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 hotel industry, as travelers cut way back on spendingAt issue is the very definition of luxury. The real estate investors who own the hotel say Four Seasons, which manages the property, is spending too much money keeping up appearances. They want to eject the fancy hotelier and bring in an operator they control.

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.

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.

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In our previous article, we introduced the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, discussing its basic provisions, its growing importance as a law enforcement tool by U.S. authorities, and its broad potential application to hotel industry vendors in the context of the government’s prosecution of York International, a global heating and air conditioning company. As we noted, the FCPA generally prohibits giving “anything of value” to a foreign official to acquire an unjustified benefit. The nature of the offence, and hence the penalty, is measured more by the amount of the benefit obtained than by the size of the payments.

In this time of global uncertainty, there is a hesitancy to spend capital dollars without having a clear sense of the timing of the ROI (return on investment). That concern is reasonable, but it may also cause some hoteliers to delay needed updates or improvements at a time when lower occupancy allows for both availability of space and potentially lower costs from those providing the products or physical improvements. This delay could also allow new competitors to more quickly enter markets when the cycle does improve if existing hotels are not competitive or not meeting the current needs of evolving clientele.

Registration has opened for the 3rd annual Hospitality Investment Conference Africa (HICA) and this year promises to be more exciting and relevant than ever. “When we started planning the first HICA conference in 2006, it was because we recognised that people just did not realise how prosperous this industry is, or the opportunities it offers,” said Mmatšatši Marobe, CEO of the Tourism Business Council of South Africa which is again hosting the event, to be held in Sandton, Johannesburg, from November 4 – 6.

Will Truelove, of UBS, and Rod Petrik, of Stifel Nicolaus, take a look at travel and lodging stocks that might get a boost from the summer travel season.

Investors Sunday showed their anger over the surprise merger between Dubai's Emaar Properties PJSC (EMAAR.DFM) and three struggling Dubai government-owned real estate companies. Shares in Emaar tumbled almost 10%, the sharpest decline since Nov. 18, as investors questioned how the developer will benefit from the deal that may create an entity with a vast land bank and 13.4 billion U.A.E. dirhams ($3.65 billion) of debt. "Investors are nervous," said Imam El Nour from Asayel Sales and Bonds, an Abu Dhabi-based brokerage firm. Emaar, the Middle East's largest developer, plans to merge with Dubai Properties LLC, Sama Dubai LLC and Tatweer LLC, units of Dubai Holding LLC, the conglomerate controlled by Dubai's ruler, the companies said in a joint statement Friday.

Forecasts from the May 2009 Hotel Market Forecast report from STR Global, the leading provider of market information to the world’s hotel industry, indicate that average daily rate declines during the next 24 months across Germany’s major cities will be the main cause of the industry’s sluggish performance. Just as positive recent data from Germany’s Ifo business climate index on the prospects for the German economy is tempered with on-going fears of further job losses, limited improvements in hotel occupancy during the next two years are offset by the rate declines. See the chart below. Even in those cities such as Hamburg and Munich where there are expectations of modest increases in occupancy of up to 2 percent and 3 percent in 2010, respectively, the forecasted decreases in room rate are 6 to7 percent.