Chinese tourism surge: Ninety-two percent of Chinese travelers intend to increase or maintain spending on travel in the next 12 months, according to Hotels.com’s Chinese International Travel Monitor. China’s millennials plan to spend a quarter of their income on travel, the highest proportion among age groups. Australia, Japan and Hong Kong are top spots for visits.
Omni accessible: Omni Hotels & Resorts and Essential Accessibility partnered to create an app that provides keyboard and mouse replacement tools, motion technology and voice-activated controls to make reservations.
Read the release on PRNewswire
Parity clause in Austria: Austria introduced legislation to end the practice by travel websites of forbidding hotels to offer rooms at lower prices on their own sites. Parity clauses in contracts with hotels allow booking sites to claim they have the cheapest rates online.
U.S. hotel results: Compared with June 2015, U.S. hotel industry occupancy was nearly flat (+0.3% to 73.1%), while average daily rate was up 3.5% to US$126.14 and RevPAR grew 3.8% to US$92.17, according to STR. Year-to-date demand growth (+1.6%) moved ahead of supply (+1.5%). Houston saw the steepest decline in RevPAR, down 9.5% to US$67.70, while Denver posted the largest rise in ADR, up 9.9% to US$141.33.
International tourism increases: The U.N. World Tourism Organization says international tourist arrivals grew 5% from January to April this year to 348 million overnight visitors. If it continues, 2016 would be the seventh consecutive year of above-average growth. Asia and the Pacific saw the biggest increase, with 9%.
Hyatt Place at Niagara: A six-story, 128-room Hyatt Place Niagara Falls will be built near Niagara Falls, New York. Owned by The Hamister Group of Buffalo, New York, the hotel is expected to open in late 2017.
Hotel with a purpose: The Purpose Hotel launched a Kickstarter campaign yesterday, aiming to raise US$2 million. Its founder, photographer Jeremy Cowart, wants to build a humanitarian, global hotel chain that contributes to those in need through partnerships and sponsors, starting in Nashville.
Read more at the Nashville Business Journal
Travelodge in Thailand: Travelodge signed a management agreement with C.A.T Opulence of Thailand to launch a new 150-room Travelodge Hotel in the resort city of Pattaya. Travelodge Jomtien is expected to open in 2019. It’s the first of its brand in Thailand.