For the second consecutive year, Céline Bodo of Four Seasons Hotel George V Paris has won the David Campbell Trophy, presented by the Association of the Front Desk Managers to the national winner of Receptionist of the Year competition.
"Through the opening of W Paris - Opéra, fashionistas and global jetsetters can now be on the runway with W from New York to London and Paris. Unique lifestyle programming within a cutting-edge designed environment will bring a new and distinctive experience to Paris and the Parisians alike."
Accor recently decided to assess its environmental impact 15 years after it took a stand and started taking concrete action to embrace sustainable development. This Group started working on gauging its environmental footprint at the end of 2010, to gather a comprehensive corpus of reliable facts in order to step up its strategy on that front. This study is in a class of its own, and stretches beyond measuring greenhouse-gas emissions to encompass energy and water consumption, water pollution and waste generation throughout lifecycles in the Group.
The room, named Room 3120 at Novotel Paris Vaugirard Montparnasse, showcases the latest in cutting-edge technology and innovative design, with Novotel and Microsoft working closely together to create the revolutionary room that allows guests to sample the ultimate in hi-tech hotel rooms. The visionary room will take guests on a technological journey with features including a Kinect interface, Sensorit mirror based on Kinect technology, a fitness interface and a Surface multimedia table.
Superior bandwidth, highest dependability and a pro-actively managed network – Hotel Fouquet's Barrière Paris is setting new standards in Wireless guest Internet services. Making use of Swisscom's hospitality expertise and Ruckus Wireless' smart Wi-Fi technologies, the hotel differentiates its services where today's guests are most sensitive: on their own personal devices such as their Smartphones, media tablets and laptops.
Leaders of the world's largest hotel groups, their operational teams, and their spouses will attend the ceremony on 21 November in Paris. The presence of the French Ministers of Education and Tourism bear testimony to the importance of this event that celebrates the initiatives taken by hotel companies on a national level. An exciting evening is on the menu thanks to the musical numbers provided by the Moulin Rouge and other artists.
After a sunny summer, growth continued in September, with the return of business guests. In regional France, upscale hotels (4 and 5 star) played their game well with a rise in rooms revenue of over +8%. Other categories also saw RevPAR progress, although to a lesser extent. In Paris, growth was the result of an increase in average rates, only, with the 3 star category even posting slightly lower occupancy. However, results remain satisfactory.
Accor announces the sale of seven Suite Novotel hotels in France for €77 million, as part of its asset-light strategy. Representing a total of 930 rooms, the hotels will be leased back under variable-rent contracts. The transaction will be carried out before the end of 2011 with a consortium of leading French institutional investors through a property investment fund (OPCI) managed by La Française REM and Atream as asset manager. It includes an €8.7 million renovation program, of which €4.7 million will be financed by the buyer.
Samuel Shih is appointed Chairman and Chief Operating Officer for Accor Greater China, from October, 2011. He will report directly to Michael Issenberg, Chief Operating Officer of Accor Asia Pacific. Samuel Shih is a graduate of the University of British Columbia, Canada and holds an MBA from the University of Macau. He started his career with PepsiCo Inc. before joining Red Bull as Managing Director for Asia Pacific. Samuel Shih will be responsible for Accor’s operations in Greater China (including Hong Kong, Macau and Taipei) where the group currently operates 107 hotels and has plans to quadruple its network by 2015.
Mr Gaymer-Jones joined the Group in 2007 as Chief Operating Officer Sofitel Worldwide after holding a variety of senior operational positions, notably with Marriott International. He has more than 35 years of experience in the luxury international hotel industry, having previously served in top positions for Marriott International and other leading global hotel companies across nine countries and three continents. After graduating from Hotel School in the United Kingdom, Mr Gaymer-Jones went on to develop his career starting in food and beverage at hotels and resorts in Switzerland, The Bahamas and Bermuda before joining Marriott International in the United States, Middle East and Europe.
The beginning of summer saw the French hotel industry continuing to post solid growth, with luxury hotels recording the best results. The large-scale events, the Paris Air Show and Vinexpo, rendered June a great month for hotels in Paris and Bordeaux, notably. The midscale segment posted more moderate – although satisfactory – results. In comparison with June 2010, a number of destinations (including Bordeaux, Cannes and Nancy) stood out, recording double digit RevPAR growth. Overall, the progressive return to an upswing in the hotel cycle can be confirmed by June's good performances. As usual, budget hotels posted more modest results, although growth was regular. However, is this growth likely to slow down due to July's unfavourable weather conditions?
French catering group Sodexo has sealed a deal to buy gourmet caterer Lenotre from hotel group Accor for over 70 million euros ($99.4 million), the website of French daily Les Echos said on Thursday. Accor declined to comment while Sodexo could not be immediately reached for comment.
Shortage of available hotel stock in Paris is turning quality hotels in the French capital into trophy assets for international investment by private individuals and funds. This is likely to push the average value of rooms in the city's hotels, already the most expensive in the world, to a record €650,000 by 2015.
This article presents an overview of hotel performance for the Paris market from 2007, through the depths of the economic crisis, and into the beginning of the recovery in late 2010; we also provide our views on expected performance for the next three years. Finally, we briefly discuss the transactions market, values per room and new investors over the last year. From these various angles, the resilience of the Parisian market and its bright prospects become evident.
I-CHLAR is a non profit-making event as it is organized by educational institutions in hospitality, leisure and tourism, sharing the same belief that academics and professionals should exchange and share their respective knowledge and put together complementary and relevant competences needed to face the future challenges of the hospitality, leisure and tourism industry.
Barbie was never exactly slumming it. From the Dream House to the Corvette, to the Mattel-inspired designer clothes, shoes, jewelry and handbags, Barbie has it all. Even after 50 years, Barbie still has a hot guy who, despite her cute friends and brief stint with the The Rockers, has remained completely devoted to her (although some of us still have our suspicions of Ken, but that's not the point). And as if that wasn't enough, now Barbie has her own suite at the Hotel Plaza Athenee in Paris.
Ariane Systems, the world leader in self-service check-in/out technology for the hospitality industry and the creator of the revolutionary Allegro Online/Mobile/Kiosk solution, has been selected as one of just 25 companies to represent France at the upcoming 2011 European Business Awards, sponsored by HSBC. The European Business Awards is dedicated to raising the visibility and progress of companies that excel in delivering innovation and successful commercial results while acting in a socially responsible manner.
After two encouraging months or improved activity, March was rather inconsistent, with the majority of French hotels experiencing a more tricky situation. The staggering of the school holiday periods in regional France appeared to have strongly impacted hotel performance. This downward trend should be put in perspective, however, since Paris, the Côte d'Azur and several regional towns escaped the gloom. Avignon and Strasburg, for instance, posted double digit growth in some segments. In spite of the downturn in March, year-to-date first trimester results are up on last year in the majority of destinations.
France granted a few top hotels the right to call themselves a "palace" on Thursday, a label which distinguishes them from rivals and is designed to boost the country's profile as a luxury destination. The eight winners of the accolade include Paris hotels Meurice and Plaza-Athenee, both owned by the Sultan of Brunei, as well as the Bristol hotel, owned by Germany's Oetker family.
RevPAR in March suffered a slight decrease despite strong positive from last Spring until January and February 2011. It falls victim to a series of circumstantial events.Upscale sector takes most of the credit for the entire quarter's upward growth with an overall rise of 5% in the RevPAR.Exact consequences of the world's geological and political troubles are still hazy whilst France benefits from its clear and privileged outlook in 2011.