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FEATURED ON HOSPITALITY NET

Starwood Capital And Golden Tulip Hospitality Sign A Binding Agreement
Starwood Capital Group Global L.P. "(STARWOOD") is pleased to announce the signature of a binding agreement for an affiliate to purchase Golden Tulip Hospitality BV’s Franchise business, its Development & Representation businesses, Joint Venture interests, and the brands, trademarks and intellectual property of Golden Tulip, Tulip Inn and its related brands. This binding agreement is subject to certain formalities being completed and is expected to result in a full closing of the transaction by July 27 2009.

U.S. Hotel performance for week ending 27 June 2009
The U.S. hotel industry posted declines in all three key performance measurements during the week of 21-27 June 2009, according to data from STR. In year-over-year measurements, the industry’s occupancy fell 8.7 percent to end the week at 65.4 percent. Average daily rate dropped 9.5 percent to finish the week at US$97.49. Revenue per available room for the week decreased 17.4 percent to finish at US$63.74.

Global Hyatt Corporation Changes Name to Hyatt Hotels Corporation
Global Hyatt Corporation today announced that the company has changed its name to Hyatt Hotels Corporation. Hyatt Hotels Corporation is the parent entity of companies that own, operate, manage and franchise hotel, resort, residential and vacation ownership properties under the brand names Hyatt®, Park Hyatt®, Andaz™, Grand Hyatt®, Hyatt Regency®, Hyatt Place®, Hyatt Summerfield Suites™ and Hyatt Vacation Club®.

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FEATURED COLUMN

Front Desk Hospitality Training Can Generate Future Business | By - Doug Kennedy
When it comes to creating positive first impressions, the job of front desk associate is arguably the most important of any hotel staffer. For guests booking online or via third parties, the front desk literally is their first impression. Even for those who have spoken with the reservations team by phone prior to arrival, their front desk arrival experience will set the tone for their entire stay. Guests who have a positive experience at check-in are certain to be more understanding later, if/when they have objections or complaints later during their stay. In other words if they have a good experience at the front desk, they will be much more forgiving later when a room service tray is delivered late, when the air conditioning breaks, or when a housekeeping request is overlooked.

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PHOTOS

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WHAT ELSE WAS NEW TODAY

Gay-themed hotel opens in Ybor City FL | tampabay.com
A medical clinic and surgery center that once served Ybor City's Cuban community has taken on a new life as a gay-oriented hotel and men's club. The Ybor Resort & Spa opened last month on Eighth Avenue in the heart of the GaYbor District. Owners Vince Pawlowski and Fred Sch...

Recession-fed tensions grow in luxury hotel industry | latimes.com
At the tranquil Four Seasons Resort Aviara north of San Diego, a heated struggle for control of the deluxe hotel's future is playing out in a rare public spat. The increasingly nasty tussle at the Carlsbad resort is indicative of tensions throughout the higher end of the h...

Japan: Love hotel business zooms despite downturn | cnn.com
Even in the midst of Japan's deepest economic recession since World War II, the country's love hotel industry is thriving. "I'd hate to use the term "recession-proof," but it's certainly proven very resilient over the last six to nine months," said Steve Mansfield, CEO of N...

Know where you want to go | By Hervé Houdré | hotelnewsnow.com
Whatever we do, whatever we plan, it’s always better to have a goal and set cornerstones to achieve it. Creating a sustainable development road map is essential to any business that’s serious about implementing such a strategy. It helps keep us on track and obliges us to strive to achieve and remain focused on the ultimate goals. A roadmap truly leads to operational commi...

Newest Expedia Travel Trendwatch Shows Some Travelers Planning to Extend Vacations This Summer
Expedia.com(R), the world's leading online travel site, today released the summer issue of the Expedia Travel Trendwatch(R). This issue of the Trendwatch(R) illustrates how industry dynamics have produced an abundance of values for travelers this summer in destinations arou...

Rezidor announces the Park Inn Ulysse Resort & Thalasso, Djerba/Tunisia
The Rezidor Hotel Group, one of the fastest growing hotel companies worldwide, announces the Park Inn Ulysse Resort & Thalasso, Djerba – the first Park Inn in Tunisia and Rezidor’s 25th property on the African continent. The hotel featuring 259 rooms is scheduled to open it...

HVS EMEA Hospitality Enews - Week Ending 3 july 2009
Hungary For A Hard Rock Hotel | Meridia Capital Cools Down With A Lot of Lolly | Rezidor’s Royal Visit To Moscow | A New Scandic Hotel For Oslo | Portugal's First Crowne Plaza | A Recipe For Perfection | A Hilton To Reside In Qatar | Park Hyatt Says Hello To Saudi Arabia And Hilton Opens A New Garden Inn | A Four Points By Sheraton For Mauritius | Southern Sun Shines On J...

Doubletree By Hilton Arrives In Qingdao, China
Hilton Hotels Corporation (Hilton) has officially opened the Doubletree by Hilton Qingdao/Chengyang in the Shandong Province of China. This opening brings the number of Doubletree by Hilton hotels in China to three, illustrating the growth strategy Hilton is targeting for...

Rezidor launches ‘The Rezidor learning network’
As part of its ‘Rezidor 5-STEP People Development Programme', The Rezidor Hotel Group is launching a group-wide "Rezidor Learning Network (RLN)", a unique Learning Management System based on a virtual electronic platform to deliver global training and education in new initi...

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BLOGS

Ranking cities - America's favorite
The San Francisco Examiner reports on a survey by Tripadvisor.com which states that "New York is America’s favorite city". Not entirely unexpectedly enough TA members voted the Big Apple as also the “Friendliest and Most Helpful” as well as the...

A Superstar? (Guest Blog)
  Rob Morrisson sent me this. It’s fun, it’s fabulous and it’s precious.   If you are in Sales (aren’t we all?) take a look, hotelsalessuperstar.com, well worth the visit,

Linking or sharing info on Twitter: Which do you prefer?
I’m trying a little experiment on Twitter. For the next week or so, I’ll be publishing excerpts from my blog posts as tweets using Tweetlater. The idea? To provide value and complement the myriad of links people (including myself) are dumping into Twitter. What do you think: do you like t...

Summer vacation in 2009: More family time - and less (pricey) golf?
The recession could help more families bond at the beach this summer. Sound like a stretch? Well, while I was speaking with Mike Chouri, the general manager of the 600-room Hilton Sandestin Beach Resort, for yesterday's post, he told me...

Hotel Revenue Management Simulation Program
In our seminars and consulting projects with hotels we have identified a clear need to work to better educate the people who take revenue management decisions in hotels. We have therefore implemented a revenue management simulation program. It allows us to teach revenue management in a r...

The making of a hotelier
The making of a hotelier As a boy, Giovanni Angelini spent three years with the Franciscan monks. In there, he learnt about a sense of belonging, discipline and humility. He spoke to Yeoh Siew Hoon at WIT*e – Inspiration & Mentoring about the important things in life and what every young ...

TARP Regulation Update
At our MeetDifferent conference in February, we began our fight to educate businesses, the public and government about the urgency to stop the uniformed media rhetoric plaguing our industry. Through c... Click to read more

Tweet This: Twitter Trademarks Tweets ™
Credit One of the more interesting, albeit not necessarily press-stopping, stories making the rounds in the blogosphere and Twitterverse currently is sure to make you scratch your head or raise your eyebrow in bewilderment. Twitter officially applied to trademark “Tweet” on April 16, 2009...

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TOP 10 ARTICLES - LAST WEEK

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