Ref: P43 - Cottage in Cape Breton Island Canada

Ref: P43 - Cottage in Cape Breton Island Canada

Hilton Family of Hotels Designs a Better Alarm Clock
Mar 31, 05 1:55 am
Hilton Family to Install Custom-Designed Clocks in Nearly 250,000 Guest Rooms Nationwide Ever get frustrated with the clock in a hotel room or worry about sleeping past the alarm in the morning? Starting this month, travelers who stay at the Hilton Family of Hotels won't have to lose sleep ever again over how to set the alarm clock.In an effort to help guests be more productive, the Hilton Family of Hotels custom designed its own clock, featuring one of the easiest-to-set alarms ever. What's more, the new clocks also feature a connection cable for MP3 players and other portable music devices, an addition Hilton made after research revealed that consumers prefer to maintain their own music lifestyles while on the road.
Nearly 250,000 new clocks will be phased in to all existing and newly opened Hilton, Doubletree, Embassy Suites Hotels, Hampton Hotels, Hilton Garden Inn, Hilton Grand Vacations Club, and Homewood Suites by Hilton guest rooms between now and July 15, 2005. Hampton Hotels led the way by installing its version of the easily set clock in 2004 within more than 130,000 hotel rooms.(a)
"The Hilton Family continues to bring the comforts of home to the hotel room as part of the overall sleep experience -- including cozy beds -- enabling them to sleep more soundly," said Tom Keltner, executive vice president, Hilton Hotels Corporation and president - brand performance and development group. "Just in time for Daylight Savings, the hour has arrived for a superior hotel alarm clock."
Survey Reveals Consumer Frustrations with Hotel Clocks
By introducing the new clock, the Hilton Family of Hotels hopes to alleviate a commonly held frustration by consumers about hotel clocks. According to a recent survey, more than half of business travelers (57 percent) have worried about sleeping past their alarm, and only one in five respondents (18 percent) actually trust a hotel alarm clock to wake them up in the morning. In fact, millions of Americans consider setting a hotel alarm clock to be the most complicated task versus filing their taxes or programming their VCR.
The survey also revealed that 41 percent of respondents would rather wake up to music instead of a buzzer (39 percent) or nature sounds (11 percent). More women (45 percent) than men (37 percent) prefer to wake up to music.
World's Easiest-to-Set Alarm Features
The new Hilton Family clock houses a sleek design and simple digital alarm interface for buzzer, radio wake-up and snooze. The simple-to-set alarm feature requires just three easy steps (also printed on the front of the clock): 1. Press Alarm Set; 2. Indicate Alarm Time preferred by using increase or decrease buttons; 3. Press Enter. Additional features include:
-- Four pre-set buttons for local radio stations designated by a graphic of the music type
-- Connection cable for use with guest's personal MP3 player, portable CD player, laptop and other entertainment devices
-- Built-in stereo speakers for radio or connected devices
-- Large LCD screen with dimmer that adjusts to high, medium or low
-- Automatic daily alarm time reset, preventing an alarm set by a previous guest from repeating
Operationally, the hotel staff sets the time zone information only once (the clock arrives with time and calendar pre-set by the manufacturer) and the clocks automatically adjust one hour ahead for Daylight Savings Time and back to Standard Time, and adjust for Leap Year.
Beginning today, log on to hiltonfamily.com/virtualclock to enter the Hilton Family Timing Is Everything Sweepstakes(b), for a chance to win a Hilton Family Clock, song download certificates, hotel stays at participating Hilton Family hotels or an MP3 player. Sweepstakes end July 7, 2005. The clocks also will be available for purchase by consumers online at hiltonfamily.com by the third quarter of this year.
Donating its Time ... Literally
The Hilton Family of Hotels is donating the old clocks to their local communities through a coordinated program administered by Gifts In Kind International, the world's leading charity in product philanthropy. The clocks will be sent to a broad network of non-profit organizations such as the Salvation Army, American Red Cross, The United Way and local women's shelters.
Methodology
Kelton Research conducted the survey on behalf of the Hilton Family of Hotels between March 18-20, 2005. The survey includes responses by 1,000 consumers and has a +/- 5 percent degree of error.
About Hilton Family of Hotels
Hilton Hotels Corporation is recognized internationally as a preeminent hospitality company. The company develops, owns, manages or franchises more than 2,200 hotels, resorts and vacation ownership properties. Its portfolio includes many of the world's best known and most highly regarded hotel brands, including Hilton(R), Conrad(R), Doubletree(R), Embassy Suites Hotels(R), Hampton Inn(R), Hampton Inn & Suites(R), Hilton Garden Inn(R), Hilton Grand Vacations Club(R) and Homewood Suites by Hilton(R).
(a) The new clocks at Hampton Hotels do not feature the jack for an MP3 or CD player hook-up.

Next year I am going too..

It has now been several years since UNITE-HERE targeted the hospitality industry with its organizing efforts. Their tactics have been extremely aggressive. At a macro level, the unions have poured resources into political campaigns across the country and are not shy about calling in favors from those they help elect. And of course, in 2006, we saw the fruits of a huge effort to time union contract expirations to hit at the same time in order to maximize leverage (see my earlier postings about the. At a micro level, the unions have also stepped up their pressure—buying 5 or 6 shares of stock and playing havoc with public companies (for example, trying to sabotage the CNL public offering), creating web sites to "educate" investors about target companies (with abusive and damaging stories about bad management, poor investment returns) and to generally embarrass and financially harm employers and their management. Fortunately, for employers, there have recently been significant wins in the ongoing struggle and one of those deserves mention today.

The Cintas Battle – Same union we see in the hotel industry
Cintas is not a hotel company, but its four-year battle with UNITE-HERE and the benefits of the latest victory apply equally to all employers. Some background may be helpful.
Cintas is a publicly-held company traded on the NASDAQ under the symbol CTAS. It provides uniforms, laundry and promotional products for about 700,000 businesses, including hotels. If UNITE-HERE succeeded in its attempts to unionize the Pennsylvania plant, it would be an inroad for unionization of Cintas' remaining 27,000 workers at 350 plants in the U.S. and Canada. So Cintas encouraged its employees who wanted to sue, even paying for their lawyers.
And yes, the union trying to organize Cintas is the same UNITE-HERE that is so prominent and active in the hospitality industry. It is actually a combination of UNITE (formerly the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees) and HERE (Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees) which merged in July 2004.
Organizing efforts violate employee rights to privacy
The latest win came last month in a Pennsylvania court, where U.S. District Judge Stewart Dalzell ruled that UNITE-HERE violated federal privacy laws by writing down license plates from cars parked on the lot of a Cintas Corp. plant in Emmanus, Penn. The union’s intent was to track down the addresses of the car owners to try to contact them at home – outside their employer’s reach – in the hopes of organizing them. But some of the employees – and their relatives who owned the cars – didn’t like being bothered at home in the name of a union drive, creating a case that hotel owners everywhere should note.
As Jane M. Von Bergen, staff writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer, explained in her October 29 story, UNITE-HERE organizers began visiting homes of Cintas employees in early 2004. Elizabeth "Penny" Pichler, a 65-year old receptionist, recalled a February 2004 visit from a UNITE-HERE union organizer. He was polite, but unexpected and unwelcome. He wanted her to help unionize Cintas, the nation's largest laundry company.
"How the heck did someone know I worked at Cintas and get my address and show up at my front door?" Pichler said in a Philadelphia Inquirer interview. "I thought it was very unnerving."
Penny Pichler was so disturbed that a stranger knew where she worked and her home address, that she filed a complaint which turned into a class action lawsuit by about 1,000 workers filed in mid-2005 against the union in federal court.
On August 30, 2006, Judge Dalzell ruled in favor of the plaintiffs that UNITE-HERE had violated the Driver’s Privacy Protection act of 1994, a federal law that was enacted after an actress and an abortion doctor were killed when stalkers traced them through motor vehicle records. With few exceptions, the law bars the release of personal information from driving records.
Judge Dalzell did not assess punitive damages, and didn’t fine the union’s top leader—this time. But he ordered the union to pay $2,500 (plus attorneys fees and other costs) to each of the Cintas employees who brought the original lawsuit. The total statutory damages could range from $2.5 million to $5 million for an estimated 1,000 to 2,100 Cintas workers in the class.
Now the plaintiffs can open the union's files in court discovery!
The earlier rulings were significant in allowing the class action and in finding the union violated the federal privacy law, potentially exposing union executives and the union to millions of dollars in damages. But then the "other shoe" dropped on the union.
The latest development occurred, when the plaintiffs’ lawyers, still being paid by Cintas, filed motions to unseal closed documents from the case. The union objected, arguing that releasing the closed documents would have implications far beyond this case.
The union argued that if its files were opened, Cintas could learn which of Cintas' locations the union considered easy to organize, or the names of inside union sympathizers. The union was worried that the information could be used to reveal details of UNITE-HERE’s future unionizing efforts, giving all sides advance warning. And this kind of discovery also exposes the union's "dirty playbook" and cost it public sympathy.
Some speculate that availability of this information might make the union be somewhat less aggressive going forward, at least in the short term. And it would probably hurt UNITE’s four-year old effort to unionize Cintas. At the time the suit was filed last year, UNITE-HERE leaders had vowed to pressure Cintas managers to agree to recognize it as employees' "exclusive" (monopoly) bargaining agent on the sole evidence of signed union "authorization" cards that union organizers could collect at employees’ homes.
What is the significance of this latest ruling? It is big!
Why is the Cintas battle important to the hospitality industry? Here are a few items that come to mind:
* Class action suits for invasion of privacy by employees against the overbearing union are OK even when paid for by employers
* The privacy law referenced in this case is federal law that will apply anywhere in the US.
* Unions and their executives may be subject to class actions with significant damages for their abusive tactics, and punitive damages are something to watch for in the future
* Unions are subject to discovery, and they may have a lot of embarrassing material in their records showing how the union planted trouble makers with the employer with pre-arranged plans to stir up trouble just for the purpose of filing unfair labor practice claims
The results of the Cintas case do not provide a panacea, but this case provides important tools for capable legal counsel for employers when attacked by UNITE-HERE or other unions in their aggressive campaigns. For more tips on how to handle UNITE-HERE unionizing efforts, contact my colleague, Marta Fernandez .
But the Cintas developments are also significant for their class action defense implications. My partner, Michael Hassen , is one of the leading experts in the country on this subject and has devoted entirely to this subject.____
Marta Fernandez is a senior member of the Global Hospitality Group® and a partner in the Firm's Labor & Employment Group. A management labor lawyer with more than 20 years' experience, Marta specializes in representing hospitality industry clients in all aspects of labor and employment, including labor-management relations such as union prevention, collective bargaining for single as well as multi-employer bargaining units, neutrality agreements and defense of unfair labor practice charges before the NLRB; implementation of preventative management strategies, such as executive training, arbitration enforcement and policies and procedures; defense of administrative and litigation claims, such as employee claims of sexual harassment and discrimination. For more information please contact.
Michael J. Hassen is a partner at Jeffer, Mangels, Butler & Marmaro LLP. For 20 years, the focus of his practice has emphasized business litigation, primarily on behalf of corporate clients, in areas such as class actions, unfair competition/unfair business practices (under section 17200 and common law), theft of trade secrets, raiding of corporate employees, interference with prospective economic advantage, libel and more.
Mr. Hassen has defended corporations successfully against numerous class actions, and often consults on class actions pending outside California. He has substantial experience representing lenders in all facets of lender litigation, ranging from class actions and unfair business practices based on alleged "predatory" lending, RESPA violations, TILA violations and Fair Debt Collection Practices Act violations, to claims alleging elder abuse or challenging the validity or priority of liens

Look at the state of Holidays these days....

The Most Famous Hotels in the World - Best Stories
Nov 06, 06 2:06 am

20 years of researching the most famous hotels lead, as you can guess, to a rich collection of amazing and often amusing findings. There is the menu explaining ‘The possibility of an air raid compels us to ask our honoured guests for immediate payment'... The concierge, once asked 'If I know Beethoven?: Let me see – what room is he in?', Shoelaces pressed round or flat; 'Does "24 hour room service" on your in-room menu refer to the length of time that it takes for the club sandwich to arrive?' and: Ducks bathing in the lobby every afternoon. For all ehotelier subscribers we have put a little collection together

http://www.holidayhomeskiwi.com/properties/

Our all time favourite destination

Shangri-La Academy and Sun Yat-Sen University launch Hotel Management Programme
Aug 23, 06 1:57 am
Shangri-La Academy in Beijing, the centralised employee training centre of Asia Pacific's leading luxury hotel group, Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, has teamed with distinguished Sun Yat-Sen University to launch two-year hotel management programmes starting September 2006.The "Shangri-La Class" objective will be to instill the skills, management ability and flexibility to produce talented hospitality industry professionals. Sun Yat-Sen University will focus on academics, while Shangri-La Academy will provide industry-specific training. Graduates will receive both an associate degree from the university and a hotel management certificate from Shangri-La Academy.Applicants must pass a University entrance exam and Shangri-La Academy management will then interview and select students for participation in the "Shangri-La Class" Instruction will take place on the University campus by both University and Academy professors. In order to graduate, students need to undergo and pass six months of on-the-job training at a Shangri-La hotel where they will put their knowledge and skills to the test in real work settings.The "Shangri-La Class" will be held at the University's School of Continuing Education at Zhuhai Campus. Sun Yat-Sen University, founded by Dr Sun Yat-Sun in1924, has four campuses in Guangdong Province teaching a wide array of disciplines and is ranked among the top national universities in China.Shangri-La Academy, opened in 2004, is the centralised employee training centre of Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts. The academy began accepting public students in August 2005."The partnership between Sun Yat-Sen University-Zhuhai campus and Shangri-La Academy will no doubt bring hospitality professionalism in China to new heights", said Tan Eng Leong, Shangri-La's group director of human resources. "The combined efforts of highly qualified faculty members and trainers from both institutions will result in a superlative academic and practical programme for a new generation of hospitality industry professionals,"Hong Kong-based Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, Asia Pacific's leading luxury hotel group, currently manages 49 hotels under the five-star Shangri-La and four-star Traders brands, with a rooms inventory of over 23,000. The group has over 40 projects under development in Canada, mainland China, France, India, Macau, Malaysia, Maldives, Philippines, Qatar, Seychelles, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and the United States.

http://www.holidayhomesaus.com/rentals/New_South_Wales-Holidays/

Cabins in the wild

Ivan Suardi tackles multi-tasking world of hotel F&B management with ease
Aug 23, 06 1:58 am
During the relaunch of the Grand Hyatt Taipei's bistro-style restaurant Cheers, the multi-tasking Ivan Suardi could be found everywhere. He was tending the long bar, mixing drinks, and giving last-minute instructions to bartenders. After chasing him around the room for several minutes, we finally caught up with Suardi at the Oriental-inspired main entrance.
"Did Celia again move the table?" he asked the hotel staff. He took a few steps back, examining the overall visual impact of this table-moving exercise. The installation was spectacular. Taking one look at the antique table's surface, Suardi quickly collected the pieces of paper strewn on it.
"It has to be clean, clean, clean," he uttered.
He may be obsessive and he may be a perfectionist but to Suardi, he is simply doing his job.
"Again, it's all about passion," he smiles.
Suardi loves his work, and this is evident in the way he administered to practically every detail of Cheers' relaunch over the weekend. The restaurant, which had its grand re-opening last Saturday, features a unique East-meets-West menu that caters to practically every palate, exquisite drinks, and a contemporary yet comfortable environment. The watering hole also features a trio playing contemporary tunes.
Cheers is just one of the food and beverage outlets that falls under Suardi's watch.
Earning his stripes as a chef at various restaurants and hotels around the world, this gung-ho hotelier used to serve as food and beverage director of the Grand Hyatt Taipei. A few months ago, Suardi was promoted director of food and beverage projects at the Hyatt International Asia-Pacific Divisional Office. He has been succeeded by Olivier Lenoir, another up-and-coming executive in the Hyatt family.
Currently based in Hong Kong, Suardi literally has a lot on his plate.
"I am in charged of all food and beverage projects in the Asia-Pacific, and at the moment we have 35 to 40 (properties in the region). We will have another 22 hotels opening in the next couple of years," he says.
"The corporate world is completely different from hotel life. It's exciting and challenging since we have so many projects (in the pipeline). We are very busy."
As director of Hyatt International's F&B projects in the region, Suardi is required to fly in and out of countries where a Hyatt property stands or is about to rise. In addition to helping plan and design an outlet's food and beverage menu, he also needs to coordinate with architects and designers with regards to the establishment's overall theme and concept.
"I focus on F&B but obviously, when you are building a new hotel, spaces are allocated for (restaurants and bars). If you check out the building plan, you might find yourself dealing with issues like public areas and such," he says.
"We have to make sure the concept is right, and the restaurant's plans are well laid out. It's a lot of work but it's very dynamic."
In an industry where competition is cutthroat, the Hyatt cannot afford to rest on its laurels.
"It's challenging since the consumers or markets are changing rapidly, and of course, there's the competition coming up strongly as well," says Suardi.
It is even tougher if you are already No. 1. To stay in the lead, you have to beat your own record.
"You have to raise the bar at all times," he says. "The challenging part, I think, is (finding the right concept for the right market). Markets change very quickly, and sometimes, you might come up with something that is interesting but is quite difficult for the consumers to grasp. It could be too new or too far out."
To prevent such slip-ups, Suardi and his team always put themselves in the local consumers' shoes.
"We put our feet firmly on the ground, and say, 'Let's do it. Where are we? Are we in India, Thailand, or some other place?" he says. "Different parts of the world require a different approach."
In the region, the Grand Hyatt Taipei is one of the star properties of the international hotel chain, says Suardi.

http://www.holidayhomesaus.com/rentals/South_Australia-Holidays/

Our Last Adventure before kids

DER online hotel portal to launch in July
May 31, 04 6:17 pm
The long-expected internet hotel portal of Deutsches Reisebüro is now due to launch on July 1. "We are currently in the test phase,” said DER managing director Peter Landsberger. The German tour operator is acquiring hotels which will pay a commission of 10% for bookings made through the DERhotel.com website.
The new website will be the second such hotel portal to be launched by one of the top German tour operators. TUI launched its tui-hotels.com website featuring available capacity from business and leisure hotels in March and aims to expand it to feature 5,000 properties by the end of the year. Thomas Cook is also understood to be working on a similar kind of online hotel website.

Where we went on Holiday

Most isn't always best when it comes to prices
May 31, 04 6:58 pm
By: Jeff Higley, Hotel & Motel Management
Gouging is one of the ugliest words in the English language. The mere sound of those seven letters strung together sends shivers up the spines of millions. Throw in the word "price" before gouging and the reaction is downright hostile. No one likes to be the victim of price gouging, but it goes on every day. No honest businessperson wants to be accused of price gouging, but that phenomenon raises its ugly head all the time in the lodging industry.
The latest outcry from concerned hotel guests comes from San Antonio, where the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. held its men's basketball final four tournament in early April.
Reports indicate some hotels were charging exorbitant rates during the "amateur" basketball tournament. The San Antonio Express-News reported one familiar midsize hotel wanted to charge a guest $300 for a night when its regular daily rate is about $50. There were many other examples cited in the article that was distributed nationwide by Knight Ridder.
But San Antonio hoteliers aren't the first to be accused of taking advantage of visitors in need of accommodations. Naysayers will tell you a certain couple paid too much for a manger about 2,000 years ago.
The price-gouging accusers usually come out swinging when there's a major sporting event. San Diego and Houston hoteliers have been the victims of slurs after recent Super Bowls. New Orleans hotel operators have beared the brunt of accusations from fans of colleges that compete in an annual football game held in that city.
Milwaukee hoteliers were demonized when they raised rates during Harley Davidson's 100th anniversary celebration. Folks that don't bat an eye dropping 25 grand for a bike, were crying that they had to drop a few hundred dollars for a hotel room. Yes, Harley Davidsons are beautiful and are worth every penny. Can't the same be said for a lot of hotel rooms?
San Antonio hoteliers are the latest victims. Few, if any, fans focused on the fact the athletes participating in the tournament were exploited by an association that makes money hand over fist-from ticket sales to television advertising-the NCAA rakes in the cash. Instead, the focus is on hoteliers who are trying to make a living.
People don't complain when they land a bargain rate for a hotel room because demand is low during the time they're staying. It's all about supply and demand.
Hoteliers will tell anyone who listens that they're against price gouging. They call it yield management, and it's the basic fundamental for how they operate their businesses. As long as hotel operators are honest and up front about the rates they charge, there's no reason for a consumer to be upset. I don't like to pay more than I have to when it comes to something I want, but I'll pay what's needed if I want something bad enough. That's the principal our fine country's economy is based upon.
If consumers don't want to pay $300 for a limited-service hotel room during a big event, then the solution is simple: Don't book the reservation.
Taking advantage of current market conditions and events that allow for strong rate increases without upsetting loyal customers is a tricky business. Hoteliers deal with this every day when they determine daily rates.
The solution goes beyond the Golden Rule, but there's something to be said for what goes around, comes around. Hoteliers who practice aggressive yield-management tactics certainly risk losing regular customers and turning off potential customers. Yet, they have to make a living.
Using common sense is the best approach. There's no magic number when it comes to determining how much to raise rates during peak periods. Some have suggested that a 25-percent increase over rack rate is a reasonable solution.
For those who want more, they can't complain about $3-a-gallon gas prices this summer or $40 New York strip dinners when they're on vacation. If they do, that's when the ugliness really starts.

New Zealand - This years holiday spot

Hotels Of The Future
May 31, 04 7:06 pm
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Christina Valhouli Christina Valhouli, Forbes.com Christina Valhouli,
In January, London-based Thomson Holidays, one of the U.K.'s biggest tour operators, hosted the "Future Holiday Forum," with leaders in travel, technology and design. The most surprising part of its report, "2024: A Holiday Odyssey," predicted that the hotel of the future will be a foldable pod on stilts, which can be plunked down in remote locations. The pods will be self-sustainable, and guests can choose the images they want to be projected on the walls. When a destination falls out of fashion, whether due to demand or terrorism, the pod can simply be folded up and moved.
"The idea behind it is that the pods will have a minimal impact on the environment," says Rachel O'Reilly of Thomson Holidays. "They don't require infrastructure like roads to get there, as guests can helicopter in." What's even more surprising is that the pod could potentially be made and put into use. The architects behind the design, London-based m3 Architects whose projects include the London Eye (imagine a giant Ferris wheel with glass pods) and Berlin's Reichstag, say the pod hotel is entirely feasible. "The technology is there," says partner Nadi Jahangiri . "Someone just has to pay to build it." Jahangiri estimates it would cost between £40 and £60 million ($72 and $104 million) to build, and says he has received a lot of interest from ship owners, who have dry docks and enough cargo space to accommodate the construction of a pod. It's not just pod hotels which could be shaping the future of travel. Glen Hiemstra , founder of www.futurist.com, believes that three things will define the future of hotels: robotics , nanotechnology , and biometric security , such as retina scans. Some of these technologies, like retina scans, are already being used by high-security government offices, banks and the military, but Hiemstra predicts they will soon be embraced by the hotel industry. "I think robotics will be the most significant technology to affect the hotel industry in the future," says Hiemstra. He envisions a hotel where robots can do the majority of the cleaning and check-in and safes will become automated by devices like retina scans. "But the really far-out science fiction scenario is with nanotechnology," he says. (In short, nanotechnology is the ability to manipulate and manufacture things at the molecular level.) "In 2025 or 2030, we might be able to have rooms reconfigure themselves to whatever guests want, whether it's a king-sized bed and a couch, or a single bed and a desk." But swinging back to present day, where is most of the hotel innovation taking place? Howard J. Wolff , of the international design firm Wimberly, Allison, Tong & Goo (WATG) which counts Claridge's hotel in London and the Mansion at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas as clients, laughs and says, "The bed....Starwood thought about what people wanted from their hotel room and when it comes down to it, it's a comfortable place to sleep which is why they spent their money developing the Heavenly Bed." (Starwood Hotel & Resort Worldwide's Westin Hotel subsidiary developed the Heavenly Bed, a custom-made mattress set by Simmons with 900 individual coils, that hotel guests can purchase for $2,565.) Wolff says that the hotel industry is slow to accept radical design, and "any hotel opening next year was designed five years ago, so it's not exactly innovative." But WATG is pushing the boundaries of hotel design, and has created conceptual designs for a space resort; an undersea resort; an airship; and is also working on the world's biggest cruise ship, the America World City Ship, which will be more like a floating city with three hotel towers. "There's a push and pull between high tech and high touch, which was covered in the book Megatrends [written by John Naisbitt]," says Wolff. "There's a desire for things like automated check in and smart cards, but people lose that human touch and interaction. There's a value in someone remembering your name when you come back to a hotel." Kas Kasravi , a fellow at tech services company Electronic Data Systems in Plano, Tex., is a fan of Teleportec , a private Dallas-based company that allows videoconferencing with 3-D hologram projections. Right now the technology is only being used by individual companies, but Kasravi predicts that hotels will soon start implementing it to enhance conferences. But when asked what else he thinks the hotel of the future will have, or should have, his answer wasn't about robotics or nanotechnology. "I just want wireless web everywhere!" he wails. So, how different will staying at a hotel be in 2025 than 2005? We spoke with technology companies, architects, and hoteliers to look at everything from space resorts to undersea hotels and smart cards. Some of the innovations are distinct possibilities in the near future, like smart cards. Other, such as space resorts, are still at the conceptual stage. Conspicuously absent are green hotels. "At the moment, nobody is truly doing any 'green' hotels," says Greg Chikaher , of Arup , an international consulting firm. "Right now energy costs are about 2 1/2 % of operating costs. When energy prices go up, the big hotels will do something about it but not right now."


http://www.holidayhomeskiwi.com/rentals/Nelson/

Holidays - The time and Season

World's First International Luxury Health-Focused Hotel Coalition Expands
Jun 15, 06 1:57 am
Healing Hotels of the World has expanded its offering to enable hotels, resorts and spas to be benchmarked so consumers know they meet the highest standards of both luxury and wellbeing, managing director Anne Biging, said today."We've been encouraged by the response to Healing Hotels of the World from hotels, resorts and spa owners around the world who want to add an holistichealth and transformational approach. High quality healing hotels and resorts are of rapidly growing interest to today's consumers," she said.
Healing Hotels of the World brings the first true international basis for a system to bring clarity to an often confused spa market and ensure their approach to healing, as well as their facilities, meet the highest standards.
"Healing Hotels of the World has three platforms to assist hotels," she said. "We offer a consultancy and training of excellence programme to hotels wanting to develop an individual, state-of-the-art approach to holistic health as well as comprehensive marketing solutions for members. Thirdly, we offer a series of Retreats and Master Programs conducted by world-leaders in their fields."
Healing Hotels of the World, based in Germany, has offices in Australia, India, the US and the UK. Membership is by invitation only and consists of the finest
hotels throughout the world.
"Spas have boomed worldwide for the past decade. What differentiates our members is their commitment to seeing health and wellbeing in the broadest sense. We take an integrated approach to healing to ensure each guest maximises their potential. Our holistic approach includes recognition of theimportance of the hotel's overall ambience plus its implementation of holistic health and wellbeing," Ms Biging added. Anne Biging has more than 20 years experience in international tourism
destination marketing and also heads the German-based Tourism Marketing Group International. Interested hotels can contact her at Anne.Biging@Healing-Hotels.com
About Healing Hotels of the World
Healing Hotels of the World (HHW), based in Bergisch Gladbach, near Cologne, provides hotels throughout the world the recognition of being an elite health
and wellbeing hotel, spa or resort. To join, hotels must meet a strict set of guidelines. HHW also runs a consultancy and a training of excellence programme
which helps hotels meet HHW?s strict criteria. HHW membership gives the fast-growing number of consumers interested in such centres a consistent and
recognizable rating system.
HHW managing director, Anne Biging, is recognised throughout the world for her expertise and has a successful track record in international tourism destination marketing, public relations and hotel consulting. Past clients include the US States of Arizona, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Silicon Valley; the Government of Western Australia and the new Indian State of Uttaranchal as well as award-winning hotels, destination spas and resorts throughout the globe.
This venture combines her professional experience with her long passion forhigh quality hotels and holistic health and wellbeing.

Holiday Cabins New Zealand

Hilton sells 11 hotels for $416 mln
Jul 27, 05 1:57 am
(Reuters) - Hilton Hotels Corp. on Monday said it completed the sale of 11 hotels for gross proceeds of $416 million in a move to take advantage of "attractive" market prices for hotel assets.
Hilton said net proceeds were about $335 million, adding it is planning to sell an additional eight properties.
It said the properties sold will remain in the Hilton system, either through franchises or management agreements.

http://www.holidayhomeskiwi.com/properties/

Holiday Cabins New Zealand

Singapore: 5-star hotel room rates lag competitors
Jul 28, 05 1:51 am

Average rates rise 16.5% but local hoteliers say Singapore tariffs are still under-priced Although occupancy and revenue per available room (RevPAR) at Singapore's five-star hotels improved in the first six months of this year, they still lag those in Bangkok, Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai, according to the latest report on key Asia hotel markets by Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels (JLLH).In the period up to June, Singapore's five-star hotels enjoyed an average daily room rate (ADR) of US$120 - up 16.5 per cent from the same period last year.

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Compared with the other four markets covered, Singapore's performance is mid-level. Shanghai enjoyed the highest growth in ADR - a 27.6 per cent increase to US$199 from US$156. In absolute terms, Singapore charges the lowest five-star rates. Its ADR of US$120 is a dollar lower than the next-lowest rate, charged by Thai capital Bangkok.
RevPAR is arrived at by multiplying a hotel's ADR by its occupancy rate, or dividing total guest room revenue by the number of rooms and the number of days in the period that is measured. The RevPAR of Singapore's five-star hotels grew 19.2 per cent to US$93 from US$78, based on these calculations.


Occupancy rates in Singapore are also healthier than those in three of the other markets in the study, with only Hong Kong doing better.
Yet why do Singapore's 18 five-star hotels, which have 10,900 rooms between them, languish in terms of rates - so much so that at US$248, Hong Kong's ADR is easily double that of Singapore?


'We're not bold or gung-ho enough in pushing the rates high,' said Shangri-La Singapore's director of sales and marketing Charlene Cheng. 'In the Hong Kong market, once it went down, it really dropped, but when it recovered, it went back to the levels before the downturn.'
The Ritz-Carlton Millenia Singapore's general manager Octavio Gamarra told BT that rates here have been influenced by factors such as lower-priced destinations around the region, economic factors and world events. 'With superior infrastructure, Singapore is considered good value for money by meeting planners and the global traveller. Perhaps this is the strategy that Singapore wants to play to attract visitors and thrive on incremental business.'.


Hoteliers here reckon that local room rates are under-priced and have the potential to go up to about US$180. But that has to be an industry-wide effort, hoteliers say.
Still, JLLH is optimistic that with the strong occupancy, due to a strong rebound in international arrivals and healthy regional economic growth, hotels here can - and will - focus on raising room rates in the second half of the year.