Hotel profitability in London has been challenged in recent years due to the combination of new supply and the macroeconomic environment, according to a report from STR Global and Whitebridge Hospitality that analyzes the true state of profitability in the hotel sector in London and the Regional U.K. since 2000, with data based on two consistent samples of hotels (totalling more than 31,000 rooms).
As we move closer to Christmas and the start of London’s big Olympics year, there are many new developments in the UK capital’s boutique sector – things to look forward to and offers to check out. We summarise what’s hot in the London boutique hotel scene below in our monthly round-up. The five-star Egerton House Hotel plans to make guests feel even more at home this Christmas with complimentary refreshments in the drawing room.
The winners of the 2011 'Career Investment Development Scholarships' of HOSPA – the new name for BAHA, the UK's leading educational organisation for hospitality professionals involved in financial management, revenue management and IT – were announced last week at HOSPA's Annual Conference: HOSPACE 2011, held on Thursday 24 November at the Sofitel Hotel, London Heathrow at Terminal 5.
This blog has been campaigning intensely for free WiFi at hotels for quite a while. We’ve been supported by a network of leading travel bloggers and tweeters across the world including the likes of Velvet Escape, Top Travel Content Europe, Elliott.org, Travel Rants and many others. The hostility to hotel WiFi charges across the blogosphere is almost universal and yet many hoteliers choose to ignore it, while hypocritically pretending they’re “in” on Twitter and Facebook. They’re acting like embarassing dads – inappropriately dressed and showing off dated moves in a club they don’t belong in. Because charging guests extra for WiFi at expensive hotels goes against the whole grain of how people live today.
Despite continued growth in achieved average room rate, hotels in London suffered a 0.7% decline in Revenue per Available Room (RevPAR) this month as yearon-year room occupancy levels dropped by 2.4 percentage points, according to the latest HotStats survey of approximately 550 full-service hotels across the UK by TRI Hospitality Consulting. In addition to the decline in rooms revenue, hotels in London endured unfamiliar declines across all ancillary departments, including a 7.9% drop in food and beverage revenue to £30.23 per available room and a 4.6% decline in meeting room hire revenue to £7.64 per available room.
Morgans Hotel Group Co. (NASDAQ: MHGC) ("Morgans" or the "Company"), the operator and 50% owner of the London joint venture that owns Sanderson and St Martins Lane, today announced that the joint venture partners have closed on the sale of the Sanderson and St Martins Lane hotels to Capital Hill Hotels Limited, a Middle Eastern investor with other global hotel holdings. The sale price for the two hotels is 192 million pounds Sterling, or approximately $300 million, and represents a value of approximately 542,000 pounds, or $847,000, per room.
'New Approaches to a Bright Future?' is the title of the one-day HOSPACE 2011 Conference & Exhibition – to be held on Thursday, 24 November 2011 at the Sofitel Hotel, London Heathrow at Terminal 5
Peter Lloyd has been appointed executive chef W London, which includes running the hotel's restaurant Spice Market. He replaces Tim Tolley, the US-born executive chef who left just weeks after the hotel opened following a spate of negative reviews. Lloyd will oversee all aspects of the hotel's food offering, working with New York-based chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten, who devised the Spice market concept. After training at the Dorchester hotel, Lloyd went on to work at Suka, the Malaysian restaurant at the Sanderson hotel, and at Bank restaurant and bar. "The pairing of Spice Market with the W brand has been one of the most exciting launches on the London hotel and restaurant scene this year," said Lloyd. "It is a privilege to be involved at such a senior level." Vongerichten with his company, Culinary Concepts, operates four Spice Market restaurants - in Atlanta, New York and Doha, as well as London.
W London has announced two major appointments following the loss of its general manager and executive chef within eight months of the opening of the 192-bedroom hotel in Leicester Square.
Jonathan Sheard will be responsible for leading MGallery and Mercure hotels including subsideries, managed hotels and franchisees. Sheard joined Accor in 1992 as general manager of Novotel Sheffield and later became director of operations for Mercure. MGallery, Accor’s upscale brand, launched in the UK last month with the inauguration of St Ermin’s Hotel in St James. The collection will grow to over 150 sites by late 2015. Mid-market brand Mercure has more than doubled its UK footprint this year with 70 hotels.
A comprehensive programme of 18 ‘Interactive Educational Workshops’ – on topical subjects ranging from ‘Emerging technologies to reduce Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)’; ‘Exploring your online competitive advantages’; and ‘Transforming businesses with e-invoicing and e-procurement’, to ‘Payment Card Identity (PCI): cutting through the confusion’ and ‘Hosted Solutions: the way forward?’ – will make putting ‘theory into practice’ the order of the afternoon for hospitality finance, revenue management and IT professionals at HOSPACE 2011.
Located on London's Park Lane and originally built in the 1920s, Grosvenor House Apartments by Jumeirah Living has undergone a complete internal rebuild and refurbishment. Highly stylised and contemporary in design, the property's 133 apartments range from studios through to five-bedroom penthouses, providing the largest luxury serviced accommodation in London.
Hotels could potentially face fines of up to £20,000 if they are found guilty of selling tickets to events at the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympic Games. Police officers from Operation Podium - a dedicated unit set up by the Metropolitan Police to tackle ticket touts and Olympic related fraud - has been liaising closely with hotels throughout London to ensure they are fully aware of the guidelines relating to the sale of tickets.
The World Tourism Awards, celebrating its 14th Anniversary, are co-sponsored by American Express, Corinthia Hotels, International Herald Tribune and Reed Travel Exhibitions. Inaugurated in 1997, the World Tourism Award was established to recognise "the extraordinary initiatives by individuals, companies, organisations, destinations and attractions for outstanding accomplishments in the travel industry".
TripAdvisor(R), the world's largest travel website, is expanding its customer care division with the appointment of Sue Worth in the newly created position of Customer Care Manager, EMEA and the launch of a dedicated customer support number for registered owners and managers on TripAdvisor*.
With the hospitality industry being one of the largest targets of data breaches, credit card security discussions are heating up all over the world, including at the European Hospitality Technology Educational Conference (EHTEC). The conference, EHTEC@HOSPACE, produced by Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP®), is November 25, 2011 at Sofitel London Heathrow in London.
HVS has been announced as Management Consultant of the Year at the International Hotel Investment Forum (IHIF) Awards, held at a dinner at London's Hilton Metropole Hotel on Tuesday evening, 1 November 2011.The awards celebrate the achievers in the European hotel investment community and were voted for by several thousand senior figures in the European hotel industry following a shortlist drawn up by two judging committees.
A full agenda of UNWTO activities will be taking place at this year’s World Travel Market (WTM), ranging from the annual Ministers’ Summit to a seminar on the future of tourism in the Middle East and North Africa (London, United Kingdom, 7-10 October 2011).
Agilysys, an international provider of retail and hospitality technology, has announced a new executive appointment. Matthew Prosser has joined the company in the role of Head of Strategic Sales – EMEA.
Dutch-based company Hotels Online, provider of LodgeGate Hotel Management System (PMS), has selected RTConnect, the premium XML interface, for electronic rate and inventory distribution as well as reservations delivery. RateTiger recently completed the 2-way XML connection integration with LodgeGate and its 150+ hoteliers are currently adopting the technology to better manage sales. Over 30 properties will soon be using the enhanced service and benefit from a two-way connection to their electronic distribution network. Customers of the PMS will be able to automatically maximize their online presence while avoiding over-booking through an easy-to-use interface.