Hotel News in Brief
Sep 05, 08 | 1:46 am
Mr. John Burger, a 25-year veteran of the hospitality industry, has been appointed the new General Manager of Doubletree by Hilton Huiqiao/Kunshan. The South African-born golf enthusiast has spent the last seven years working within the Hilton Family of brands across Asia, holding management positions in South Korea, Vietnam and Chongqing, China. Most recently he served as Director of Operations of Hilton Singapore. In his new position, John is leading development and construction of the first Doubletree by Hilton hotel in East China, a 24-story, 398-room, 5-star hotel serving corporate and leisure travelers in the fast-growing Huaqiao business center. As General Manager he oversees development of all aspects of the hotel and the Doubletree brand customer service experience, including design and build out of the hotel amenities, recruiting and training staff, marketing and branding, and community relations.
G Hotel was awarded the Star Performer Award by online accommodation website Wotif.com at their Celebrating Excellence awards ceremony in Kuala Lumpur recently. These awards recognise hotels that most effectively use Wotif.com as a distribution channel for selling their rooms and G Hotel was awarded as the Star Performer for Malaysia having averaged the most sales per month since listing on the site within the past twelve months. "Competition has wrought wonders in the scope, efficiency and userfriendliness of hotel booking sites in the last two years. The Internet is by far the cheapest distribution channel for hotels, which is why we try so hard to encourage travellers to book online. And surveys make it plain that a majority of travellers (even, hardcore corporate road warriors) prefer to book online rather than calling a travel agent ," said Kevin Cheah, Director of Sales representing G Hotel who attended the ceremony in Kuala Lumpur.
Continued profitable growth for Scandic - Interim report for the period January - June 2008
- Revenues up 11% to EUR 383.2 million
- Operating profit up 22% to EUR 55.8· million
- The key ratios for sustainable development continue to improve·
- During this period four new hotels, with a total of 579 rooms, have opened· and five new hotel projects have been launched.
Frank Fiskers, Scandic's President and CEO, comments on the results for the first half of 2008: "Scandic continues to enjoy positive development, with results showing improvements on last year in terms of revenues, profit and sustainability ratios. Demand has been good, particularly in the major cities, with occupancy and room prices up. The aggressive growth strategy presented last year has continued. In spring 2008, Scandic opened new hotels in three locations in Sweden and one in Denmark. We have also launched new hotel projects in Moscow, Århus (DK), Oslo Gardermoen, Haugesund (NO) and Karlskrona (SE). This means that we have added a total of 15 hotels to the Scandic chain since October 2007. "I know that many people are wondering whether Scandic has been affected by the current economic downturn. Let me say this: we are certainly noticing many companies taking stock and preparing themselves for tougher times, introducing strict travel policies for instance. But this also creates opportunities for us. The combination of Scandic's strong brand and our focus on mid-market hotels is often an advantage when corporate customers cut back on extravagant journeys and expensive events. Many business travellers are finding it hard to submit bills from a luxury hotel, but staying at Scandic is usually popular with your finance manager."
The Han Dynasty - the most prosperous period in China's history - is the inspiration behind the cutting-edge design of the new Conrad Shanghai scheduled to open at the end of this year. Internationally renowned architecture firm Kohn Pederson Fox Associates, of New York, has designed a striking modern building that will become the new gateway to Xintiandi, Shanghai's vibrant and pulsating entertainment hub. The 24-storey tower curves gently to create an elegant profile with the building distinguished by its window wall patterns in Chinese granite, based on traditional Chinese latticework from the Han Dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD). The result is very contemporary but unmistakably Chinese, reflecting the Conrad brand values of contemporary luxury and individuality whilst retaining a strong sense of place. The Conrad Shanghai is destined to become an architectural landmark on the Shanghai skyline. At the same time, the architects have paid close attention to the street level, designing a series of low rise podiums which sensitively integrate the hotel into the architectural fabric of Xintiandi.
The Crown Plaza Hotel in Newcastle has sold for $48.6 million to a private Sydney-based property investor. Mr Mark Durran, Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels' Executive Vice President Investment Sales, negotiated the off-market deal on behalf of Becton Investment Management Limited (Becton) as responsible entity for the Newcastle Harbour front Hotel Trust. Despite the credit crunch and perceived economic uncertainty, the sale represented an initial yield of 8.0%. "With a number of other assets on the market and a solid sale price achieved for this Hotel, this shows the confidence investors have in the hotel sector at present," said Mr Durran. He added, "In a competitive off-market bidding process, a local property investor outbid a number of domestic and offshore parties also seeking a presence in this growth market of Newcastle." Becton developed the 175 room 4.5 star Hotel in early 2003 as part of the Honeysuckle Development. "This is a quality asset that enjoys water views and is operated by a world leading hotel operator - InterContinental Hotels Group," said Mr Durran.
ASSA ABLOY Hospitality, the world leader in hotel security technology with premier brands including VingCard, Elsafe and TimeLox, has named Don Jensen senior vice president of sales and marketing for North America. With more than 20 years of sales and management expertise serving the hospitality industry with advanced wireless solutions, Jensen said he is excited to lead the company's talented North American sales team as well as to be a part of the technical innovations introduced by the VingCard, Elsafe, and Timelox brands. In his new position, he will oversee all sales and marketing initiatives in North America for the industry's leading security brands, VingCard electronic locking system solutions for hotels, Elsafe UL-listed hotel safes and TimeLox security solutions for gaming properties and other large resorts, according to Marc Freundlich, president and CEO of ASSA ABLOY Hospitality North America.
Pegasus Solutions, Inc. has signed an agreement to provide UltraDirect distribution services to Kuoni Destination Management, a division of the Kuoni Group and leader in the world travel market. Use of UltraDirect will place Kuoni Destination Management in a position to expand business with new distribution and improved content for its customers. With more than 60 sales and destination management organizations, Kuoni Destination Management offers land arrangements to tour operators, travel agencies, airlines, meeting planners, incentive specialists, event agencies, congress organizers and cruise companies. In addition to groups, Kuoni Destination Management provides land arrangements for individual travelers, which are sold to tour operators, agents and brokers via its own online channel. With this breadth of offering, Kuoni Destination Management requires sophisticated distribution management to capitalize on multiple potential revenue streams, according to Tore Wick, vice president of business development for Pegasus. "UltraDirect will allow Kuoni Destination Management to enhance its online reservation platform KOBRA with a direct link to hotel central reservation systems, which will allow the company to offer last room availability using the published commissionable room rates," said Wick. "This means the company can work with any of their hotels or agents to easily and efficiently source and offer what travelers are looking for, breaking through barriers of coordinating access and availability." UltraDirect will provide Kuoni Destination Management's direct connections to hotel central reservation systems (CRS) through the Pegasus Switch, providing real-time access to CRS information. The technology also enables fast, immediate confirmation of booking and cancellation requests, and secure access to negotiated rates. "Kuoni Destination Management has an enhanced position in markets outside Europe," said Ivan Walter, Head of Global FIT at Kuoni Destination Management. "With more than 2,000 employees and subsidiaries around the world, it's important for us to keep our packages fresh by using consistent and current information. UltraDirect gives us the control, speed and security we need to do this right."
NYLO Providence/Warwick opened its doors this week in Warwick, R.I. It's the first property in the Northeast from loft lifestyle innovator NYLO Hotels http://www.nylohotels.com. Overlooking the Pawtuxet River near the banks of the Narragansett Bay.
Plaza Athénée Bangkok, A Royal Méridien led by Ms. Dhunyaluck Techabhatikul, Director of Human Resources, together with Royal Orchid Sheraton Hotel and Towers hosted UNICEF Joint Hotel Day for Job Fair at Plaza Athénée Bangkok. This programme is a good opportunity for UNICEF students to apply for a job in the different well-known establishments around the city including hotel industry. UNICEF students will be selected to join one of these companies in the future.
Indianapolis-based National Lodging & Leisure has announced the opening of the new 113-room Hampton Inn & Suites in Greensburg, Indiana. The hotel is owned by GS Lodging Venture, LLC, which was formed by Jack Moran, President of National Lodging & Leisure and Street Corner Group. Mr. Moran has over 30 years experience in commercial development and currently has new similar select-service hotel projects in development throughout the country. The hotel anchors the 9-acre, $18 million Greensburg Station commercial mixed-use project being developed by NLL.
Hotelscene is hosting the following event, aimed at Travel Managers planning and implementing hotel accommodation programmes for their companies for 2009. This information will be of value not just to the travel managers, but also to any Business Travel related press planning to feature accommodation, hotels, 2009 RFPs, or Dynamic Pricing, in any forthcoming articles or issues. Dynamic Pricing - What Does It Mean For Travel Managers? As hotels increasingly favour the Dynamic Pricing or Best Available Rate approach, how can Travel Managers go about establishing a strong accommodation programme? They want to negotiate low rates at hotels most important for their business, but how can they guarantee these rates in an age of flexible pricing? Hotelscene is offering Travel Managers the chance to understand better these challenges, and how they may be able to turn them into opportunities, in our next live webcast on 17th information@hotelscene.co.uk or by contacting Tom Whitney at Hotelscene on 0844 8264 392. Details of how to join will then be sent out to you on 15th September. September. Following the success of the previous sessions before the summer break, this latest webcast will use expertise of our Consulting Plus team. Hosted by Jean Squires, Hotelscene's Director of Business Development, it will discuss how Travel Managers can best understand the market, and how they can work within it to the benefit of their company. This web cast will be held at 2.30pm (UK time) on Wednesday 17 September and is planned to take around 30 minutes. You can register to attend simply by emailing
