Hilton Salalah Resort attains first Green Globe certification

Hilton Salalah Resort has received its Green Globe certification. Green Globe is a sustainability standard within the travel and tourism industry and certifies hotels, resorts, cruises and casinos are managed with an interest to protect environment and supports the local community and culture.

Commenting on the award, Green Globe Certification CEO Guiso Bauer said: “Hotels that are certified by Green Globe are serious about sustainability, they have green teams in place who act within the Green Globe standard, building and maintaining the foundation and framework for sustainable management. Hilton Salalah is one of these hotels that has taken sustainability matters to heart and we look forward to the Hilton Salalah team maintaining their Green Globe certification in the years to come.”

Hilton Salalah general manager Mehdi Othmani said: Putting into practice solutions to the challenges humans are posing to the environment is part of Hilton’s corporate responsibility strategy — travel with purpose and I am very proud to see this responsibility being taken to heart by the Hilton Salalah team.”

China's HNA reportedly explores sale of Radisson Hotel Group

HNA Group Co. is reportedly exploring a sale of Radisson Hotel Group, Bloomberg reports according to people familiar with the matter. It recently sold its Hilton Grand Vacations Inc. shares for US $1.1 billion.

The Chinese company has been selling off its assets to repay debts. 

Radisson Hotel Group has since released a statement emphasising the company's place in the hospitality industry. 

"While it has been widely reported that HNA has recently been exploring the sale of some of its assets, we are in a very strong place with our business and remain committed to our go-forward strategy," John Kidd, chief executive of Radisson’s operations in the Americas and Asia Pacific., said in a statement to Bloomberg.

Emaar Hospitality Group Enters Sub-Saharan Africa and Partners With Kalyan Hospitality

Emaar Hospitality Group, the hospitality and leisure business of Dubai-based Emaar Properties PJSC, in partnership with the Kalyan Group, has marked its expansion to Sub-Saharan Africa to operate Address Hotel 2 Février Lomé Togo, an iconic hotel set in the heart of the city, in the tallest building in Togo, and unrivalled in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Indian School of Hospitality showcases Virtual Reality Technology for Hospitality Education and Industry

Indian School of Hospitality (ISH), is redefining hospitality education and learning and development for the industry through a focus on Virtual Reality technology as a learning and training aid.

Along with the US-based virtual reality developers TRANSFRVRTM, ISH hosted the first ever virtual reality hospitality Learning and Development workshop at the brand-new technology enabled ISH Campus in Gurugram. This path-breaking VR workshop displays a completely revolutionary approach to training and learning in an efficient and cost-effective new way.

Prototypes of VR modules for Bartending, Housekeeping and Coffee Making were demonstrated to senior housekeeping, food and beverage, training leaders and General Managers of the industry in a series of workshops held at ISH.

The opportunity was to showcase the technologies and the opportunities and then take the feedback from the industry in order to develop comprehensive modules for use in training as well as in education.

Participants had the opportunity to experience TRANSFRVR’s proprietary VR technology personally and see the possibilities of the software being tailormade to meet their needs. ISH and TRANSFRVRTM are collaborating to find solutions which can help companies in bolstering employee development and skilling and academic institutions in the field of hospitality management, culinary arts, housekeeping and F&B.

Dilip Puri, founder and CEO, said: “It is the vision of ISH to bring in new technologies, which can enable learning in education, as well as learning and development for hospitality and allied industries. We are delighted to have had the opportunity to showcase this amazing technology and the opportunities it presents.

"This marks the beginning of integrating technologies for a better learning experience for both ISH students, and companies across industries. I am looking forward to introducing and using VR technology into our own curriculums for all our long- and short-term programmes. I believe it can give our students a completely revolutionary way of acquiring new skills and knowledge.”

Bharanidharan Rajakumar, CEO, TRANSFRVR stated: “We are thrilled to be collaborating with Dilip and his exceptional team at ISH to bring our virtual reality hospitality training model to India. We look forward to helping students, employees, managers and companies achieve their professional goals while also supporting the development of India’s rapidly growing hospitality industry.”

Hospitality sector to surpass £100b mark in 2018 | The Caterer

The total combined turnover of UK hospitality business is set to surpass £100b in 2018, according to a new analysis of government figures.

Official data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that all businesses providing ‘accommodation and food services’ reached £98b in 2017, up from £92b in 2016 and £86b in 2015.

The sector has consistently grown at between 5% and 6.5% year on year for the past five years according to recruitment platform Adia, and it predicted that even modest growth of 2% would carry the sector over £100b this year.

Hilton ranked #26 in #BestWorkplaces for Millennials from Great Place to Work US and Fortune Magazine

Millennium Hotels opens new property in Saudi Arabia

Millennium Hotels and Resorts has furthered its expansion into Saudi Arabia with the opening of a new hotel in Madinah at Prince Mohammad Bin Abdulaziz Airport.

Featuring 227 rooms, the Millennium Madinah Airport is designed to provide pilgrims and visitors a luxurious accommodation in the city.

Situated near the centre of Al Madinah al-Munawwarah,  Millennium Madinah Airport has also been designed for business with four distinguished meeting spaces hosting up to 75 guests.

Divided into categories such as Deluxe Room, Superior Room, Club Room and Executive Suite; the hotel features 227 rooms dressed in rich furnishings, warm colours and fitted with the latest amenities and technology.

FabHotels plans to enter 15 more cities; add 1,000 hotels this fiscal

Budget hotels chain FabHotels plans to enter more than 15 additional cities and is looking to add 1,000 hotels under the franchise model in its inventory by end of this fiscal, a top company official has said.

The company currently has over 400 hotels under its inventory in around 40 cities.

"We continue to expand rapidly and are aiming to add 1,000 more properties across the emerging business cities in India by the end of FY19," FabHotels Founder & CEO Vaibhav Aggarwal told PTI.

The company plans to enter more than 15 additional cities this fiscal year. The locations include Kanpur, Ludhiana, Allahabad, Rajkot, Surat, Aurangabad, Ajmer, Ranchi, Raipur and Jamshedpur, among others, he added.

"We have a very high demand from hotels to partner with us, reinstating the faith in our business model and the shift which the industry is experiencing at present," Aggarwal said.

Jack Daniel’s coffee that tastes like Whiskey. Brilliant!

Jack Daniel has launched the Tennessee Whiskey Coffee that tastes and smells of whiskey. The non-alcoholic product is made by World of Coffee with 100% Arabica coffee, roasted medium and infused with Old No.7 flavour.

It’s sold as ground coffee in both regular and decaffeinated, and is currently available in the US and on the Jack Daniel’s online store.

OYO Hotels Makes Its Entry Into China's Hospitality Market

OYO Hotels has finally announced its foray into the hospitality industry of China officially. Its current chain comprises of over 11,000 exclusive – franchised or manchised – rooms in 26 cities. The list includes Hangzhou, Xian, Nanjing, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Shenzhen, Xiamen and Kunming among others.

Earlier in May this year, reports surfaced about OYO’s expansion to China, operating in eight hotels with a total of 400 rooms.

With its foray into China, OYO is set to compete with well-established hospitality players in the country like GreenTree Inns, Motel 168, 7Days Inn, and Home Inns.

Commenting on the development, Ritesh Agarwal, Founder & CEO – OYO said, “China’s tourism industry is on the cusp of booming and flourishing wherein it enjoys a strong influx of both domestic and international tourists; also the market is as fragmented as the Indian hotel market.”

Dusit International plans expansion in Middle East, Asia-Pacific

Thailand-based hotel developer Dusit International has announced plans to open at least 10 new properties over the next 12 months across Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Philippines, Qatar, Singapore and Vietnam.

The openings will increase the number of Dusit-branded properties in operation to 37. There are in line with Dusit's plan for sustainable and profitable growth. The company aims to have 14,000 guestrooms operating across more than 20 countries by 2021, increasing from Dusit's current 27 hotels with more than 7,000 guestrooms in nine countries.

Indian School of Hospitality Brings in New, International Standards of Student Accommodation following Signing with CoHo

Indian School of Hospitality (ISH), the hospitality education venture of former Managing Director of Starwood Hotels & Resorts, South Asia, Mr. Dilip Puri, today signed an agreement with CoHo, a technology start-up that focuses on providing bespoke accommodation for the millennial generation, ensuring ISH will provide a never before seen standard of student accommodation within the country.

Set to open its doors to students in August, 2018, ISH aims to reimagine hospitality and culinary education, teaching, and the student lifestyle. Following the signing with CoHo, ISH students will now have access to tailor-made accommodation based on an international model of professionally managed student housing. ISH will be offering its students a western-model of student living, with fully furnished, modern apartment living, a flatmate system, as well as private kitchen, living and recreational amenities.

Founder & CEO of the Indian School of Hospitality, Dilip Puri, commented: “One of the most commonly asked questions we face is regarding student accommodation. With this step, I am happy to announce that the level of student accommodation we offer is unprecedented. With this step forward, we are changing the concept of student housing itself. Change within the traditional model of student hostels is long overdue, and we at ISH want to bring in a new, global standard of housing for our students, helping change the student study-leisure balance and lifestyle, and reimagining the way student accommodation is both perceived and executed.”

ISH’s partners  in their venture to reimagine student accommodation, CoHo, already manage over 2.5 lakh square feet of housing space across both Delhi and Delhi NCR. Driven by the philosophy of providing a hassle-free living experience, CoHo is driven by high class, tech enabled, services. Commenting on their tie up with ISH, Uday Lakkar, Founder & CEO of CoHo said “We are extremely proud to partner with a visionary brand like ISH to expand our foray into the coliving and student housing space in India and shall continue to disrupt and re-define the living experience of millennials in India in the coming times”.

Amazon’s Alexa for Hospitality, just say 'Alexa, Check Out'!

Amazon officially launched Alexa for Hospitality together with Marriott International, which said it's bringing the new feature to about 10 of its US locations over the summer, including Charlotte Marriott City Center in North Carolina and Marriott Irvine Spectrum in California. Alexa for Hospitality will also be available to other hoteliers by invitation only.

"We want to strip away the things that might create unexpected surprises or bumps in the road and create as seamless an experience as possible," Jennifer Hsieh, Marriott's vice president of customer experience innovation, said at the demo, mentioning

Alexa's new ability to check you out of your room so you won't have to stop by the front desk.

Rausch said Alexa for Hospitality will allow hoteliers to customize their Echo speakers to each property, allowing them to provide guests with local restaurant and attractions recommendations and specific information about the hotel, like pool and gym hours. Amazon also developed a new back-end system to help hotels manage a whole fleet of Echo devices.

Amazon will soon allow people to connect their Amazon accounts to their hotel Echo speakers, letting them access their Audible audiobooks and music services including Amazon Music, Spotify, and Pandora. The devices will disconnect from a guest's account at checkout.

see more at https://www.amazon.com/alexaforhospitality

KEYPR Launches KEYPR TV, the Most Advanced Casting Solution in Hospitality

Los Angeles, CA – KEYPR®, the technology company whose enterprise cloud platform is the leader in guest experience and hospitality management, is announcing its partnership with Nevaya, the go-to TV cloud entertainment company for hospitality, to create KEYPR TV. The new feature allows guests to stream content from their personal mobile devices or KEYPR's in-room tablets to hotel TVs, with no app downloads, required sign-ins, or overly-complex access codes.

As evidenced by the shift in how consumers are increasingly engaging with mobile and digital content at home the trend is also being pulled into hospitality. According to Zenith Media, nearly one-quarter of all media consumption across the world is mobile today and aggressively growing. This highlights a massive opportunity for hotels to increase guest satisfaction by adopting mobile-friendly content technologies.

Andaz rebranding for Abu Dhabi hotel

The Hyatt Capital Gate Abu Dhabi is to be rebranded later this year, becoming the first Andaz property in the Middle East.

Known as the "leaning tower of Abu Dhabi", the hotel is owned by Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Company (Adnec) and sits within the Capital Centre district. It will become the Andaz Capital Gate Abu Dhabi.

It will feature a permanent art collection and "various examples of unique craftsmanship such as Khatt calligraphy art and local, traditional Sadu weaving.

"We are extremely excited to introduce the Andaz brand to the Middle East," said Humaid Matar Al Dhaheri, group chief executive of Adnec

Centro Barsha, Dubai appoints new GM

Centro Barsha by Rotana, Dubai, an affordable lifestyle business hotel, has appointed Imad Akil as its new general manager.

Having begun his hospitality career in Front Office at the Jeddah Hilton and Qasr Al Sharq Waldorf Astoria in Saudi Arabia, Akil joined Rotana Hotels as far back as 2008 for the pre-opening of Amwaj Rotana Jumeirah Beach, Dubai.

Since then, he has worked on the pre-opening of two other Rotana hotels and has grown through the ranks as director of Front Office, director of Rooms and most recently as executive assistant manager before joining Centro Barsha as general manager.

The Fern Hotels & Resorts opens Anaya Beacon Hotel in Jamnagar

The Fern Hotels & Resorts, India's leading environmentally sensitive hotel chain has launched the Anaya Beacon Hotel in Jamnagar which is the ninth hotel to be managed by the company under the Beacon Hotels brand.

The other Beacon properties are located in Ajmer, Amritsar, Bhopal, Jodhpur, Mumbai, Rajkot, New Delhi and Udaipur.     The 40-room Anaya Beacon Hotel is a mix of 18 Deluxe Rooms, 15 Executive Rooms, six Executive Premium Rooms, a Suite, and also has a multi-cuisine vegetarian restaurant – Fiesta@Beacon.

source - http://www.hospitalitybizindia.com/detailNews.aspx?aid=28927&sid=1

Singapore's Ascendas Hospitality acquires three Japan hotels for $93m

Singapore-listed Ascendas Hospitality Trust (A-HTrust) is acquiring a portfolio of three hotels in Osaka, Japan for ¥10.29 billion ($93 million), deepening its presence in the Japanese city with a strong hospitality market.

In a disclosure to the Singapore Exchange on Monday, A-HTrust said, it will acquire Hotel WBF Kitasemba West, Hotel WBF Kitasemba East, and Hotel WB Honmachi via Ascendas Hospitality Real Estate Investment Trust.

Hospitality and Urban Development veteran launches Cultivate Hospitality Group

Real estate development and hospitality veteran Peter Peterson announces the launch of Cultivate Hospitality Group, a Los Angeles-based full-service food and beverage ideation, consulting and management company created to pair real estate developers and property owners with innovative restaurant and entertainment concepts. Providing a one-stop shop for unique food and beverage and real estate development opportunities, Cultivate offers a full menu of capabilities that can be tailored through a la carte options including custom concept creation and master planning, development oversight, public relations/marketing strategies, asset management, market analysis and more. With food and beverage taking center stage as a key driver in the world of real estate, the Cultivate team's deep relationships and more than 60-years combined experience in both signature culinary ideation and real estate development brings a unique, never-before-seen expertise to the marketplace.

"Curated culinary programming has proven to be the secret sauce in driving successful development," said Peter Peterson, President and Managing Partner of Cultivate

Frasers Hospitality launched second Tianjin property

Frasers Hospitality launched second Tianjin property It has 224 Gold-Standard studio residences and two bedroom apartments.

Frasers Hospitality launched Fraser Place Binhai Tianjin as its second property in the city after its opening of Frasers Place Tianjin in 2016. The property is located in the Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area (TEDA), an announcement said.

Located in the residential development of Beacon Hill, the property is footsteps away from TEDA MSD shopping centre and the BMT station. It also offers direct access to Tianjin’s financial district.

The serviced-residence has a 224 Gold-Standard serviced residences ranging from studios to two-bedroom apartments. It also houses facilities including complimentary high-speed Wi-Fi, 24/7 room service, an all-day dining restaurant, a lobby bar, a swimming pool and a gym.