Category Archives: News & Notes

Starwood Preferred Guest Card from American Express names best travel reward credit card by NextAdvisor.com

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starwood ccNextAdvisor.com, a website that offers independent research on all different types of products from Auto Insurance to Web Hosting, just released their analyst on reward credit cards.  Three hotel-branded credit cards made it into the top 8 with the Starwood Amex taking the top spot.  The other 5 reward cards are all airline cards.

The Starwood Amex returns about 2.1 cents per point, the highest in the study.  The Marriott Rewards card came in 7th place with a return of about .8 cents per point.  The Hilton HHonors card was 8th with a return of .5 cents per point.  For a full list, hit up the link below.

Source:

NextAdvisor.com

Hotel Occupancy Above Pre-Recession Levels, REVPAR & ADR Gaining Ground

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Line graph showing U.S. hotel occupancy rates as a percent of the 2000–2007 median, from 2000 to 2012. The rate fluctuates, dips steeply around 2008–2009, then rises and stabilizes near or above the median after 2010.

We have not checked in with our favorite financial blog, Calculated Risk,  in a while.  We are pleased to see the incredible progress hotels have made in both occupancy and ADR. Occupancy has now recovered to the median after falling off a cliff in 2008.  REVPAR is now about 3 percent below the median.  Check out the full details by clicking on the graph.

 

Source:  Calculated Risk

Hotels Continue to Impress in Latest ACSI Surveys. Hilton Still Number 1, Followed by Starwood and Marriott.

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asciLogoThe latest ACSI (The American Customer Satisfaction Index) results are in.  Overall, hotels are really pleasing guests with a 2.7 percent jump from the prior year.  This year’s score was 77, the highest score since the index started back in 1994.  Hilton is on top for the fourth straight year with a score of 80.  Starwood increased 2.6 percent to leapfrog Marriott with a score of 79.  Marriott dropped 1.3 percent and is now in third place.  Here are the complete results:

1.  Hilton, score of 80, no change from last year

2.  Starwood, score of 79, up 2.6

3.  Marriott, score of 79, down 1.3

4.  Hyatt, score of 77, down 2.5

5.  All Others, score of 77, up 4.1

6.  InterContinental, score of 76, down 2.6

7.  Best Western, score of 76, no change

8.  Choice, score of 74, no change

9.  Wyndham, score of 73, up 4.3

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Huff Post Article ‘In California, A Labor Fight Over Hotel Bedsheets’

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The image shows the logo of The Huffington Post, featuring the publications name in black capital letters on a white background.We have not seen much press on this California proposal for Hotel Housekeeping Safety.  The Huffington Post published an article the other day telling the story of a 69-year-old room attendant who recently testified in Sacramento in favor of a bill that would force hotels to get rid of flatbed sheets in favor of fitted sheets.  The bill will also require hotels to supply long-handled tools for cleaning the bathrooms.  You can check out the bill here.  Some details from the Huffington Post article:

“When she isn’t sidelined by an injury, Nenita Ibe cleans 16 rooms a day at the Santa Clara hotel where she’s worked for 10 years. Since some rooms have two beds, that adds up to 25 mattresses per day, each of which needs to be lifted up on each side so that the 69-year-old Filipino immigrant can set the bedsheet properly. Luxury hotel mattresses can weigh more than 150 pounds these days. Ibe weighs a waiflike 125. The beds have taken a toll.”

“Eleazar Dumuk, who, like Ibe, works for Hyatt and is from the Philippines, testified that she and her colleagues used to have long-handled mops — but one day, they suddenly disappeared. “It’s probably just cheaper for the company to have my coworkers and me get on our knees,” she testified. “I came to this country not to work on my knees but to make a just, humane living.” A spokesperson for Hyatt did not respond to requests for comment.”

The article says it will cost California hotels about $15 million to switch from flat sheets to fitted sheets.  Fitted sheets are also harder to clean, store, and transport.  The article is definitely worth a read.  Also, be sure to check out the comments section.  There is a pretty lively discussion happening.

LA Times Reminds Us to Pay Our Occupancy Taxes

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LA TimesReally interesting article in the Los Angeles Times about a hotel in Koreatown that owed the city of Los Angeles about $3.5 million for unpaid occupancy taxes.  The hotel did not pay so the city had the Sheriff’s Department sit in the hotel lobby around the clock and seize all of the cash that flowed into the hotel.  From the article:

“Since Tuesday, several plainclothes sheriff’s contract employees have been stationed at the hotel round the clock.  Their orders: seize the cash that flows into hotel coffers.  Sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore said the department has already collected $40,000, which will be handed over to the city.  An employee at the hotel, who would speak only if not identified because she fears retribution from her bosses, said the keepers are “nice guys” who sit around the hotel lobby all day and night.  At the end of each of her shifts, she hands them a record of how much money she has collected and puts it into a vault, from which the keepers later collect it. Some money is left so the hotel can pay its staff.  The employee said guests have been less happy about the arrangement.  As part of the debt collection, she noted, the staff at the front desk, bar, restaurant and coffee shop have been instructed to take cash only.”

Wow.  What a mess.  Don’t get behind on your occupancy taxes!

ASSA ABLOY Introduces the Hotel Key of the Future

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ASSA-AbloyCheck out these videos of the new ASSA ABLOY mobile key.  It allows guests to check into their hotel via cellphone and then use the cellphone to open the key in the guest room, completely skipping our friendly Guest Service Agents.  They are testing the keys at the Clarion Hotel in Stockholm.

Here is ASSA ABLOY’s video of the keys in use in Stockholm:

ASSA ABLOY also has plans to make all of our locks accessible by cellphone.  Check out this video:

Hotel Guests Crave Free Wi-Fi according to the LA Times

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According to a survey by J.D. Power & Associates, free Wi-Fi is now the most important thing for hotel guests in nearly every segment of hotels.  The LA Times reported on the results in the article found here.  From the article:

Of guests staying at mid-scale hotels, 96% said they got free Wi-Fi, as did 64% of guests at budget hotels, according to the survey of guests who stayed in hotels from May 2009 to June 2010. None who stayed in luxury hotels said they got free wireless Internet.

We are surprised that 96 percent of guests in mid-scale hotels are now getting free Wi-Fi.  The free Wi-Fi spread at an incredible pace.  We are not surprised that no guests reported free Wi-Fi in luxury hotels.  Free Wi-Fi is a selling tool and makes little difference at a luxury hotel.  From the article:

At the Ritz-Carlton luxury hotel chain, the fee for Wi-Fi access is a top complaint among guests, said Ritz-Carlton spokeswoman Vivian A. Deuschl.  Although some Ritz-Carlton hotels offer free Internet access in the lobbies and other public spaces, the hotel chain based in Maryland will continue to charge for the service in guest rooms, she said.

We are actually surprised by the lack of wireless internet in guest rooms or the poor quality of wireless internet in guest rooms.  Many hotels still offer wired internet only.  Not having Wi-Fi will actually cost you business.  Many guests now travel with Wi-Fi-only devices, such as the very popular iPad.  In fact, this holiday shopping season, we are going to see more tablet computers from almost every manufacturer.  By next year, you will see many, many guests with Wi-Fi only tablet computers in your restaurant.

Hotel Revenue From Phone Calls, In-Room Movies Drying Up according to the LA Times

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The LA Times reported that hotel revenue from phone calls and in-room movies is drying up.  Not exactly shocking, but the details are pretty interesting.  From the article:

Annual revenue collected by U.S. hotels from phone calls dropped to an average of $178 per room in 2009 from $1,252 in 1999, a decline of 86%, according to Colliers PKF Hospitality Research.

The phone revenue decrease is a reminder to us of the good old days of outrageous phone charges and the guest complaints that went along with them.  It is hard to believe that only 10 years ago, hotels charged $5 a minute for long-distance calls.  Most hotels even charged 25 cents a minute for toll-free calls to capture some revenue from guests who used calling cards.  Phone revenues are now down 86 percent to about $.65 per room night.

Meanwhile, income from in-room movies and games dropped to $126 per room from $171, a decline of 26%, according to the research firm.

In-room movies have fared much better and only declined 26 percent.  This small decrease is somewhat surprising considering how far technology has come in the last decade.  Guests now travel with laptops and have access to high-speed internet everywhere.  Guests can watch DVDs are stream movies from services such as Netflix.  Laptops now even have an HDMI port so you can plug them directly into a television.  From the article:

In fact, by embracing the technology that guests demand, such as free Internet access, free computer applications and docking stations for iPod media players, hotels have cut off potential revenue sources. According to a recent survey by J.D. Power & Associates, 55% of U.S. hotels offer online access at no charge.

Technology will continue to eat away at hotel profits.  The traveler is more tech savvy and more connected than ever.  We are going to have to continue to search for new revenue streams.

This Bedbug Registry Will Make You Itch

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The USA Today posted a good article on the rising incidents of bedbugs in the US.  You can check out the full article here.  The article links to a website, bedbugregistry.com, where over 20,000 travelers have posted their stories of their bedbug encounters.  The database has hotels from shady roadside inns… to some of the top hotels in the country.

We took a look at the hotels in Southern California and were surprised to see many top brands on the list… and many with multiple reports.  Bedbugs are a fact of life in the hotel industry.  Just like any other complaint, handling the problem properly will usually keep you away from this type of bad publicity.