Hotel News in Brief
Apr 28, 11 | 12:01 am 
Hotel Announcements
Desires Hotels has added to its international collection with the opening of the Coral Lodge resort in Escribano Ban, Panama. The beachfront spa resort is adding new thatch-roof bungalows that will feature living rooms with local art, two bathrooms, a bedroom, a sleeping loft and a glass-floor sitting room. The first of the bungalows will debut this July. The property also features multiple restaurants, a reading lounge and a pool that utilizes solar energy.
Hilton Hotels & Resorts opened its 16th hotel in Egypt: Hilton Zamalek Residence Cairo. The 88-room and 76-suite property overlooking the Nile completed a $20 million renovation to convert to the brand. The property is located between downtown Cairo and Giza. It features five restaurants, three meeting rooms, a business center, health club and spa. Hilton Zamalek Residence Cairo joins Ramses Hilton, Hilton Cairo World Trade Centre Residence and Hilton Pyramids Golf Resort as the fourth Hilton Hotels & Resorts property in Cairo.
Best Western International, the World's Biggest Hotel FamilySM, continues to expand its global footprint with the brand's first hotel in Iceland, the Best Western Hotel Reykjavik, centered in the country's capital city, Reykjavik. The Best Western Hotel Reykjavik will be directly affiliated with Best Western's regional office in Denmark, which serves 22 Best Western hotels in the country. The 3-star, 79-room Best Western Reykjavik offers modern amenities and easy access to natural wonders including volcanoes, boiling mud pools, spurting geysers, the arctic desert, as well as the spectacular Northern Lights. As is true for all Best Western hotels globally, the Best Western Hotel Reykjavik offers free high-speed internet access, along with a Scandinavian-style breakfast buffet, lobby bar and business services center.
Global Staff Movement
Hilton Worldwide today announced the appointment of George I. Garcia as general manager, El San Juan Hotel & Casino, A Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Puerto Rico. George I. Garcia will report to Barry Lewin, senior vice president, hotel operations, owned assets for Hilton Worldwide and will oversee the operations of this 382-room beachfront oasis. Garcia most recently served as general manager, Harvard Hotel & Club of New York. With 35 years in the hospitality industry, Garcia began his career in room operations and food & beverage at a Four Seasons Hotel in Canada. Since then, he has performed in operations management roles throughout the U.S. overseeing award winning properties as well as luxury establishments including The Arizona Biltmore, the former Condado Plaza Hotel & Casino, and Swissôtel Hotels in Atlanta, Chicago and The Drake in New York. He also acted as general manager and vice president operations at EMI Resorts.
C. Scott Rohm Named President of Turnberry Hotel Group. Rohm will manage and operate Turnberry's hotel portfolio, which currently includes properties in Florida and Tennessee. Rohm is an accomplished professional with more than 25 years of senior-level hospitality management experience. For the past nine years, he was Senior Vice President Operations/Partner for The West Paces Hotel Group, L.L.C., a luxury hotel management company with properties in the United States, Europe and Asia. Rohm was responsible for West Paces' day-to-day operations and was involved in all aspects of company leadership, including development of new hotels, setting of pre-opening budgets and strategy, and creation of brands, concepts and standards. Previously, Rohm spent nine years with The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company. As Vice President - Rooms, Spa and Retail, he opened more than a dozen hotels worldwide, oversaw brand standards and implemented new corporate programs. He also served as General Manager of Ritz-Carlton Atlanta and Ritz-Carlton Kansas City. Rohm began his career with Hyatt Hotels and Resorts.
Other Related News
Lonely Planet, the world's leading travel content provider, has created a Royal London Audio Walking Tour for the iPhone. To celebrate the wedding of William and Kate this tour of the top regal spots in London is free to download from the iTunes store for a limited time. Lonely Planet's iPhone Audio Walking Tours bring together Lonely Planet's trusted recommendations and audio productions from AudioGO, which includes material from the BBC Archives such as the engagement announcement of William and Kate. The Royal London Audio Walking Tour follows the route that the newlyweds will take after the wedding ceremony, taking in 13 sights from Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Palace and including 10 Downing Street, Women of World War II Monument and St James' Palace. Following the recommended route, users encounter reviews along the way written by Lonely Planet's expert authors along with atmospheric audio commentary. The informative and inspiring apps provide detailed information to let people explore at their own pace, with an easy to navigate location aware map that allows the user to stop and start their journey or skip ahead to any of the selected stops. The tours also work offline so roaming charges for international users can be avoided.
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. today announced its global powerhouse, Sheraton Hotels, and its owners have invested more than $100 million into upgrading 120 Club Lounges around the world, including flagship properties such as Sheraton Waikiki, Sheraton Denver, Sheraton Centre Toronto, Sheraton Hong Kong, Sheraton Buenos Aires and Sheraton Edinburgh. The enhancement to Sheraton Club Lounges - one of the most popular Sheraton signature amenities - is the final chapter of the brand's recent $6 billion revitalization effort. In addition, Sheraton Club Lounges brand-wide are now open seven days a week in response to increased demand from premium corporate and leisure guests.
A PwC study about the impact of the Royal Wedding calculates visitors' expenditure to be worth £107m to London. The professional services firm carried out the economic study as part of its assessment of the impact of large events on London in the run-up to the Olympic Games. Mark Ambler, economist at PwC, said: ‘Our survey suggests that the wedding will be a great economic boost for London's economy and a good indicator of the potential economic benefits of the Olympic Games, when more than ten times this number of visitors is expected.' About 550,000 people will see the event in person in and around Westminster, while nearly 1m plan to watch it in on big screens and more than 20m will watch on television. More than 6m adults are taking extra holidays to make the most of the confluence of Easter, the bank holidays and the Royal Wedding. PwC estimates 295,000 Londoners will travel into central London to experience the event, and 560,000 adults are travelling to London from around the UK for the wedding. This includes 69,000 from Scotland and 17,000 from North East England. About 37% of visitors will stay only for the day, but one in five intends to stay for two nights. An estimated 185,000 people will stay in hotels, 50,000 in bed-and-breakfast accommodation, and 18,000 will stay with friends. A quarter of the visitors will spend between £50 and £75 a night on accommodation; one in five will spend between £100 and £149; and more than 20, 000 people will spend upwards of £300 a night.
