Hotel & Motel Management - December 10, 2007 - (Page Cover1)

CONSTRUCTION SPENDING UP, COSTS STEADY Page 30 SPECIAL REPORT H&MM LOOKS BACK ON THIS YEAR’S TRENDS Page 22 NEWS LIIC ROUNDTABLE: CAPITAL AVAILABLE Page 4 www.HotelMotel.com News Analysis, Trends and People Since 1875 A HotelWorld Network Publication | Vol. 222, No. 21 | December 10, 2007 Corcoran’s cookin’ FelCor co-founder takes AH&LA chairman spot By Jason Q. Freed ASSOCIATE EDITOR FELCOR LODGING TRUST NEW YORK–FelCor Lodging Trust Chairman Tom Corcoran Jr. knows what it means to be dedicated to a job. He got his ﬁrst taste of a workday at age 14, when he began washing dishes at a Holiday Inn in Topeka, Kan. It was there he learned a valuable lesson about the hospitality industry: There is no such thing as a 9 to 5. “My ﬁrst boss taught me to work long, hard hours,” Corcoran said. “In the restaurant, sometimes we would start in the morning and work all the way through the dinner shift.” Corcoran picked up on that work ethic and will apply it to his new role with the American Hotel & Lodging Assn. After See AH&LA chairman | page 36 A passion for cooking keeps Tom Corcoran connected to his employees and instills a sense of family. Panel: Clouds dot industry’s landscape By Patricia Sheehan MANAGING EDITOR, HOTEL DESIGN HotelWorld awards entries due Dec. 31 By Elaine Yetzer Simon SENIOR EDITOR Wyndham brand sharpens focus By Stephanie Ricca MANAGING EDITOR LAS VEGAS–The deadline for entering the ﬁrst Global Hospitality and Design awards is fast approaching. The awards, which honor outstanding properties, companies and inSee HotelWorld | page 37 PARSIPPANY, N.J.–Following a twoyear period of what Wyndham Hotels & Resorts President Peter Strebel called “tremendous growth,” the brand launched a three-pronged strategy for 2008 that includes development plans, revamped customer service, updated products and a new marketing plan targeted to Generation X consumers. At the brand’s October conference in Puerto Rico, Strebel and the executive team outlined their goals, all that focus on the brand’s personality, which emphasizes personalization and innovation. Resort development continues to be a priority for Wyndham Hotels & Resorts. The brand opened the Wyndham Rio Mar Beach Resort and Spa in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico, earlier this year. NEW YORK–A nagging anxiety tempered the generally rosy lodging industry reports by experts at the Hospitality Leadership Forum’s U.S. Lodging Industry Summit Panel last month. The Forum was held as part of the International Hotel/Motel & Restaurant Show. While the latest data and near-term forecasts reflected robust growth for key indicators of supply, demand and revenue per available room, growing concern over the subprime credit crisis, See Horizon | page 35 WYNDHAM HOTELS & RESORTS INFO CONCIERGE 63% plan to travel Despite high gas prices, Americans still plan to travel this holiday season. between Thanksgiving and the New Year “People may have seen Hotels is in the works. Wyndham as a sleepy To build on the brand’s brand, but this conference 70-percent commercial proved we’re back,” Strebclient base, Strebel said he el said. has targeted key gateway Wyndham Hotels & cities around the world. Resorts is one of ten brands It’s a logical development, franchised by Wyndham he said, because WyndWorldwide’s hotel group. Strebel ham has a large customer Development is a high WYNDHAM base for its Caribbean repriority, and while Strebel sorts, and many of those said the brand concentrated on re- guests are based in the Northeast sorts in the past, a new crop of cen- U.S. Those customers familiar ter-city business district Wyndham See Wyndham | page 38 32% will take two or more trips during this period 75% plan to spend as much money on leisure travel in 2008 as they did in 2007 Source: Deloitte’s Annual Travel Survey http://www.hotelmotel.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Hotel & Motel Management - December 10, 2007

Table of Contents News Wildfires test hotels' emergency plans LIIC roundtable: Capital available for hotel projects Departments Perspective Letters to the Editor At Your Risk Family Business Matters Sales Clinic On Finance Satisfaction Trends HotelWorld Update Events Trends & Stats Special Report H&MM's "year in review" tackles the top seven in 2007 Transactions Consumer Insight Travelers rank free breakfast high on must-have items Hot Products IH/M&RS Editors' Choice Award winners Construction Spending up, costs steady in construction Design Window treatments Ad/Editorial Index Marketplace Classifieds Checking Out

Hotel & Motel Management - December 10, 2007

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