Hotels Blogs
Marriott Uses Celebrities To Promote Renovations On Twitter
The UK division of Marriott International is promoting the completion of a £120 million refurbishment project across 41 UK hotels with an innovative review campaign via Twitter. Marriott has invited several well-known Twitter users, including celebrities and journalists, to communicate their experiences at selected properties to followers live on the micro-blogging site. “We wanted to ... More
About this blog
HOTELS Associate Editor Adam Kirby highlights the hotel industry's most interesting people and ideas.
5 Compelling Reasons To Blog In 2010
Since this is my first post here, I’d like to begin by saying how pleased I am to join the team of bloggers for Hotels Magazine. I have been blogging for nearly a decade now, and am perhaps best known in the hotel marketing community as editor of Hotel Marketing Strategies. Over the past 8 years, I’ve held various marketing management roles with organizations around the world. For ea ... More
About this blog
This blog covers the new media landscape of today, exploring ways hotels can attract guests and build loyalty. Blog postings focus on direct online channel strategies, SEO, SEM, eCRM, email marketing, social media and mobile marketing, as well as on providing concrete, ROI-focused recommendations for hoteliers to follow.
Carlson Hops On Its Bicycle
Ever the Frenchman, Carlson Hotels’ CEO Hubert Joly used the analogy of hopping on a bicycle, starting the pedals in motion and steering down the right path to announce plans to revitalize the core Radisson brand at the Carlson Hotels 2010NE global business conference in Orlando on Wednesday. No longer is Carlson standing in place. I like the plan, which is a bit of an homage to Kurt Ritter ... More
About this blog
HOTELS magazine Editor-in-Chief Jeff Weinstein offers his thoughts on hotel industry breaking news and issues of the day.
How Creativity Will Earn You More Business
Last week, a colleague told me of a client visit that he did years ago in which the hotel borrowed a bulldog from an employee for a University of Georgia site inspection. The meeting planner was so impressed with the extra effort that was made to show their hotel’s willingness to earn the business that they received the signed contract.If you were a planner and had to visit 12 hotels in a c ... More
About this blog
Sales and marketing incorporates service and respect with creativity and an ability to "check your ego" at the door. Bart Berkey tells us how our business is only difficult when we don't do it well. When performed correctly, unique experiences are delivered for customers and clients alike.
The Temple Of Zecha
I recently came across an old Architectural Digest article from 1980 that described Adrian Zecha’s of Aman fame, new apartment in Hong Kong which was designed around their significant collection of Asian art. Mr. Zecha mentions that “We like to live in an amiable place. We both dislike a ‘decorator’ look, and we want simple living”. Fast forward t ... More
About this blog
Members of the Champalimaud design team will be posting here ideas and thoughts on trends, what's motivating people, what's keeping them going and what's soothing their nerves. Where we have insight, we'll contribute thoughts on the state of our industry, why people travel today and prioritize between the things that they want and the things they need. In all respects, we'll address how the role of design is evolving through this period. CHAMPALIMAUD is a full service interior design firm specializing in distinctive hospitality design, and providing residential and commercial design on a selective basis. Established 27 years ago in Montreal by Alexandra Champalimaud, the firm is now headquartered in New York. We firmly believe that successful design must be rooted in the characteristics unique to each property. Guided by the goals and aspirations of the client and the cultural context of each property, the history and location, our completed work includes from the most respectful of historic restorations to highly contemporary renovations and new constructions. Ours is a body of work uncommonly diverse and indicative of a guiding ethos that distinguishes Champalimaud from all others.
Green Hotelkeeping Can Be Habit Forming
Hello. My Name is __________ and I am a Green Hotelier. I met Ms. Hema Patel, president of Courtesy Management this past year at the Hunter Hotel Investment Conference in Atlanta. She approached me after we concluded a panel discussion regarding sustainability in hospitality and said that her company was building a Holiday Inn & Suites in Columbia, South Carolina, and that she wanted it to b ... More
About this blog
One of the world's strongest and clearest voices on the subject of sustainable practices in the hospitality industry, Lyndall De Marco, formerly executive director of the International Tourism Partnership, a leadership organisation founded by HRH The Prince of Wales, has established a consultancy focused on the belief that sustainability and profitability can work hand in hand. Ray Burger, president and founder of Pineapple Hospitality Inc., has over 30 years of experience in the lodging industry and has provided the lodging industry with environmental products, programs and services for over 12 years. These two leaders speak out on best practices, as well as the challenges and opportunities for hotel companies to become environmentally responsible businesses.
Caution = Successful Restaurants
In the last two months I feel as though I have moved from a gentle jog to a full-on race against time. Proposals are going out right and left. We are finally switching gears from slow to fast, and the problem is that everyone wants a deal. I think we are starting to arrive at the real new economy; one where clients want more, faster, and want to pay less on a longer payment plan. This is the ... More
About this blog
Concept creator and restaurant consultant Bob Puccini discusses the state of the hotel food and beverage world, along with insights to success. His discussion topics include hotel food and beverage concept creation, operational issues, challenges, opportunities and solutions.
Michael Shindler's New Gig
We at HOTELS are happy to congratulate former Deal Tracks blogger Michael Shindler on his new position, announced this morning, as executive vice president of hotels and casinos for Hard Rock International. Shindler will oversee global development of Hard Rock’s hotels and casinos, as well as strategic and day-to-day management of existing assets within the brand’s current licensed a ... More
About this blog
Commentary, observations and questions arising from the state of the hospitality transactions marketplace, including financing, purchase-and-sales, new development and anything else that suits my fancy.
Hotel Restaurants Get Recognized
Esquire magazine’s Best New Restaurants of 2009 list appears in the November issue, and the "restaurant of the year" is none other than a hotel restaurant: The Bazaar by Jose Andres at SLS at Beverly Hills, a Luxury Collection Hotel. Also on the list are five other hotel restaurants: - Area 31 at Kimpton’s EPIC hotel in Miami - Pacci Ristorante adjacent to Hotel Palomar Atlant ... More
About this blog
In this blog, I’ll share the best or most compelling piece of information I get each day (sometimes augmented by a bit of insight or analysis). Whether it’s a list of trends, a set of facts and figures, or even insights into great marketing strategies, look no further for ideas you can borrow and build upon to grow your business. We’ll call it “news you can use.” Exactly what you do with it is up to you, but if nothing else, I hope to give you something to talk about.
Magic Carpet Ride: The Modern Wing
This past Saturday, May 16, the long-awaited, super-hyped new Renzo Piano Modern Wing opened at the Chicago Art Institute. It goes without saying that my love for Chicago’s architecture is what lured me to set up shop in Chicago with my three founding partners back in 1988 following graduation from Cornell. All these years later, it is endlessly inspirational to see our skyline co ... More
About this blog
In this blog, we will constantly be considering the business of design. We will be discussing ideas and issues that will help readers manage and maximize today’s current business climate to the benefit of their properties. Topics such as the economy, natural disasters, deal-making, going global, sustainability, design technology and more will be discussed, as these, among others, are the issues that affect us all as we try to maintain our designs on profitability.
It's All About Supply
It has been a year since the first glimmerings of economic problems surfaced to the public at large. Some ignored the issue while others thought any problems would be local and limited to a small section of the housing market. The international community assumed that this was now a global economy with the new engines of economic growth making everyone else independent of the vicissitudes of the U. ... More
About this blog
Outspoken, very relevant and always ready with a cogent message for and about the global hotel industry, Laurence Geller, president and CEO of Strategic Hotels & Resorts, uses humor and controversy to get hoteliers to listen. His HOTELS' Insider blog is intelligent and revealing.













