Swire Hotels is set to unveil its second Hong Kong hotel and its third property worldwide in January 2010 with the opening of a lifestyle business hotel, EAST. EAST is located at Island East, incorporating a new landmark development by Swire, One Island East, in Quarry Bay. The location at one of the most attractive out-of-Central business addresses in Hong Kong, a new home to over 300 multinationals including some of the most prestigious Fortune 500 corporations, makes it ideal for business travellers.

The St. Regis San Francisco is pleased to announce that General Manager Antoinette (Toni) Knorr has been selected as the 2009 recipient of the prestigious Peter Goldman Award of Excellence from a pool of hundreds of San Francisco hoteliers. Presented by the Hotel Council of San Francisco, the award is given annually to an outstanding leader in the hospitality industry. The award was presented to Knorr at the Goldman Award Luncheon yesterday at The Ritz-Carlton, San Francisco.

en the team behind the NYLO brand met during the earliest stages of development, one of the largest areas of focus was what Christopher Jones, the company’s senior vice president of development and construction, called the green dilemma. It wasn’t enough to just make an environmentally sustainable hotel, he said. The development team had to create a product that balanced ambitious green initiatives with capital costs, operating costs, the design and look of each property, and ultimately, “what the customer is looking for.”

A Review of the Impact of SARS on the Canadian Lodging Market as a Model for Managing through the Swine Flu Scare. As of the writing of this article, the Swine Flu pandemic was only a few weeks old. Yet it is clear that this event is already having a significant impact on the travel industry. In the first days following the World Health Organization’s (WHO) identification of the virus on April 24th, many travel companies – including airlines, cruise companies and hotels – saw decreases in their share prices. And while the WHO has yet to issue any travel restrictions or advisories, some governments have issued statements advising that citizens not travel to affected areas.

In this article, we present an overview of the Kuwait hotel market. We address changes in macroeconomic factors, tourism visitation and hotel performance. From historical trends and our understanding of current developments and government initiatives, we present our opinions on the Kuwait market’s outlook and opportunities. The State of Kuwait (whose name is an Arabic diminutive for ‘fortress built near water’) is a sovereign Arab emirate covering an area of 17,818 km² on the coast of the Persian Gulf. Neighbouring countries include Saudi Arabia to the south and Iraq to the north and west. In 2007, Kuwait had approximately 3,400,000 inhabitants. Most of the country’s population is concentrated around the capital, Kuwait City, and in 2008 roughly 60% of the population were expatriates. The population is expected to exceed 4 million by 2010 and to double to roughly 7 million by 2030.

Compared to the developed nations’ hospitality sector, it looks like the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region’s hotel industry is riding out the recession and can look forward to resumed growth within two years. Reflecting cautious optimism, Arabian Hotel Investment Conference (AHIC) co-organizer Jonathan Worsley said while not ignoring the challenges of the current situation of falling revenues and occupancies, executives looked forward to a renewed momentum as consumer and investor confidence recover over the next 18 months.

As we continue to look for ways to overcome our economic challenges, we need to consider all mediums that hotel shoppers are turning to. Within the most effective distribution channel, the Internet, comparison shopping engines (CSEs) are emerging. CSEs are basically search engine sites that allow visitors to shop for and compare products and services, including hotels. These sites rank hotels based on price, location and consumer reviews, pulling room prices from hundreds of other data points across the Internet.

The first Best Western Atrea hotel, an upper midscale prototype designed to attract business travelers, opened its doors in San Antonio in late April, the World’s Largest Hotel Chain® announced today. The 77-room Best Western Atrea Hotel and Suites, located less than a mile from the Lackland Air Force Base, includes more than 1,000 square feet of meeting space, an indoor pool and spa, business center and fitness center. Guests receive free high-speed internet access and a complimentary hot breakfast buffet.

With Memorial Day as the kickoff to the summer season, more Americans are taking some time to relax and refresh with the economy only slightly impacting their summer travel plans, according to a new study released today by Deloitte. Nearly one-third (29 percent) of respondents are taking vacations this Memorial Day weekend. This is up slightly from the 24 percent who said they took a Memorial Day vacation last year.

The Canadian hotel industry posted decreases in all three key performance measurements during the week of 3-9 May, according to data from STR. In year-over-year measurements, the industry’s occupancy fell 12.6 percent to end the week at 59.4 percent. Average daily rate dropped 7.3 percent to finish the week at CAD$125.61. Revenue per available room for the week decreased 19.1 percent to finish at CAD$74.61.

Economic research firm e-forecasting.com in conjunction with Smith Travel Research announced that following a decline of 3.7 percent in March, HIP went down 1.1 percent in April. HIP, the Hotel Industry's Pulse index, is a composite indicator that gauges business activity in the U.S. hotel industry in real-time. The latest decrease brought the index to a reading of 84.2. The index was set to equal 100 in 2000.

The U.S. hotel industry posted declines in all three key performance measurements during the week of 3-9 May 2009, according to data from STR. In year-over-year measurements, the industry’s occupancy fell 14.0 percent to end the week at 53.6 percent. Average daily rate dropped 9.8 percent to finish the week at US$97.58. Revenue per available room for the week decreased 22.4 percent to finish at US$52.32. Of the Top 25 Markets, Nashville, Tennessee, was the only market to report a increase in any of the three key performance measurements, increasing in ADR 0.3 percent to US$101.66.

The good news is that when faced with lower levels of business in 2008, U.S. hotel managers cut operating costs by 0.3 percent. Unfortunately, total hotel revenues dropped 1.3 percent, resulting in a 3.8 percent decline in net operating income for the average U.S. hotel according to findings released today by PKF Hospitality Research (PKF-HR) in its 2009 edition of Trends® in the Hotel Industry. Given the depth and breadth of the continuing economic downturn, further expense cuts will not be enough to offset the anticipated declines in revenue in 2009.

There was a time not too long ago that the prospect of a "green" hotel stay conjured up visceral images of toilet paper with the consistency of burlap and ambient lighting provided via the torch of indigenous tribesmen. As the quality of green supplies has improved and the understanding of sustainable practices has widened, clearly a "green" hotel stay is no longer synonymous with sacrifice. (In fact, you now need to pay extra for the two "authentic experiences" described above. Burlap doesn't grow on trees, you know.)

Airports throughout the world strive to provide the best level of service and facilities that enable them to stand out in an increasingly competitive environment. They are a ‘gateway’ and in many cases a major employer, offering influential infrastructure that ultimately benefits (and in some cases drives and sustains) long term local and national economic growth. The age of aviation has changed forever driven by the advent of low cost carriers and globalisation. The same can be said of airports that have evolved from merely being a port to a destination (as they now market themselves), and competition for attracting major carriers (and therefore the ability to serve more destinations) increases.

Americans are expected to take 322 million domestic leisure person-trips during June, July and August 2009, according to the annual summer travel forecast by the U.S. Travel Association. Although a decline of 2.2 percent from summer 2008, leisure travel remains resilient in the current economic climate. Consumers are expected to take an average of two trips this summer, stay approximately seven nights away from home and spend more than $900 on their longest summer trip.

On July 7, 2009, the Americas Lodging Investment Summit (ALIS) will host the first ALIS Summer Update, a half-day event presenting a mid-year snapshot of the hotel industry’s most important investment topics. Three of the most popular and timely sessions from the 2009 January ALIS event will be brought back to inform delegates about the current state of the industry and the outlook for the investment community, followed by a cocktail/networking reception. Held at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles, California, the ALIS Summer Update will also be available to attend via live webcast.

Trying to maximize your hotel’s revenue without measuring and forecasting the total value of each guest to your entire property is like trying to take a photograph with the lens half covered – you are not seeing the whole picture. That is the judgment of a growing number of revenue management professionals who are using technology to measure Total Customer Value and employing it to set room rates and allocate availability to maximize revenue across a multiple profit-center enterprise.

In recognition of Asian American hoteliers and their contribution to the growth of the U.S. hotel industry, Carlson Hotels Worldwide presented a $50,000 donation to the Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA) at the organization’s annual convention held last month in Washington, D.C.

The American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute (EI) has published the seventh edition of the textbook “Planning and Control for Food and Beverage Operations.” Written by Jack D. Ninemeier, Ph.D., CHA, CFBE, CHE, a professor at The School of Hospitality Business, Michigan State University, this book presents the most up-to-date control processes used by professionals to reduce costs at every stage of food and beverage operations.