July 2012

It was June 6, 1962, when Motel 6 welcomed its first guests for $6 per night in Santa Barbara, Calif. Today, that $6 nightly rate is long gone—adjusted for modern times—but Motel 6 is still going strong with approximately 1,100 properties and still offering the lowest rate of any brand in the industry. It is also still running at the top of its game with a business model of consistency for travelers. “Motel 6’s first travelers ha

“It’s changed everything,” says Laurence Geller. The CEO of Strategic Hotels & Resorts, who is never one to fret over speaking his mind, is talking about the effects of digital platforms and social media on the hospitality and tourism industry. Fresh off a speech last week to an audience of industry figures at the International Leadership S...

Noble House Hotels & Resorts is a privately held hotel ownership and management company in business for more than 30 years. With a philosophy that emphasizes “location, distinction and soul,” the Seattle, Wash., based company owns and manages boutique hotels and resorts spanning the four coastal corners of America, including the newly refurbished Riviera Palm Springs in California, Little Palm Island Resort & Spa in the Florida Keys, The Edgewater i...

Real estate investor and developer Paul Coury has a fascination with historic buildings. Coury is the founder of the Ambassador Hotel Collection, which specializes in turning storied properties into luxury hotel offerings. The collection's latest project focused on turning the former Gate City National Bank Building in Kansas City, Mo., into a 43-room boutique hotel. "By nature, historic properties end up delivering a more uniqu...

In the 2011 fiscal year, Apple sold 72 million iPhones, and the numbers continue to grow each year as the brand's smartphone technology improves. The popularity of the iPhone and iPad is not lost on hoteliers, and many have integrated the innovative products into their hotels to meet guest needs. But OPUS Vancouver has taken its iPhone love to a whole new level by installing the devices into every single guestroom on property. Th...

The HR & Diversity Summit presented by LODGING, in cooperation with Boston University’s School of Hospitality Administration, will include frank discussions with leading experts on building hotel industry ownership and leadership among women, African American, Hispanic American, and Asian American entrepreneurs and investors.
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Hyatt feeds 3 million children a year at its full-service properties in the U.S., Canada, and the Caribbean. To meet the expectations of its young, discerning customers, Hyatt has launched a “For Kids By Kids” menu that supports the company’s new global food and beverage initiative, “Food. Thoughtfully Sourced. Carefully Served.” The philosophy embraces food from natural, local, and sustainable sources. A group of Hyatt food and...

The relationship between hotels and online travel agencies (OTAs) is still a tumultuous one, with individual properties constantly competing with third-party sites for guest bookings. And now, more than ever, hotels are beginning to take matters into their own hands and launch effective direct booking platforms to put profits into their pockets while increasing guest loyalty and satisfaction at the same time. InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG)...

While the hotel industry continues to gradually recover from the economic downturn, guest satisfaction with the underlying hotel experience continues to deteriorate as hoteliers fall further behind guest expectations, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2012 North America Hotel Guest Satisfaction Index Study released today. Now in its 16th year, the study measures overall hotel guest satisfaction across seven hotel segment...

The London hotel market has been buzzing in preparation for the 2012 Olympic Games as athletes and spectators make their way to the city to witness the summer's biggest worldwide sporting events. Several new hotels have opened their doors in the past few months, including the Hilton London Wembley, which celebrated its grand opening just 10 days ago. Jack Nicholas, general manager of the hotel, sees the Olympics as a catalyst fo...

Hilton Westchester, the 445-room flagship hotel of Hilton Worldwide in Westchester County, is celebrating completion of a $35 million, multiyear project to transform its guest rooms and public spaces in the image of the country-club history of the region.  The renovation is part of a larger scope of major projects by individual hotels above standard annual capital expenditures across the global portfolio of Hi...

Sustainability in the hospitality industry has increased in awareness and sustainable operations from corporate travelers, meeting planners and leisure guests may now be expected. Almost all hotel franchise groups, hotel management companies and individual hotel operators have taken steps in their journey to reduce their environmental impact. While the green movement is growing, many hotel owners and investors still remain skeptical of vendor...

As more and more foodies begin to seek out travel destinations based on culinary offerings, hotels are working hard to incorporate food and beverage concepts that will stand out—not only in the lodging scene, but in the restaurant scene as well. Several hotels have announced partnerships with celebrity chefs, but the St. Regis in Aspen is doing something a little bit different. The mountain resort opened Chefs Club by Food & ...

The mystery shopping industry has sometimes been surrounded by skepticism as its findings represent only a single guest experience at “a moment in time.” What the hotel industry should not be skeptical of is the importance of third-party observation in understanding service delivery at a random point in time. But it is important to keep in mind that the findings from mystery shopping would be far more useful if combined with a guest survey feedback solution...

When John Hendricks, founder and chairman of Discovery Communications, thinks about the most beautiful place on earth, the American West, specifically the red rock country of Colorado, tops his well-traveled list. Hendricks fell in love with Colorado shortly after graduating college—a place he visited at the suggestion of his father, who traveled extensively and always spoke about the beauty and natural wonders of the western st...

Forty-year hospitality industry veteran Jerry Petitt has a reputation for using unorthodox methods to sell hotel franchises and room nights. Now, he’s out to sell his personal mountain, and true to form, he’s scaling new heights to do it. The former president of Choice Hotels bought the land in 2002 and opened Echo Mountain in early 2006, just 45 minutes from downtown Denver. Now, Petitt is running counter to conventional think...

July and August mean a lot of things to a lot of companies, but for those in hospitality sales and marketing, it's the start of the Requests for Proposals season. RFPs (Request for Proposal) ask the standard questions about room count, location, amenities, ratings, ADA compliance, etc., but questions regarding a property's eco-friendly practices and procedures are rapidly becoming the norm.  In 2007, after gathering recommendations from th...

Over the past several years, there have been many changes to pest management practices in the lodging industry. The days of spraying entire rooms with pesticides are gone, and the pest control populace has transitioned to more sustainable, non-chemical practices and products that are safer for hotel guests and employees. “This has been my career for 30 years and the changes are unbelievable,” says Robert Corrigan, president of R...

Meeting demand is growing, and planners are on the hunt for flexible spaces where they can create memorable and, at times, non-traditional events on a budget. Booking windows remain short, however, and hotels are upgrading their meetings and special events spaces to win over clients.  “It’s not done on a long-term basis anymore,” says Park Hyatt Washington General Manager Andrew Davidson of bookings. “When you’re dealing wi...

In 2010, it was the ability of U.S. hotel managers to control labor costs that was the driving force behind the subdued 3.4 percent increase in total operating expenses posted by the properties in our Trends® in the Hotel Industry survey sample. Despite a 6.2 percent gain in occupied rooms in 2010, operators were able to service the increased volume of business with just a 1.5 percent rise in the total hours worked by hotel employees. Following the dramatic...

Industrywide, hotel companies are learning firsthand that successfully marketing a U.S. destination requires embracing a philosophy of “strength in numbers.” This involves cooperation among various entities, including the city, convention and visitors’ bureaus (CVBs), and neighboring hotel properties. Although hotels may individually compete for business, working together as a collective unit to represent a destination often proves valuable, resulting in hi...

As the U.S. hotel industry continues to post good results, STR is optimistic about the outlook for the summer of 2012. A look at what has transpired already this year provides a solid background for the optimism. During the first quarter of this year hoteliers across the nation sold a record 245 million room nights. This is the result of continued strength in the transient and group segment. We hear anecdotally that leisure travelers, especially on th...

President Obama’s Jan. 19, Executive Order significantly increased the profile of travel and tourism in the United States, with the President proclaiming travel a national priority. The Administration followed with the May 10 announcement of the highly anticipated National Travel and Tourism Strategy, setting a goal of increasing U.S. jobs by attracting and welcoming 100 million international visitors annually. By the end of 2021, it is estimated these visi...

Wyndham Hotel Group announced the debut of its select-service TRYP by Wyndham hotel brand in Panama with the opening of its first hotel in the country, the newly constructed 92-room TRYP by Wyndham Panama Centro located in Panama City. The city-center hotel expands TRYP by Wyndham’s existing portfolio in Latin America, with 14 hotels located in major markets throughout Costa Rica, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and Uruguay. It als...

For Jennifer Robbins, success is all about engagement. As general manager of the DoubleTree by Hilton in Naples, Fla., Robbins doesn’t think her management style is unique, but she does bring a somewhat unique outlook to engaging her staff. “I don’t know if it’s unique, but I think what’s definitely characteristic of my management style is engagement, trying to get everyone involv...