Hospitality Industry United for “Buy One, Give One” Campaign to Jumpstart Travel, Support Hotels and Provide Thank You to Healthcare Workers

To help Jumpstart Leisure Travel, the hospitality industry has united to launch Buy One, Give One, a "vacay layaway" program designed to generate immediate revenue for hotels, while simultaneously providing a "thank you" to healthcare workers who have been tirelessly working on the front lines.

Available at BuyOneGiveOneStay.com through June 30, the initiative incentives consumers to purchase future travel now with special offers ranging from discounted stays to gift cards to loyalty points for redemption prior to travel.

In return, participating hospitality brands/hotels will donate room nights, gift cards, or loyalty points to organizations, including the American Nurses Association and NewYork-Presbyterian, among others of their choice, to distribute to medical professionals who can use them toward future leisure stays.

 MMGY Global, the largest integrated marketing company specializing in the travel, tourism, and hospitality industry, and the Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI) partnered to launch the effort.

Hospitality has been one of the industries most impacted by the coronavirus pandemic with 70% of hotel employees laid off or furloughed and eight in 10 hotel rooms empty, according to data released by the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA).

From the comfort of their homes, travelers can explore enticing offers from more than 30 participating hospitality brands and hotels and counting. They can also take comfort in knowing that their purchases will result in meaningful donations by the participants.

"In these unprecedented times, it is more important than ever for all of us to join together to fuel recovery," said Bob Gilbert, CHME, CHBA, President & CEO of HSMAI. "With Buy One, Give One, we offer a collective charitable response to the pandemic across the hospitality industry, providing immediate funds to hotels in addition to a much-deserved respite in the future for those who have put their lives on the line to care for the sick."

Optii Solutions Appoints Katherine Grass as Chief Executive Officer

Optii Solutions, the provider of the most advanced labor optimization solution for hotel housekeeping teams, announced the appointment of Katherine Grass as Chief Executive Officer as well as the creation of a Playbook designed to give hotels a head start in efficiently managing the challenges presented preparing properties for recovery in a post-COVID world.

 She has over 20 years in the IT and travel sectors. She joined Optii Solutions from their lead investor, Thayer Ventures, a travel-tech focused venture capital firm and has held senior-level positions with Amadeus IT Group and Amadeus Ventures.

The Playbook is a data-driven, lean operations guide discussing the universal challenges faced by each hotel and will propose strategies to overcome these challenges, turning operations into a lean and resilient machine.

"The Playbook is a guide to assist hoteliers with the monumental task ahead for reopening and getting back to being profitable," said Katherine Grass, CEO of Optii Solutions. 

Industry leaders agree that, once we come out of this crisis, our industry will need to be more nimble and creative across all departments. The Playbook outlines tips and strategies hoteliers can apply to their operations to overcome six fundamental challenges that lie ahead during these uncertain times.

Hungary Fines Booking.com Operator 6.1 Million Pounds for Unfair Practices - Reuters

Hungarian competition watchdog GVH has fined online reservation operator Booking.com <BKNG.O> 2.5 billion forints (6.1 million pounds) for unfair business practices, including misleading advertisements and psychological pressure on consumers.

The watchdog said in setting the fine it had taken into account the Netherlands-based company's fee income from the Hungarian market following a probe into the website launched in 2018.

"Booking.com B.V. has led unfair business practices by misleading advertisements claiming free cancellation for some accommodation as well as by exerting aggressive psychological pressure to facilitate faster bookings," the GVH said.

Lodging Interactive Launches Touchless Digital Menu System for Restaurants and Hotels

 Lodging Interactive the hospitality industry's premier provider of full-service social media marketing and guest reputation management services , announced the launch of MyMenusOnline, its new touchless digital restaurant menu system. With MyMenusOnline restaurant guests simply scan a tableside QR code or NFC tag to view the restaurant's menu on their own mobile device. The system is meant to replace traditional printed menus and eliminates concerns in potentially passing germs between in-house dinning guests handling the same menus.

MyMenusOnline is managed and updated by the dinning establishment via any mobile device, tablet or desktop PC. All changes are pushed out to consumers in real-time, ensuring "daily specials" are always up to date.

MyMenusOnline is 100% web-based and mobile optimized and there is no need for any app download. Consumers scan a unique QR code or NFC tag and automagically the restaurant menus appear on their devices. Consumers can also save restaurant menus to their mobile device home screens for future access.

"According to a recent COVID-19 report published by the National Restaurant Association, restaurant operators that are getting ready to reopen will need to consider how they operate under much stricter sanitary guidelines," said Vallauri. "Some industry experts are calling for one-time-use disposable menus, which is sure to increase the operating costs for restaurant owners. With MyMenusOnline, we take that cost out of the equation."

Learning Never Ends: A Revenue Manager’s Journey to the Next Level

Revenue management sits at the heart of all the action within a hospitality operation. Decisions are made real time and there is always something new on the horizon. What you learnt while training for hospitality or even over the years can become redundant very quickly if you don’t keep up with evolving trends, techniques and tools.

Pawan Sahani of Hospitality Minds India was quick to pick up on this. Having started his career at Hotel Grand Residency and after nearly 4 years at Hospitality Minds India, when the opportunity to upskill with Australian Revenue Management Association (ARMA) came up, he could not refuse. He knew the course’s practical make-up that armed students with knowledge and tips that he can apply at his work every day.

Pawan came across the first level of the ARMA course, part of which is offered at a discounted rate to STAAH partner clients. Level 1 of this course is free for all STAAH partners. ARMA is the leading organisation in Asia Pacific and Australia and works with market leaders and educational institutes to create training initiatives to support the development of those in the field of revenue management.

Pawan went on to complete Level 1 and 2. He now feels more confident than before to contribute positively to the growth of properties through best practice, sound processes and latest technologies for revenue management.

Among some of the topics covered in the course are Foundations and Calculations, Measures and Maximisation, Yieldmax Stimulation Game, Group and the Revenue Management Relationship and more.

Should Hotels Consider Resuming Google Ads and Other Search Campaigns? - PhocusWire

After the brutal shock to the travel industry due to the coronavirus crisis, the vast majority of hotels stopped or questioned all their investments in online marketing, mainly Google Ads and metasearch.

This decision made a lot of sense given the severity and exceptional circumstances of the moment.

Investment fell 80% in the second half of March, compared to the first half, and 90% when compared to the same period in 2019 - figures that correspond with those in a Cleveland Research report.

They illustrate the huge concern that hotels face and new variables to consider that did not exist before:

• Cash flow. In the current situation, one of the objectives of any company, including hotels, is maintaining the highest possible amount of cash. The vast majority of investments in online marketing are paid in advance and that is a problem now.

• Uncertainty. Most hotels have no idea yet when they can reopen. They have tentative dates that are pushed back as the days go by. It is impossible to forecast if the gradual reopening of hotels will start in June or September. Given this great uncertainty, how can we risk investing in a model such as CPC (cost per click) without a guarantee of conversion and that, above all, those reservations will not be cancelled?

• Profitability. Many hotels anticipated that their campaigns would not be profitable in this situation and, when facing this, the best thing is to pause it all.

Zoom now worth more than American Airlines ,Expedia ,Hilton combined

Teleconferencing app Zoom is now valued more than the market capitalization of three billion -dollar travel and hospitality companies in the US .As of April 17,Zoom had a market value of American Airlines ,Expedia and Hilton stood at $ 34 billion .

It gained over$200 million daily users in March during worldwide lockdowns.

Access Point Financial Launches “Navigating Hospitality Finance 2020” Information Resource for Hoteliers Facing Changing Market Conditions

 Access Point Financial, LLC (APF), a leading direct lender and specialty finance company focused exclusively on the hospitality industry, announced the debut of a new online resource entitled, "Navigating Hospitality Finance 2020," 

The informative four-part series is intended to help hotel owners and investors with an interest in hospitality to plan their best financial strategies during changing market conditions brought on by the Coronavirus (COVID-19) global pandemic and its direct impacts on the hotel industry.

The informative four-part series is intended to help hotel owners and investors with an interest in hospitality to plan their best financial strategies during changing market conditions brought on by the Coronavirus (COVID-19) global pandemic and its direct impacts on the hotel industry.

Hoteliers and investors have a lot to consider in developing effective short- and long-term financial strategies

To help our clients better assess their respective situations and navigate the recovery, our goal is to be a responsible partner and provide impactful resources and tools to ensure their ongoing success.

The first edition of the four-part "Navigating Hospitality Finance 2020" series explores the changes to terms and conditions that lenders have implemented during the crisis.

Automating hospitality in times of social distancing

The global COVID-19 pandemic has brought the travel and hospitality sectors to a halt. The calls to enact social distancing measures mean no more travelling or meeting friends at pubs or restaurants. The consequences are devastating for airlines, hotels, events, restaurants etc. and result in closures and job loss around the world. Although governments have taken various measures to address these, we can expect consumers to remain cautious when interacting with others, thus continuing the negative impact beyond t he end of the crisis.

 Giving a careful consideration to immediate and long-term impacts of the pandemic and social distancing measures on overall consumer behaviour and business continuity, integrating automation into service operations could help addressing some of the issues around safety and access

Attitude Change

 In this period of isolation, we are witnessing how people change behaviours that long have been taken for granted: shaking hands or standing closely next to somebody to order drinks at a bar

Importantly, having limited mobility and restricted access to services while in lockdown may bring about felt needs for automated services and self-service technologies. Some consumers may get used to ordering meals online or through an app and opting for 'click and collect' or delivery for other shopping needs.

Beneficial Automation

As suggested here, key to implementing automation in travel and hospitality is ensuring that the technology will bring value and benefits to the industry and its people. We have seen cases where robots and other automated machines can help with the operational upkeep of buildings and facilities. Hotels employ robots to sanitise rooms and common areas, freeing staff from risk of contamination

With the likes of World Health Organisation (WHO) implementing chatbots to spread information about COVID-19, businesses can use similar conversational agents to engage employees and customers while they are on lockdown

Responsible Adoption

Looking into the future, the emphasis should be about responsible adoption of automation, whereby technologies augment people in delivering what the businesses do best: hospitality. As outlined here, adoption of automation in the travel and hospitality sectors should be balanced with priorities to invest in people. Perhaps while letting the robots handle things at work, we should give employees opportunities to up their digital skills at home, but only if they wish to.

.

Marriott International Notifies Guests of Property System Incident

Hotels operated and franchised under Marriott’s brands use an application to help provide services to guests at hotels. At the end of February 2020, the company identified that an unexpected amount of guest information may have been accessed using the login credentials of two employees at a franchise property. The company believes that this activity started in mid-January 2020. Upon discovery, the company confirmed that the login credentials were disabled, immediately began an investigation, implemented heightened monitoring, and arranged resources to inform and assist guests. Marriott also notified relevant authorities and is supporting their investigations.

Although Marriott’s investigation is ongoing, the company currently has no reason to believe that the information involved included Marriott Bonvoy account passwords or PINs, payment card information, passport information, national IDs, or driver’s license numbers.

At this point, the company believes that the following information may have been involved for up to approximately 5.2 million guests, although not all of this information was present for every guest involved:

• contact details (e.g., name, mailing address, email address, and phone number)

• loyalty account information (e.g., account number and points balance, but not passwords)

• additional personal details (e.g., company, gender, and birthday day and month)

• partnerships and affiliations (e.g., linked airline loyalty programs and numbers)

• preferences (e.g., stay/room preferences and language preference)

  Marriott is sending emails to guests involved. Marriott has also set up a dedicated website (www.mysupport.marriott.com) and call center resources with additional information for guests. The call center resources can be reached by calling the numbers listed on the dedicated website. The email sent to guests and the website also contain a list of steps guests involved can consider taking and information about enrolling in a personal information monitoring service that Marriott is providing.

Hospitality Sector Teams Up Online to Help During the Crisis

The hotel and lodging industry has been pulling together online resources to help each other and their communities during the coronavirus crisis.

Helping re-purpose beds for medical use may be the most obvious possible way to help. A new tech platform launched earlier this week can make the matchmaking process easier between lodging operators and local emergency efforts. Owners of a property can make beds or buildings available by using an online form to specify how they’re willing to help. Cloudbeds has worked with Sabre, Marriott, and RateGain and others on the effort.

Hotels for Helpers, in the Netherlands, is a booking engine offering discounted rooms for those in need, in an effort joined by tech provider Mews.

A new reservations portal provides accommodation to healthcare workers at no cost in Lisbon and Porto, Portugal. It’s called Rooms Against Covid, and GuestCentric Systems and HiJiffy created it.

Oyo Hotels & Homes said it would open the doors of its more than 300 hotels in the U.S. to offer free stays to doctors, nurses, and other medical first responders who are helping in the fight against coronavirus.

ONLINE RESOURCES FOR OPERATIONAL SURVIVAL

The hospitality sector also has to heal itself from the wounds of travel bans and the economic crash. Here’s a roundup of some of the hotel and lodging sector resources of note:

Travel tech company RateGain has put together a “Better Tomorrow” resource page to help hoteliers with insights into lessons to learn from Asia. The page draws partly on resources from the trade group Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI), which has its own online resources, too.

Workers who have lost their jobs and are struggling with mental stress can turn to the U.S. site Restaurant After Hours for links to resources. In Canada, Service Hospitality, a non-profit association for workers, has created a Covid-19 resources page

For more information please visit on below mention side :

https://www.cloudbeds.com/covid-19-hospitality-helps/

https://servicehospitality.com/coronavirus-guide-for-hospitality/

Tribute Portfolio Continues to Grow Its Global Family of Hotels. First Outpost in Frankfurt, Germany

Tribute Portfolio, Marriott International’s newest collection of characterful independent hotels, continues to expand its European footprint with the opening of Gekko House, the brand’s second hotel in Germany and first in Frankfurt. The 128-room urban-designed hotel is situated in the heart of Frankfurt’s up-and-coming Gallus district known for its converted warehouses and factories, which is now home to eclectic music venues and theatres. Frankfurt-based Morgen Interiors led the design, creating a captivating urban aesthetic reflective of Frankfurt’s open-minded culture whilst inviting spontaneity and fun, inspired by the hotel’s motto, ‘life is crazy.’

It is set to be a hot spot for both guests and locals alike with its characterful and cosmopolitan design, sincere service, and lively ambiance at their Chicago Williams restaurant and bar

Radisson Red Brand Expands Into The Middle East At Dubai Digital Park

A hotel that hates the ordinary and loves the different. Welcome to Radisson RED Dubai Silicon Oasis, the latest property in the Radisson Group’s rapidly expanding portfolio across the Middle East.

Located at Dubai Digital Park, Dubai’s first ever smart city project built with the latest AI and IOT technologies, It brings RED’s forward-thinking style to the desert. The brand presents a playful twist on conventional hotel stays with a culinary hangout with a casual feel and a buzzing social scene. Using integrated technology and bold design personality,Hotel comprises of 104 contemporary designed rooms, eight suites and 59 apartments made created with millennials in mind.

Signature dining outlets Foodtruck Lobby and DELI double up as social hubs and on the ground floor OUIBar + Terrace delivers a casual chic dining space with live sports screens plus and an alfresco area. Additionally, the RED Roof bar offers guests a day to night hang out – from evening sundowners to morning stretching for sunrise yoga. The hotel also hosts 10 state-of-the-art conference rooms and a multi event space of 600sqm, to cater for up to 600 guests. With all these amenities, guests have endless opportunities for switching effortlessly between business and pleasure.

Radisson Hotel Group Announces Global Plan For A Future With Reduced Single-Use Plastics

Radisson Hotel Group will implement bulk amenity dispensers across all brands by the beginning of 2022, replacing small bottles for common bathroom products. This action will remove 57 million miniature amenities from circulation, avoiding the use of almost 500 tons of plastic annually and has a global commitment to #refusethestraw, ensuring plastic straws and plastic stirrers are no longer used in its hotels by 2021 and eco-friendly alternatives will be offered to guests upon request.

Radisson Hotel Group’s initiatives demonstrate the commitment and solidify its participation in the International Tourism Plastic Pledge

The Group is also running a series of innovative pilot projects in various locations, with the aim of finding new ways to drive plastic reduction globally. These include:

• In all the Group’s properties in India, a roll out of Commercial Reverse Osmosis Water Filtration systems to provide in-house bottled water and avoid the use of PET water bottles.  

• In Bangladesh, Radisson Blu Chattogram Bay View is piloting a similar installation and is replacing PET water bottles by in-house filtered and bottled quality water.

• To cut down on the use of 39,000 plastic water bottles in the average hotel each year the Group offers unlimited filtered water to guests. This is already in place in selected hotels such at the Radisson Blu Hotel Manchester Airport, UK, and the Radisson RED hotel Brussels and Belgium, additionally, guests are offered reusable Radisson Rewards water bottles

• In addition to making Radisson Meetings 100% carbon neutral, the Group is constantly striving to phase out single-use plastics in meetings and events across its portfolio and has already achieved this in over 200 of its hotels, with the aim to roll-out this initiative to other properties.

Raffles Udaipur to open by the end of 2020

Hannaford , Vice president, Commercial, Accor India and south Asia .He said, “For Accor India, we have two hotels in pipeline in 2020. In March, we launch the Grand Mercure Bengaluru at Gopalan Mall. In the last quarter, we will be launching the much-awaited Raffles Udaipur towards the end of the year.”

Other properties coming up in the next two-three years include Raffles Jaipur, Fairmont Mumbai Sahar, Novotel Mumbai International Airport, Novotel New Delhi City Centre, Novotel Bengaluru City Centre, Ibis Bengaluru Hebbal, Ibis Mumbai LBS Road, Ibis Mumbai CST Road and Ibis Styles Goa Vagator.

When asked to comment on India as a top source market for Accor, He said, “India is considered one of the most important markets and this is the reason we are introducing our iconic brand, Raffles here; and continue to launch multiple hotels every year.

“Indian guests spend on hospitality experiences and this is evident at the global level as well. In terms of hospitality, India is a sleeping giant and has a great potential to become one of the best countries for the travel and tourism sector.”

800 Room Grand Hyatt Hotel Coming to Miami Beach

Hyatt Hotels Corporation (NYSE:H), Terra Group and Turnberry announced plans for a new 800-room Grand Hyatt hotel in Miami Beach, Fla that will be managed by Hyatt. Slated to open in 2023, It will offer elevated experiences for leisure and business travelers alike. Its prime location adjacent to the Miami Beach Convention Center, which completed a $600 million renovation last year, offers visitors convenient access to the city’s most anticipated tradeshows and events.

The 17-story hotel will be situated at the intersection of 17th Street and Convention Center Drive, within walking distance of the Atlantic Ocean beachfront, Lincoln Road Mall, New World Symphony, The Bass Museum and The Fillmore Miami Beach. The hotel development is being led by David Martin of Terra and Jackie Soffer of Turnberry and will be a joint venture between the two development companies.

The new hotel will become only the second Grand Hyatt property in Florida, joining Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay.

Hotel features are expected to include 12 floors of guest rooms offering expansive views of Miami Beach, two floors of meeting spaces and ballrooms that will complement the Convention Center, a resort-style pool deck with panoramic views, and limited retail space that will activate the district at street level. An elevated skybridge will enable event attendees to move freely between the hotel and Convention Center in a climate-controlled, art-filled corridor.

The project’s resiliency and sustainability measures include storm water management and reuse, flood risk mitigation, and the use of solar power – all of which are designed to ensure operational continuity during weather events.

Hospitality M&A deals to exceed $ 800 million in 2020: HVS

Hospitality consultancy firm HVS expects mergers and acquisitions in the hospitality space to exceed $ 800 million in 2020, besides a revenue per available room growth in the range of 4.7%-5.4%.

HVS India Hospitality Industry Overview 2019, the company states the hospitality sector witnessed an over 31% growth in brand signings during the year with approximately 171 new hotels entering the branded hotel market and an additional 53 being rebranded.

“2019 was a remarkable year for hotel transactions which witnessed transactions worth Rs 4937 crore compared to just over Rs 535 crore in the previous year

HVS expects the first half of 2020 to be relatively muted, led by the Coronavirus impact on the global markets and ongoing economic headwinds that are expected to last until March 2020.

As per the HVS report, the India wide revenue per available room grew by just over 4% in 2019. The 2019 revenue per available room at Rs 3967 is still lagging the peak by 27.8%.

Average rates grew by approximately 2.9% in 2019 while the occupancy rate was 66.2% in 2019 vis a vis 65.4% in 2018.

HVS stated that domestic brands with their aggressive growth strategies have overtaken international brands in terms of brand signings for 2019. Though, they continue to sign smaller format hotels with average keys for domestic brand signings being almost half of their international peers.

As per the HVS report, IHCL, The Fern Hotels & Resorts, Clarks Inn, Intellistay Hotels and Marriott International were the top five operators in 2019 in terms of brand signings by properties.

Goa and Bengaluru remained the top markets for brand signings. Increasing supply poses a concern for the Goa hotel market performance in the near future, as per the report.

Zomato Successfully Tests Its First Meal Delivery Drone

Gurugram-based food delivery and restaurant discovery platform Zomato has taken the next-generation tech leap with its first successful attempt at food delivery via Drone.

The test, which was conducted using a hybrid drone, had a fusion of rotary wing and fixed wings on a single drone. Zomato claims that the test drone was successfully and seamlessly able to cover a distance of 5 kms, in about 10 minutes, with a peak speed of 80 kmph, carrying a payload of 5 kgs.

Comcast Business launches X1 for hospitality

Comcast Business launches X1 for hospitality, a program that brings the features and personalization of the video platform to hotel guests. The Four Seasons Hotel Philadelphia at Comcast Center will include X1 in each of its 219 guest rooms when it opens this winter.

“X1 is simple and user-friendly allowing guests to navigate and discover the programs they want to watch. With the voice remote, finding a channel, show or movie is now as easy as the click of a button and a simple voice command,” Four Seasons Hotel Philadelphia GM Ben Shank said in a statement.

Smart Bathrooms!