“Hotel loyalty points struggle intensifies - Reuters” plus 3 more |
- Hotel loyalty points struggle intensifies - Reuters
- Harrah's could do IPO in 2013-2015, says CEO - Reuters
- Online travel bookings shift overseas - Reuters
- The Ritz-Carlton, Westchester Welcomes New Senior Sales Manager - Hotel Interactive, Inc.
| Hotel loyalty points struggle intensifies - Reuters Posted: 22 Feb 2010 01:33 PM PST Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full-text RSS service so we can continue developing it. LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Hilton Worldwide's recent decision to raise the number of loyalty points required for a free stay at its hotels has some rivals smelling blood. Competitors like InterContinental Hotels Group Plc (IHG.L), Best Western and Carlson Hotels have announced promotions aimed squarely at potentially-disgruntled Hilton stalwarts. "I've already shifted -- I'm taking 25 nights from Hilton and giving them to Sheraton," said Troy Myers, a Nashville-area consultant who is on the road some 200 nights a year. "I will still spend well over a 100 nights at Hilton -- but not 150." Cutbacks in corporate travel spending during the recession have made the struggle to attract well-heeled customers more cutthroat than ever -- and the use of loyalty programs as an enticement is a major part of that struggle. At the same time hotel companies seeking to cut costs are wary of offering too many free rooms. Hilton, acquired in 2007 by Blackstone Group LP (BX.N) and now struggling under a huge debt load, in mid-January rejigged its loyalty plan -- effectively devaluing members' point balances by about 20 percent. Many of the company's top-tier customers have lit up message boards with complaints about the move, showing they are not quite as devoted to the brand as the road-warrior played by George Clooney in the recent hit movie "Up in the Air." InterContinental, operator of brands like Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza, plans to give out more than 400 million loyalty points to its members who lost Hilton points, while Carlson early this month dropped by as much as a third the number of points needed for a stay at one of its top-tier properties, like the Radisson Aruba Resort & Casino. Best Western said on Thursday it would match the elite status of any other hotel loyalty program free of charge. Operators like Marriott International Inc (MAR.N) and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc (HOT.N) will do the same thing, but typically require a certain number of stays to keep the status. "What we heard loud and clear was that there was quite a lot of customers that seem to be upset about this," said InterContinental chief marketing officer Tom Seddon. "People think about loyalty points as cash in the bank." Executives from hotel companies, including InterContinental, Marriott, and Starwood, are due to speak at the Travel and Leisure Summit, being held at the Reuters office in New York this week. LOUNGE REPLACED BY COFFEE AND PASTRY AT STARBUCKS It is not unprecedented for hotel operators to change their loyalty reward structures, but Hilton's move at a time of great economic uncertainty and weak hotel rates has some observers scratching their head. "I understand the business challenges Hilton faces -- the points are a financial liability for the company on their balance sheet," said Henry Harteveldt, a travel industry analyst at Forrester Research. "Hilton for a while ... had a more generous program. Apparently they didn't see a commensurate improvement in market share or room rates paid by honors program members." The loyalty plan for the operator of chains ranging from Hampton Inn to Waldorf-Astoria is called Hilton HHonors. "We had an increase in free night redemptions. We did see a need to recalibrate," said Jeff Diskin, senior vice president of global customer marketing at Hilton. He said the Hilton program is now in line with loyalty plans at key competitors like Marriott and Starwood and the company plans to widen the scope of its program beyond just points. But one perk for frequent guests that may be getting shorter shrift at some brands these days is the executive lounge -- an area of the hotel that caters to its most loyal customers with free drinks, breakfast and hors d'oeuvres. High-profile Hiltons, like those near San Francisco's Union Square and Anaheim, California's Disneyland, have closed their lounges. Top-tier Hilton HHonors members now receive coupons for coffee and pastry at Starbucks. Hilton's flagship San Diego Bayfront property, which opened a year ago, has no executive lounge. "Executive lounges were a cost center, not a profit center -- especially in union markets," Bjorn Hanson, a hospitality professor at New York University said, in reference to hotels that have higher wages because of labor union agreements. "Owners didn't mind running them when things were doing well, but now they are cutting back." Harteveldt also said hotels in general have been paring back their executive lounges. "The reason is some of their most frequent guests are the least profitable -- they know how to shop and get discounts. The hotel ends up not making money," he said. He and others said hotels are going to have to take a look at loyalty programs and say "if you pay us more, you will get more." (Reporting by Deena Beasley, editing by Tim Dobbyn) Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
| Harrah's could do IPO in 2013-2015, says CEO - Reuters Posted: 22 Feb 2010 01:48 PM PST Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full-text RSS service so we can continue developing it. NEW YORK (Reuters) - Harrah's Entertainment, which was taken private by TPG and Apollo Management in January 2008, could launch an initial public offering five to seven years from that buyout, Chief Executive Gary Loveman said on Monday. Speaking at the Reuters Travel and Leisure Summit in New York, Loveman said the 2013 to 2015 timeline is speculation on his part, adding the casino operator has had no talks with TPG and Apollo on an exit timeline yet. "It's certainly hard to speculate, but five to seven is still a comfortable notion," Loveman said. The private equity firms bought Harrah's, which operates 53 casinos in six countries, for $31 billion in a leveraged buyout that doubled Harrah's debt. With $19 billion of debt, Harrah's has one of the highest debt loads in the gaming industry. The company has $5.8 billion of debt coming due in 2013, the five-year mark at which it could go public. Loveman said there is a good chance Harrah's would be able to get that extended. He also said Harrah's return to the public market would likely be in stages. "What one might imagine is that the company would gradually make available some sort of public offering of its equity with a limited float and gradually work its way back to a more public position," he said. "Nobody IPOs a $30 billion company in one fell swoop," he added. ECONOMIC RECOVERY, ONLINE POKER Many casinos are struggling with large debt burdens and limited access to the credit markets, and facing declining cash flows as consumers tighten purse strings in a weak economy. Loveman said Harrah's would have to wait for the economy to recover before it can go public again. "Clearly you'd want to have business in a better position than today," he said. Loveman also said the legalization of online poker in the United States would be another development the owners would like to wait for. "If we can make progress on that, and we saw some macroeconomic improvement, those would be favorable trends," he said. Still, Loveman is in no hurry for an IPO. "You don't have to listen to people ask you, 'Did it rain last week in Atlantic City?'" he said, referring to investor calls and analyst notes. "All these type of questions are just serving a community of people that are buying and selling the security hourly. As the CEO, it shouldn't be of interest." Loveman said he would be happy for the company to remain private as long as he served as chief executive. "I don't miss that at all," he said, referring to being public. If I never did it again, I wouldn't miss it." (Reporting by Jui Chakravorty; Additional reporting by Ernest Scheyder and Karen Jacobs: Editing by Phil Berlowitz) (Reporting by Jui Chakravorty; Editing by Steve Orlofsky, Phil Berlowitz) Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
| Online travel bookings shift overseas - Reuters Posted: 22 Feb 2010 04:42 PM PST Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full-text RSS service so we can continue developing it. NEW YORK (Reuters) - Growth in online travel bookings is rapidly shifting overseas, leading to a race to bolster operations in Asia and Latin America, the chief executives of two top online travel companies said on Monday. Speaking at the Reuters Travel and Leisure Summit, Dara Khosrowshahi of Expedia Inc (EXPE.O) and Jeffery Boyd of Priceline.com (PCLN.O) agreed that overseas growth is fundamental to their business strategies. Khosrowshahi, the 40-year-old leader of the largest online travel agency, said he expects non-U.S. bookings to account for at least half of Expedia's business within five years, up from 37 percent currently. "Europe is a great market for us. And for us, the Asia-Pacific and Latin American markets are new emerging markets," he said. The value of the company's bookings rose 26 percent year-over-year in the fourth quarter of 2009. International bookings increased 38 percent. Domestic bookings increased 19 percent. Asia-Pacific and Latin American markets account for about 5 percent of the total value of Expedia's bookings, but the company hopes to double that in the next couple of years, Khosrowshahi said. "We're aggressively investing in China and Australia, India and Brazil," he said. His rival, Boyd, 53, said about two-thirds of Priceline's bookings are non-U.S. Priceline, which made its name with its name-your-own-price auction, saw gross bookings growth of 52.9 percent year-over-year in the fourth quarter. International bookings were up 81 percent. Domestic bookings grew 20.6 percent. "The international markets are less mature. The online market is less well-developed. Competition is not as far ahead as it is here in the United States," Boyd said. He also noted that the hotel business is more fragmented in international markets. "We expect to have higher growth in the international markets, from new markets like Asia that are less well-penetrated and are currently enjoying higher levels of economic growth," Boyd said. REBOUNDING BUSINESS TRAVEL Corporate travel demand is up after a painful recession, but companies likely will curb travel expenses and steer employees away from costly first-class accommodation, Khosrowshahi said. "The phones are ringing again, from what the partners tell us," he said. "Again, it is off of a very low base, but we do see some encouraging signs from our hotel partners." He said that while demand is improving, U.S. companies remain conservative in their travel spending and are adhering more closely to internal travel policies that may have been neglected in recent years. The travel industry has been hit in the past year by an economic downturn that eroded travel demand. Travel companies responded by slashing fees and offering promotions to bolster bookings. Boyd said the online travel business was recovering from a recession that saw the erosion of travel demand. "We probably have seen the beginning of a recovery in business travel already, at least according to what the hotels are saying," he said. (Reporting by Kyle Peterson; additional reporting by Deepa Seetharaman, Martin Howell and Karen Jacobs; editing by Derek Caney, John Wallace, Phil Berlowitz) Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
| The Ritz-Carlton, Westchester Welcomes New Senior Sales Manager - Hotel Interactive, Inc. Posted: 22 Feb 2010 08:18 AM PST Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full-text RSS service so we can continue developing it. Carly Williams has been named Senior Sales Manager – Business Travel & Leisure at The Ritz-Carlton, Westchester. The daughter of Washington diplomat, Williams lived in eight countries and traveled extensively, before launching her career in the hospitality industry in 2005. "Carly Williams comes to us with a solid background in sales and event planning. Her extensive travel and knowledge of different counties and cultures brings a sophistication that is a great fit for The Ritz Carlton, Westchester and its clients,'' said Marcie McGeehan, Director of Sales and Marketing at The Ritz-Carlton, Westchester. Prior to coming to The Ritz Carlton, Westchester, Williams served as Business and Leisure Travel Sales Manager at The Liberty Hotel in Boston (2008-2009) where, among other duties, she was in charge of planning and executing special events including the Head of the Charles Regatta. Previously, Williams held the positions of Business and Leisure Travel Sales Manager with Hyatt Hotels and Resorts in Boston, Ma. (2006-2008) and Marketing and Public Relations Executive with the Marriott Vacation Club International in St. Thomas (2005-2006). Originally from Washington, D.C., Williams is a graduate of the University of Dayton, where she received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Public Relations and Marketing.
ABOUT THE RITZ-CARLTON WESTCHESTER: ABOUT THE RITZ-CARLTON HOTEL COMPANY L.L.C.: Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
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