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| Crisis discounts at highend hotels? |
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| Alondra |
 Posted: Thu Dec 24, 2009 9:32 pm Post Subject: Crisis discounts at highend hotels? |
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Guest
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| It is quite likely that the economy will head south and stay there for some time. Naturally, the travel industry, especially high end, will be hit. Shall we pool together information for discounts? |
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| Guest |
| Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 8:48 am Post Subject: |
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Construction on two luxury hotels in Xintiandi, Shanghai, one belonging to Jumeirah Hotel Group and the other to Hilton Hotels Corporation, has recently been suspended.
Hilton is building the first Conrad Hotel, a top luxury hotel, in Shanghai, with Shanghai Lixing Hotel Co., Ltd., a joint venture between Shui On Group and Shanghai Hotel Investment Co., as its investor.
Jumeirah’s top management once projected their hotel would be open to the public in 2008, and the room rent might be as higher as $400 a day, even higher than the present most expensive five-star hotel in Shanghai. Jumeirah planned to open 48 new hotels worldwide, including the hotel in Shanghai, before 2011.
However, the two hotels have failed to be completed on time, and construction has now been suspended. A source revealed that ownership of these projects might change, as the present owners of the two projects might be experiencing funding problems due to the global financial situation. Moreover, it is just not a great time to open new hotels.
Hilton confirmed the suspension of its project in Xintiandi, saying the hotel may not open until after 2010 due to the company’s problems.
This indicates a crisis for high-end hotels in Shanghai and other big cities in China. Recently, The Regent Shanghai and The Plaza Royale Oriental Shanghai both rescinded contracts with their foreign partners. The Regent brand and Howard Johnsons under Carlson Hotels Worldwide have dropped away from the two hotels.
Changfeng Real Estate, owner of The Regent Shanghai, said due to increasing profit pressure led by a steep real estate price decline and lowering occupation rates the company had rescinded its management contract with Regent before it expired, and had hired a foreign general manager to operate the hotel. Carlson claimed it was looking for new business partners in China after quitting from the hotel, but that does not look to be easy.
International hotels have expanded rapidly in China since 2003. 20 to 30 top five-star hotels, including Regent, Park Hyatt, and Peninsula, entered the China market over the years since. Some companies have opened more than one hotel in the same city. For example, Shangri-La has two hotels in Shanghai, one in Pudong and another in Puxi, while Hyatt’s three luxury brands, Hyatt, Park Hyatt, and Grand Hyatt, have all entered Shanghai.
Over-expansion has left little room for further development, so later international hotel groups have had to develop their business in medium and smaller cities.
Due to the fierce market competition, hotel management groups have hoped to expand. Land owners, with real estate in good areas, are taking more initiative.
"Most overseas hotel groups are managers, not investors, making land owners very powerful, which is not good for hotels�?management. The conflict worsens during the financial crisis, since high-end occupancy ratio and room rent have both seen a decline," said Zhao Huanyan, chief consultant of SAO Hotel Solution Consulting Ltd.
Average occupancy rate of hotels in Shanghai stood at 54.6% from August to December in 2008, a record low in the past 20 years. The occupancy rate in some foreign tourist-oriented hotels dropped to 30% to 40%. Room rent has dropped by 20% to 30% since November 2008. Some high-end hotels have even begun to offer a 50% discount.
"The income is not satisfactory, but overseas management companies still charge high management fees," revealed Zhao Huanyan. Usually management fees accounts for 2.5% to 3% of total operations income, while incentive management fee accounts for 3% to 5%. |
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| Guest |
| Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 8:50 am Post Subject: |
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AFP - Beirut, one-time pearl of the Orient, is reclaiming its lustre, wooing some of the world's top luxury hotels to set up shop after a record year for tourism - and peace - in city once synonymous with danger.
Le Gray, the newest of the ultra-chic London-based Campbell Gray boutique hotels, as well as old classics like the Four Seasons and Grand Hyatt are only a few of the posh establishments on the list.
"Every major company is trying to come to Beirut. It is the destination where everybody wants to be," said general manager Stefan Simkovics of the Four Seasons. The group opened its 146-million-dollar (102-million-euro) Beirut venture earlier this month, with 230 rooms and the highest rooftop swimming pool in the city.
"Before the war, Beirut was the gateway to the Middle East," he told AFP, referring to Lebanon's devastating 1975,1990 civil conflict.
"Beirut was until the mid-70s the Paris of the Middle East, the pearl of the Orient, and today the city is reclaiming its position as the place everyone wants to be."
Lebanon does seems to have turned the page on its turbulent past, at least for the time being.
After a war with Israel in 2006, a battle between the army and an Al-Qaeda-inspired group in 2007 and sectarian killings in 2008, calm has returned to the small eastern Mediterranean state of four million people.
"Construction for some hotels started in 2004 but was halted in 2005 after the assassination of former prime minister Rafiq Hariri," said Pierre Ashkar, who heads Lebanon's hotel owners' syndicate.
Today, a statue stands as a reminder of the seafront car bombing that killed Hariri in the hotel district.
Just a stone's throw from the landmark Holiday Inn, which remains abandoned and bullet-scarred in silent testimony to the civil war, stands the Ramada, which opened in 2008.
Nearby, Beirut's waterfront Hilton awaits its own glitzy opening and the Grand Hyatt, the Landmark and Kempinski Summerland are set to open between 2010 and 2013.
The arrival of a record two million tourists in 2009 was an encouraging sign for Lebanon, which the international media now hails as a top travel destination.
Beirut headed the New York Times list of top vacation destinations in January 2009 and was put among the top 10 cities for 2009 by the Lonely Planet travel guides for what it called its charm and dynamism.
Earlier this month, The Guardian in London announced: "Beirut is back ... and it's beautiful."
"The quality of life here, the beauty, the excitement -- it is the perfect tourist destination in the region," Simkovics said.
Most visitors are Lebanese expatriates and Arab tourists from the oil-rich Gulf, but the country is also attracting European holiday makers.
Around 60 percent of clients in Lebanese hotels are Gulf tourists, according to Simkovics, with Lebanese expatriates accounting for much of the rest.
"Clearly, when the country is stable, it is functional on all levels, including tourism," said Hector de Galard, general manager of Le Gray, Campbell Gray's fourth hotel worldwide.
"This is just the beginning, and international companies are increasingly feeling encouraged to settle here," said de Galard, whose room prices range from 495 to 5,000 dollars a night.
De Galard said Le Grey was fully booked during the Christian and Muslim holiday seasons at the end of 2009.
And while not everyone can afford the luxury of places like Le Gray or The Four Seasons, Beirut's increasing capacity to accommodate wealthier visitors has been welcomed by entrepreneurs.
"There are 7,000 rooms in Beirut right now," said Ashkar. "In the next three years, we expect an increase of 3,000 rooms."
De Galard said the race was on to boost room numbers. "Demand is on the rise, especially during the summer," he said. "If Beirut wants to host an international conference of 2,000 people, the city must be prepared."
Although investors are aware of the risks they run in Lebanon, optimism runs high for the moment.
"We always knew that Lebanon was not an easy country," said de Galard. "But we also know that if something happens tomorrow, the country will bounce right back." |
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| Guest |
| Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 8:50 am Post Subject: |
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| “Overall, Hawaii has always relied on peaks and valleys, but at this point with the economy there are no peaks and valleys. It’s all pretty much flat,” Elizabeth Churchill, vice president of sales and marketing for Aqua Hotels & Resorts, told the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Hotels there are marketing “staycations” to Hawaiian residents, partnering with holiday charities and competing fiercely with each other for every tourist dollar. That competition has led to many of its luxury resorts dropping prices to compete with three-star hotels. |
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