Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., owner of the luxury St. Regis and W brands, said fourth- quarter profit dropped after a cash payment from a lawsuit settlement boosted year-earlier earnings. Net income fell to $167 million, or 85 cents a share, from $339 million, or $1.78, a year earlier, the Stamford, Connecticut-based company said in a statement today. The year- earlier results include...

The consortium is planning to invest more than $100 million in an extensive renovation of the overall property while repositioning it as one of the premier hotel and condo destinations in Miami Beach. The 334-room hotel will be renamed The Perry South Beach until it is re-launched in late 2013 with a new brand after an extensive renovation. The 255 luxury residential condominiums will also be im...

France's Accor said on Wednesday it was no longer in the running to buy the prestige hotels of Groupe du Louvre, a unit of U.S. investment group Starwood Capital. Accor's offer, which it made together with Franco-Dutch property group Unibail-Rodamco, "was not retained", an Accor spokeswoman told Reuters, without giving further details.

FelCor Lodging Trust Incorporated (NYSE: FCH) today announced the acquisition of the landmark Knickerbocker Hotel in midtown Manhattan, New York, for $115 million. Consistent with its portfolio repositioning strategy, the company also announced it is marketing 16 non-strategic hotels. FelCor will apply the sale proceeds to strengthen its balance sheet and reduce leverage.

After two strong rebound years, the volume of hotel transactions in New York reached an all-time record high in 2011. Eighteen transactions, comprising nearly $3.5 billion in assets traded, representing a 150 percent increase over 2010 volume, according to preliminary numbers from Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels' Hotel Intelligence New York report. Approximately 50 percent of the city's acquisition vol...

In a global study released today at the World Economic Forum, it was revealed that international travel is considered even more important than the Internet, TV/movies, or political diplomacy at stimulating the economy and breaking down cultural barriers. The independent study was conducted by Penn Schoen Berland on behalf of Marriott International (NYSE: MAR) and included the views of 1,100 globa...

The Olympic City of London served as host to Worldhotels' 2012 Annual Conference, which rang in a new year for nearly 400 independent hoteliers, staff and hotel specialists from all over the world. The conference was themed 'Stronger, Faster, Higher' and held at the Royal Garden Hotel, which provided their conference and meeting space as well as 350 of their rooms exclusively for the event.

The Registry Collection® program, the world's largest luxury exchange program and part of the Wyndham Worldwide (NYSE: WYN) family of brands, is celebrating 10 years of sending members on luxury vacations around the world in 2012. To mark this special milestone, The Registry Collection program's U.S and Canada offices announced a member giveaway for a chance to win a vacation as part of a larger ...

While a business-led economic recovery has helped lift U.S. hotel occupancy rates, development is still a soft spot as tight credit conditions have limited new-hotel builds. Still, there is a growing sense that the hotel sector has momentum and performance will continue to improve. "People are expecting 2012 to be a pretty positive year, with solid performance by the industry in terms of the dema...

Currently, Grupo Solare manages 7 hotels in Sao Luis, in the budget (Soft Inn), economy (Expresso XXI), and midscale (Solare Hoteis and Suites) categories, totaling 858 rooms. The Group also manages the luxury hotel Gran Solare Lencois Resort, with 242 rooms, which located at the entry gate of the Lencois Maranhenses National Park, in the city of Barreirinhas.