Business Travel News - February 9, 2009 - (Page 16)

LODGING Hilton Launches Midprice Extended Stay Lodging Brand Home2 Suites BY MICHAEL B. BAKER Hilton Hotels Corp. has launched a midprice extended stay brand, Home2 Suites by Hilton, with plans to begin constructing the first property within a year. The brand will be at a slightly lower price point than Hilton’s established upscale extended stay brand, Homewood Suites, positioning it as a competitor to such brands as InterContinental Hotels Group’s Candlewood Suites and Marriott International’s TownePlace Suites. Hilton’s announced design for the brand is a four-story construction with 108 guest rooms, about 80 percent of which will be studios and 20 percent of which will be one-bedroom suites. “The mid-tier extended-stay segment accounts for approximately 42 percent of the U.S. extended-stay supply, with current brands delivering an often inconsistent and quickly aging product,” Hilton global head of focused service brands Phil Cordell said in a statement. “Home2 2008 RATES UP; OCCUPANCY, REVENUE TUMBLE YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE IN U.S. HOTEL PERFORMANCE Occupancy All U.S. hotels Luxury Upper upscale Upscale Midprice w/F&B Midprice w/o F&B Economy Independents -4.2% -5.1% -3.6% -3.5% -5.5% -4.8% -4.4% -4.2% Suites will offer developers an opHilton plans on having 100 Home2 brands that are backed up global portunity to enter the segment with Suites properties open by 2012 and sales teams such as Hilton’s, he said. a comfortable yet stylish product at annually to open 60 to 70 in subse- “The hotels that are having the a low cost.” quent years. Its immediate focus will biggest issues are not the chains; it’s Design elements for the brand in- be the United States, though it also the independents,” Botts said. clude an expanded lobby with a will look to expand to Mexico, CanaExtended stay properties did not community table and individual da and points overseas. suffer as much as the general lodgwork zones, such Despite recent drops ing industry as the economic downamenities as compli- Access BTN’s 2008 in demand and occu- turn gripped the final months of U.S. Hotel Chain Survey mentary continental pancy, forecast to con- 2008 (BTNonline, Jan. 8). While see btnonline.com/hotelsurvey breakfasts and fitness tinue for at least the year-over-year demand growth facilities and modular pieces in guest next several months, Hilton’s timing ebbed during those months, it did rooms that serve as a workspace, for introducing a new extended stay remain positive, unlike the demand closet and storage areas. Develop- brand is not off-track, said Tom declines seen by the overall U.S. ment will require a minimum of two Botts, a partner with strategic advi- lodging industry, according to Smith acres, which Hilton said is fewer sory firm Hudson Crossing. Travel Research. than most competing brands in the Developers will gravitate toward ■ mbaker@btnonline.com ■ segment. In announcing the brand on Jan. 26, Hilton reported 10 submitted PEGASUS TO PROCESS COMMISSIONS franchise applications for properTHROUGH HOTEL SOLUTIONS ties in New York; Baltimore/White Pegasus Solutions on Jan. 21 announced an agreement with Marsh, Md.; Charlotte, N.C.; JackHotel Solutions, allowing the integration of their service options to sonville, N.C.; Gadsden, Ala.; Alprovide a data feed so that companies can identify such commissionabaster, Ala.; Elko, Nev.; and three able items as room rates and taxes. The integration means Pegasus in San Antonio, Texas. The chain will be able to offer its commission collection service, widely used expects to see 10 to 15 more in the among travel agents, directly to corporate travel departments, said next few months. Pegasus Financial Services vice president of development Monica French. “We’re providing oversight on a high-profile revenue stream that hasn’t been audited independently,” Hotel Solutions CEO Robert Langsfeld said. CHECKING IN HILTON PLANS MOVE FROM BEVERLY HILLS TO D.C. AREA RevPAR -1.9% -5.2% -2.3% -2.4% -2.6% -1.5% -3.5% -1.4% Source: Smith Travel Research Average daily rate 2.4% -0.1% 1.3% 1.1% 3.1% 3.4% 1.0% 2.9% Hilton Hotels Corp. will move its global headquarters eastward from Beverly Hills, Calif., to a to-be-decided location in the Washington, D.C., area during the third quarter of 2009, the company announced in late January. Hilton president and CEO Christopher Nassetta said the area is “the best market for our business and the right decision for our future.”The move “will significantly reduce our operating expenses and will position Hilton in a more central location from which to operate a global business, ease coordination across our organization and better enable us to execute on strategic opportunities.” A spokesperson said the move would not impact Hilton’s sales structure. AMADEUS TO GET ACCESS TO 50,000 HOTEL PROPERTIES Global distribution system supplier Amadeus has announced a partnership to launch a hotel booking tool with access to global hotel consolidator Transhotel’s inventory of 50,000 properties. The tool, still under development, will run parallel to Amadeus’existing hotel offering. About two-thirds of European hotels are independent properties, and 30 percent of the 80,000 available properties through Amadeus are independent and budget hotels. The tool also will aid in commission payments for bookings through the consolidator. Amadeus plans to pilot the tool in to-be-determined markets in March. Every hotel tier experienced a drop in U.S. occupancy and revenue per available room in 2008 compared with 2007, according to year-end performance results released Jan. 23 by Smith Travel Research. The luxury hotel tier took the hardest hit in terms of both occupancy and RevPAR and was the only tier to see a drop in average daily rate in 2008. No turnaround for the industry appears to be on the immediate horizon. “If we didn’t hit bottom during the last quarter of 2008, we came pretty close to it,”STR president Mark Lomanno said in a statement. “We expect the industry to bounce along at these level for the next few months. It should begin experiencing some relief in the second half of 2009 as the year-over-year comparisons get much better after the awful 2008 results.” —Michael B. Baker 16 Monday, February 9, 2009 www.BTNonline.com Business Travel News http://www.btnonline.com/hotelsurvey http://www.BTNonline.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Business Travel News - February 9, 2009

Business Travel News - February 9, 2009
Contents
Inside Track
Profiles In Travel Mgmt
Forum
Aviation
Lodging
Car & Ground Transportation
Travel Management
Destinations
Washington Wire

Business Travel News - February 9, 2009