36% Drink More Alcohol, 25% Eat More Junk Food on Summer Trips than at Home TripAdvisor announced the results of its annual summer travel survey of more than 1,800 U.S. respondents. Eighty-nine percent are planning a leisure trip this summer, nearly equal to one year ago. Among those taking summer getaways, 26 percent plan to take between seven to 10 days, 21 percent expect 11 to 14 days, and 18 percent are scheduling two to three weeks. Twenty-seven percent said they will take more vacation time this summer than last, while 56 percent intend to take the same amount.
Serving it Up in the Summer
Thirty-six percent said they are more likely to drink more alcohol on summer vacation than while at home. Twenty-eight percent said they exercise less, while 25 percent said they eat more junk food. The top summer travel food indulgence for respondents was overwhelmingly ice cream, according to 44 percent and the favorite summer drink indulgence was margaritas at 18 percent.
Shutting Down and Tuning Out
When asked how their behavior changes while on summer vacation compared to at home, the large majority of U.S. respondents said they’ll leave out their laptops and turn off their TVs. Continue Reading »
via hotelnewsresource
Officials of Crescent Hotels & Resorts announced that the company has added the fabled Adolphus Hotel in Dallas to its portfolio. The Adolphus joins Crescent’s collection of classic independent hotels & resorts that also includes the Georgian Terrace in Atlanta and the il Lugano Hotel in Ft. Lauderdale.
posted by hotelchatter
Ah, something awesome is about to begin — well, awesome for us to watch; maybe not so awesome for the people involved.
The ol’ Cooper Square Hotel — whose battle with the residents of the surrounding tenement buildings has been bitter and, well, going on since the hotel was just a blueprint — is about to be engaged in a somewhat hilarious battle with its neighbors closeby.
Gents! Are you tired of feeling emasculated by the spa experience? Does the idea of fluffy robes and essential oils make you quiver (in a bad way?) If so, you might want to pop along to the Spa at Chancery Court in the the Renaissance Chancery Court in June for their Gin & Tonic treatment.
In keeping with the gin theme, they’ll scrub you down with juniper berries, salt and tonic water. Then they’ll throw in a full body massage with juniper berry oil which, apparently, isn’t just boozy — it’s warming and detoxing as well. Afterwards, if you can brave the girly relaxation room, you’ll be rewarded with a proper G&T. The experience is yours for £120 and takes 1 hour and 25 minutes.
So be brave, chaps; the hotel is in the middle of the City (so very macho), the spa’s downstairs (so there’s no risk of being seen and ridiculed by unreconstructed cavemen) and they make some pretty stonking cocktails in the bar upstairs, which should help quell those pre-spa nerves.
As for you ladies, you’re welcome to try the G&T treatment too, but if the juniper berries sound a bit rough for your fragile skin, they’re doing a “strawberries & cream” pedicure for the month of May as well.
via: hotelchatter
It’s summer (well, almost). You should be traveling. And it seems that this summer, Hilton is really, really pushing for you to be staying exclusively at Hilton properties — especially (holla!) if you’re a Hilton HHonors member.
A roundup of the HHonors bonus deals happenin’ this summer:
· For the luxe-lovers: you will score 10,000 (ten thousand, yes) HHonors bonus points for a three-night (or more) stay at a Conrad or Waldorf Astoria Collection hotel, valid until September 30th.
· You can knock $100 off roundtrip airfare on “British Airways flights to mainline destinations worldwide between now and June 30, 2009″ just cause you’re an HHonors member and you’re loved.
· If you want, you can opt to get your United Airlines Mileage Plus miles doubled for your stays at participating Hilton Family hotels ’til June 30.
· Headed to Paris? You can get a 20% discount on 4-night (or more) reward stays at any of the Hilton Family hotels in Paris ’til July 15th: Hilton Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, Hilton Paris La Defense, Hilton Paris Orly Airport and Trianon Palace Versailles, The Waldorf Astoria Collection
· If New York is in your future, you’ll get Triple HHonors Base points for stays that include a Sunday night (til December 31st) at one of the four Hiltons in Manhattan: the Waldorf- Astoria, Hilton New York, Hilton Times Square, or the Millenium Hilton.
Check out these — and other bonus HHonors deals for summer — here.
orig. hotelchatter
Destinations Hotels & Resorts, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lowe Enterprises, is a top seven ranked full-service hotel and resort management company and will step in as manager of the Wigwam Golf Resort & Spa at midnight May 29, following the exit of Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Inc. Destination Hotels & Resorts manages such notable Arizona properties as Royal Palms Resort and Spa and Tempe Mission Palms and Conference Center.
The company’s nationwide portfolio includes over 33 assets and 7,500 rooms with properties from Maui, Hawaii to Stowe, Vt., including the coveted L’Auberge Del Mar and the Estancia La Jolla Hotel & Spa. Also included in the company’s portfolio is the prestigious 582-room Terranea Resort that’s situated on 102 oceanfront acres on the Palos Verdes Peninsula in Southern California and features a 25,000-square-foot destination spa, three swimming pools, three restaurants and a Todd Eckenrode-designed par three golf course.
“We selected Destination Hotels & Resorts because they are one of the most highly respected operators of some of the best Four Diamond resorts across the U.S.,” said Douglas P. Wilson, CEO of Douglas Wilson Companies. “Partnering with such a notable operator will ensure that the traditions and legend of the Wigwam continue.”
Douglas Wilson Companies was named the receiver of the Wigwam and the Arizona Biltmore Golf Courses last month and will continue to oversee the properties through the receivership, with Destination Hotels & Resorts as the resort and golf course manager. Destinations Hotels & Resorts is currently working with Starwood to assure a seamless turnover.
“We are more than pleased with this appointment and the high level of standard that is and will continue to be maintained at the Wigwam,” said Darryl Crossman, City Manager of the City Litchfield Park. “The Wigwam is the cornerstone of our city and that will remain unchanged.”
The largest business services entity of its kind, Douglas Wilson Companies has provided problem resolution for over 500 projects involving assets valued in excess of $7.5 billion. An authority in resolution of non-performing loans, distressed real estate assets and operating companies, Douglas Wilson Companies’ portfolio includes several high-end hospitality developments, including The Ritz-Carlton, Rancho Mirage.
from hotelsmag
via hotelsmag
Sunstone estimates that the property would require approximately US$6 million in near-term renovation expenditures to comply with Marriott brand standards. The gross sale proceeds of US$36 million, plus the US$6 million of near-term capital requirements that Sunstone will not have to expend, equates to a 10.5x 2009 EBITDA multiple. The sale is scheduled to close by the end of business on May 20.
Art Buser, President and Chief Executive Officer, stated, “We are pleased to announce the sale of Marriott Napa for $36.0 million, plus the avoidance of $6.0 million of near-term capital requirements, which equates to more than $150,000 per key. This transaction demonstrates our ability to monetize non-core assets at a price in excess of our current market valuation in one of the most challenging hotel transaction markets in recent history. The net proceeds from this sale will be used to fund a portion of our recently completed Senior Notes tender offer, enabling Sunstone to maintain a significant portion of its excess liquidity.”
via hotel-blogs.com
The hotel chain Premier Inn (part of the Whitbread group) has recently published a paper advertising where they ask the question about what’s “Best” in Best Western. The goal is probably to drive away Best Western customers to try Premier Inn product.
In European advertising, this is very rare that companies criticize other companies publicly. I know it’s common case in the US.
So why would Premier Inn do that? Isn’t it arrogant or being smart?
Personally, I don’t see the product similarity between Best Western and Premier Inn. They are not competing on the same ground. For instance, the brand recognition of Best Western is global, Premier Inn is essentially local in the UK and IE. Also one product is standard in all their hotels for Premier Inn and Best Western works with franchisees meaning all hotels are different (with 3 sub standards).
Around the world stand empty hotels that symbolise the loss of prosperity and the death of dreams. Lavish resorts and small hotels which were once filled with life and activity are now abandoned and filled only with decay. Expensive hotels that began to be erected in areas of the world where development was anticipated now remain half-built in areas of the world where tourists rarely go. Abandoned hotels range from decrepit to like-new and exist everywhere from remote parts of the globe to modern urban cities. Following are some of the most interesting of those spots that serve as reminders that even the best laid plans don’t always work out over time.
Henri Blin, famous hotelier was invited to work as general manager of St. Petersburg’s Grand Hotel Europe. Blin lived in different countries and has reach experience.
“I like change. Cultural change, change of work,” he said.
Blin is very fond of the city. “There is something magic about the words ‘St. Petersburg’,” Blin noticed.
“In school, what we learned from Russian history was mostly beginning from Peter the Great until the Bolshevik Revolution. We learned of the cultural exchanges between France and Russia that happened after the Napoleonic war.” Most of that history took place here, sparking Blin’s interest in the city long ago.
Half a year after he came to work in St. Petersburg, Blin is not disillusioned.
Russian hospitality was a true discovery, he said. “It is not what they give, it is the way they give it,” Blin said of Russian hosts. Blin’s second pleasant discovery was the beauty of local women – something he had never seen to such an extent in all his other travels, he said. When asked what he thought of Russian men, Blin said he didn’t look.
However, there is an imbalance between private hospitality and the ways Russians have to welcome guests at public places, Blin said. When it concerns public places, Russians are much more reserved, he said. “It might be the certain education, the system of the past.
“The good news is that it is changing fast for the better,” he said. “And it is up to us – the managers – to provide the appropriate training to the Russian staff, so that they learn to apply the genuine feeling of hospitality that everybody has here to the thousands of guests we receive every day,” Blin said.
“I don’t teach people. I want to enhance what they already have inside by explaining the guests’ expectations,” Blin said, referring to Grand Hotel’s staff, whom he found surprisingly youthful. “For some reason, maybe because the hotel is 130 years old, I did not expect to see so many young staff members,” Blin said, smiling.
Blin is new at the Kempinski chain. He said he had serious plans about promoting both the hotel and the city in the West.
There is a big shortage of city hotels in the summer, but many rooms remain empty in the winter, he said. As arrivals to the city are increasing, the airport will hopefully gradually expand, he said. As for traveling throughout St. Petersburg, proper taxi service is still hard to find, Blin said.
Another major problem that severely hurts St. Petersburg as a travel destination is the hassle involved in obtaining a Russian visa, which is also very expensive. Blin said he recognized that the difficulties exist for Russian nationals going abroad as well. Reaching a compromise regarding the visa issue is a pressing matter for the city, he said.
Yet, with all the incongruities on hand, Blin said St. Petersburg is an “absolutely European city,” just as Peter the Great had conceived it.
from: Henri Blin shares his impressions of Russian hospitality
