Hotel & Motel Management - February 18, 2008 - (Page 4)

4 News H&MM February 18, 2008 | HotelMotel.com As U.S. occupancy levels drop in 2008, the loss should be more than offset by rising room rates this year, according to PKF Hospitality Research. The company forecasts a slowdown in gross domestic product growth could lead to moderation of increased demand, but a surge in inﬂation should boost hotel rates. PKF forecasts 2008 average occupancy at 62.6 percent, average daily rate at $109.33 and revenue per available room at $68.47. The ratio of buyers to sellers in the select-service segment is nearly 5:1, a study by Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels reports. The survey showed 38 percent of U.S. select-service investors plan to buy in the next six months. According to a ﬁling with the Securities and Exchange Commission, real-estate developer Sam Zell bought a 7.7-percent stake in Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. Zell is general partner in the fund that bought the stock for about $737 million. Carlson Hotels Worldwide appointed Bjørn Gullaksen president of The Regent Luxury Group from his position as executive v.p. of managed hotels and resorts for Carlson Hotels Worldwide—The Americas. He will continue to oversee those operations in addition to his new duties for Regent. Lodgian president, c.e.o. and the member of board of directors Ed Rohling resigned. Peter T. Cyris was named interim president and c.e.o., and W. Blair Allen will sit on the board of directors. For updated breaking news, visit www.HotelMotel.com. By Jason Q. Freed ASSOCIATE EDITOR Los Angeles–In mid-2007, when the hotel industry was as bustling as Sunset Boulevard and the Hilton talk centered on private equity rather than Paris and Nicky, the leaders of the annual Americas Lodging Investment Summit came up with a theme for their 2008 show: “The Incredible Race Continues.” Then as the subprime mortgage lending situation arose, credit became nearly unattainable and the number of deals slowed down. ALIS leaders were forced to add punctuation, turning their confer- ence theme into a question: “The Incredible Race Continues?” Keynote speaker Gene Sperling, a former White House national economic adviser to the Clinton administration, all but predicted an economic recession, saying investment across the board would be bleak. But lodging industry data researchers later reassured the nearly 3,000 in attendance that a softening was expected, but the storm would be weathered. Mark Lomanno, president of Smith Travel Research, said there is no reason to panic. “Our take is that, yeah, there’s Panelists at ALIS discussed lodging performance during a general session. [From left] Scott Berman, U.S. advisory leader, Hospitality & Leisure Consulting Practice, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP; Paul Brown, president, Expedia North America; Mark Lomanno, president, Smith Travel Research; and Mark Woodworth, PKF Hospitality Research. going to be softness, but it seems more likely that the softness this time will be bottom-up instead of top-down,” he said. “The segments that most likely are to be affected are economy properties, midscale-with-food-and-beverage properties, and less so the higher end of the marketplace. “It’s less pain for the industry because what that means is the pricing for group business, the pricing for the transient business traveler, is liable to hold up considerably longer.” Lomanno used the following supply and demand ﬁgures to back up that statement: The supply pipeline for 2008 is high (212,000 rooms predicted to open), but historically only about See Bumpy | page 40 Denihan Hospitality Group owns The Benjamin [shown], and ﬁve other properties in New York, in addition to two hotels in Chicago. Denihan expands with James Hotel purchase By Harvey Chipkin CONTRIBUTING EDITOR DENIHAN HOSPITALITY GROUP New York–Denihan Hospitality Group now is a three-brand company. With the acquisition of The James Hotel Group and its James Hotel brand, DHG offers the Afﬁnia, Benjamin and James brands in its portfolio. Brooke Barrett, co-c.e.o. of DHG, called the purchase “a strategic move, an opportunity to not only add another brand but to appeal to a different segment. One of our objectives since we bought DHG was to be innovators in lifestyle hotels; this puts another arrow in our quiver.” Currently, there is one hotel under the James Hotel ﬂag—a 297-room property in Chicago. The previous owner of The James Hotel Group has three pieces of real-estate—in West Hollywood, Calif; Miami Beach, Fla.; and New York—that might be future locations, depending on upcoming negotiations, according to DeniBarrett DENIHAN See Denihan | page 46 New hotel guidelines reﬂect residential trend By Stephanie Ricca MANAGING EDITOR National Report–It’s ofﬁcial, at least according to AAA: Home really is where the heart is, even for travelers. The travel organization updated its Diamond Rating Guidelines for the ﬁrst time since 2001, and the most signiﬁcant trend executives noted was the industry- ONLINE EXTRA! For H&MM’s August 2006 guide to the AAA Diamond Ratings, visit www.hotelmotel.com and search using the term “AAA” wide shift to more residential design and amenities. AAA created the new guidelines with input from the organization’s team of 65 hotel inspectors and hotel industry partners. More than 32,000 properties in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean received diamond ratings. While the overall diamond rating descriptions did not change, the individual guideline criteria did receive updates, mostly to include morøword mean? It’s something different to each of us. So now when we infer ‘quality,’ we give examples and use words like ‘such as.’ “The wording may have changed, but we don’t expect a lot of properties to face rating changes as a result,” Petrone said. What Petrone and his team do notice, however, are quicker changes within the industry as upper-segment brands adopt trends in technology and amenities and lower-segment hotels follow suit. See AAA | page 46 H&MM | JASON Q. FREED ALIS attendees: Bumpy road ahead http://HotelMotel.com http://HotelMotel.com http://HotelMotel.com

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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