The Unique in São Paulo won me over - and convinced me that its name is deserved - when I took a dip in the indoor pool. The easiest way in is trip down a water slide, into the multihued pool (blue! yellow!) with its underwater music, bubbling submerged chaises, and video-projection screen on the wall. This is Brazil at its most freewheeling, fun-loving, colorful best.
The Global Business Travel Association ("GBTA"), the world's premier business travel and corporate meetings organization, has released its second GBTA BTI™ Outlook report on Brazil as part of its semiannual series. The report, sponsored by Visa, includes the GBTA BTI™, an index of business travel spending which provides a way to distill market performance over a period of time.
The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA)—the voice of the global business travel industry—is pleased to announce the launch of GBTA Brazil, which will expand the focus of business travel management through conferences and educational offerings in Brazil. GBTA Brazil will work closely with GBTA Latin America and focus on growth and development of the organization, supporting GBTA's ongoing commitment to globalization.
The National Business Travel Association (NBTA) and the Associação Brasileira de Gestores de Eventos e Viagens Corporativas (ABGEV, the Brazilian Business and Events Travel Association) today announced a five year agreement to expand the two associations' partnership with a focus on broadening business travel and meetings management principles through conferences and educational offerings in Brazil and throughout South America.
Officials of the Latino Hotel Association (LHA), the global organization dedicated to expanding Latino ownership, leadership and commerce in the hotel industry, today announced the successful completion of "Hotel Franchising," the group's first hotel franchising forum held outside the U.S. The event, which was held November 30 to December 3, 2010, in Saltillo, Coahuila, Mexico, attracted nearly 90 potential developers.
W Hotels Worldwide, the industry innovator and hotel category buster, proudly unveils the “Extreme Wow Suite” of the future, designed by Jouin Manku, the architectural firm of Paris-based designer Patrick Jouin and his associate Sanjit Manku. An interpretation of the conventional hotel Presidential Suite, the “Extreme Wow Suite” has been a part of W Hotels vernacular since the brand was founded in 1998. To further emphasize the importance of innovation and design, W Hotels engaged Jouin Manku to design a forward-looking, innovative lifestyle experience created in a three-dimensional installation. The “Extreme Wow Suite” will be unveiled today at the Instituto Tomie Ohtake in Sao Paulo, Brazil as part of a special touring exhibition entitled “Le Paris de Patrick Jouin.”
The Villa Group, one of Mexico's largest privately owned hotel groups with eight premier resorts along the Mexican Riviera, is reporting that occupancy levels are showing signs of recovery after a precipitous drop in May. This week, the Villa Group's Del Arco resort in Cabo San Lucas is at 85% occupancy after declining by 95% immediately following a May 8 government travel advisory.
Mexico's hotel industry occupancy dropped more than 50 percent at the end of April and beginning of May, after the outbreak of influenza A (H1N1), or the swine flu, was announced, according to data from STR.
Prolonged economic headwinds and the global recession have caused severe declines in leisure and business demands worldwide, and until last week, Mexico’s hotel industry saw declines in line with that of other countries around the world. However, the outbreak of influenza A (H1N1), also known as swine flu, was felt immediately and severely as the accompanying data shows.