Starwood Names Hoyt Harper Senior Vice President Four Points by Sheraton; Hotel Industry Veteran to Lead Operations for the Number One Full Service Mid-Scale Hotel Brand
 
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE:HOT) announced today the appointment of Hoyt Harper II as senior vice president, Four Points by Sheraton, voted the number one mid-priced hotel brand according to the 2002 Business Travel News' "Annual Top U.S. Hotel Chain Survey."

Harper will be responsible for all operational aspects of the Four Points by Sheraton brand, including brand standards, product development, and owner relations. Harper will report directly to Bob Cotter, Starwood's chief operating officer.

Harper, a 22-year veteran of the travel and hospitality industry, most recently served as senior vice president, business development & marketing programs, where he was responsible for developing strategic alliances and partnerships for Starwood, as well as developing loyalty and membership programs, sponsorships and promotions. Prior to that, Harper held the position of vice president, marketing programs, where he oversaw the successful launch of Starwood Preferred Guest in February 1999, Starwood's award winning loyalty program. Harper was also responsible for developing an array of global marketing alliances with travel, credit card, business services, leisure programs, consumer product companies, sponsorships and promotions, including the launch of our new co-branded credit with American Express and sponsorship of the PGA Tour. During his tenure with Starwood, Harper has solidified dozens of global marketing alliances, including over 25 global airlines, AT&T, Carnival Corporation and American Express.

"We are extremely pleased with the major contributions Hoyt has made in the past and welcome his wealth of experience to his new position as the head of operation for our Four Points by Sheraton hotels in North America," said Cotter. "We look forward to enhancing Four Points' leadership in the mid-scale category, both operationally and with new and innovative features for the brand."

As a respected eight-year veteran of ITT Sheraton, Harper served as vice president and director, marketing programs & partner marketing. While in this position, Harper received the Harold S. Geneen Award, ITT's highest achievement award for marketing.

Prior to joining ITT Sheraton, Harper spent 11 years in the travel industry, holding such positions as vice president and general manager of Lifeco Services' leisure division; vice president of marketing for Thomson Vacations, Inc. based in Toronto; director of leisure marketing for Avis Rent A Car in Garden City, New York and director of operations for Thomson Vacations in Chicago.

Harper graduated from Carthage College in Wisconsin and will be based in Starwood's corporate headquarters in White Plains, NY.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. is one of the leading hotel and leisure companies in the world with more than 740 properties in more than 80 countries and 110,000 employees at its owned and managed properties. With internationally renowned brands, Starwood is a fully integrated owner, operator and franchisor of hotels and resorts including: St. Regis, The Luxury Collection, Sheraton, Westin, Four Points by Sheraton, W brands, as well as Starwood Vacation Ownership, Inc., one of the premier developers and operators of high quality vacation interval ownership resorts. For more information, please visit www.starwood.com

TravelCLICK Issues Second Quarter Electronic Booking Results for Top Asia-Pacific Markets

TravelCLICK released results today for second quarter hotel room nights booked electronically through the Global Distribution Systems (GDS). All of the top ten markets show improvement over first quarter in both room nights booked and average daily rate.

The results were compiled from TravelCLICK's comprehensive database, which is the exclusive source of hotel industry electronic distribution data from the Abacus/Infini, Axess, Amadeus, Galileo, Sabre, and Worldspan GDSs. TravelCLICK's data also includes consumer online GDS hotel bookings made through many of the major Internet travel sites, such as Expedia.

Top Asia-Pacific Destination Markets

The top 10 destination markets for total GDS room nights in Asia-Pacific during the second quarter were in order:

Rank    City     Room Nights    Year-Over-Year Growth Average Rate Year-Over-Year Growth                       
1       Sydney           143,021         7.1%     $        104.78        3.5%   
2       Melbourne      125,047         3.1%     $          97.25       2.3%   
3       Hong Kong     104,718        7.6%     $        166.59        -11.6% 
4       Singapore       100,563        -1.4%    $         117.97        -6.6%  
5       Tokyo              91,698        -0.1%    $          184.44        -1.5%  
6       Beijing             42,356         42.4%    $         117.57        -4.7%  
7       Brisbane          39,791         25.8%    $          78.61       7.7%   
8       Shanghai         36,521         75.2%    $         136.82        -3.6%  
9       Seoul               36,445         3.2%     $           205.48        9.8%   
10      Taipei             35,856         10.2%    $          153.35        -3.8%  

"Of the top ten markets, Shanghai showed explosive growth over last year, with a 75% increase. Beijing and Brisbane also showed remarkable growth in room night bookings at 42% and 26% respectively," said Jan Tissera, vice president of international sales for TravelCLICK.

To receive a free listing of second quarter results by top 50 cities worldwide in electronic bookings, please e-mail    emonitor@travelclick.net mailto:emonitor@Travelclick.net.
 

TravelCLICK Issues Top Ten European Hotel Markets for Second Quarter - Based on GDS Bookings

Exclusive Database Details Trends in Hotel E-Commerce

CHICAGO - 04 September, 2002 - TravelCLICK released results today for the top ten destination markets in Europe, based on hotel room nights booked electronically through the Global Distribution Systems (GDS) during the second quarter of 2002.

All of the top ten European cities showed growth over the first quarter of 2002, with the most dramatic improvement seen in Oslo. Average daily rates, in most cases, strengthened versus the same period a year ago. However, a few of the top cities declined in room night bookings on a year-over-year basis.   

The results were compiled from TravelCLICK's comprehensive database, which is the exclusive source of hotel industry electronic distribution data from the Amadeus, Galileo, Worldspan, and Sabre GDSs. TravelCLICK's data also includes consumer online GDS hotel bookings made through many of the major Internet travel sites, such as Expedia, Travelocity.co.uk and Opodo.com

Top European Destination Markets

The top 10 destination markets for total GDS room nights in Europe during the second quarter were in order:

Rank    City     Room Nights    Year-Over-Year Growth    Average Rate
Year-Over-Year Growth   

1       London          595,406         -2.2%    $        199.86        
-3.2% 

2       Paris           364,966         -3.9%    $        169.68       
0.5%

3       Amsterdam       131,724         -8.7%    $        171.72
7.8%    

4       Frankfurt           122,355         2.3%     $        127.93
4.9%    

5       Madrid          111,403         5.1%     $        141.56        
3.3%

6       Munich            91,800        1.3%     $        131.46        
4.8%

7       Barcelona        84,609        6.7%     $        148.84
-0.5%   

8       Brussels           79,725        -4.6%    $        150.89
1.6%    

9       Milan             76,791        1.6%     $        188.27        
8.4%

10      Oslo              73,505        2.0%     $        150.54        
6.3%

"We expect all of Europe to be at or near positive growth by year end, with the gateway cities recovering the quickest," said Jan Tissera, vice president of international sales for TravelCLICK.

To receive a free listing of second quarter results by top 50 cities worldwide in electronic bookings, please e-mail emonitor@travelclick.net mailto:emonitor@Travelclick.net.

Sylvan Learning to buy Swiss hotel management school

 (Reuters) - Educational services company Sylvan Learning Systems Inc. (SLVN) said on Wednesday it would buy the parent of Glion Hotel School in Switzerland for $15.8 million cash, its third hotel management school acquisition in two years.

Baltimore-based Sylvan, which also will take on $24 million of mortgage debt associated with Glion Group's real estate holdings, said the deal would add to its earnings in 2003.

Glion is expected this year to generate revenues of $20.3 million and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of $3.7 million, Sylvan said.

Sylvan, which provides tutoring and is hired by schools and other organizations for educational services, bought Les Roches Hotel Management School in Bluche, Switzerland, in October 2000. It also bought a campus in Marbella, Spain, earlier this year that was once affiliated with Les Roches.

"We plan to maintain separate identities for Glion and Les Roches, but will encourage the two schools to share their specific areas of expertise and knowledge," said Raph Appadoo, chief executive of Sylvan's international universities unit.

Glion was founded in 1962 and offers six hospitality management degrees in English and French, serving 1,200 students.

Sylvan shares were up 41 cents to $14.55 in afternoon trading on the Nasdaq.

Yeo to head up HMS International Singapore

Yeo Khee Leng, chief executive of the Singapore Tourism Board, is tipped to become the new chief executive officer of Hotel Management School International.

Reliable sources told TravelWeekly that Yeo is the candidate that chairman of HMS International, Jennie Chua, had alluded to in a report carried in E-Daily when she said a CEO had been identified for the proposed hotel school.

HMS International is the new hotel school being set up by some of Singapore’s biggest hotel owners in partnership with the STB.

It is aspiring to become the "Cornell of Asia", according to Chua, president and chief operating officer of Raffles International.

Sources say that the name being tipped to replace Yeo at the STB is Maj-Gen (NS) Lim Neo Chian, currently chairman of the Jurong Town Corporation.

No confirmation of the appointments could be obtained at press time.

Source:  TravelWeeklyEast.com

Macau Tourism Week 2002 kicked off September 5

Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) yesterday convoked a press conference where Director of MGTO, Engo João Manuel Costa Antunes, introduced the "Macau Tourism Week", which will be marked with a series of activities.

Activities of the "Macau Tourism Week" will be held between September 5th to 16th and the 3 major parts include MGTO delegation's visit and promotion in Beijing, MGTO Annual Marketing Meeting and the "Macau Fireworks Fiesta 2002".

A total of 28 representatives from 15 MGTO overseas markets will arrive in Macau on September 3rd. Among the 28 representatives, 19 of them will join the MGTO delegation led by Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Dr. Chui Sai On to Beijing on September 4th, to carry out the four days' visit and promotions. This visit will unveil the "Macau Tourism Week".

The four days' itinerary includes a meeting with National Tourism Administration, tourism product presentation and photo exhibition. On the other hand, the overseas representatives will visit famous historical relics in Beijing.

In the conference, Engo João Manuel Costa Antunes expressed that representative of the China National Tourism Administration will introduce the tourism development of China to the MGTO overseas representatives who can gain a better knowledge of the Tourism Industry of China. This will help them to promote Macau and even regional tourism with Mainland China in overseas.

MGTO will invite 41 travel agencies (i.e. for outbound tours) and 30 some representatives of the media organizations in Beijing to take part in the tourism product presentation, illustrating the most updated condition of the Macau tourism industry, and introducing to them the latest Macau tourism products and facilities.

MGTO will launch a photo exhibition of Macau scenes depicting its architecture, culture and festivals at "Xindongan Plaza", located on Beijing's busiest commercial street to promote Macau Tour to the Beijing citizens.

During the "Macau Tourism Week", MGTO will sign a protocol of cooperation with the World Trade Centre Macau, to jointly develop and promote the MICE (Meeting, Incentive, Conference and Exhibition) industry of Macau.

Peter de Jong, CEO of Pacific Asia Travel Association will pay a visit to Macau and meet with the Chief Executive and Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Dr Chui Sai On.

On the other hand, Director of the Guangdong Tourism Administration Zheng Tongyang will lead a delegation to Macau on September 13th. During his stay, Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Dr. Chui Sai On will meet with Director Zheng, and MGTO will have a Summit meeting with the Guangdong delegation. In addition, a photo exhibition on Guangdong tourism products will also be held in the Macau Tower. Later on, MGTO will lead a delegation to Guangdong and join the Summit meeting of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau.

The prize giving ceremony of "Wish You Were Here" photography competition will also be held at Macau Tower in Tourism Week.

The three-day Annual Marketing Meeting of Macau Government Tourist Office will open on September 10. The Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Dr. Chui Sai On will officially open the meeting, and following his address, each overseas representative of MGTO will introduce their marketing performance in the meeting. To update their recent development of Macau tourism, MGTO has also arranged a series of product presentation to the overseas representatives on such as development of MICE, outlook of gaming industry, application for World Heritage, 2005 East Asian Games etc. 

MGTO has invited representatives from the 3 new concessionaires of the gaming industry, Cultural Institutes and Macau Sports Development Board to address the topics. Specialists from Beijing and Australia will also be invited to give insights on MICE tourism and on-line trading platform. Mr. Jon Hutchison, CEO of Sydney Convention & Visitors Bureau, will also share his valuable experience on MICE development of Australia.

The 'Macau Fireworks Fiesta 2002', another highlight event of Tourism Week, will kick off on September 7 to bring a variety of special occasions including the 14th Macau International Fireworks Display Contest, a Harley-Davidson Parade and the Fireworks Carnival organized by MGTO and the General Union of Neighbours Association of Macau.

The Fireworks Carnival this year will be held at the Rua da Torre de Macau (next to the car park entrance of Macau Tower). A series of spectacular performance with various themes will be held on each night of fireworks displays in September and October. The five 'Tourism Ambassadors' will also sing and dance to greet the citizens and tourists with hospitality. 

30 stalls selling souvenirs, snacks and accessories will be available at the Fireworks Carnival. A children's playground will be set up to bring more fun to the kids.

The Harley Owners Group of HK will join with the Macau group to ride around Macau, Taipa and Coloane on September 6, 7 and 8. The motorcycles will be staged near the Macau Tower for photos on the first night of firework display on September 7.

The 28 overseas representatives have come to join the activities of 'Macau Tourism Week' and they will leave Macau on September 15, while the 'Macau Tourism Week' will end on September 16.

Tokyo Inn to open its first overseas hotel in China
 
Asia Pulse   -  Toyoko Inn Co., an operator of business hotels, plans to open its first hotel abroad in Shenyang, China, on Oct. 18.

Total investments will exceed 300 million yen (US$ 2.56 million) in the once-state-operated Shenyang hotel, which will have 223 rooms and offer free Internet use.

Toyoko Inn expects Chinese businesspeople to be the main clients. A single room will cost about 350 yuan, or around 5,000 yen, per night.

In the future, Toyoko Inn hopes to take over operation of other state-operated facilities, about 300 of which reportedly exist in China. It ultimately aims to operate around 200 hotels there.

Toyoko Inn plans to develop procurement routes for low-priced sheets and towels In China. It plans to use these products in its hotels in Japan as well. 

Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts once again ranks highest in latest J.D. Power and Associates Study

Luxury Hotel Operator Gets Top Marks For Luxury Hotel Guest Satisfaction

TORONTO, Sept. 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- For the second time in a month, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, the world's leading operator of luxury hotels, received the highest ranking in a J.D. Power and Associates Study, this one measuring guest satisfaction. The company got the highest marks in the luxury hotel segment in the J.D. Power and Associates 2002 North America Hotel Guest Satisfaction Study(SM), released August 29, 2002.

The announcement by J.D. Power and Associates is a repeat achievement for Four Seasons, who ranked highest in its segment in last year's study as well. This is only the second time that the luxury hotel category has been awarded. "Consistency and excellence of guest experience are the standard against which we measure our performance, and it is rewarding to see our efforts succeed," said Wolf Hengst, president, worldwide hotel operations, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts. "We are delighted that our guests have recognised the outstanding achievements of all our North American hotel employees, who work so hard to exceed guest expectations every day."

The top three contributors to guest satisfaction for respondents who participated in the survey were the guest room, departure process and pre- arrival/arrival experiences. These accounted for 70 percent or more of guest satisfaction in each of the six market segments, followed by hotel services, and food and beverage. Four Seasons rated especially well in the areas of pre- arrival/arrival, hotel services and departure.

J.D. Power and Associates 2002 North America Hotel Guest Satisfaction Study(SM) was based on a national sample of 12,840 individual evaluations from a national representative sample of business and leisure hotel guests. Fifty- two hotel chains in six market segments are included in the study. 52 percent of guests within the luxury segment report that they visited a hotel for leisure purposes, staying an average of 1.85 nights.

With a history spanning four decades and a portfolio that now extends around the world, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts is the world's leading operator of luxury hotels, currently managing 55 properties in 25 countries. This year, the company has opened Four Seasons Hotel Shanghai and Four Seasons Resort Sharm el Sheikh, in Egypt, with three more hotels slated to open by year's end. Four Seasons continues to expand, with over 20 projects in development stages in choice locations around the world. Four Seasons has claimed first position on many prestigious lists; recent honours include top ranking with AAA Five Diamond awards (receiving more than other any hotel company for the 21st consecutive year), and the top rankings in the most recent Zagat Survey (ranked as "Top Hotel Chain in the U.S." and "Top Hotel Chain" internationally). Information on the company and its 41 years of achievement in the hospitality industry can be accessed through the Four Seasons Web site at http://www.fourseasons.com/.