Juergen Bartels  delays Le Meridien targets by a year 

e-Tid.com  -  Juergen Bartels, Le Meridien’s chief operating officer, told UK media this week that its market leadership targets have been put back a year to the end of 2005.

Bartels, known in the industry as JB, told his annual UK media briefing: ‘We still aim to be the market leader in terms of gross operating profit, average room rate and occupancy, but we will have achieved this by the year-end 2005 rather than 2004 as originally planned.’

Bartels announced an £850m expansion programme at the start of September last year, only days before the terrorist attacks in the US. The key driver of this expansion was the introduction of Art+Tech, a new room concept targeted at twenty- and thirty-something guests.

The targets have been delayed by just a year, although the amount of cash available to Bartels is currently significantly less than the £850m announced last September. This figure was an expected spend, based on £350m from Le Meridien and its backers, supplemented by £500m-worth of work from the hotel owners.

However, JB told the audience that only £280m had been made available. A spokesperson explained that this was because hotel owners in particular were waiting for signs of recovery post-11 before committing.

At last September’s presentation JB said that he wanted 5000 Art + Tech rooms across the brand. This week he revealed that 3000 of them will be in London.

In the last three months of 2001, Meridien’s revPAR was down 24.8% on the same quarter in 2000, compared with the industry average of 30% down. ‘It’s a victory of sorts, if a little hollow,’ said Bartels.

He padded this out by rattling through Le Meridien’s month-by-month revPAR shortfall. ‘October was 28% down,’ he said. ‘November 23, December 20, January 12 and February 6.’ He skipped over the next few months before saying that a ‘holding pattern of around 9% down’ had been established.

In terms of achieving market leadership, JB repeatedly referred to Le Meridien ‘using design to demonstrate to the world that we are different.’ He referred to Le Meridien Etoile in Paris, which was refurbished over 2001. Its revPAR climbed 3% while its competitors were down 16%.
Another key factor in achieving market leadership is a drive to improve central marketing. ‘This year we reckon about 38% of sales will come through central marketing compared with 23% in 2001, he said. ‘Next year this will improve to 48%, and by 2004-5 we are looking at 65%.
‘Hotel owners considering which franchise to take up will see how strong these figures are compared with our competitors.’

The former Starwood CEO put £10m of his own money into Le Meridien when Nomura paid Forte £1.9bn for the chain in May 2001.

NH Hoteles to adopt single pan-European/global brand

e-Tid.com  -  Spanish group NH Hoteles has decided to spend €8m (£5m) rebranding its Alstron Hotels in Germany as NH properties after deciding to operate globally under a single brand and with a homogeneous product.

NH, which is Europe’s third largest business hotel chain, bought an 80% stake in Alstron for €130m this February. The deal didn’t include all the Astron as NH felt some of the hotels weren’t suitable for its portfolio.

The rebranding, due for completion within eight months, will leave NH with have 50 properties in Germany providing 8,240 rooms, 7 in Switzerland (813) and six in Austria (797).

It is also rebranding its nine Mexican properties, currently operating under the Krystal brand.
Research carried out in for the rebranding found that NH Hoteles’ image is ‘close to the client, serious and credible, with a good quality/price relationship and a special attention to detail.’
NH Hoteles is listed on the Madrid exchange and is a member of the IBEX 35. It is also on Amsterdam’s Euronext index.

Cornell University Hospitality Research Center Announces Strategic Alliance with PKF Consulting

Joint Effort Will Focus on Use of Hotel Industry's Most Comprehensive Financial Database

Research Findings Will Be Disseminated by the Center for Hospitality Research

Ithaca, NY, and Atlanta, GA. September 18, 2002. The Center for Hospitality Research (CHR) at Cornell University and PKF Consulting's research affiliate, The Hospitality Research Group, have entered into a strategic alliance to develop research studies that promote further understanding of the various issues affecting hotel profitability. The research projects will employ PKF Consulting's extensive database of hotel financial statistics and will be conducted by Cornell's Hotel School research faculty who serve as fellows of the CHR.

The sharing of this database underscores our firm's commitment to furthering understanding of the industry's most important measure - profitability, explains R. Mark Woodworth, Executive Vice President of PKF Consulting.

The initial study will examine the impact of labor-related investments on firm performance. The research will involve the development of techniques for measuring a hotel property's investment in its labor force, the rate at which those investments are being consumed, and an answer to which investments are more productive than others. The goal of this first project is to determine if investments in human capital offer increased value to hotel properties over time.

Partnering with PKF Consulting enables researchers to explore key hospitality topics, since the database reaches back many years, and their detailed

information, particularly that relating to same-store-sales data, is unparalleled, notes Cathy A. Enz, executive director of the Center for Hospitality Research and the Lewis G. Schaeneman, Jr., Professor of Innovation and Dynamic Management..

How the Alliance Works

The alliance works as follows: PKF Consulting (PKF/C) has agreed to provide carefully controlled access to the information in its proprietary database. Cornell's research faculty will aggregate and analyze the data to examine important issues, such as those in the initial study. Through the Center for Hospitality Research web site and other means, Cornell will disseminate the findings for the benefit of the industry as a whole. PKF/C will also present findings from the studies during their numerous industry presentations. Under the agreement, the information in PKF Consulting's proprietary database remains confidential.

The alliance with PKF Consulting's Hospitality Group is made even more valuable by the fact that the CHR already has similar alliances with Smith Travel Research (for lodging data) and Gazelle Systems (for restaurant data). Thus, CHR-based researchers have a diverse and broad selection of data available for exploration. Already, the CHR has issued research studies based on the STR data relating to safety and security of U.S. hotels and to the effects of gasoline-price changes on lodging demand.

Based at the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University, The Center for Hospitality Research conducts and sponsors research studies aimed at improving the hospitality industry's fundamental operating knowledge. Full details of the studies on hotel safety and security and on the effects of rising gasoline prices can be found on The Center for Hospitality Research web site: www.hotelschool.cornell.edu/chr.

PKF Consulting, and its affiliate companies The Hospitality Research Group and the PKF Capital Markets Group, provide advisory, strategic research and transaction-related services to hotel companies, institutional investors, hotel lenders, owners, operators, and to product and service providers to the lodging industry

Singapore Tourism Board (STB) Gets New Chief

AsiaTravelTips.com  -  The Ministry of Trade and Industry announced today that from 1 October 2002, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) will get a new Chief Executive.

Mr Lim Neo Chian, 50, has been appointed as STB's Deputy Chairman and Chief Executive. 

Mr Lim succeeds Mr Yeo Khee Leng, who will take up his new appointment as the Chief Executive of the new International Hotel Management School (HMS International) Pte Ltd. Both appointments take effect from 1 October 2002.

As CE, Mr Yeo has ably steered STB through difficult periods such as the haze in 1997, the Asian economic slowdown of 1998 and most recently, the fall-out from the September 11 terrorist attacks. 

Thanking Mr Yeo, the outgoing Chief Executive, Mr Wee Ee-chao, STB's Chairman said: "Khee Leng took over the job of Chief Executive in December 1997 at a time when tourism in South East Asia was adversely affected by the haze problem and Asian financial crisis. In 1998, visitor arrivals fell 13.3 per cent, the biggest decline in STB's history. Khee Leng swiftly put in place a recovery programme with a 15-month events-packed campaign called MilleniaMania. This bold initiative resulted in visitor arrivals returning to double-digit growth rates of 11.5 per cent in 1999 and 10.5 per cent in 2000.

"A hands-on leader, Khee Leng had to deal with yet another crisis in 2001. Even as the world economy started to slow down, the tourism industry was shaken by the fateful September 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington DC. As visitor arrivals plunged virtually out of control in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks, Khee Leng led the STB into quick action by shifting marketing resources from long haul markets to short haul markets, and putting in place assistance schemes to ensure no disruption to events and projects that have already been planned. The year 2001 ended with 7.52 million visitor arrivals to Singapore - the second highest on record.

"Khee Leng has demonstrated ability to keep a cool head in crises. Under his leadership, STB's internal systems were improved so that they were responsive to customers and the environment. His efforts paid off, with STB winning various awards. In 2001, the STB achieved the Singapore Quality Class Award, the People Developer Standard Award, and received an ISO 9001 accreditation for the Information Services Division."

Said Mr Yeo: "It has been a tremendously rewarding time at the STB. In my new role at the HMS International, I will still be very much a part of the tourism industry. Manpower development is something in my blood and I am glad to be able to take on a new challenge to set up a hotel school of advanced management for Singapore". 

HMS International is a new private-public sector collaborative venture formed by the STB and key members of the hotel industry. It aims to partner renowned hospitality school in US or Europe to conduct in Singapore executive management and master degree programmes, as well as conducting research into hospitality business, catering to needs of the hospitality industry in the region. The team is already in discussions with leading hotel schools in the US and Europe. 

Mr Yeo remarked: "I will have a direct role in shaping tourism training and education in Singapore with a view to establishing Singapore as the tourism training hub of the region. I hope we will get the first of the programmes started in the second half of next year."  

Kempinski keen to join Siam Paragon hotel project in Bangkok

The Nation  -  Kempinski, a leading international hotel chain, has joined the race for the contract for the Siam Paragon hotel project located on the site of the former Siam Intercontinental, said an industry source.

Kempinski is one of the world's oldest luxury-hotel chains with more than 100 years of history. The company currently operates 34 properties and has a further 10 under contract for development or renovation.

Several years ago, Kempinski had a small property in Bangkok but does not currently manage any properties in the capital.

Kempinski will have to compete with many other international hotel chains for the contract to build a new luxury hotel on the site of the former Siam Intercontinental Hotel, which has been closed since late June.

The new hotel will be part of the Siam Paragon project, a joint venture between The Mall Group and Bangkok Intercontinental Hotel Co.

Previously, Chadatip Chutrakul, chief executive officer of Siam Paragon Development Co, said the company was negotiating with three or four hotel companies, including US hotel chain Intercontinental, which managed Siam Intercontinental for over 30 years.

"We hope to make a decision in October. We are now talking with three or four hotel companies," Chadatip said.

She said the company was looking for a luxury hotel brand to suit the site in the heart of Bangkok. The site is owned by the royal family.

Meanwhile, the closure of the Siam Intercontinental has been a plus for many other hotels nearby.

James Robert Wilson, general manager of the Pathumwan Princess Hotel, said the property had received a small amount of additional business arising from its neighbour's closure.

In combination with its marketing strategy post-September 11, 2001, the hotel hopes to raise its average occupancy rate by 10 per cent this year.

In July and August - the two months following the closure of the Siam Intercontinental - the occupancy rate at the Pathumwan Princess was consistent with the hotel's projections with a 10 per cent higher rate than the same period last year.

The Pathumwan Princess has recently enlarged its fitness club, the "Olympic Club", on the 8th floor to be the largest fitness club in the city serving corporate and leisure customers.

Ibis sale signals Sydney turnaround

Ipoh Ltd has sold the Accor-operated Ibis World Square Hotel in Sydney to an Australian private company for A$22.7 million (US$12.5m). Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels' senior vice president, Mark Durran, said the sale price achieved for the Ibis and other recent sales, such as the ANA Sydney and the Westin Hotel Sydney, reflected investor confidence in Sydney's improving hotel and tourism market fundamentals.

The World Square hotel opened in early 1999 and was purpose-designed as an Ibis. It is one of the most profitable hotels in Sydney, consistently outperforming market averages.

Durran said, "The room supply outlook for Sydney is strongly positive, as the trend to residential conversions continues to reduce the total room stock of the city. Since October 2000, total room supply has contracted by 2,072 rooms.

"A further 961 rooms are expected to close by December 2004 giving a total of 3,033 rooms or 16 hotels being converted or redeveloped to residential units. Most of this redevelopment has occurred in the 3-4 star sector," he added Ipoh has been a big seller of property recently, as part of a strategy of focusing on its core retail holdings, including landmark Sydney properties such as the Queen Victoria Building and the Strand Arcade.

Bangkok:  YMCA to be transformed to Designer Hotel

The Nation -   The YMCA Collins International House on Bangkok’s Sathorn Road will be turned into a five-star designer hotel called the Metropolitan and join the crowded luxury market in July.

The Bangkok YMCA building was acquired by Singapore's HPL Hotels and Resorts Co, which bought the Merlin Pattaya Hotel in 2000 and converted it into a Hard Rock Hotel.

The YMCA has already vacated its old premises and moved to a new location on Soi Wat Kake off of Silom Road.

A YMCA source said the club had ceased offering accommodation and swimming facilities to more than 1,000 Bangkok YMCA members.

The Metropolitan would be renovated to offer 179 guestrooms and three meeting rooms, the unit of Ong Seng Beng's Hotel Properties Ltd said.

The new hotel will face stiff competition from existing five-star hotels in Bangkok, particularly the two nearby - the Sukhothai and the Banyan Tree - as well as new ones.

Conrad International Hotels will open a property on Wireless Road later this year and the Grand Pacific Hotel on Sukhumvit will be renovated and re-branded as a Westin to cater to the top-end visitor market. 

Aviation recovery in 2004: IATA

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) says air passenger and cargo traffic may regain pre-September 11 levels next year. But global financial recovery of airlines may have to wait till 2004.

“By the end of 2003, we expect to recover most of our lost ground and to be back at pre-September 11 volumes, “says IATA’s director-general, Giovanni Bisignani.

In a report, IATA said encouraging first half figures for airlines outside the US suggested that losses on international scheduled operations would fall to US$4 to $6 billion in 2002, down from $12 billion last year. Outside the US, passenger traffic is likely to increase one percent in 2002 before growing five percent over the next two years. 

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