HOTELS

I have been back in the office from the Dubai hotel investment conference for more than a week and this is the first breath I have had to write this blog on the conference. Let’s see what I can remember.

This was the fourth annual event (I have been to all four) and attendance has grown from around 400 the first year to more than 1,100 attendees this year—mostly the cream of the crop from the Middle East hotel development world. The conference is held at the Medinat Jumeirah, a beautiful hotel, resort and conference center on the beach and shouting distance from the iconic Burj Al Arab. It should come as no surprise that the weather was hot, yet the hotel investment crowd can’t help but wear dark suits. There is just something wrong with the picture of an outdoor cocktail party with 900 men and 200 women (my estimate) in business suits fighting the swelte...Read More

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Reporting for a global hotel magazine can be challenging with the time zone differences, getting to know and remembering all of the thoughtful hoteliers and industry-related professionals around the world, and simply dealing with constant deadline pressure.

Since I am now a blogger, I thought I would experiment and see if I could use this forum to help me report on a story being written for the June issue of HOTELS magazine. I want to pose a few questions for any of you to answer (either on the record with your name and title, or off the record—but I still need to verify your name and title). I must verify each response so please make sure I have your working email address when you respond to me via email at jweinstein@reedbusiness.com.

The questions are simple: How would you describe current and expected hote...Read More

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There are still a fair share of cynics out there calling the "green" movement a PR ploy by hotel companies. There may be some truth to this point of view and this industry has a long way to go to call itself truly "green," but I am here to tell you most of the hotel companies making big efforts to "green up" are well intended. And why not? Who doesn’t want to save the planet? Earth Day only a few years ago was nothing much to talk about and not on everyone’s lips as it is today. That alone shows how much progress we are making and how much more serious we are taking this issue,

I have to admit the number of "green" hotel press releases that passed my in-box during the last 48 hours has been a little thick and can make you wonder a bit about the sender’s true intention. But if you want "buzz," and we all k...Read More

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While attending industry conferences over the past, say, five years, there is always an argument about how to define a true “boutique hotel.”  It seemed that anything that did not fit into the chain “box” template was being called “boutique.” If it had any edge or style, it was a boutique hotel. Of course, I always scoffed under my breath, as I think the true, modern day definition of a boutique hotel has to be associated with the likes of Bill Kimpton, who created a handful of unique, stylish hotels in California with a great food and beverage component. And then there were the true little independents around the world that were one-of-a-kind, small and very entrepreneurial in spirit.

Today the term “lifestyle hotel” appears to be the catch-all phrase that lumps together everything from W hotels and products like the ne...Read More

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I love the way Marriott International is embracing video online. I just watched the first of three short films that together will shine a completely new light on the Ritz-Carlton brand. It is entertaining and provides an outstanding example to the industry about using Web 2.0 media to reach a new, younger demographic.

It should also be noted that Marriott International has a few of its own channels on YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/MarriottIntl and www.youtube.com/user/MarriottNews. As of February 20, the first link has just 45 subscribers and 3,606 channel views; the second has 79 subscribers and 6,304 channel views. I am sure a lot of the subscribers are Marriott employees, but giv...Read More

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For me, the highlight of the 2008 Americas Lodging Industry Summit (ALIS) conference last week at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles was the evening cocktail party hosted by Marriott International—and unlikely bedfellows Bill Marriott and Ian Schrager—to introduce its new boutique brand, Edition.

The only news coming out the elegant, very un-Marriott-like event was that the company had signed agreements for the first nine Editions, with the expected opening of the first properties in 2010. While details are sketchy and I have not been able to see a single rendering, Schrager explained how no two Editions would be alike as he will use local creative service to give each hotel its own identity.

On this evening, the all-smiles, yet very reserved Schrager and th...Read More

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IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) put on a very splashy and seemingly expensive show in Dallas last week to hype the re-launch of its Holiday Inn brands (Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express). I even got to watch Andy Cosslett play guitar in the opening act. He looked like he knew what he was doing, too.

It was an impressive display that included the Holiday Inn “experience,” a Disney-like guided tour showcasing the history of the brand and some of the amenities that will make up its just-announced future. I walked through very large rooms in the Dallas Convention Center, including one that featured full-size versions of the new signage. The show ended with a song-and-dance production number about what makes the new Holiday Inn so inviting. It was truly an “experience”—one that the 5,500 conference goers had to get tickets and wait in long l...Read More

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Okay. This is getting to be a bit much. When will the madness end? The scent story continues today with two announcements: One company that wants to de-scent; the other that wants to make guests “feel at home while they are far from their own homes” with a signature scent. Stop, please. What am I supposed to do if I don’t like your scent? When I pass the perfume counter at the department store, I don’t like the people trying to spray me with a test bottle. Do you? So why should I be subjected to your signature scent? Spend the money on service training, a nice amenity at turndown—or just plain turndown as many full-service hotels seem to be doing away with this nicety.

Is this service enhancement or amenity creep? What do you think? As I heard one executive mention at the recent Lodging Conference in Phoenix, “Amenity creep will stop as soon a...Read More

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I just returned from the annual Lodging Conference in Phoenix, a favorite among the hotel investment circuit junkies due to its affable hosts, Morris Lasky and Harry Javer, the laid-back, resort environment of the Arizona Biltmore, the casual dress code and an over-abundance of conference food. This little conference that started out some 13 or 14 years ago with a few hundred attendees had the Biltmore overflowing in late September with some 1,400 attendees.

The timing of this event is always interesting because it is the first event after the summer break and during a time of the year when the U.S. economy and stock market tends to be volatile. This year did not disappoint either as the discussion centered on the U.S. credit crunch, the housing slump and the surfacing of the dreaded “r” word—recession.

No doubt, the deal pace has slowed dramatically as...Read More

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Mark your calendar! On November 7 at 10 a.m. CST, HOTELS magazine will host a live webcast entitled “Practical Green Hotelkeeping.” You can register on our web site to attend and even post your own questions for the panel to answer.

A roundtable discussion among four industry leaders and moderated by HOTELS’ Editor In Chief Jeff Weinstein will discuss everything from basic strategies for day-to-day green hotelkeeping, the challenges of developing and building green hotels, what are realistic expectations for any green hotelkeeping program and what the future holds. We are in the process of identifying the important issues to discuss...Read More

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I have a real hard time believing this news based on personal experience, but customer satisfaction in the United States lodging industry is up. A recent PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report says that although there was a small decrease reported in the first quarter of 2007, customer satisfaction levels in the lodging industry are at positive record levels with a recent high index value of 75 in 2006.

According to data from American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), the U.S. Department of Labor and Smith Travel Research, although the customer satisfaction scores declined to 71 in the first quarter of 2007, most of the decline was among the smaller hotel chains, which experienced the largest decline in satisfaction scores.

PwC reports customer satisfaction levels in 2006 were the highest since 1995, even with a 10.2% decline in the number of employees per occupied room i...Read More

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Okay, now I have seen it all. I am attaching part of a press release here from the Westin River North in Chicago, which has installed hi-tech toilets—and of course it has a remote control! Honestly, what could be more important in a hotel stay and what could possibly be next in the amenities war among the big brands?

The Most Luxurious Seat in the House: The Westin Chicago River North Adds New High-Tech Toilet Seat

Taking In-Room Amenities to the Next Level: Brondell Swash 800 Brings Luxury Where it is Least Expected

CHICAGO – July 31, 2007 – The Westin Chicago River North is giving new meaning to the phrase “the best seat in the house.” Bringing luxury to where it is least expected, the Windy City hotel has installed the technologically-advanced Brondell Swash 800 toilet seat, complete with remote...Read More

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