Early hoteliers participating in Expedia’s “hotel collect” platform—where guests reserve a room on Expedia but don’t pay until they check into the hotel—are reporting positive experiences, writes HotelNewsNow.com’s Jason Q. Freed.
The program, introduced in July of last year, is officially called Expedia Traveler Preference because guests can choose whether to pay up front on Expedia or when they get to the hotel. The program was criticized early on by hotel owners and asset managers because of the potential to increase costs for hotel owners by way of additional training and credit-card processing fees.
But revenue managers on the ground level say the benefits of the program outweigh any additional costs it might bring.
Hawaii had the nation's highest hotel room rates in the first quarter of 2013 after jockeying with New York and Miami for the top of the heap, according to a report in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
During the first quarter, Hawaii hotel guests spent $233.33 a night on the average hotel room, or 13% more than in 2012 when the average rate was $206.22, according to a recent report from Hospitality Advisors LLC and STR, parent company of HotelNewsNow.com. On average, guests paid about $10 a night less for Miami/Hialeah hotel rooms and about $23 a night less in New York.
In March, Las Vegas citywide occupancy increased 0.1 percentage points to 88.4% and average daily rate increased 3.5% to $111 compared with March 2012, according to recent data from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.
Convention attendance declined in March (-17.9%), due in part to a number of conventions that rotated out of Las Vegas in 2013.
Long thought of as operations executives, GMs are spending more time with marketing, particularly social media, as evidenced by a panel discussion at a meeting of the Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International of Greater New York.
“Marketing and operations have become combined,” said Ann Peterson, president and GM of the New Yorker Hotel. “When guests arrive and have spent their trip waiting in lines at the airport, they do not want to wait in line at the hotel. We want them to be able to check-in before they get to the hotel and that is an operational issue but has become a part of marketing.”
Kenneth Hung, GM of St Giles Hotel—The Tuscany, said the fundamentals are crucial to provide a seamless experience.
“For instance, you can’t just have Wi-Fi, you have to be sure the Wi-Fi works well,” he said. “It’s little things that add value. Even the air conditioning is important; the room temperature has to be right or else a lot of people will be hearing about it.”
The company that owns the Langham hotel chain in Hong Kong plans to raise up to $588 million in an initial public offering, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Langham Hospitality Investments, which is backed by Hong Kong tycoon Lo Ka Shui's Great Eagle Holdings conglomerate, will list its Hong Kong hotel assets as a trust and plans to sell 852 million units in a range of 4.65 Hong Kong dollars (60 cents) to 5.36 Hong Kong dollars (69 cents) each.
Langham Hospitality has three hotels in Hong Kong: The Langham, Langham Place Hotel Hong Kong and Eaton, Hong Kong.
Compiled by Jason Q. Freed.