Hotel & Motel Management - February 18, 2008 - (Page 32)

32 Special Report HOTELWORLD H&MM February 18, 2008 | HotelMotel.com www.HotelMotel.com/digital_edition Luxury expansion Continued from page 30 to happen outside the U.S. and Canada. Between now and 2011, at least one-fourth of the Marriott hotels scheduled to open outside the United States fall into the luxury segment (excluding The RitzCarlton), according to a company spokeswoman. That growth is strongest in the Middle East, especially in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, and in China, India and Thailand. Last year, the company announced plans to increase its entire lodging portfolio in the Middle East by 50 percent and to increase the number of hotels in Asia by one-third. The Ritz-Carlton brand by Marriott is adding several new hotels in 2008 and 2009, including two in the Middle East—one in Bahrain and one in Dubai—and ﬁve in Asia, in four Chinese cities and Hong Kong. Hong Kong-based luxury brand Mandarin Oriental has expansion plans between now and Mandarin Oriental has global expansion plans that run through 2010. Shown is Mexico’s Mandarin Oriental Riviera Maya. Introducing International Hospitality Week February 24-27, 2008. A focused event on lodging, food and beverage and everything in between. 2010 that include a number of new properties in China and two in Morocco. Location and operations For international development in this segment, location is everything, Forrest said. One of the most important factors in moving forward with both The Peninsula Tokyo and The Peninsula Shanghai was choosing the hotel locations. While the Tokyo hotel is in the heart of the business district, the Shanghai hotel is located in the Bund, a tourist district. “We have to look at the potential of the sustainability of a luxury hotel: the average rates [in] the city, local development and where we could have a hotel of Peninsula standard,” Forrest said. Operations can be a particular challenge internationally. “The human resources challenge is one of the biggest ones we face,” Forrest said. “The language problem is one of the more difﬁcult ones, and hiring people who have language abilities is key for international travelers.” Peninsula has addressed that issue, in part, with an Ambassadors Program, in which recent graduates, often ones who have studied abroad and acquired language skills, work at a sister property for a year before helping open a new Peninsula hotel. Forrest said staff also have to be intuitive and change interactions based on guest expectations. “You always have to be sensitive to cultural variations—you have to take the local culture into consideration, but when you’re an international hotel, you have guests from all over the world,” she said. hmm@questex.com CIRCLE NO. 133 MANDARIN ORIENTAL http://HotelMotel.com http://www.HotelMotel.com/digital_edition http://www.ujafedny.org

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Hotel & Motel Management - February 18, 2008

Hotel & Motel Management - February 18, 2008 Contents ALIS Attendees: Bumpy Road Ahead Denihan Expands with James Hotel Purchase AAA Updates its Diamond Rating Guidelines Perspective Letters to the Editor Legal FAQ Satisfaction Trends Sales Clinic HotelWorld Update Trends & Stats Locally Grown Food Gains Popularity Companies Cultivate International Ties Wireless Internet Access Opens Up Possibilities Ice Machine Care Improves Efficiency, Performance The Importance of F&B to Leisure Travelers Lamps/Lighting Transactions Events Ad/Editorial Index Marketplace Classifieds Checking Out

Hotel & Motel Management - February 18, 2008

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