The recession-driven meta trend here in the United States these days is economic modesty—even austerity—in stark contrast to the open flaunting of wealth that dominated the "Pimp My Ride" attitude of the past decade. In many circles of American life, luxury has become something to be embarrased about, not the aspirational status symbol that it recently was. And that, as I've noted previously, poses quite the conundrum for luxury hoteliers.

So I found it interesting during a chat this week with a UK hotel consultant that, despite the recession being a global one, the luxury-as-a-negative phenomenon seems to be largely confined to America. 

"There isn't such a strong sense of that in Europe," says Marvin Rust, a Londo...Read More

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Starwood and Marriott made separate, almost identical announcements today, each rolling out video teleconferencing systems at select hotels worldwide. Both will leverage Cisco's TelePresence technology, although Starwood is hiring Tata Communications to do the installs while Marriott is using AT&T.

I would love to know who beat whom to the punch here. Anyway, on to the details...

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide's "Telepresence Suites" are slated to open in 10 hotels by the end of the year, including at Sheraton New York Hotel & Towers, Sheraton on the Park in Sydney, Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel, The Westin Los Angeles Airport and W Chicago...Read More

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Some musings and miscellany from HITEC 2009...

Within "a matter of months," VingCard Elsafe expects to launch a locking system that uses guest loyalty program cards as keycards, according to Rune Venas, North America president of Assa Aboy Hospitality Inc., VingCard's parent company. Venas is coy about how exactly the system will work, but he says it would allow guests to bypass front desk check-in. Rival company Saflok has been working for a couple years on a similar product called Reggie, but it has yet to achieve market penetration...

Speaking of Saflok, the company's sister brand, Ilco, gets my award for coolest innovation at HITEC. The Ilco Powerlever is an electronic lock that eliminates the need for batteries by generating its ow...Read More

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At last year's HITEC, we were sounding the death knell for the guestroom phone.

This year's HITEC memorial goes out to fee-based video on demand.

Declaring the old hotel revenue stream of fee-based video on demand "dead," iBahn President Greg Hodges  showed off what he believes is the future of guestroom TV. iBahn's iMedia technology is true high-speed Internet streamed over the TV.

This isn't another version of IPTV. This is a PC in every room that just happens to double as a high-definition television. Take a look:


...Read More

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Since I'm on a Twitter kick lately, I figured I would answer a public request for Twitter advice from Best Western International CEO David Kong.

In hi...Read More

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If Web traffic figures are any indication, hoteliers are captivated (or perhaps horrified?) by the world of social media opened up by everyone's favorite microblogging service, Twitter.

In case you missed it, here's our big blowout article on how hotels are using Twitter that will run in the July issue of HOTELS. Also, I'll be hosting a live Webcast next month about experiential marketing, and Twitter is sure to be one of the more heavil...Read More

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Any frequent traveler knows what it's like to arrive at your hotel after a long flight and be told that your room isn't ready yet.

These days, you might pull out your BlackBerry and tweet your annoyance at having to wait in the lobby for a couple hours when all you want to do is curl up in bed.

Now imagine checking your Twitter replies a few minutes later only to see that the hotel down the street, seeing an opportunity to grab some business, is offering you a room there at a discount. Even better, it's willing to cover your cancellation fees. And oh, by the way, dinner is on the house.

Not only has that hotel stolen a piece of business from a rival, but it's also just created a fan for life.

That story is a favorite of Susan Black, a...Read More

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As he was getting berated by the infamous Joe the Plumber back in October, Michael Mustafa had no choice but to sit and take it.

Mustafa was just two months into his tenure as director of sales and marketing at The St. Regis Monarch Beach when life at the resort turned upside down, thanks to a bit of—well, let's call it "aggressive spending"—on the part of bailed-out insurer AIG. The industry-wide AIG Effect that followed is all too familiar to hoteliers, but nowhere was the AIG Effect more surreal than at the 5-star California resort where it originated.

“My phone started ringing off the hook," Mustafa recalls. "I was public enemy No. 2 behind AIG. I had t...Read More

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Hyatt Hotels & Resorts has found a use for Twitter that is so simple and obvious that I'm amazed no other major hotelier has already tried it.

@HyattConcierge launched today as what is purportedly the hotel industry's first Twitter-based virtual concierge. 

The account is being staffed 24/7 by specially trained agents within the corporate customer service group who are available to assist with typical concierge fare like spa appointments, golf outings and dinner reservations. @HyattConcierge will also field assorted guest complaints and queries.

"This is just another place for [customer service a...Read More

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Given that the lessons of brilliant marketing cross industry boundaries, take a gander at this hilarious spot from the California-based casual chicken restaurant chain El Pollo Loco.

Quick background: one of Loco's specialties is flame-grilled chicken, a segment being encroached upon by fast food beheamoth KFC...


Speaking at the National Restaurant Association Show in Chicago today, Loco CEO Steve Carley says the ad spot was created withi...Read More

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Barry Sternlicht’s 1 Hotels brand is still in the plans, though don’t expect to see any of the eco-chic projects go up until the market bounces back.

That is the most newsworthy revelation from a fascinating 27-minute video interview Sternlicht gave to Bloomberg News earlier this month. (To view the interview in its entirety, go here and then click the small "Play" icon.)

In the interview, the industry icon calls this downturn "worse than 9/11" from an economic standpoint and predicts that hotel demand wi...Read More

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Summer travel will probably be down this year, but maybe not, and even if it is, it will be down less than many may have expected.

Sorry for that waffling conclusion, but it's the best I could glean from perusing three somewhat contradictory travel forecasts published in the last couple days.

The first poll, jointly sponsored by The Associated Press and polling firm Gfk Roper Public Affairs & Media, finds that 42% of Americans are planning a leisure trip this summer. That's down from the 49% who said they planned to take a summer trip in a similar poll conducted in May 2005.

Frankly, considering where the economy was in 2005 compared to what it's like today, that drop doesn't really seem all that bad.

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