Meeting & Events Hotels In Virginia Beach|"7 Of The World's Quietest Hotels"

Source              :    edition.cnn.com
Category         :    Meeting & Events Hotels In Virginia Beach
By                   :    Adam H. Graham
Posted By      :    Hotels in Virginia Beach North Courtyard

Meeting & Events Hotels In Virginia Beach

We have all succumbed to city noise: A 5 a.m. call to prayer courtesy of a mosque after a lengthy flight, a late-night New York bar crowd living it up in the wee hours, a raucous Carnival scene in Rio during an important business trip. Whatever the scenario, even the loftiest skyscraper accommodations can't always escape the din. Thankfully, the age of ultra-quiet hotels -- tranquil urban cocoons that are ideal for guests in search of an escape or simply a space to rest and concentrate -- is upon us. The party hotels of the 1990s gave rise to the sleep-friendly accommodations of the 2000s, which prioritized high-end amenities for comfort.But there is a more scientific approach that involves innovations you don't necessarily see, like triple-paned windows, extra-thick walls and cork floor layers. The true measure of a hotel room's soundproofing is evaluated by how well it deflects its cacophonous surroundings. Yet few major booking sites offer visitors the opportunity to single out quiet hotels in notoriously noisy cities like Cairo and Tokyo, relying instead on user-generated feedback. This is where brand recognition comes in. Soundproofing styles have become proprietary secrets among hoteliers.All Four Seasons hotels must meet the approval of an acoustics consultant. Some properties rely on white-noise removal systems, like the Sound+Sleep machines found in rooms at several Fairmont properties, including the Heritage Place in San Francisco's Ghirardelli Square. Others, such as the Tribeca Grand in New York, outsource soundproofing to companies like K.R. Moeller Associates, which has installed LogiSon sound-masking devices in rooms.

"In the J.D. Power Hotel Guest Satisfaction Index, guest-room noise has repeatedly topped the list of complaints," says Niklas Moeller, K.R. Moeller Associates vice president. "But noise complaints are rarely resolved to the guest's satisfaction, and new approaches are definitely needed that tackle the problem from a different angle." Technology aside, one of those angles can be as simple as choosing a quiet neighborhood, like those where several of our top choices reside. Consider it the ultimate do-not-disturb sign.Quito is home to hundreds of colonial churches, many with bell towers that clang and echo across the bowl-shaped valley in which the city sits. Finding a soundless refuge for a mid-afternoon nap or business briefing can be tricky, but the double- and triple-glazed windows in the 31 rooms at Casa Gangotena, a converted 1920s mansion that opened in 2012 in the city's Plaza San Francisco, make it easier. Luxury Rooms and the garden-view Junior Suite are the quietest, but thick Egyptian marble and dense leather also help absorb noise in the plaza-facing accommodations.This Tokyo landmark hotel, which closed for six years during an extensive renovation before reopening in October 2012, resides in the Tokyo Station Marunouchi Building, which was designed by Meiji-period architect Kingo Tatsuno. It sits near the Shinkansen bullet-train lines of Tokyo Station, but not a sound is heard from the plush goose-down-swaddled beds in each room. Two layers of double-paned windows and thick blackout curtains keep out the Marunouchi street noise, while steel-framed concrete walls, exterior brick-wall claddings and rubber seismic-isolation units allow guests to put Tokyo on mute as they listen to the clink of ice cubes in Schott Zwiesel Tritan crystal glasses filled with Hibiki Japanese whiskey.Draft-free windows and soundproofed walls constructed with reinforced concrete and terracotta tiles were part of what made this property such a bastion of tranquility when it first opened in 1931.

Several renovations later, guest rooms feature solid mahogany doors, dense triple curtains and thick luxurious fabrics, all of which absorb sound. Triple-glazed windows in bedrooms and suites facing busy Park Lane block any additional noises.China's buzzy, crane-lined capital city sees new skyscraping hotels climb high nearly every month. But situated in a lush walled garden in the suburbs of Beijing, the Green T. House bucks the city's sky-rise tendencies. Its 9,000-square-foot Bath House Residence (which sleeps eight guests) is inspired by a Tang Dynasty emperor's bathhouse and is flanked with nearly inch-thick glass windows. It is also home to an open fireplace and a large, granite spoon-shaped bath, which is filled with green tea at night.This elegant Shanghai newcomer is a favorite of visiting noise-sensitive musicians because of its intensely soundproofed rooms, each -- whether facing the interior gardens of the former British consulate or the bustling Bund -- featuring thick curtains and triple-glazed windows. The property takes things a step further by adding discreet bed-and-bath-side buttons, which dim the lights and activate the do-not-disturb function on the phone and doorbell, and a signature valet box that allows housekeeping to quietly pick up and deliver shoes, laundry and dry cleaning without entering.Location, as we know, can make all the difference. And while many luxury hotels in Paris are adjacent to the sirens and traffic of the Champs-Élysées, this Design Hotel newcomer is nestled on the especially quiet Rue du Conservatoire in the Ninth Arrondissement. It features triple-glazed windows, weighty 175-pound doors, wood floors topped with thick carpets, dense velvet blinds and wood ceilings with micro holes that absorb noise. The Prestige Room's Japanese tubs made of marble and Oregon myrtle wood are an excellent way to capitalize on the silence.Hotel Americano, Mexican hotelier Grupo Habita's first foray into New York, ditched its usual Latin party hotel atmosphere for a relaxing "urban ryokan" vibe on a quiet side street in Chelsea's extreme west end. Some of the property's 56 rooms feature double-glazed windows, deep soaking tubs, hanging fireplaces and low platform beds placed inside large wooden cubbies that create a thick sound shield. The rooftop pool doubles as a hot tub in the winter.

Source : edition.cnn.com/2013/09/19/travel/quiet-hotels-departures/?hpt=tr_c1

Meeting & Events Hotels In Virginia Beach|"Tourists Not Conventions Feed Chicago Hotel Boom"

Source              :    nytimes.com
Category         :    Meeting & Events Hotels In Virginia Beach
By                   :    ROBERT SHAROFF
Posted By      :    Hotels in Virginia Beach North Courtyard

Meeting & Events Hotels In Virginia Beach

After a drought in new construction dating back to the 2008 financial crisis, downtown Chicago is suddenly awash in new hotel projects.No fewer than a dozen new hotels representing about 2,700 rooms have recently opened or are under construction, and additional projects seem to be announced on a weekly basis. These include four- and five-star properties by international names like Langham and Loews, as well as numerous smaller lifestyle hotels by a range of independent operators. The boom, say developers and analysts, is driven by strengthening fundamentals of the market. Adam McGaughy, managing director of the Midwest hotel business of Jones Lang LaSalle, a large real estate services firm here, said, “The city exceeded its 2007 occupancy peak of 74.4 percent last year and there’s lots of room for average daily rate growth. When that happens, new supply starts to become part of the conversation.” Chicago is the country’s fourth-largest hotel market behind Las Vegas, New York and Orlando, Fla., with a downtown total of about 37,000 rooms. In the past, the industry has depended on the city’s lakefront McCormick Place convention complex to spur growth.

What makes this boom different is that it is being driven largely by smaller lifestyle hotels that appeal to leisure and international travelers. Ben Weprin, president of locally based A. J. Capital Partners, who has three such projects under construction, said: “Conventions are not our primary focus. We aim for a younger demographic that likes to go out to restaurants and bars. We try to create a town square atmosphere in our properties.” According to TR Mandigo & Company, a hotel consulting firm here, leisure travel now accounts for about 15 percent of the downtown hotel market. That is an increase from 10 percent in the early 2000s, and further increases are anticipated because of an aggressive city marketing program instituted by Mayor Rahm Emanuel. “The mayor has made tourism a priority,” said Donald Welsh, chief executive of Choose Chicago, the city’s tourism and convention bureau. Over the last 18 months, he added, the city has opened 10 international tourism offices in countries like China, Japan, Brazil and Britain, and it is also running 30-second television ads promoting Chicago as a vacation destination in cities throughout the Midwest.

Many of the new hotels are in areas that, until recently, were not considered tourist zones, the most notable of which is a five-block stretch of Michigan Avenue just south of the Chicago River where four new projects are under way. John Rutledge, chief executive of locally based Oxford Capital Partners and a leading downtown hotel developer, pointed to the attractive features of the neighborhood that lend themselves to hotels. For one, he said, old classic buildings there can be adapted to intimate hotel spaces. Another asset is its proximity to popular areas, like the Loop business district, Millennium Park, Navy Pier and the North Michigan Avenue shopping district. Mr. Rutledge recently paid $53 million for the London Guarantee Building, a lavishly ornamented 1920s-era office building at the northern end of the district, where he plans to build a hotel with more than 400 rooms. He expects to begin construction early next year, and to be finished in fall of 2015. Mr. Weprin of A. J. Capital also has a project in this area, a 250-room hotel carved out of the landmark Chicago Athletic Association Building on Michigan Avenue across from Millennium Park. His partner for the project is John Pritzker, founder and director of Geolo Capital, a San Francisco investment firm that specializes in hospitality and entertainment projects. Mr. Pritzker, who grew up in Chicago, is the son of the late Jay Pritzker, founder of the Hyatt hotel chain.  The Chicago Athletic Association dates from 1893 and was designed by Henry Ives Cobb, a leading 19th-century architect here. The building has a Venetian gothic facade and an extravagant interior of cast iron staircases, vaulted ceilings, elaborate tile floors and 15 working fireplaces.

“People get an amazed look on their faces when they go into that building,” Mr. Pritzker said. “They can’t believe something like that still exists.” The hotel, which will have 250 rooms and be operated by Geolo Capital’s Commune Hotels and Resorts division, will cost $125 million and be finished in late 2014. It has not been named yet. Mr. Weprin’s other notable project is a new $50 million Soho House in the west Loop meatpacking district, another emerging neighborhood known primarily for its restaurants and night life. His partners are Nick Jones, founder of the London-based Soho House, and Shapack Development of Chicago.

 The hotel, which will open next spring, occupies an old industrial building on Green Street and will have about 40 rooms plus extensive restaurant, bar and spa facilities. “We’ve been looking for the right site in Chicago for quite a few years,” said Mr. Jones. The meatpacking district, he added, is “buzzy and interesting and lots of new things” are opening there. Not that Chicago is turning its back on the convention business or large convention hotels. A new 316-room Langham Hotel on the north bank of the Chicago River and a new 460-room annex to the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place have recently been completed.

Next up in this category is a Loews Hotel, which will occupy the lower floors of a 52-story residential building under construction on the north bank of the Chicago River several blocks from Navy Pier. The developer is the DRW Trading Group of Chicago. The hotel to be owned by Leows will consist of about 400 rooms plus 25,000 square feet of meeting space. It will open in 2015. The hotel is costing about $400,000 a room, or about $160 million.

Source:nytimes.com/2013/09/18/realestate/commercial/tourism-not-conventions-feeds-chicago-hotel-boom.html?_r=0#p[NftNft]

Meeting & Events Hotels In Virginia Beach|"Blackstone Seeks IPOs As Sales Of Hotels Accelerate"

Source              :    bloomberg.com
Category         :    Meeting & Events Hotels In Virginia Beach
By                   :    Hui-yong Yu
Posted By      :    Hotels in Virginia Beach North Courtyard

Meeting & Events Hotels In Virginia Beach

Private-equity firms are accelerating sales of hotels to take advantage of a recovery in U.S. lodging demand and stock prices close to record highs. Hotel-property transactions jumped 47 percent to $14.1 billion this year through July in the U.S., according to Real Capital Analytics Inc. Sales by institutional investors, including private-equity funds, more than doubled in the first half, as the growth of revenue per available room decelerated. Blackstone Group LP (BX), the largest buyout firm, has decided now’s the time to sell shares as it prepares initial public offerings of the Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. and Extended Stay America Inc. chains. A recovery in travel after the last recession has led to hotel real estate values almost doubling since 2009’s low, based on an index from research firm Green Street Advisors Inc. Companies including Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. (HOT) and Marriott International Inc. (MAR) have climbed to their highest prices since 2007, when Blackstone bought Hilton Hotels Corp. for $26 billion at the tail end of the biggest buyout boom in history. With some firms cashing in on their investments, further property-price gains may be muted.

“Fundamentals are still pretty strong but, in general, revpar is increasing at a declining rate,” said Keith Gelb, a managing member of Rockpoint Group LLC, a Boston-based private-equity real estate firm that has been selling hotel assets. “The capital markets have been quite strong and we’ve executed our business plans sooner than anticipated.”Institutional investors, after snapping up hotels at distressed prices at the real estate market’s bottom in 2009 and 2010, have made sales totaling $3.44 billion in the first half, compared with $1.68 billion a year earlier, according to New York-based Real Capital, a property-research firm. Purchases rose at a slower pace, climbing 21 percent to $3.43 billion. Growth in revpar, the lodging industry’s measure of average daily room rates and occupancies, is slowing after three years of gains. It rose 5.6 percent in the first half, compared with 6.8 percent growth for all of last year and 8.2 percent in 2011, according to STR, a Hendersonville, Tennessee-based data provider. The firm forecasts revpar will increase 5.7 percent this year and 6 percent in 2014. “We still have two to three years of pretty good growth and below-average supply increases,” said Scott D. Smith, senior vice president in the Atlanta office of PKF Consulting USA LLC, a San Francisco-based research and advisory firm for the hotel industry. “But if demand declines, then hoteliers will start to lose occupancy and discount their room rates, and obviously that will have a great impact on net operating income.”Some investors are attracted to hotels because they offer investment yields, as measured by capitalization rates, of about 7.8 percent, or about 2 percentage points higher than the average of the other major commercial-property types -- office, industrial, retail and apartments, said Lukas Hartwich, a lodging analyst at Green Street in Newport Beach, California. Cap rates are net operating income divided by purchase price.

If interest rates rise further, that would boost borrowing costs and may reduce the prices that buyers who rely on debt financing are willing to pay for hotel assets, Hartwich said. “Some buyers are looking for a certain return on equity so if the cost of debt goes up, that hurts their return,” he said. Rockpoint has sold or recapitalized more than $1.5 billion of hotel properties in the past 12 months, including New York’s Milford Plaza, Boston’s Park Plaza Hotel, Hawaii’s Waikiki Courtyard and Bacara Resort & Spa in Santa Barbara, California. “We’ve monetized a significant percentage of our hotel assets in the past year,” Gelb said. Private equity firms continue to make new hotel bets as they sell or start to exit older investments. Blackstone bought about $4 billion of hotel assets during the past year, including the Motel 6 budget chain and a leasehold in a Hyatt resort in Waikiki. Hilton, the world’s largest hotel chain, filed to raise as much as $1.25 billion when it goes public, a placeholder amount that may change. New York-based Blackstone also filed for an IPO of Extended Stay, a mid-priced lodging chain, in July, and is exploring a stock sale of La Quinta Inns & Suites. The firm is seeking to take advantage of surging stocks while holding on to a stake in Hilton in a bet travel will remain robust. The last large chain to go public, Hyatt Hotels Corp. (H), has risen 82 percent since its November 2009 share sale. The Bloomberg Hotel Real Estate Investment Trust Index reached a five-year high in May before slipping 4 percent on the prospect that rising interest rates will limit property demand. Planned IPOs may curb gains in lodging stocks in the next few months, said James Corl, a managing director overseeing distressed real estate investments at New York-based Siguler Guff & Co. and former head of real estate securities fund management at Cohen & Steers Inc.“New supply is always going to compete with the existing companies for the incremental dollar,” Corl said. “One of the reasons the REIT market’s been off the last couple of months is there’s a pretty significant backlog of new public companies” preparing to sell stock.

A successful IPO of Hilton would mark a major turnaround for Blackstone’s biggest investment ever and a victory for the firm’s real estate chief, Jonathan Gray. The firm’s real estate and private equity funds put $5.7 billion of equity in the October 2007 buyout, betting on the company’s international growth potential. The deal looked like a money loser when the credit crisis severely curtailed travel. Instead of walking away, Blackstone invested $800 million of equity to buy back some debt, convert other loans and push out maturities in a 2010 debt restructuring that cut Hilton’s borrowings by $4 billion. Hilton President and Chief Executive Officer Christopher Nassetta has moved the company headquarters to the Washington suburb of McLean, Virginia, from Beverly Hills, California, and expanded the hotel count by more than 30 percent to over 4,000 properties. The majority of that growth is overseas and in franchised and managed hotels, which require almost no capital investment by the company.Hilton, with brands including Hampton Inns and Embassy Suites, had a 3 percent increase in revenue in the first half, to $4.64 billion from $4.52 billion a year earlier, following 5.6 percent growth last year, according to the IPO filing. The company has more than $13.5 billion of debt that it expects to refinance before the end of the year.

The majority of Hilton’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization comes from the 3,843 hotels, resorts and timeshare properties it franchises or manages. The company also owns or leases stakes in 157 hotels with about 62,500 rooms, including icons such as the Waldorf Astoria in New York, the Hilton Hawaiian Village and the London Hilton on Park Lane, according to its IPO filing.Hilton could be valued at about $30 billion, based on multiples of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization at comparable companies such as Stamford, Connecticut-based Starwood and Bethesda, Maryland-based Marriott, a person with knowledge of Blackstone’s plans has said. When Blackstone agreed in July 2007 to pay $47.50 a share for Hilton, the price was 40 percent more than the stock’s closing price the day before the acquisition was announced. The deal ignited a round of high-fives in Corl’s office at Cohen & Steers, a Hilton shareholder, at the time. “The valuation they paid was extraordinary,” Corl said. “If they’re able to get out of that with any sort of decent returns, they are indeed heroes.” Asset sales by investors reflect strength in the hotel market, said Smith of PKF. “In a nine-inning game, we’re probably in the sixth inning,” said Greg Duff, chairman of the hospitality, travel and tourism practice of Seattle-based law firm Garvey Schubert Barer. “On many levels and in many different markets in terms of occupancy, we have met or exceeded where we were pre-recession.”

Source:bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-17/blackstone-seeks-ipos-as-sales-of-hotels-accelerate.html

Meeting & Events Hotels In Virginia Beach|"New York Investment Trust Buys Two South Florida Hotels"

Source              :    miamiherald.com
Category         :    Meeting & Events Hotels In Virginia Beach
By                   :    HANNAH SAMPSON
Posted By      :    Hotels in Virginia Beach North Courtyard

Meeting & Events Hotels In Virginia Beach

A New York real estate investment trust has purchased two South Florida Hampton Inn locations from Baywood Hotels for $31 million total. Lightstone Value Plus Real Estate Investment Trust, which is sponsored by the Lightstone Group, bought the 127-room Hampton Inn Miami-Airport West in Doral and the Hampton Inn & Suites Fort Lauderdale-Airport in Hollywood, which has 104 rooms. The deal closed Aug. 30. Mitchell Hochberg, president of The Lightstone Group, said both hotels are in good shape and will get some minor cosmetic work, but no serious renovations are in store.

Source : miamiherald.com/2013/09/16/3631325/new-york-investment-trust-buys.html

Meeting & Events Hotels In Virginia Beach|"Minute Guidelines For Star Luxury Hotels"

Source              :    articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com
Category         :    Meeting & Events Hotels In Virginia Beach
By                   :    economictimes
Posted By      :    Hotels in Virginia Beach North Courtyard

Meeting & Events Hotels In Virginia Beach

Planning a five-star deluxe hotel in India? Just make sure there are enough hooks in the bathroom and a phone next to the toilet. The government, it appears, will let no feature go overlooked in its quest to ensure India's luxury hotels don't stint on anything, including hooks — three in the bathroom to allow guests to hang up their clothes. Oh, and the toilet has to be equipped with "modern water-based, post-toilet-paper hygiene facilities".The hotel industry is aghast at the minute details into which the government has gone in a directive issued on Friday listing new guidelines on the requirements of a five-star hotel. "The ministry of tourism should focus on reducing the number of licences required to set up a hotel, the time taken for permissions and work on visa-related issues so that more tourists visit the country rather than on such micro aspects," said Manav Thadani, chairman of hotel consultancy HVS India, which is working with several new hotels coming up across the country.

Another hotel owner said such norms will only lead to harassment by ministry officials. "They are trying to create their own relevance here," he said. These rules include, apart from hooks, water sprays and blackout curtains, a "luminous LED wall clock with numerals of three inches or more" near the swimming pool. Also, "it will be desirable for all 5-star deluxe hotels to have air-conditioned porches." "How can a hotel have an air-conditioned porch?" wondered the hotelier cited above. Hotels have two to eight years to adhere to the tourism ministry guidelines that aim to make them more "customer-oriented". A senior ministry of tourism official said the guidelines haven't been updated for a long time, hence they have been revised. "There hasn't been a revision in the classification guidelines for many years and one has to move with time," he said. "We do not want to compel hotel operators or force these guidelines on them by making them mandatory, but the hotels which will follow them will be recognised by the government and will benefit."

The move is a "frivolous attempt by government to micromanage a sector" already battered by the slowdown in tourism and the gloomy business climate, said the hotelier cited above. Very few countries follow star rating systems. Their categorisation is based on the size of rooms, safety and security systems, number of restaurants etc. For the big international brands that have entered India over the last decade, classification by the government and the benefits of that don't matter as they follow their own standards when building hotels. But many of them have to necessarily apply for classification because certain licences and permissions for hotels are linked to it in some states. Hoteliers are irked by the granular detail, especially since "brand standards are much higher than what the government is asking for", as Thadani put it.

Classification by the government is required for licences, permissions and funding, but doesn't help the hotel in terms of positioning. "That is based on brand standards and consumer preferences," said KB Kachru, chairman, South Asia, Carlson Hotels. Travellers know what to expect from an international brand as well the recognised Indian ones, said Saeed Shervani, executive member of the Hotel and Restaurant Association of Northern India. He also runs a mid-sized hotel in Delhi. "Why do they need to get into the nitty-gritty of these things? This makes classification very problematic," he said.

Source:http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-09-09/news/41903454_1_hotel-owner-hotel-industry-star-luxury-hotels

Meeting & Events Hotels In Virginia Beach|"Hotels Offer Groceries As Alternative To Room Service"

Source              :    usatoday.com
Category         :    Meeting & Events Hotels In Virginia Beach
By                   :    Nancy Trejos
Posted By      :    Hotels in Virginia Beach North Courtyard

Meeting & Events Hotels In Virginia Beach

Forget room service. At many hotels across the country, you can now easily have groceries or ready-to-make meals delivered to your room. Hotels are increasingly arranging for guests to get food deliveries from outside vendors as an alternative to room service, which has rarely been a money-making enterprise for them. Grocery delivery services tend to be more popular at extended-stay properties, but other types of properties are starting to experiment with alternatives to traditional room service. Some hotels are also responding to the growing demand for healthier food options by making sure the delivery services have healthy meals or snacks for sale. "It's not the home kitchen, but gets guests closer to a home-like experience, which is what road-weary travelers crave," says Maryam Wehe, senior vice president of Applied Predictive Technologies, which does consulting for hotels. "While travelers are just as time-starved as ever, they are increasingly health-conscious while on the go. Through healthy food delivery options, hotels are taking another step to bring the comforts and lifestyle of home to guests."

•Affinia Hotels, a boutique hotel chain with properties in New York, recently announced a partnership with FreshDirect, a New York City-based grocery delivery service, to deliver ready-to-make meals to guests. There's a Business Kit and a Healthy Kit, each with such items as fruit, vegetables, Greek yogurt, chips, salsa and cookies. The kits also have four-minute meals such as lemon-dill salmon, which can be heated in a microwave in each room's kitchenette. The kits can be ordered in advance through Affinia's online e-concierge service.

•GoBites.com, a portion-controlled, all-natural snack delivery service with most items containing fewer than 200 calories, is sending items to hotels with more frequency, says CEO Jim Gutt. Among the hotels the company has delivered to: the Marriott in Santa Clara, Calif.; Hotel Zaza in Houston; and the Sleep Inn in Phoenix. The company has partnered with the Country Inn in Buffalo, Minn., which offers the snack boxes to guests. The packages can be customized for guests who have special dietary needs, such as gluten allergies or diabetes.

•Marriott's Residence Inn offers free grocery deliveries to guests with no mark-ups on items. All of Hilton's Homewood Suites hotels also offer a complimentary grocery shopping service. Guests can leave their lists with hotel employees in the morning and return to a fully stocked refrigerator.

Lisa Zandee, senior vice president of brand management for Affinia Hotels, says guests like the grocery delivery service because "it liberates them from the limitations of room-service, minibar and restaurant fare."

It also provides some relief to hotels that think room service is too costly to run and doesn't generate much revenue. Room service revenue has dropped 9.5% from 2007 to 2012, according to PKF Hospitality Research. One hotel has come up with an even more unusual take on room service. The staff at Amway Grand Plaza hotel in Grand Rapids, Mich., noticed that guests were frequently ordering pizza from outside vendors. In response, the culinary team created its own pizza delivery service for guests and named it Piezelli's. Pizza deliveries now represent about 15% of room service revenue, with the hotel selling about 150 pizzas a week. Andrew Bowen, assistant food and beverage director at Amway Grand Plaza, says room service revenue at the hotel had declined by about 30% in the last decade. Bowen says the hotel doesn't market the pizza deliveries as room service, even though guests can charge them to their rooms. "There seems to be a negative connotation to room service now than there was 15, 20 years ago," he says. Room service is "an amenity you feel you have to offer guests. Your hands are tied to a certain extent, so we were looking for options to give them a better product and price, and still offer the convenience."

Source:usatoday.com/story/travel/hotels/2013/09/10/hotels-room-service-grocery-deliveries/2788329/

Meeting & Events Hotels In Virginia Beach|"Hotels Have Vacancies This Weekend"

Source              :    centredaily.com
Category         :    Meeting & Events Hotels In Virginia Beach
By                   :    Mike Dawson
Posted By      :    Hotels in Virginia Beach North Courtyard

Meeting & Events Hotels In Virginia Beach

Penn State football fans will start pouring into town Friday for Saturday’s home opener against Eastern Michigan, and if any haven’t booked a hotel room, it’s likely there could plenty of options for these last-minute customers. Local hoteliers said, and online travel websites provide some confirmation of it, that they have vacancies this weekend, as the business of providing lodging to out-of-town guests isn’t as robust for the start of this year compared with last year. And some have dropped, albeit temporarily or on a case-by-case basis, the well-known two-night stay requirement. Hoteliers attribute the drop-off in business to multiple reasons, and they were quick to rule out that fans were being driven away by the off-field matter that have cast a pall over the football team, such as the way revered coach Joe Paterno was fired and the NCAA sanctions. Instead, the businessmen and woman said factors such as a less-than-stellar opponent or the new mystique having worn off second-year coach Bill O’Brien were at play.

The hoteliers were optimistic that their business would improve if Penn State is successful on the field and the weather doesn’t turn foul. Websites such as Expedia and Travelocity show many hotels in the State College have rooms available for both nights. Rates, checked Thursday, cost upward of $170 per night to as much as $305 at the Days Inn on South Pugh Street, State College. At the Best Western, off Shiloh Road in College Township, last year’s business for opening weekend was better, said front desk manager Melissa Benner. The hotel sold out last year, and she was optimistic that last-minute customers could grab a room that starts at $199 a night. As of Wednesday, Benner had 27 vacancies for Friday and 15 for Saturday. “It could be better, but we’re more than half-way booked,” she said. The two-night minimum stay was eliminated for this weekend’s game and the games later this month. The game circled on every fan’s calendar, against Michigan on Oct. 12, sold out long ago and had a hefty $459 a night cost, with the required two nights’ stay and payment in advance.

HFL Hotels, which runs the Country Inn and Suites, Comfort Inn and Sleep Inn in State College, had a similar report. “We aren’t as busy as the first game last year, but we are picking up,” said Mike Szczesny, the company’s director of hotel operations. Among the three hotels, there were about 70 rooms available as of Wednesday, he said. The next games, against Central Florida and Kent State, appear popular with out-of-towners that the three hotels won’t have any rooms left. The two-night minimum stay has been nixed for the Eastern Michigan game, but HFL Hotels offered guests who paid for Friday and Saturday nights a free room on Sunday, he said. The minimum stay will kick in for the rest of weekends that have home games, as well as the away-game weekend of Oct. 4-5, which is Penn State’s parents and families open house. Szczesny said his company offers the two-night minimum stay because consumer demand for it exists.

“At the end of the day when you look at last year, we only had one night that sold out both nights,” said Szczesny, adding that business is on track to be better than last year. At the Autoport on South Atherton Street, co-owner Kathy Punt said last year was busier, too. But she’s attributing the difference in business fans already having a year of knowing O’Brien, compared with last year, which was the coach’s first year at the helm. “Last year, we had the curiosity factor that we don’t have this year,” she said. The Autoport does not have a two-night minimum stay requirement, Punt said, but there’s a difference in rates between one night and two nights. Rates here are not different from last year, too, Punt said, but they are lower than the 2011 season, which was the first year that a ticket pricing policy took effect that was not popular with fans.

Source : centredaily.com/2013/09/05/3772673/hotels-have-vacancies-this-weekend.html

Meeting & Events Hotels In Virginia Beach|"A New View At Chelsea Hotel"

Source              :    online.wsj.com

Category         :    Meeting & Events Hotels In Virginia Beach

By                   :    Ed Scheetz

Posted By      :    Hotels in Virginia Beach North Courtyard

Meeting & Events Hotels In Virginia Beach

Ed Scheetz has become the Chelsea Hotel's new sole owner after buying back five properties from Joseph Chetrit, his partner in King & Grove Hotels who earlier this year purchased the Sony building on Madison Avenue for $1.1 billion. Mr. Scheetz, the onetime CEO of Morgans Hotel Group, MHGC -0.73% will now retain Ruschmeyer's in Montauk and King & Grove in Williamsburg, but the crown jewel might be the fabled Chelsea, which is currently under renovation. Mr. Scheetz said he took over the hotel so he and Mr. Chetrit "could each pursue a focused and clear strategy" in their real-estate holdings. He described the renovation project as "challenging." "You're rebuilding it from the inside out," he said. When he now tells people he owns the hotel, "They say, 'Are you crazy?'" Mr. Scheetz said. "Because it's such a challenging project with a high profile. It's an iconic property, one of the most famous hotels in the city. It has one of those famous cultural histories, from Mark Twain to Sid Vicious. Every time I go by, tourists are taking pictures of themselves in front of the door. It's got that kind of pull."

A home for bohemian artists and writers, the Hotel Chelsea since it opened as a luxury co-op in 1884 has housed, among many others, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Andy Warhol, Tennessee Williams, Patti Smith, Joni Mitchell, Dylan Thomas, Bob Dylan, Arthur Miller and Allen Ginsberg. Mr. Scheetz said he is taking over the project mid-construction. "It certainly shows its age," he said. "When the building was acquired, it was in a pretty fat state of disrepair. Not in great shape. It's been a substantial project to renovate all the rooms and rebuild while people are living there." The hotel has around 170 rooms and 65 apartments, said Mr. Scheetz. On Tuesday afternoon, he planned to send a letter to the building's tenants association about the changeover and to describe "the significant enhancements to the way the property is managed and the manner in which the restoration is conducted," including lobby usage and removal of construction detritus. In an interview, he added that all of his area hotels have had residents. "It's extraordinarily common, and I've never had problems with the tenants," he explained. "We anticipate there will always be residents. The fact that people live there is part of the history. It's part of the fabric of the hotel."

Mr. Scheetz said it was too early to tell when the hotel would reopen for business, and he was waiting to announce any new food and beverage concepts. "The big-picture game plan is to restore the Chelsea to the point where it's respectful of its long and storied history, but able to move forward," he said. "I don't want it to be a museum, but a living, breathing fabric of the culture of the city." To that end, he hopes it eventually will be a place where locals can go for dinner, a book signing or an exhibition. "All of those kind of things can happen at the Chelsea," he said. "Part of what I think is important is the community." Mr. Scheetz said it's surprising that many hotel brands don't have emotional connections with consumers, even though hotels are places where you actually spend time and go to sleep. "You might see someone wearing a Four Seasons golf shirt, but you don't tend to see people wearing a T-shirt that says Marriott," he said.

Trying to create that emotional connection is important to him, he said. "People have seen everything," he said. "When I started working with Ian Schrager, what he did was novel, but that attracted everybody's attention worldwide. Subsequently, you had a lot of other players who hired fancy designers, fancy chefs and nightlife people, threw it in a box and said, 'This is a nice hotel.'" It's Mr. Scheetz's belief that the new customer is looking for a modern, fun experience, but also comfort and value "more so than being shocked by a new design." "We want to bring that sense of gathering and community back to a hotel space," he said. In particular, the Chelsea appeals to him as a fan of music and literature. But no one, he added, has an actual picture of the hotel at a specific point in time. "It's much more of a romanticized view," Mr. Scheetz said. "You're not restoring this property to 1972. You're restoring the romantic vision of the hotel of the last 100-plus years and making sure it lasts for another 100-plus years."

Source : online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323407104579039031666119834.html

Meeting & Events Hotels In Virginia Beach|"Accor Chooses Bazin To Drive Asset-Light Hotels Strategy"

Source              :    reuters.com
Category         :    Meeting & Events Hotels In Virginia Beach
By                   :    Dominique Vidalon
Posted By      :    Hotels in Virginia Beach North Courtyard

Meeting & Events Hotels In Virginia Beach

Accor has named private equity specialist Sebastien Bazin as the French hotel group's new chairman and chief executive in a move expected to speed Accor's asset sales to boost investor returns. The appointment of Bazin, who has ended all his duties as head of European operations for U.S. investment fund Colony Capital, Accor's largest shareholder, was made at a board meeting on Tuesday morning. Colony and other large shareholders had been unhappy with the pace at which Accor was progressing with its strategy of expanding in emerging markets to cope with a weak Europe while moving away from hotel ownership towards franchising or managing hotels for others. Potential disposals mainly involve hotels, with the company banking on the strategy to lift its operating margin to more than 15 percent of sales by 2016, from 9.3 percent at the end of last year.

Accor, which competes with global rivals InterContinental , Marriott and Starwood, wants to operate 80 percent of its rooms under franchise or management contracts and 20 percent in owned and leased hotels by the end of 2016. At June 30 this year, 42 percent of the hotel portfolio was owned by Accor, the company's website says. Rival InterContinental, meanwhile, owns 1 percent of its portfolio and had a 2012 operating margin of 33 pct of sales. Bazin, who was also Accor's vice-chairman, will assume his CEO duties with immediate effect, Accor said in a statement confirming a report by Reuters. "I take on this new role with great ambition for the group, to which I am deeply committed, and acute awareness of the challenges," the statement quoted Bazin as saying. Bazin, a French national, became vice-chairman in April after the world's fourth-largest hotel group by sales ousted Chairman and Chief Executive Denis Hennequin and put in place a transition-management team. Bazin, 51, is leaving Colony after 16 years with the $27 billion U.S. private equity firm. "He knows Accor and the hotel business inside out, and for him it's a personal challenge to jump to the operational side," a source close to the matter said.

Colony invested 1 billion euros ($1.34 billion) in Accor in 2005 and was joined in 2008 by French private equity fund Eurazeo. Together they control 21.4 percent of the group and four board seats. Colony directly owns about 11 percent of Accor. "Given that Accor is among Colony Europe's largest investments, Sebastien's move represents the perfect opportunity to optimise the company's ability to drive a substantial enhancement of shareholder value," Colony Capital said in a statement. Over the past 12 months investors have made a 13.6 percent return on Accor shares, assuming dividends were reinvested. That compares with 37.5 percent on rival InterContinental, Thomson Reuters data show. Bazin's appointment also has the approval of the head of Eurazeo, Patrick Sayer. "Competency, experience, vision, courage: Sebastien Bazin is the man of the situation for Accor," he wrote on Twitter. Colony is also a key shareholder of Carrefour, Europe's largest retailer, where Bazin, who acts as vice chairman of the board, was believed by some investors, unions and analysts to be behind a failed plan to spin off the company's property assets from the rest of the business. "The key issue is that Accor's asset-light strategy of selling assets and developing its franchise will continue and even accelerate as Colony and Bazin initiated that strategy," said one sector analyst who declined to be named.

Colony masterminded the separation of Accor from its vouchers business Edenred in 2010 and the latter's successful listing. Former Accor CEO Hennequin was said by analysts and sources to have resisted pressure from its top shareholders - notably Colony - to split property holdings from the hotels business. At the time of Hennequin's ousting, sources said that stakeholders were losing patience with the weak performance of Accor shares and the pace of asset sales and franchising. Since news of Hennequin's departure broke on April 23, Accor's shares have risen 15.3 percent, outperforming its peers. The shares gained more than 2 percent in early trade on Tuesday but closed down 1.5 percent, against a 2.4 percent decline in the CAC-40 blue-chip index.

Source : reuters.com/article/2013/08/27/accor-ceo-idUSL6N0GS0II20130827

Meeting & Events Hotels In Virginia Beach|"Tiger Has Neck, Back Pain Because Of Soft Hotel Bed"

Source              :   usatoday.com
Category         :   Meeting & Events Hotels In Virginia Beach
By                   :   Steve DiMeglio
Posted By      :    Hotels in Virginia Beach North Courtyard

Meeting & Events Hotels In Virginia Beach

The world's No. 1 player didn't hit a full shot Wednesday over the last nine holes of The Barclays pro-am at Liberty National Golf Course because of neck and back tightness, the result of a bad night's sleep. Woods took a precautionary approach and just chipped and putted over the final nine holes. Woods will see a back specialist Wednesday afternoon and said he has no concerns about being able to play Thursday when the FedExCup Playoffs begin at Liberty National.

"My neck and back are a little bit stiff. It was stiff this morning after a soft bed and just one of those things, sleeping in hotels," said Woods, a winner of five PGA Tour titles this season. "I didn't want to push it, so just took it easy and chipped and putted." Woods, who dealt with a right elbow inflammation after the U.S. Open, said his current issues with his neck and back are not a long-term concern. "No, it was fine at home," he said. "Hotel beds." When asked if he was going to get a new bed, Woods smiled and said, "What do you think" We'll have something."

Source : usatoday.com/story/sports/golf/2013/08/21/tiger-woods-the-barclays-pro-am/2681305/

Meeting & Events Hotels In Virginia Beach|"Nara Gathers ‘Digital DNA’ To Find You The Perfect Hotel Room"

Source              :   venturebeat.com
Category         :   Meeting & Events Hotels In Virginia Beach
By                   :   Rebecca Grant
Posted By      :    Hotels in Virginia Beach North Courtyard

Meeting & Events Hotels In Virginia Beach

Nara is channeling its “digital DNA” technology to help you find the perfect hotel room. Nara is a “computational neuroscience company” that analyzes user behavior and uses artificial intelligence to make personalized recommendations. It draws inspiration from how the brain manages information to create a cloud-based “neural network” that can identify and understand your tastes. Founder and CEO Tom Copeman said the goal is to shift the Internet from search-based to find-based. ““The Internet is chock-full of information and data, but it takes hours of wasted search time to mine through it,” Copeman said to VentureBeat. “Rather than continue with the mass of confusing web clutter, Nara’s mission is to design and engineer a more personable, actionable and liberating web to achieve a life well found. The Internet has become a big, giant haystack, and Nara helps you find the needle.”

A brain trust of MIT astrophysicists, neuroscientists, computer scientists, artists, and entrepreneurs began building Nara’s technology in 2010. The first application of the system focused on personalized restaurant recommendations. Nara combines analysis of your activity with analysis of millions of restaurant reviews and descriptions to make suggestions about restaurants you are likely to like. You thumb restaurants up or down to refine your presences.

Today Nara is extending this technology to hotel search. Its algorithm can now generate relevant recommendations for hotels in 50 North American cities. Users can turn to Nara to discover hotels in new cites that are similar to those they already like and learn why Nara made that recommendation. Nara partnered with the Expedia Affiliate Network to offer online direct bookings and pulls from TripAdvisor ratings and reviews. Nara rolled out major updates to its restaurant engine and released in nationwide in June. The engine went from 50 cities to 20,000 in less than 90 days and included new features like the ability to save locations for later, connections with third-party platforms like OpenTable, GrubHub, and Uber, and a social layer for following friends. These features are all useful for locals looking for new spots, as well as travelers who want to discover places in new cities.

Copeman said that once they were able to scale the restaurant product, the intent was to expand into other lifestyle verticals. Travel is a major Internet industry. 148.3 million travel bookings are made on the Internet each year and 39 percent of all online travel sales come from hotel reservations. Travel sites like Expedia and Priceline make most of their money through hotel bookings, and reviews are a critical part of this process. 81 percent of travelers find user reviews important and 49 percent won’t book without reviews. People want to know that the hotel they are spending their money on will provide a pleasant experience. The shift from search to find is being seen in many Internet industries — travel, e-commerce, app discovery, recruiting etc… The quantity of information on the Internet is so massive that people need various filters or layers to make sense of it. Nara’s goal is to create a more “personal, actionable, and liberating” Web. It has raised $7 million to date and is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Source : venturebeat.com/2013/08/22/nara-gathers-digital-dna-to-find-you-the-perfect-hotel-room/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Venturebeat+%28VentureBeat%29

Meeting & Events Hotels In Virginia Beach|"The Virginia Beach Meetings and Conventions FAM was a Huge Success"

Source         :  http://beachfyi.com

Category      :  Meeting & Events Hotels In Virginia Beach

By                :  beachfyi

Posted By    :  Hotels in Virginia Beach North Courtyard

Meeting & Events Hotels In Virginia Beach

Virginia Beach has more than beautiful beaches, a wealth of history, scenic wildlife trails and numerous attractions; it is also the home of the first LEED Gold Certified convention center, mild year-round temperatures, a variety of hotels and amenities, bustling downtown, unique meeting venues and more! Attendees to the 2013 Increase Your “APP”- titude FAM experienced first-hand the rich meetings and conventions landscape and all that the city has to offer meeting planners.Meeting planners and journalists enjoyed two event-filled days of exploration, education and delight as they participated in the recent familiarization event. The FAM was designed to share with visitors all that they can expect when hosting an event in Virginia Beach. From indulging in mouth-watering local cuisine at some of the city’s finest dining establishments, to grooving to the sounds of local performers at Neptune Park, a picturesque outdoor venue on the oceanfront, attendees experienced all that Virginia Beach has to offer.The Virginia Beach Tennis and Country Club (VBTCC), which recently completed a multi- million dollar addition and expansion making it the largest tennis facility in the Mid-Atlantic region, was the happy host to the opening reception and the perfect location to kick-off the event.

Attendees also enjoyed an educational component lead by Beth Ziesenis, author of Your Nerdy Best Friend, as well as a Give-Back Marketplace where participants packed tote bags filled with toiletries and other necessities to be donated to the victims of the tornado in Oklahoma as well as to a local veteran organization.Additionally, visitors got an opportunity to tour the Virginia Beach Convention Center, and to experience just why it is the first LEED® Gold Certified convention center. Ann Shepphird, editor at Schneider Publishing Company, took pleasure in touring the facility and enjoyed her experience in the city. “I was particularly impressed with the Virginia Beach Convention Center and all of the environmentally friendly practices that helped it to attain LEED-Gold status, and with all of the new developments on and near the boardwalk. The crabcakes and ocean views were pretty amazing, too!”

Attendees were taken on tours throughout the city where they had the opportunity to see the first-class facilities the city offers. Parrish Walton, editor at Connect Sports, truly enjoyed his time in Virginia Beach as he shared his thoughts on the tours and the FAM overall. “I had a blast at the FAM. It was well-organized and on point. As someone in the sports media, it was paramount for me to see the field space and venues available in Virginia Beach. That’s exactly what happened. I saw everything I needed to see and more. The CVB staff couldn’t have been nicer, either. Just a great group of people to spend some time with and get to know!”The FAM ended with a debriefing meeting where planners were given the opportunity to share their thoughts of the city and their experiences during their trip. Journalists appreciated listening to the planners and hearing first-hand what their opinions were on the destination. “The Virginia Beach CVB’s recent familiarization trip provided me with a great look at the destination through the eyes of the association meeting planners who read Association News and the sports-event organizers who read SportsTravel magazine. Not only did the presence of these meeting and event planners emphasize the strength of these two markets for Virginia Beach, but their insights will help inform our future stories in both magazines”, stated Ann who spoke highly of the FAM.