Booking closes loophole: Booking.com told London’s The Independent that it is going to start charging commissions that include resort fees. Booking.com said, “As an extension of our overarching aim to provide our customers with transparent information about the total price they will need to pay at a property when they make a booking and to create a level playing field for all of our accommodation partners, we are updating our process when it comes to charging commission on mandatory extra fees that customers are asked to pay at the property.” Some have suggested hotels charge the fees because they are not charged a commission. Will hotels push back or stop the practice altogether?
Cuban hotel sued under Helms-Burton: Members of the Mata family filed a lawsuit Monday in federal court in Miami against several Cuban government companies who own the Meliá San Carlos, managed by the Spanish hotel company in a joint venture with the Cuban hotel chain Gran Caribe. While Meliá is not yet named in the lawsuit, the attorney for the U.S. family said it could be added to one of the first suits under Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, which enables filings for up to three times the value of the goods expropriated by the Cuban government. President Trump allowed the implementation the law as of May 2. The hotel in Cienfuegos on the southern coast of Cuba was confiscated in December 1962 by the Cuban government from the Mata family, one of the wealthiest in Cienfuegos. In addition to Gran Caribe, the lawsuit names other Cuban companies, including CIMEX, which took part in the restoration of the San Carlos Hotel, and two other hotel companies — Cubanacán and Gaviota — that manage hotels along with Meliá throughout the country.
New data on Airbnb’s impact: A Wall Street Journal article on Tuesday reported that a recent piece of research by three hotel management and marketing professors suggested that for each 1% increase in Airbnb supply in a city, hotel revenue declined by 0.02%. Airbnb’s “disruptive impact” in 10 key U.S. markets from 2008 through 2018 resulted in lost hotel revenue, including a suggestion that added Airbnb supply meant a loss of US$365 in New York City in 2016 depending on the price if the rooms that went unrented because of Airbnb.
Read Wall Street Journal report
Next Story in Melbourne: Singapore-based Next Story Group has acquired a newly built hotel in Melbourne’s Southbank for AU$45 million. The 162-key property will become in September Next Story’s first hotel under its upper mid-scale LinQ brand, which targets budget-conscious corporate travellers with limited amenities and room sizes ranging from 15 to 22 square metres.. This will also be Next Story’s third hotel in Melbourne. Next Story currently has 40 operating and pipeline properties in its portfolio.
Dusit in China: Dusit International, Bangkok, has signed a hotel management agreement with Jiangxi Honglv Real Estate Co. Ltd. to manage the 300-room Dusit Thani Hot Springs Resort Wugongshan, Jiangxi, China, the first internationally branded hot springs luxury resort in Wugong Mountain, Jiangxi Province. The resort is scheduled to open in 2021.