External Articles

Marriott's Renaissance chain revamps concierge desk | usatoday.com

Don't bother looking for a concierge desk or a concierge inside one of Marriott's 140 Renaissance hotels anymore - you won't find them. Instead, look for the compass symbol and the word, "Navigator." Why? Hotel Check-In has learned that the Renaissance chain - in the midst of a hipster-style transformation - has ditched the old-fashioned concierge desk and old-fashioned concierge in favor of a newfangled "Navigator desk" and "Navigators" who can rattle off trendy restaurants or nightclubs that they've been to themselves.

New York Tourism Hit Record High in 2010 | nytimes.com

Despite the lingering effects of the recession, more people visited New York City in 2010 than in any other year, according to an estimate Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced on Tuesday.

The Room Is Booked, Until the Hotel Says It Isn’t | nytimes.com

When is a confirmed hotel reservation not confirmed? When the hotel has sold your room to someone else, as Linda and Michael Morgan learned over the Thanksgiving holiday. The hotel, in this case, was the Waldorf-Astoria in Manhattan, and according to Mrs. Morgan and some other would-be guests who were turned away over Thanksgiving, the “someone else” was a contingent of Saudi princes and officials who accompanied King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. The king, who is 86 years old, was in town for surgery at New York Presbyterian Hospital on Nov. 24.

Upgrades Price Out Some Hotel Owners | wsj.com

Holiday Inn's sweeping upgrade includes stripping its brand from 700 franchisees, cutting loose hotels that are part of its storied past. For Doug Schubert, who has operated a Holiday Inn on the banks of the Fox River here for 34 years, the end will come Dec. 31. The next day, his 146-room hotel will begin operating under Choice Hotels International Inc.'s Clarion brand. He would have liked to stay with Holiday Inn, he says, but he couldn't afford the renovations and upgrades that were demanded by the unit of U.K.-based InterContinental Hotels Group PLC, which he estimated would cost $1.6 million.

Video: Cornell Hospitality Research Summit 2010

The inaugural Cornell Hospitality Research Summit was held on campus, October 6-8, 2010. Highlights from the four keynote speeches are featured in the video. The “thought leadership” summit also included in-depth presentations and panel discussions from scholars and practitioners, networking opportunities, and a hospitality “research in practice” award ceremony.

How can you tell which TripAdvisor reviews to trust? | usatoday.com

Consider the numbers being tossed around at a first-ever workshop to help U.S. hoteliers make the most of TripAdvisor.com: A decade after its launch, the world's most popular travel site draws 5 million visitors a day who contribute an average of 21 comments and photos per minute in 19 languages. The site includes more than 40 million reviews and opinions, most of them directed at 450,000 lodgings worldwide, and its travel forums are so popular that 98% of posted topics receive replies within 24 hours.

Hotels Use Downturn to Spruce Up | nytimes.com

In general, the hotel industry is avoiding significant redesigns and other large projects, but a few hotel companies are defying the economic downturn to make improvements. Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide plans to begin refurbishing the guest rooms in its Westin and Sheraton brands next year, while Holiday Inn will complete its total overhaul by December. Industry experts say hotels will continue to be cautious about major projects in the near term.

Joie de Vivre charts course after investment | hotelnewsnow.com

Joie de Vivre Hospitality intends to cast its shadow beyond the Golden State. The boutique hotel company plans to nearly double in size thanks to a US$150-million infusion from Geolo Capital, according to recently named interim CEO Gary Beasley. JDV currently has 35 hotels and about 4,250 rooms in its portfolio—all in California—but is searching from sea to shining sea to add to the list. Beasley mentioned markets such as New York, Seattle and Portland as potential expansion opportunities as well as having more hotels in its home state.

Who's behind the decks at your hotel? | independent.co.uk

Hard Rock Hotels and Casino has confirmed that it will launch its "The Sound of your Stay" music program internationally September 27 - with celebrity blogger Perez Hilton as its first curator. The program, which began in the US around a year ago, allows guests to download free music to enjoy during their stay when they check in. Each guest can choose one of three playlists, which are curated to match the three destination categories offered by Hard Rock - resorts, casinos or city hotels.

Groups return to South Florida hotels | miamiherald.com

Slowly, and often at the last minute, the group hotel business that has been a mainstay of South Florida's visitor industry is creeping back. But corporate meetings look a little less grand than they did in the pre-recession era. Gone are lengthy affairs packed with golf mornings, spa afternoons and lobster-and-champagne dinners. In their place: shorter meetings arranged with an eye toward cost-cutting and charitable activities to soften the image.

New York Hotels Entice Customers With Lure of TV Life | nytimes.com

In a city like New York, there are many reasons to pick a particular watering hole: a sympathetic bartender, a selective jukebox, the collection of patrons bellied up alongside you. But for Kate Hughes and Toni Suppa, friends since high school, it was the guilty pleasures of TV’s “Gossip Girl” that helped lure them on a recent evening to the Lobby Bar of the Empire Hotel on West 63rd Street, a fixture in the series about hard-partying Upper East Side teenagers.

HDC: ‘OTA’ is not a four-letter word | hotelnewsnow.com

Jay Hubbs had a tough task in front of him during a panel discussion during last week’s Hotel Data Conference. Hubbs, who oversees supplier relationships for Hotwire.com, had to convince a room filled with hoteliers that online travel agents are not all that bad. “Our job is to drive value to supplier partners,” he said about how hoteliers can effectively manage their OTA relationship.

For Internet Travel Sites, a New Hotel Room Tax | nytimes.com

Tourists visiting New York State who book their hotel rooms through travel agencies and Web sites like Expedia or Orbitz may face higher prices after state lawmakers passed legislation requiring the booking industry to collect sales tax on lodging. The measure, included in the budget that lawmakers in Albany completed on Tuesday, reclassifies third-party vendors under the tax umbrella of hotel operators, requiring them to collect the same sales tax.

Stash Hotel Rewards | Independent Hotels Get a Rewards Program | nytimes.com

Itineraries Independent Hotels Get a Rewards Program

Kevin P. Casey for The New York Times Jeff Low, the chief executive of Stash Hotel Rewards, at the Hotel Andra in downtown Seattle.

By ELIZABETH OLSON Published: August 2, 2010 Facebook Twitter Recommend Sign In to E-Mail

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Share Close LinkedinDiggMixxMySpaceYahoo! BuzzPermalink The rewards points given by the big hotel chains have worked out well for business travelers like Michael Burden, a commercial real estate consultant, who uses the points for a family trip or vacation.

“It’s not the sole motivation, but as a family man with young children, a goal is to accumulate enough points to spend with them,” he said. But the down side, he said, is that a room at a chain hotel in one city can feel pretty much like a room at the same chain in another city. “There are times when you can forget where you are.”

Hotel Ezra Cornell (HEC 85) Recording: The Price is Right

Hotel Ezra Cornell is an annual, weekend-long educational conference hosted by the students of the Cornell School of Hotel Administration for leaders of the hospitality industry. Comprised of educational seminars, leisure activities, and food and beverage events, the weekend strikes a thoughtful balance between education and entertainment. The purpose of the weekend is for students to practice the skills they have learned in the classroom and to showcase their talents to industry professionals.

Intercontinental Hotels: A Case Study In Customer-Centric Marketing

Forrester Blog by Shar VanBoskirk. I just attended Unica’s annual Marketing Innovation Summit (MIS) this year in Orlando. I sat in on a few terrific conversations about making multi-channel marketing a reality. Here is the first: An overview of Intercontinental Hotel Group’s (IHG’s) use of data-driven marketing to improve communications with existing customers and prospects.

Spill hasn't emptied Gulf Coast hotels _ yet | associatedpress.com

Dramatic rate cuts are luring visitors to Gulf Coast resorts despite a massive oil spill that threatens beaches and salt marshes from Texas to Florida, but it's too early to say whether the disaster will leave a more permanent stain on Southeastern tourism.

During the first two weeks of May, hotels within 10 miles of the coast in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama saw occupancy rates rise dramatically — in some cases by a third or more over the same time last year, according to an industry data firm.

What Greek Crisis? Weakening Euro Won’t Hurt NYC Tourism | nytimes.com

The headlines for New York City’s tourism industry are extremely positive. After a lackluster 2009, which saw the total number of tourists and visitor spending drop amid a global recession, data from the first three months of 2010 point to an impressive recovery: more tourists, increased spending by foreigners, higher occupancy rates at hotels and more Broadway tickets sold.