A Case Study in Optimizing Length of Stay From Wellness Capex
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IDeaS Releases 2024 Hotel Technology Predictions
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Smart Strategies
Nobody Asked Me, But…No. 158: Hotel History: Chatwal New York Hotel (1905)*
Stanley Turkel, CMHS | March 21, 2016
Available Now: My New Book "Great American Hoteliers Volume 2: Pioneers of the Hotel Industry" By Stanley Turkel, CMHS 1. Hotel History: Chatwal New York Hotel (83 rooms) Before becoming The Chatwal New York and The Lambs Club Restaurant and Bar, this iconic Stanford White-designed building was the epicenter of American theater for the 20th century. The building originally opened in 1905 as home to the prestigious Lambs Club, America's first professional theatrical club. Organized in 1874 by a group of actors and enthusiasts, The Lambs occupied a series of rented quarters before settling in at 44th Street. The American club took their n...
Nobody Asked Me, But…No. 157: Hotel History: Ocean House (1868), Watch Hill, Rhode Island*
Stanley Turkel, CMHS | March 7, 2016
Available Now: My New Book "Great American Hoteliers Volume 2: Pioneers of the Hotel Industry" By Stanley Turkel, CMHS 1. Hotel History: Ocean House (50 rooms) Well-known for its warm yellow facade and spectacular views of the Atlantic Ocean, the Ocean House opened in 1868 just after the Civil War. Over the years, many additions and improvements were made to the hotel but never heating, air conditioning or ventilation. It was a seasonal hotel open only for about three months a year. In 1916, a motion picture starring Douglas Fairbanks called American Aristocracy was filmed at the Ocean House. After a disastrous fire at the Great White S...
‘New World Cities’ Taking Centre Stage in Global Real Estate Investment Market
JLL | March 4, 2016
JLL's latest Real Estate Investment Intensity Index LONDON, March 4 2016 - The latest JLL Investment Intensity Index, which measures the volume of direct commercial real estate investment in a city relative to the city's economic size, reveals the increasing attractiveness of 'New World Cities' to investors. The world's most globalised metropolitan economies continue to account for a significant portion of global transactions, with the top 10 cities for transaction volumes accounting for nearly 30 percent of global investment over the last three years. However, over the past 10 years a core set of 32 New World Cities has steadily increa...
Robust Growth in Global Hotel Investment According to JLL’s Global Market Perspective Q1 2016
JLL | March 4, 2016
2015 marked the second-highest year on record for hotel transactions globally, with trades topping US$86 billion and posting 50% growth on 2014. With 2015 surpassing all expectations in terms of the amount of capital flowing into the hotel sector, we expect transaction volumes in 2016 to reach US$70 billion, marking the second-highest level of the cycle. Hotel investment – capital flows Outflows and inflows in 2015 (US$ billions) Source: JLL, February 2016 Global hotel investment up 50% to US$86 billion 2015 marked the second-highest year on record for hotel transactions globally, topping US$85 billion and posting 50% growth on ...
Tourism Tidbits: Some of the Principal Issues Facing the Travel Industry – Part Two of a Two Part Series
Dr. Peter Tarlow | March 2, 2016
by Dr. Peter Tarlow Last month we examined some of the challenges facing the tourism industry in 2016. This month we examine some of the other challenges with which tourism leaders may have to contend in 2016. It should be noted that although the material in both the February and March editions is treated as separate challenges, there is often an interaction between them and these challenges are not stand alones but rather part of a total whole. Be prepared for economic instability. We are now seeing the stock market on a roller coaster and coupled with low gas prices, there is a sense of ennui and foreboding. Last year's feel good comb...
Sharing Economy – A Hoteliers Comprehensive Review
Robert Rauch | March 2, 2016
by Robert Rauch The challenges of increased health care costs, minimum wage increase impacts and new supply are not yet critical for the hotel industry but they will become very important when an economic downturn occurs. Further, Airbnb has become a lightning rod for debate and could become one of those aforementioned factors that pushes hotel industry revenue and net income growth into negative territory. So what can the hotel industry do? With a $25.5B valuation, Airbnb and other short-term rental companies are avoiding taxes and regulations. In addition, Airbnb is big business. According to a recent study by Penn State University, i...
Do You Really Need a Separate Brand for Millennials?
Vikram Singh | March 1, 2016
By Vikram Singh Almost every other week, there is an article about how hotels are trying to "embrace" the Millennial traveler. Basically, anyone born from the 1980s to the early 2000s is in this group. It's everyone's new favorite generation to talk about in the hospitality and travel marketing realm. But are they really that different from the rest of us? Do they "Tru-ly" need their own brands? The Brand Approach All the big brands seem to be in a rush to get the Millennials' dollars and build loyalty with them. Their solution so far has been large-scale branding. For a large hotel company, the biggest reason to launch a new brand is t...
Investigating Duplicate Content: Hotel Marketing Strategies for Success
the Author and HeBS Digital | February 19, 2016
By Megan Harr Defining Duplicate Web Content Even the most discerning digital marketing professionals and hoteliers need to be cognizant of the dangers of duplicate content. Content that appears on the Internet in more than one place (i.e. on more than one URL) and is identical or very similar in nature is regarded as duplicate content. Google defines duplicate content as "substantive blocks of content within or across domains that either completely match other content or are appreciably similar." Whether these two pages exist on the same website or on two different websites, duplicate content makes it difficult for search engines to d...
JLL Reports Sydney’s CBD and Metropolitan Hotel Markets Experienced Record Year
JLL Australia | February 15, 2016
February 15, 2016 - Sydney's CBD and metropolitan hotel markets finished 2015 on a high with full year STR data reporting exceptional occupancies and average daily rate (ADR) levels across the board. Conducive to the respective markets' strong performance remains relatively benign supply pipelines, increases in major demand generators, growing airline capacity, and continued international and domestic visitation growth driven by the depreciation of the Australian dollar. In Sydney city, hotel occupancy increased marginally on existing highs to 88.2% for the full year, while ADR increased by 6.6% to $243. The five-star market fol...
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 156: Hotel History: Old Edwards Inn and Spa (1878), Highlands, North Carolina*; Hot Off The Press: My New Book
Stanley Turkel | February 15, 2016
By Stanley Turkel, CMHS 1. Hotel History: Old Edwards Inn and Spa (68 rooms) The Old Edwards Inn, Highland's earliest boarding house was built in 1878 by John Norton and known as the Central House. Norton combined four lots and constructed a two-and-a-half story frame structure with a gabled roof and a two-level front porch. The town of Highlands was founded in 1875 by Kansas developers who drew two lines on a map, one from Chicago to Savannah, the other from New York City to New Orleans, believing that the intersection would be good for trade. In 1880, Norton exchanged Central House with Joseph Halleck for Halleck's just comple...
Dr. Bryan K. Williams Selected as a Guest Speaker for CMAA 89th World Conference On Club Management
BW Enterprise | February 4, 2016
February 4, 2016: The Club Managers Association of America (CMAA) has selected Dr. Bryan K. Williams to be a guest speaker at its annual conference. The 89th World Conference on Club Management and Club Business Expo is designed for the professional managers of membership clubs. This year, it will be held in San Diego, CA, February 21-25. "Your presentation and program are impressive. We feel that your message is an excellent one for our members," said David McCabe, Senior Director of Education for CMAA. The event offers a wide variety of learning and networking opportunities. All education is member-driven and -approved. The more than...
Tourism Tidbits: Some Principal Issues Facing the Travel Industry; Part 1 of 2
Dr. Peter Tarlow | February 1, 2016
by Dr. Peter Tarlow Scholars of tourism know that the travel and tourism industry are far from static. New challenges seem to arise as quickly as mushrooms sprout up after a warm rain. Despite the constant changes, however, there have been a number of issues that have become constant problems for the industry and with which it has had to learn to live. Here are some of these issues and a few suggestions on how to begin to handle them. The recent stock market ups and downs are a real indication of the turbulence that may impact tourism in 2016 and present new challenges to tourism professionals around the world. High Taxation on the Tour...
JLL’s Hotel Investment Outlook 2016 – Anticipating $70 billion in Global Hotel Transactions
January 28, 2016
Hotel deal volumes rocketed 50% to $85 billion in 2015, boosted by a record proportion of cross-border capital and single asset transactions. In all, 53 hotels sold for over $600,000 per room last year, which reflects the high levels of confidence and capital in the hospitality sector. Activity in 2016 will be more measured, with fewer headline-grabbing 'trophy' properties on the market. Hotel values will continue to rise, with secondary markets providing the most fertile investment landscape. RevPAR is projected to grow by 4-5% globally this year. Consolidation, single assets, and secondary markets are set to be the big stories...
Agilysys Selects Dr. Bryan K. Williams as a Guest Speaker for Its Annual Conference in Las Vegas
Bryan K. Williams | January 27, 2016
Washington DC (January 27, 2016): Agilysys has signed Dr. Bryan K. Williams to be a guest speaker at its 2016 User Conference and Executive Summit. This year's event will be held at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada. Inspire 2016 will feature dynamic and interactive educational sessions designed to help customers build lasting connections with their guests to drive guest recruitment, increase wallet share and reduce operating costs through the use of technology from Agilysys and its partners. "With Bryan's many years of hospitality industry experience, and his dynamic presentations we know that he will provide engaging content and de...
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 155: Hotel History: The Willard Hotel (1901), Washington, D.C.*; Hot Off The Press: My New Book
Stanley Turkel | January 25, 2016
By Stanley Turkel, CMHS 1. Hotel History: The Willard Hotel (335 rooms) The National Park Service and the U.S. Department of the Interior describe the history of the Willard Hotel as follows: American author Nathaniel Hawthorne observed in the 1860s that "the Willard Hotel more justly could be called the center of Washington than either the Capitol or the White House or the State Department." From 1847 when the enterprising Willard brothers, Henry and Edwin, first set up as innkeepers on the corner of 14th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, the Willard has occupied a unique niche in the history of Washington and the nation&hellip...
MURTEC® Selects Dr. Bryan K. Williams as a Keynote Speaker for its Annual Conference in Las Vegas
Bryan K. Williams | January 25, 2016
Washington DC (January 25, 2016): MURTEC® has signed Dr. Bryan K. Williams to be its closing keynote speaker at its annual gathering. It is lauded by attendees as the gold-standard event for restaurant technology executives. "The customer experience today is greatly impacted by technology. In restaurants, there's both a direct and an indirect link connecting a brand's technology executives to customer service and engagement. We're thrilled to welcome Dr. Bryan Williams as a keynote speaker at MURTEC to discuss how restaurant technology executives can help their brands deliver world-class service", said Abigail A. Lorden, Editor-in-C...
New Lease Accounting Standards to have Dramatic Impact on Businesses in Asia Pacific
JLL | January 15, 2016
JLL highlights real estate implications of new legislation SINGAPORE, 15 January 2015 – Businesses in Asia Pacific are bracing for the impact of a globally imposed new accounting standard for leased assets such as real estate and equipment. The new International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), in conjunction with the US Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), has confirmed that by 2019, all companies reporting under the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (US GAAP) will be required to comply with the rules. This means that as early as 2017, companies must star...
Where Next for the Big Hotel Brands?
JLL | January 15, 2016
World leading hotel operators are active in almost every corner of the globe leaving little room to expand in developed markets, which are awash with well-known hotel brands. Take prime locations such as London, New York or Singapore, for example. Major chains such as Hilton and Marriott have expanded aggressively by launching sub-brands to cover every consumer travel segment. It's no surprise that boutique and lifestyle names have grown by 25 per cent since 2009. Although some consolidation is now underway – Marriott and Accor have made high profile acquisitions of Starwood and Fairmont respectively to significantly boost their p...
Service Excellence: 5 Ways to Elevate Your Personal Brand in 2016
Bryan K. Williams | January 12, 2016
Something is different when YOU are at work. It's up to you to determine if that "something" is positive or negative...it is never neutral. On this webinar, Bryan will discuss five ways to serve with excellence and become even more valuable in 2016! Use this opportunity to recharge and launch into this new year! This online event will be led by Dr. Bryan K. Williams. He is a keynote speaker, author and service consultant. Bryan is very passionate about helping companies reach high levels of service and organizational excellence. He travels globally to work with companies in various industries, and is the creator of the pop...
A Soft Landing in 2017 / Robert A. Rauch, CHA
Bob Rauch | January 5, 2016
2015 ended as expected: a record year for the hospitality industry, 2016 is looking to continue that trend with expected ADR growth at 6 percent and though occupancy looks to remain relatively flat, this translates to a 6 percent growth in RevPAR and perhaps the most profitable year ever in our industry. Now that you're done celebrating, I'd like to warn you that our current economic cycle will be reaching an end sometime next year. I'm not foreseeing a recession as we've experienced in past economic downturns, but more of a soft landing in 2017 as the economy pulls back slightly. There are a multitude of factors that wi...
Tourism Tidbits: Terrorism’s Aggressive and Passive War on Tourism
Dr. Peter Tarlow | January 4, 2016
by Dr. Peter Tarlow The multiple recent terrorist attacks in diverse places such as London, England; Istanbul, Turkey; San Bernardino, California; Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, and Tel Aviv, Israel along with the major tourism threats in places such as Ankara, Brussels and Munich and New York, ought to be a warning to the tourism industry that it is entering into a new and dangerous age. In the past, most tourism centers assumed that either they would not be targets of a terrorism attack or that the attack would be against a highly specific and well-known target. Classically it was assumed that we could almost predict which areas would be mos...
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 154: Hotel History: The Jefferson Hotel (1895), Richmond, Virginia*
Stanley Turkel | January 4, 2016
By Stanley Turkel, CMHS 1. Hotel History: The Jefferson Hotel (155 rooms) Tobacco baron Lewis Ginter began building the hotel in 1892 and opened it in 1895. Designed by Carrère and Hastings, the same architecture firm that designed the New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue, the Ponce de Leon Hotel (St. Augustine), Flagler's Whitehall Mansion (Palm Beach), the House and Senate Office Buildings (Washington, D.C.) and many more. As a centerpiece for the upper lobby, Ginter commissioned Richmond sculptor Edward V. Valentine to create a life-size image of Thomas Jefferson from Carrara marble. Ginter imported exotic palm trees fr...
Marriott’s Acquisition of Starwood: Winners and Losers
Vikram Singh | December 22, 2015
by Vikram Singh Marriott's acquisition of Starwood is great news for investors, but unfortunately not for Starwood hotel guests and employees. The quote that sums up the reasoning behind this deal came from Starwood Chairman Bruce Duncan. "We are committed to what is best for shareholders." Notice that employees and guests are not mentioned. This is because they are not the focus of the consolidation. Industry consolidation is aimed at increasing investors' profits or killing a competitor in the industry. With this deal, Marriott is hitting both those key points. When a deal like this is made, the numbers have been run and re-run hundre...
Thoughts on the Aftermath of the San Bernardino Terrorism Attacks & the Impact on Travel & Tourism
Dr. Peter Tarlow | December 16, 2015
By Dr. Peter Tarlow The most recent successful terrorist attack in San Bernardino, California raises not only a number of security issues but also issues on the media and public policy. The results of this debate may have a great impact on the tourism and travel industries. There is no doubt that these attacks casued media frenzy. Major news outlets in the US and Europe dedicated whole days to the attack. In fact, they created a sense of national or international panic. If terrorists seek publicity and provoke public fear, then we are forced to ask the question: have the media become unwilling allies of the terrorists? Certainly no one ...