Business Retreat In Virginia Beach|"Spokane Hotel Employees Compete In Hotel Olympics"

Source              :    krem.com
Category         :    Business Retreat In Virginia Beach
By                   :    KREM.com
Posted By      :    Hotels in Virginia Beach North Courtyard

Business Retreat In Virginia Beach

Red Lion Hotel at the Park in Spokane hosted nine local hotels participating in the Spokane Housekeeping Olympics in honor of International Housekeepers Week. The housekeeping staff from the Red Lion Hotel at the Park; Red Lion River Inn; The Davenport Hotel Collection; Doubletree Hotel Spokane City Center; Comfort Inn; Courtyard by Marriott; Holiday Inn Express Spokane Downtown; Holiday Inn Express Spokane Valley and Oxford Suites Spokane Downtown all competed.“Housekeepers are a hard working group of individuals whose primary focus is to make our guests feel comfortable when they are away from home,” said Dominic Longo, Corporate Director of Housekeeping at Red Lion Hotels. “We thought it would be fun to bring in our neighboring hotels for a friendly competition.”

An independent panel judge the employees in a bed making competition, mop race, vacuum race, buffer pad toss and spirit competition.  International Housekeepers Week began in 1981 with the International Executive Housekeepers Association (IEHA). The group set out ”to focus attention and recognition on the professional housekeepers working in facilities such as hospitals, hotels, state facilities, colleges/schools, and many others who maintain a cleaner, safer, healthier environment for us all each and every day,” according to their website.

Source: krem.com/news/local/Spokane-Hotels-compete-in-Hotel-Olympics-223063231.html

Courtyard Virginia Hotels|"Mobile Chargers, Hair Dryers To Be Made Mandatory At Star Hotels"

Source              :    thehindubusinessline.com
Category         :    Courtyard Virginia Hotels
By                   :    Tourism Ministry
Posted By      :    Hotels in Virginia Beach North Courtyard

Courtyard Virginia Hotels

Ever had to search for a multi-purpose socket in a star hotel to charge your mobile phone? Ever had to search for more hooks in the bathroom to hang your clothes? For iron board and iron to press your clothes? The Union Ministry of Tourism has come out with a new set of guidelines for the hotel industry, making all these and more mandatory at star hotels.The Ministry has listed a 16-point classification guideline to be followed by star hotels to make them more visitor-friendly. Union Tourism Minister K. Chiranjeevi consulted the tourism and hospitality industry before formulating the guidelines, according to a release.

Under the new rules, all star hotels should provide water sprays, bidets, washlets or other modern water-based hygiene facilities. All 4-star, 5-star and 5-star-deluxe hotels should provide a telephone or mobile internal phone within arm’s reach of the toilet seat. The bathrooms should have hooks for at least three garments. The hotel rooms should also have a safe, a tea/coffee making facility, iron and ironing board and hair dryer on complimentary basis. The iron and iron board and hair dryer can be made available on request at 1- to 3-star hotels on a complimentary basis. All star hotels should provide at least two multi-purpose sockets capable of handling US, European and Japanese plugs at or just above the table level.

These conditions shall be applicable to all hotels that will start operating from April 1, 2016. For existing hotels, the conditions will come into effect from April 1, 2022. However, in the case of multi-purpose sockets, till such time as this facility is provided on a permanent basis, it will be mandatory for all star hotels to provide multi-socket adapter plugs on request. It will also be mandatory for hotels to display their star rating prominently outside the hotel and at the reception from April 1, 2014. All hotels above the 4-star category shall have the facility of a mini fridge and mini bar with effect from April 2014. They shall install blackout curtains and provide luggage racks, portable or fixed, for two large suitcases by April 1, 2015.

Source : thehindubusinessline.com/economy/mobile-chargers-hair-dryers-to-be-made-mandatory-at-star-hotels/article5107513.ece

Courtyard Virginia Hotels|"Area Hotels Prepare To Accommodate New Government Per-Diem Rates"

Source              :    washingtonpost.com
Category         :    Courtyard Virginia Hotels
By                   :    Abha Bhattarai
Posted By      :    Hotels in Virginia Beach North Courtyard

Courtyard Virginia Hotels

The federal government adjusted its allowances for employee travel and conferences last week, sending area hotels scrambling to make adjustments before the new per diems take effect Oct. 1. The most marked change, hotel managers say, is the elimination of a clause that currently allows employees to spend an extra 25 percent for conferences.Beginning next month, government employees will be allowed to spend up to $219 per night at District hotels in October. That is down from the year before, when nightly rates were capped at $226 for general travel and $282.50 for conferences.

In Frederick County, that per-diem rate will fall to $100 from $118.75 for conferences; and in Loudoun County, to $105 from $135. “We’ve already suffered pretty severely from the cutbacks in government travel,” said Katie Doherty, general manager of the National Conference Center in Leesburg. “This is one more hit.” As a result, the conference center is reworking its budget and adjusting government-friendly packages to reflect the new prices. “We’ll look at each piece of business individually and see if it fits our budget,” Doherty said. “The big thing is that we want to do whatever it takes to get the government to begin holding conferences and training [sessions] again.”

Hotel managers throughout the region said they were parsing the new numbers and trying to figure out exactly how their bottom line would be affected. “Right now, it’s hard to tell how it will affect us,” said Sheldon Johnson, general manager of the Sheraton Silver Spring Hotel. “We don’t know just yet — not until we look at our budget more closely.” The adjusted rates — which are 5 percent lower than the average daily rates in any given market — are expected to save $10 million for the federal government.

“From a travel industry perspective, we want to provide the federal government the best value they can get,” said Erik Hansen of the U.S. Travel Association. “But in some cases, the new per diems make it more difficult [for hotels].” Some hotel managers in downtown Washington said it is becoming cost-prohibitive to keep lowering prices to meet GSA caps. Instead, they are focusing on trade shows, private sector conferences and tourists to make up for lost government business. “I’m not necessarily going to say I’m going to give up on [government business],” said John Rish, general manager of the Hilton Garden Inn in downtown Washington. “But there is enough demand in downtown D.C. that we don’t necessarily have to chase after government per-diem business.”

Source:washingtonpost.com/business/capitalbusiness/area-hotels-prepare-to-accommodate-new-government-per-diem-rates/2013/09/06/aeb525be-14c8-11e3-b182-1b3bb2eb474c_story.html

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

Courtyard Virginia Hotels|"Making the Hotel Lobby A Place To See & Be Seen"

Source              :    abcnews.go.com
Category         :    Courtyard Virginia Hotels
By                   :     SCOTT MAYEROWITZ
Posted By      :    Hotels in Virginia Beach North Courtyard

Courtyard Virginia Hotels

Large, traditional hotels are spending billions in renovations to try to mimic the style and financial success of luxury and boutique hotels, which have always drawn free-spending crowds to their lobbies. Walls are being torn down to make lobbies feel less confined. Communal tables are popping up. Wine lists are being upgraded. And quiet nooks are being carved out that give business travelers space to work but still be near the action. Companies like Marriott, Hyatt and Starwood are betting that more vibrant lobbies will leave guests — especially younger ones — with a better feeling about their stay, even if their room is bland. Hotel owners say the investments are beginning to pay off, not just in alcohol sales, but in their ability to charge higher room rates.

"People want to go where people are," says Michael Slosser, managing director of operations for Destination Hotels and Resorts, a group of 40 hotels in the U.S. "They want to go to be seen, to relax and to people watch." The changes are meant to attract travelers like Michael Coscetta, a 31-year-old consultant from Wantagh, N.Y., who spends about 90 nights a year on the road. "Working in a hotel room feels claustrophobic," says Coscetta, who instead takes his laptop and heads to the lobby or a nearby coffee shop. Steve Carvell, associate dean for academic affairs at Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration, says younger guests "very much want that sense of not feeling alone, even though they are."

U.S. hotels are forecast to spend $5.6 billion on capital improvements this year, up 10 percent from 2012 and more than double the $2.7 billion spent in 2010, according to a study by Bjorn Hanson, dean of New York University's hospitality school. The bulk of that money pays for new beds, showers and other room improvements. But Hanson says a "proportionally record amount" of money is going to reconfiguring lobbies.

Marriott International, Inc. is freshening up lobbies in its namesake brand with "Great Rooms" that feature free Wi-Fi, comfortable seats and menus stocked with small dishes and local craft beers. The concept was first tested in 2007 and is expected to be in 70 percent of the 550 Marriott hotels worldwide by the end of the year.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. — the company behind trendy W Hotels — launched a $4 billion lobby revitalization of its Sheraton brand in 2009. Nearly half of the 427 Sheratons worldwide now have lobbies with communal areas, modern rugs, improved lighting and flat-screen TVs at the bar. Additionally, Sheraton has tried to inject a bit of pizazz to all its lobbies by adding upscale wine lists, each rated by Wine Spectator magazine. Having better wines gives waitresses "something more to talk about than 'Can I take your drink and where are you from?'" says Rick Ueno, general manager of the Sheraton Chicago. It also gives the hotel more revenue. In the first six months of this year, the hotel bar sold 18,000 glasses of wine. That's 24 percent more than the same period last year. At $14 a glass, that adds up to $50,000 more in revenue.

Source : abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/making-hotel-lobby-place-20158304