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Travel September 2009 • Vol.7 Issue 9 |
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Travel News |
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  Radisson & IHG Renovate & Rebrand In addition to adding the 740-room Radisson Our Lucaya Resort, Grand Bahama Island to the Radisson Hotels & Resorts brand in June, Radisson opened the Radisson Hotel Baton Rouge July 1. The 132-room hotel underwent an $8.5 million renovation before being rebranded as a Radisson property and offers 5,000 square feet of meeting space to handle 440 people. The hotel also features a different theme for each floor, including Executive, Acapulco Ambassador, and Grand Cabo Presidential. The InterContinental Hotels Group, meanwhile, recently opened the 270-room Crowne Plaza Boston-Newton just minutes from Logan International Airport. After spending $10 million on interior renovations, the hotel now has 7,000 square feet of meeting space, including a 4,000 square-foot ballroom. California Curbs The Calories Even if you don’t want to know the toll that Burger King Whopper you just devoured will have on your body, a law that went into effect in California July 1 requires Burger King and all other of roughly 120 chains with at least 20 restaurants to tell you. More than 17,000 restaurants are touched by the law, which requires sit-down and drive-through establishments to provide brochures detailing calories, salt, saturated fat, and carbohydrates standard menu items contain. By 2011, restaurants must post the details on menus or indoor menu boards. Restaurant Industry Continues Downward Slide For the 12th straight month in May, restaurant owners reported negative same-store sales, reports the National Restaurant Association in its recent Restaurant Performance Index, which tracks the U.S. restaurant industry’s health and outlook. Restaurant operators also reported negative customer traffic for the 21st straight month, with 22% indicating an increase in customer traffic between May 2008 and May 2009 (compared to 23% in April 2009) and 59% reporting a decline between May 2008 and May 2009 (compared to 60% in April). Cell Phone Apps Not Being Fully Utilized A survey that Harris Interactive conducted of 2,212 adults for Sprint indicates that 56% of vacationers aren’t using available travel-related apps on cell phones due to cost concerns, with 61% of women and 65% of young adults viewing related fees as a deterrent. Fifty-one percent of young adults (18 to 34) and 43% of older users (55+), meanwhile, report wanting access to GPS/navigation apps, restaurant guides (51%/41%), social media Web sites (34%/4%), and online/wireless games (19%/6%). Elsewhere, 77% of young adults are likely to check email while vacationing vs. 73% aged 35 to 44, 69% aged 45 to 54, and 61% aged 55 and older. Hotel Rates To Stay Put For Years In what is great news for consumers but a nightmare for hotel operators, Bloomberg.com recently reported that it could be until at least 2012 before some hotels can return room rates to 2008 levels. Average daily rates dropped 9.8% to $97.03 in May 2009 compared to 12 months prior, Bloomberg reports. Since Jan. 1, 2009, rates have sunk 8.5%. In 2008, the average U.S. daily room rate topped out at $106.69. Bloomberg quoted Mark Woodworth, PKF Hospitality Research president, as saying, “There were rate declines in 2001 and 2002, but until this year that was the only other time that happened in this industry in some 20-plus years.” Marriott & Starwood To Create TelePresence Marriott stated in June it will offer AT&T’s TelePresence Solution beginning in October in 25 properties. Based on Cicso technology, Tele-Presence provides businesses space to meet virtually in real time via 65-inch HD monitors and audio. For businesses, the approach could potentially cut travel expenses significantly, as a Marriott TelePresence room will reportedly rent for $400 to $500. “We believe telepresence will create more business meetings because people can travel shorter distances and easily connect with colleagues and clients around the world,” said Arne Sorenson, Marriott International president. Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide announced a similar TelePresence plan for 10 hotels in 2009 via a partnership with Tata Communications. Incentient Hopes To Smarten Up Hotel Rooms  Incentient (www.incentient.com), which “designs and implements proprietary gateways” to enhance business-customer transaction experiences, has announced details of its new multilingual SmartTouch system for potential use in hotel rooms. Among other abilities, the patent-pending 20-inch, buttonless SmartTouch touchscreen system would let guests tap into such hotel services as room service, valet parking, restaurant reservations, housekeeping, and more, complete with real-time updates. Incentient indicates it’s currently marketing the SmartTouch to hotels. TripAdvisor Users Like Portland, Blast Detroit  Forgive us Detroit natives, but a recent survey that TripAdvisor conducted of 3,400 users concerning U.S. cities ranked The Motor City as the ugliest, least healthy, and least favorite. Portland, meanwhile, was deemed the cleanest and most underrated, while New York was named the favorite and friendliest/most helpful but also the least friendliest/helpful. Most boring? Cleveland. Most romantic? Honolulu. Healthiest? Seattle. And while Las Vegas may be the most economical, it’s apparently also the most overrated.  by Blaine Flamig |
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