With brands growing ever more dominant in the European hotel market, we talk to hotel management expert Hugh Taylor from Michels & Taylor about creating a hotel brand contract which lasts.
The wait is over! In June 2014, the Neighborhood-Lifestyle brand, pentahotels, opened their new hotel in Derby, the most centrally located city in the UK. With this opening, the pentahotels group adds a fifth hotel to its portfolio in the United Kingdom.
The first half of this year has been largely uneventful compared to the last 13 six-month periods we have been monitoring in EMEA. Aside from unrest in Ukraine, there have been no new major conflicts. As a result, economic recovery is beginning to take hold across the region and certain markets are booming in terms of new development and hotel performance levels.
Skyscanner’s appeal on the Competition and Markets Authority’s decision to cut short an investigation of Online Travel Agencies (OTAs)’ hotel pricing practices could lead to a rebalancing of the hotel-OTA relationship.
The leading event for the independent hotel owner operator in the UK will take place on the 15th & 16th October at the Hilton Deansgate Hotel, Manchester. The day and a half event will be opened by Alex Polizzi in a key note speech followed by a Q&A session on the afternoon of Wednesday 16th October.
In association with three partners, the Oxford School of Hospitality Management at Oxford Brookes University has secured £250,000 from the European Commission to undertake a project focused on combatting human trafficking in the hospitality and tourism industries. The principal investigator will be Professor Alex Paraskevas of the University of West London, who will be working with Professor Simonetta Manfredi and Dr Maureen Brookes of Oxford Brookes University, as well as colleagues from Lapland University of Applied Sciences and the Ratiu Centre for Democracy in Romania.
Belmond has announced the appointment of Jean-Baptiste Laglace as General Manager for UK luxury day train, Belmond British Pullman. Jean-Baptiste Laglace re-joins Belmond's Trains & River Cruises following a year as Regional Food and Beverage Director in Peru; responsible for the food and beverage in the company’s five hotels and Belmond Hiram Bingham train. Prior to that Jean Baptiste held the position of Train Manager on board the company’s iconic Venice Simplon-Orient-Express. Prior to joining Belmond, Jean-Baptiste studied Hotel Management in Switzerland and has worked at some of the world’s most celebrated hotels overseeing Food and Beverage in Morocco, Japan, Hong Kong, France and the USA. Originally from Bordeaux, France, Jean-Baptiste is fluent in four languages and is a certified scuba diver, as well as being an ex-competitive snowboarder. Now living in London with his fiancé and their black pug, Elvis.
Whilst London's hotel profitability fell for the second consecutive month in June, the UK Provinces continued to show year-on-year positive movement for gross operating profit per available room (GOPPAR) and in particular, East Midlands' hoteliers experienced a 3.3% growth in this metric, according to the latest data from HotStats.
The inspired luxury of Conrad Hotels & Resorts is due to arrive in Westminster, central London, following a franchise agreement with Supreme Hotels LLP. The 256 guest room hotel will join the Hilton Worldwide portfolio of 23 existing Conrad hotels and resorts worldwide, including Dublin, Dubai, Istanbul, and Portugal. Conrad London Westminster, located between Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace, is expected to welcome guests beginning in September 2014.
David Levin, one of the UK's most distinguished hoteliers, was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the Oxford School of Hospitality Management (Oxford Brookes University) at a graduation ceremony on June 19th 2014. Levin is Proprietor of the Capital Group Ltd, which has a portfolio that includes the Capital and Levin Hotels, both in Knightsbridge; the London Bakery; and the Levin Winery in the Loire Valley in France. Over the years David Levin has nurtured the talents of many young professionals who have gone on to become some of the most influential players in UK hospitality.
Just eight months after opening in London's East end, the success of Qbic Hotel London City has led to an acceleration of its expansion plans, to include four new sites over the next two years, with a focus on the capital. The hotel's unique concept, paired with low out-lay costs, a strong business model and competitive return on investment, has fast tracked Qbic's projected growth plans beyond expectations.
Prior to this appointment, Greg was group sales and marketing director at the private investment holding company, TDA Capital. Greg brings to Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts an extensive international background with an emphasis on luxury sales and marketing. Having trained in the United States with Omni Hotels & Resorts, he then went onto specialise in the luxury hospitality sector in London, where he has remained for the past 20 years. During his career, Greg has also held senior positions at Westin Hotels & Resort, Rafael Hotels, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group and the von Essen Hotel Collection.
Leonardo Worldwide Corporation today announced an expanded agreement with Small Luxury Hotels of the World™ (SLH) for technology solutions to enhance the display of their hotels' visual content for its 520+ member hotels. Under the expanded agreement, SLH will take advantage of additional features for its VScape Digital Asset Management System to further improve efficiency of media management and will adopt Leonardo's Multi-Media Display Galleries to offer enhanced visual experiences on the SLH.com website.
The association is dedicated to championing the vibrant Manchester hotel scene and gives hotel managers a voice on important issues such as marketing and tourism activities.
Tripadvisor's Tripconnect is the first real challenger to Booking.com and is the first step to get hoteliers back in control of their online distribution channel. Now that the Tripconnect platform has had time to establish itself after a gradual roll-out during 2013, let me explain how I came to this conclusion.NB: This is a viewpoint from Pedro Colaco, president and CEO of GuestCentric.
Demand for serviced apartments is growing faster than new supply in many European markets, as an increasingly mobile workforce drives business travel and relocation activity.
Belmond Ltd. (NYSE: OEH, belmond.com ("Belmond" or the "Company"), owners, part-owners or managers of 45 luxury hotel, restaurant, tourist train and river cruise properties operating in 22 countries, today announced that it has signed a management agreement with Cadogan Estates Limited to operate The Cadogan, a 64-key hotel on Sloane Street in the heart of Chelsea, London, as part of the Company's collection of luxury hotels and travel experiences.
A highly experienced IT solutions delivery company – specially designed to take the fear out of IT systems management in the hospitality and leisure industry through a clearly defined, seamless and independent bespoke approach to solving client IT challenges – has been officially launched across the UK and overseas to all sizes of operation.
Hospitality software provider Guestline has raised over £1000 for local Shropshire charity, Severn Hospice, by participating in a number of fundraising events, including a Dragon Boat Race.
With more than 10 years of industry experience in the Serviced and Corporate Housing sectors, David Sassoon joins the BridgeStreet team as an account director for EMEA. Armed with a wealth of experience in the London property, hospitality and short-let industries, David has worked with a number of multinational corporate clients at the highest level and has an in depth understanding of corporate relocations and short term housing requirements. David is an instrumental point of contact for key clients in providing effective solutions to national and global accommodation needs.