European business travellers escape the stresses of working away from home by unwinding with comedies and animated movies, according to data analysis by hotel technology solutions provider, Quadriga. Madagascar Escape 2 Africa (Dreamworks Animation/Paramount) was the most watched movie by guests in 2009, with other comedies, including Yes Man (Warner Bros), The Hangover (Warner Bros) and Tropic Thunder (Paramount/Dreamworks), also a popular choice.
eRevMax International announced today that it has completed integration with Gubse AG. The integration will help hoteliers to streamline distribution and revenue management processes. From now on subscribing hotels can consolidate all availability and reservation data updates from multiple online sales channels into the Sihot Property Management System (PMS).
“Our research indicates that there is a close relationship between movements in rooms revenue performance and total revenue performance for both UK provincial and London hotels. However, our analysis also indicates that London hoteliers have the ability to adjust fixed costs more quickly in response to changes in revenue performance, whereas provincial hotels have been less able to mitigate falls in revenue with cost reduction” said Jonathan Langston, managing director, TRI Hospitality Consulting.
Confidence amongst hotel general managers suffered a slight setback in Q1 2010 as the new year produced a mixed outlook across the UK. Our Q1 2010 Confidence Monitor results revealed a small increase in the proportion of negative respondents at the expense of positive respondents compared with Q4 2009, with a 3.5% increase in the number of general managers surveyed who were not certain about what the next three months would bring.
This year’s Master Innholders’s General Managers’ Conference was held on the 18th and 19th January at the Jumeirah Carlton Tower in London.It was also filmed and webcast live over the internet. Here you can watch the keynote speeches from both days.
Amanresorts is known for secluded luxury, and the hotelier has tried to replicate that feeling here in both form and function, but this time as an urban oasis. Guests leave the rich Edwardian lobby to travel down two levels to a decidedly more modern scene, peppered with tranquil Asian influences. The small relaxation room where guests sip fresh ginger or lemon-grass tea is furnished in gold and white fabrics, with large black floor tiles. The five treatment rooms are neutrally serene with carved wooden sliding doors and white wicker chairs, and each has its own shower and changing area.
Erlend Heiberg, one of the UK’s leading names in Hospitality and Real Estate consulting has been named as principle of the UK office of International Hospitality and Leisure consulting firm, Horwath HTL. Erlend has over 18 years’ experience working in the industry and is a member of the Royal institute of Chartered Surveyors. Previously Erlend worked for the InterContinental Hotels Group before holding senior positions at CB Richard Ellis Hotels and Jones Lang La Salle Hotels in Dubai, where he was initially Senior Vice President Middle East and North Africa, before joining the London team as Senior Vice President of CEE and Pan EMEA. The Horwath HTL UK office is a full service organisation, offering strategic hospitality and leisure advice, real estate investment and development services to operators, private investors, institutional groups and real estate developers.
A cashflow crisis that threatened the financial security of the Rocco Forte Collection, the luxury hotel group owned by Sir Rocco Forte, has been averted after HBOS, part of Lloyds Banking Group, agreed to extend a £300 million loan pending a long-term solution, The Times has learnt. It is understood that the hotelier had to hold urgent talks with the bank last year after the downturn in trade put its joint venture with HBOS, encompassing seven of its thirteen hotels, including Brown’s, its London flagship, in breach of financial covenants.
Set apart from the hubbub of Newquay on its own rugged promontory overlooking Cornwall’s Fistral beach – the UK’s surfing capital – The Headland, with 96 bedrooms and 39 cottages, exudes a blend of Victorian grandeur and casual luxury. A classic icon of the stunning coastline on which it stands, this four-star hotel is a family-run establishment with charming staff who will make you feel like a very special guest.
Guestline Ltd, a leading supplier of software solutions to the hotel industry, is pleased to announce that The Spires Serviced Suites have selected Rezlynx property management system (PMS) and Roomlynx channel manager for its three properties located in Aberdeen, Glasgow and Birmingham.
TripAdvisor users shun London hotels in pollNo hotel in the capital makes it into the travel website's user survey of the UK's top 25 places to stay. As it prepares to host the Olympics, London has suffered an embarrassing reverse in the world's most democratic hotel awards. Not a single place in the capital makes it into the UK's top 25 places to stay, compiled on the basis of millions of speak-as-you-find entries on the TripAdvisor website.
W Hotels Worldwide has announced the appointment of Kevin Rockey as general manger of W London-Leicester Square, the contemporary lifestyle branded hotel operated by Starwood Hotels & Resorts. Rockey joins the 192-bedroom hotel from the Morgans Hotel Group where for the past 10 years he has held several positions including hotel manager at the Sanderson hotel and most recently as hotel manager at St Martins Lane, London. “Kevin’s London know-how and design hotel experience will be invaluable to us for W to really make its mark in London when we debut this summer,” said Robyn Pratt, brand leader for W hotels in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. “As we continue to transform W into a global powerhouse, with openings in international ‘it’ locations like London, we need talent like Kevin who share in the brand’s and the destination's passion for fashion, design and entertainment.”
The recent freeze across the U.K. brought with it contrasting fortunes for hotel operators. Daily data from STR Global, the leading provider of market data to the world’s hotel industry, showed recent adverse weather and road conditions reduced people’s desire to travel locally. Guests were forced either to cancel their plans to travel or to stay in hotels as airports were closed.
In our first article in this two-part feature we highlighted some key similarities between these fiercely-competitive budget hotel groups. Today, we look at what guests say by analysing recent TripAdvisor reviews for their cheap London hotels and drawing out some stats. The comparison is made easier by the fact that both companies currently have around the same number of hotels in London – though given their rapid expansion plans this could soon change drastically.
Recognising how expensive it can be to find decent accommodation in London, this blog often likes to focus on value for money. Whether it’s to help you identify London’s best B&B, cheap budget hotels, special £1 sales, the best-value rooms or “luxury budget” options further up the scale, we want to help you find real value for money. Not to mention our free hotel WiFi campaign which is rapidly gaining momentum.
Travelodge, the budget hotel chain, pledged yesterday to create more than 500 jobs in Britain this year with the opening of 26 new hotels. The group, owned by Dubai International Capital, said that the opening programme, to cost £115 million, would add more than 2,000 rooms to its estate. It will take Travelodge, once part of the former Forte hospitality empire, to more than 400 UK hotels, containing more than 30,000 rooms.
Deloitte, the business advisory firm, has confirmed that hotels in London saw revenue per available room (revPAR) rise out of the red during the final quarter of 2009, up 5.5% to £110. Occupancy was the key driver of growth in the capital, up 5.8% to an outstanding 82.9%. Average room rates, which lag occupancy in recovery, fell 0.2% to £133.
Deloitte, the business advisory firm, has confirmed that London’s hotel market is leading the recovery in European hotel performance after 13 consecutive months of decline. October showed the first signs of revPAR (revenue per available room) growth but data for November shows a dramatic increase in hoteliers’ revenue, rising 10% compared to the same month last year.
eRevMax has received Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) certification from the PCI Security Standards Council, proving the presence of secure and robust systems within the eRevMax portfolio.
Interstate Hotels & Resorts (NYSE:IHR) , a leading hotel real estate investor and the nation's largest independent hotel management company, today announced that Harte Holdings, on behalf of Argyll Hotel Group, has awarded management contracts for three hotels in London to Interstate, marking the operator's entry into one of the world's great hotel cities. The upscale boutique hotels, all located in central London, include The Royal Park, The Cranley and The Elizabeth.