. ("Caesars" or the "Company") shared exciting details today on its $400 million master plan investment in Atlantic City where it owns and operates three of the region's preeminent casino destinations – Caesars, Harrah's Resort...
The Return to Genuine Hospitality
Travel Outlook | April 21, 2021
Why the First Touch Point Sets the Tone for Your Brand In a digital age, when a potential guest picks up the phone to make a reservation, they expect a personal touch on the other end. Chances are, they’ve exhausted all digital booking avenues and are seeking true customer service by a trained professional. The consequences of not having a professional call center backing your reservation department could be detrimental to your business. Additionally, the benefits of having a trained call center serve your business could take it to new heights. Having a professional call center with highly trained agents who know the ins and outs of...
