Thursday, March 18, 2010

Lifestyle hotels: not just a buzzword

In this article, John Russell of NYLO Hotels says:

Travelers are tired of cookie-cutter hotels.
They want something that’s beautifully designed and unique
with all the comforts of home. Lifestyle hotels put the fun back
in travel, and they do it at nightly rates that greatly appeal to
today’s cost-conscious travelers. I see continued growth for the
segment with a lot of exciting new designs and rich lifestyle
amenities that make luxury affordable. Lifestyle hotels will
become the next generation hotel of choice.

What do you think? The article's author, Fran Kiradjian, founder of the Boutique & Lifestyle Lodging Association, stands 100% by this claim and offers lots of evidence, including the launch of three boutique brands this year alone.

Monday, March 15, 2010

Hot new market opportunity!

That got your attention, eh?

The hot new opportunity is this: medical tourism. Undoubtedly on the rise (especially in a handful of key countries), and undoubtedly creating a new and different profile of traveler, with special hospitality needs.

In this thorough and very convincing article, Renée-Marie Stephano, President of the US-based Medical Tourism Association, offers a detailed look at the trends and opportunities as they are currently developing.

A heart valve replacement costs about $170,000 in the USA, but only $13,500 in Singapore. Surely disparities like this are going to create a huge demand for less expensive treatment in faraway places (maybe even encouraged by the insurance companies and/or governments who are footing the bill). If this kind of travel becomes widespread, a big opportunity emerges for hotels to provide an environment for convalescence, but also a place where the patients' families can be looked after.

A fascinating article!

How hotel companies can successfully court capital in 2010

Byron Carlock is the President & CEO of CNL Lifestyle Company, LLC, a firm which bases its hotel and real estate development investment decisions on carefully researched consumer lifestyle trends. In this article, he ponders the role of relationships in overcoming the current slowdown in investment.

A question to investors and operators out there: Does "skin in the game" make a difference to you? What other ways can an investment partner demonstrate its commitment to the deal? Have you seen any particularly innovative ways for this good faith to be proven?

Some sobering thoughts on hotel pricing trends

When it comes to setting room rates, hotels are in the process of losing control, says Roman Peskin in this important article from the Hotel Yearbook 2010.

He explains how guests (and even previous guests) are gaining in influence. This is a sobering read for all marketing managers!

Niches = riches

Social media have utterly changed the way marketers communicate with customers - and maybe more importantly, how customers communicate with each other.

Julie Keyser-Squires, CEO of Softscribe Inc. in Atlanta, has written a fascinating how-to article for the Hotel Yearbook, in which she not only posits that social media will reach "a tipping point of credibility and use in the hotel industry" this year, but also lists a couple dozen examples of digital excellence in the hospitality field, such as Fairmont's guest community and the Peabody Duck Facebook fan page, among many others.

I think her article is a great primer for anyone wanting to figure out a way to get started down the digital path. Read the whole thing!

Monday, March 1, 2010

The New Normal

In this article, "The New Normal in 2010", Jan Freitag of Smith Travel Research describes five trends he is expecting to play out this year in the US hotel market.

Here's a preview, with Jan hinting at each of the five key factors he sees as critical in 2010 in terms of a conventional slogan ("Common wisdom") and alas, a new slogan that represents the "new normal" for the new year:

1. RevPAR recovery
Common wisdom: Fine through '09
The new normal: Back in heaven in 2011

2. Easing supply pipeline
Common wisdom: If you build it, they will come
The new normal: Ice Age in the debt markets

3. Contraction in the middle
Common wisdom: Puttin' on the Ritz
The new normal: New frugality

4. Group rates vs. transient rates
Common wisdom: Group ADR less than transient ADR
The new normal: Group ADR greater than transient ADR

5. The new value deinition
Common wisdom: It's a seller's market
The new normal: 365 days of sales

Intrigued? Click here to read the analysis behind the slogans.

Are hoteliers saints?

Here's a quote from an article by Rohit Talwar and Glenn Withiam at the Cornell Hotel School:

Perhaps the key message in a recent study that we conducted among hotel industry executives and managers is that they are ready to move ahead. In this Internet-based survey of over 1,200 hotel executives from across the world, the issues they cited most frequently related to:


I know it's just one guy (me) against twelve hundred hoteliers, but does it strike anyone as odd that "improving sustainability" - going green - would rank so high among a hotelier's concerns, even as business is tanking? Haven't we seen in other surveys that as the economy has weakened, environmental issues take a back seat to other, more pressing concerns - such as economic survival? In this one, for example, conducted in January 2010, "global warming" came in dead last - behind 20 other priorities!

Admittedly, this Pew Research study was a poll of the general public, not targeting only hoteliers or even businessmen in general, but nevertheless, I think it is strange that if "green-ness" has tumbled in importance to 21st on a list of 21 issues causing concern for the man on the street, it would still be considered a high priority for hoteliers.

Are hoteliers really so saintly? Or do they see a business rationale behind going green that others perhaps don't? Or maybe the question is simply: Are they telling the truth?

Hotel property markets - rebounding?

This article in the 2010 edition of the Yearbook, written by consultant Allen Toman, sets out four key expectations for this year:

1. A continued low-level of activity for single-asset, “market” transactions. Sellers will remain reluctant to sell at current values based on distressed levels of income and given the downward pressure on capitalization rates. Buyers will focus on other opportunities, including distressed assets, discounted debt, and other asset classes.

2. Smaller ownership companies will explore either privatizing, merging or selling. This will be driven, in large part, by the debt level on properties and the timing of debt maturity. Those with high levels of maturing debt will be unlikely to replace that debt without substantially increasing their equity contribution.

3. Small and large ownership companies will explore issuing new shares or taking on financial partners in order to raise the capital necessary both to continue operations and to meet the higher levels of equity that banks will require.

4. The larger ownership companies will closely watch to see how the initial property company IPOs fare. If the equity markets continue to recover, expect a rash of public offerings involving property portfolios. Also, expect a number of existing public companies to explore using their shares as capital to acquire distressed hotels and hotel companies.


Do you agree with these scenarios?