Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE:HOT) announces the opening of Four Points by Sheraton Los Angeles in Chile, which opened for business on July 15, 2009. The newly built hotel has an agreement with Hotel Buenas Noches Los Angeles SA (subsidiary of Casino Austria) to manage the property.
J.W. Marriott Jr. honored the 100th anniversary of the historic Marriott Plaza Hotel Buenos Aires last evening at a birthday celebration hosted at the home of the Ambassador of Argentina, Hector Timerman. Also in attendance was the Secretary of Tourism for Argentina, Enrique Meyer. The Plaza hotel, a Buenos Aires landmark, joined the Marriott International hotel portfolio in 1994.
The Hotel Fasano was the talk of Rio in 2007, eclipsing the fabled Copacabana Palace as the top play den for Brazil’s rich and famous. While the initial hype may have faded and celebrity sightings are less common, the Philippe Starck-designed hotel still retains an aura of exclusivity, especially from its bossa nova-chic lobby and sexy rooftop pool. Almost makes you feel sorry for those slumming it down below on Ipanema Beach
Wyndham Hotels and Resorts today announced its continued expansion in Latin America with the grand opening of the Wyndham® Garden Hotel Mexico City – Polanco. “Latin America continues to be an important and growing market for the Wyndham brand,” said Jeff Wagoner, Wyndham Hotels and Resorts president. “With the addition of the Wyndham Garden Hotel Mexico City – Polanco to our portfolio, guests visiting Mexico’s vibrant capital city will have the opportunity to experience the personalized service and style that has been paramount in establishing the brand as a leading choice among business and leisure travelers.”
Marriott International, Inc. announced today the opening of its first Residence Inn by Marriott hotel in Central America. The Residence Inn by Marriott San Jose Escazu in Costa Rica is operated under a management agreement with Caribe Hospitality.
More than 45 Marriott International sales and operations leaders from across Mexico convened in Mexico City last week to address travel recovery efforts in the wake of the recent H1N1 virus. The group included executives from the Caribbean & Latin America region, as well as general managers and sales leaders representing every Marriott International hotel in Mexico. The group spent the week conducting team working sessions, meeting with local tourism leaders, and spending time with local Mexican customers to better understand their needs.
The President of the Republic of Mexico, Mr. Felipe Calderón Hinojosa, led the inauguration ceremony for the Grand Velas All Suites & Spa Resort Riviera Maya, an exclusive resort of 490 extremely luxurious and private suites, in the Mexican Caribbean.
Furthering its reach within Latin America’s most populous country, IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group), (LON:IHG) (NYSE:IHG) (ADRs), the world's largest hotel group by number of rooms, announced today that it has signed agreements to develop four new Holiday Inn Express properties, as well as for the conversion of an existing independent full-service Holiday Inn, increasing IHG’s presence in Brazil to 12 cities.
Hilton Hotels Corporation announces its return to Panama with the signing of four multi-year agreements in Panama City, Panama: two management agreements for a brand-new Hilton and new build Embassy Suites by Hilton hotel, one franchise agreement for a Doubletree by Hilton™ conversion and one franchise agreement for a newly built Hilton Garden Inn. Each hotel will represent the first in the country for each brand.
Transforming Economies and Removing Barriers Towards Global Integration through Travel & Tourism are two of the main themes of the 9th Global Travel and Tourism Summit, which is being organised under the patronage of His Excellency Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, President of Brazil, by the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC). The two-day event will take place in Florianópolis, the capital of the Brazilian state of Santa Catarina, from 15-16 May.
The Spanish hotel company Sol Meliá has shared its concern on a humanitarian level with the situation in Mexico, but has also been quick to deny rumours of a major impact of the virus on company performance. According to Gabriel Escarrer Jaume, Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Sol Meliá, the impact is expected to be mild given that “the problem has come about in what is the now the low season in the region, with the revenues from Mexican hotels in May and June making up only 1.04% of the total”.
In a recent assignment, HVS was asked to project the likely market behavior of a proposed luxury hotel in Zihuatanejo, Mexico. Presently, the Zihuatanejo market features two luxury and two upscale properties, with up to four new projects being proposed in similar or superior service categories. In conducting our analysis, several questions arose: Would a new luxury hotel in Zihuatanejo compete exclusively with properties in the local market or also with others in markets outside of Zihuatanejo? That is, would the proposed project be part of a self-contained local market, or rather part of a broader, more disperse market defined by factors other than location? If all of the proposed projects actually came online, would this redefine market dynamics such that the local market could be considered self-contained? If this were to occur, how would lodging demand behave and how can we model projections?
The luxury hotel market in Mexico has been somewhat overshadowed by other market segments. Here we shed light on its potential. Mexico’s ancient Mayan pyramids and Aztec temples, fusion of European and Meso-American cultures, and exotic subtropical forests and beaches are among its chief enticements. Travelers from the United States, Canada, Europe, and Latin America annually descend en masse upon iconic destinations such as Acapulco and Cancún. Over the past 15 years, Mexico’s economy has risen on the shoulders of structural economic changes and a steady trend of foreign direct investment. Tourists are drawn to hotels of all sorts, including European Plan and all-inclusive resorts operating under domestic and international brands. Business travelers likewise visit a wide selection of properties tailored to their needs.
Ana Gon-Ryan has been named Vice President Sales and Marketing, Tour and Travel in the United States and Canada of Mexico-based Velas Resorts which includes the new Grand Velas Riviera Maya, Grand Velas Nuevo Vallarta and Velas Vallarta Suite Resort and Casa Velas Hotel Boutique in Puerto Vallarta. With 30 years of experience in the hospitality and tourism industry, Gon-Ryan is responsible for working with top North America and European tour operators developing sales strategies and air/hotel packages for all four resorts.