Broadsheets unravel 6C's hotels/pub split

e-Tid.com  -  Six Continents’ statement Friday that it is actively considering demerging its pubs and hotels operations has led to more broadsheet speculation as well as a lift in its share price. 

The consensus is that more details will emerge on Oct 1, when it plans to issue its delayed trading statement.

Speculation in the Telegraph and Times suggests that Sir Ian Prosser will stay on as chairman to oversee the demerger. He had planned to retire next June.

Richard North, currently FD for the group, is named by three papers as chief exec in waiting for the hotels division. Prosser is tipped to stay on as non-exec chairman for the hotels division. Richard Solomons is tipped as the finance director.

The Telegraph suggests that the hotel division, valued at £4bn, ‘will seek either a dual listing in New York or will switch its listing to the US altogether because this is where the bulk of its assets are’.

The pubs division – featuring brands such as O’Neills, All Bar One and Harvester, could have Roger Carr as its non-exec chairman with Tim Clarke as its chief exec.

It is also reported that 6c will confirm that its planning to return £500-£750m to shareholders, less than the £1bn widely tipped.

Swiss tourism industry in a slump: association

The Swiss tourism industry is mired in a deep slump, with occupancy rates down by six percent over the first seven months of the year compared with the same period last year, the Swiss Tourism Federation said Thursday.

The organisation's president, Franz Steinegger, said: "A cold wind is blowing on (Swiss) tourism even though last year we recorded an increase in occupancy rates for the fourth time in a row".

He blamed the slump on the current economic downturn, weak consumer demand, the Swiss franc's strength, unfavourable weather conditions.

2002 Hospitality Compensation and Benefits Survey Offers Valuable HR Information

Hospitality human resource professionals will find a wealth of information in the new 2002 edition of the Hospitality Compensation and Benefits Survey prepared for the American Hotel & Lodging Association by Smith Travel Research. The survey was funded by the American Hotel & Lodging Educational Foundation and is being sold by AH&LA's Educational Institute.

The Hospitality Compensation and Benefits Survey serves as an analytical tool to aid human resource staffs in making equitable and competitive compensation decisions for hospitality employees while controlling costs for their properties. The publication includes data from nearly 2,000 properties, which provided information about salary levels, bonuses, incentive plans, and employee benefits for 34 management and non-management hospitality positions.

Readers can research compensation and benefits information broken down by number of rooms, price segment, location, union status, chain status, and geographic region. Benefit data includes medical, dental, and prescription coverage; child care and eldercare; employee assistance programs; profit sharing; pensions and 401K; and disability insurance.

New to this year's study is an evaluation of industry turnover date, which will further enhance the publication's value as an HR tool.

The 2002 Hospitality Compensation and Benefits Survey is available from the Educational Institute at a price of $80 for AH&LA members and $160 for non-members. To order, call 800-752-4567 or fax 517-372-4104, or visit EI's web site at www.ei-ahla.org to order over the Internet with EI's new, secure online shopping cart.

Marriott International to Release Earnings for Third Quarter 2002 On October 3

Investors and Media Invited to Quarterly Review

/PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Marriott International, Inc. (NYSE: MAR) will conduct its quarterly earnings conference call for investors and news media on Thursday, October 3 at 10 a.m. Eastern Time (ET). Marriott's third quarter ended on September 6, 2002. Mr. Arne Sorenson, Marriott International's executive vice president and chief financial officer, will discuss the company's 2002 third quarter results as well as its business outlook.

Individual investors and news media are invited to listen to the call on the Internet at http://www.marriott.com/investor . A replay of the call will be available on the Internet until November 3, 2002 at http://www.marriott.com/investor and click on "recent investor news." A recording of the call will also be available by telephone from 1 p.m. ET, Thursday October 3, 2002 until Thursday, October 10, 2002 at 8 p.m. ET. To access the recording, call 719-457-0820. The reservation number for the recording is 695188.

Discussing the corporate contribution to Sustainable Tourism

AsiaTravelTips.com -  The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) is pleased to announce that Mr. Kevin Croley, Six Continents Hotels’ Vice President of Sales Asia-Pacific and Dr. Pongsak Hoontrakul of Thaiparks123.com will lead plenary sessions at the 1st PATA Sustainable Tourism Conference and Mart, October 23-26, 2002 in Banten, Western Java, Indonesia.

Mr. Croley will present "Sustainability: Why Go Green? A Corporate Focus." Six Continents Hotels is one of a new generation of hotel corporations with heightened environmental consciousness. The group has developed a number of environmentally-friendly programmes such as "Conserving Our Planet."

In Conserving Our Planet, management from 3,200 Six Continents Hotels worldwide are invited to show how their properties create and conduct environmental events, carry out green self audits, improve guest towel and linen reuse rates, and raise funds for UNICEF’s Water and Environmental Sanitation Programme. 

Dr. Pongsak Hoontrakul, the principle Founder and CEO of Thaipan1.com will lead the plenary session entitled "Sustainable Tourism Industry: E-Tourism and its Economic Implications." This session aims to introduce different approaches to using national parks and reserves as viable ecotourism experiences as demonstrated in Thaiparks123.com, a comprehensive ecotourism destination site. 

Dr. Pongsak is a well-known lecturer and researcher for several leading universities in Thailand and the author of numerous financial publications. 

Under the theme, "Protecting Indigenous Culture and the Environment for Sustainable Growth," the 1st PATA Sustainable Tourism Conference and Mart is being developed as a forum for tourism business people to meet with the academic community to discuss the development and promotion of sustainable tourism initiatives. Such initiatives should be sensitive, practical and profitable. 

The event will feature well-researched conference sessions and case studies, a mart showcasing sustainable tourism products and services, an off-site workshop for hands-on cultural audit exercises, and pre- and post-event tours.

To attend the 1st PATA Sustainable Tourism Conference & Mart, the conference-only fee is US$150 for PATA members, US$220 for chapter members, US$375 for non-members and US$60 for PATA Young Tourism Professionals. The local conference-only registration fee is US$80 for PATA Indonesia members and US$120 for non-PATA members and accompanying persons. 

For the mart component of the event, the seller fee is US$400 per person for PATA members, US$500 for chapter members, US$650 for non-members and US$200 for an additional seller. The buyer fee is US$170 for PATA members, US$200 for chapter members and US$250 for non-members.

£7m boost to tourism in London

A £7 million three-year plan to reshape and revive London's tourist industry has been announced.

The majority of the money, which is being made available from extra public funding, must be spent on marketing, said London Mayor Ken Livingstone who is seeking further financial support from the industry.

Accountancy firm KPMG will act as advisers in establishing a new company by April 2003 to promote London as a tourist destination.

It is hoped the appointment of Tamara Ingram, chairwoman and chief executive of top advertising agency McCann Erickson, as chairwoman of the London Tourist Board will bring a strong private sector ethos to the marketing of London.

Backing has already come from British Airways chairman Lord Marshall who said: "It will need the support of the private sector to succeed."

The Visit London campaign, aimed at protecting the £15 billion spent annually by 30 million tourists, begins with a pre-Christmas marketing drive.

It also includes plans to build an international convention centre in central London, provide more affordable hotel accommodation in outer London and develop the training and skills of staff in the hospitality and leisure sectors.

Mr Livingstone, who is to coordinate the new company, said: "For too long the industry has suffered from a lack of strategic direction.

"This is my way of saying tourism is important to London and that I am making every effort to lead and support this crucial industry."

Ms Ingram said: "Extra funding and the enhanced partnership between the public and private sector give us a real opportunity to transform our marketing."

Michael Ward, chief executive of the London Development Agency, said jobs in tourism and leisure were the "key" for London's future.

Thailand goes for upmarket travellers.

TravelWeeklyEast.com  -  Thailand says it wants upmarket and quality visitors and a major global advertising campaign to promote next year’s theme – Amazing Thailand-Experience Variety – would focus on projecting the country as a quality tourism destination.

"Travellers are becoming more sophisticated in terms of what they want from their holidays and we are positioning Thailand as a world-class, value-for-money destination," newly-appointed governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand Juthamas Siriwan told reporters at a briefing for the Thailand Travel Mart taking place here.

She said Thailand is expecting 11.13 million international visitors next year, up six percent from this year’s projected annual arrivals figure of 10.5 million.

Foreign travellers spent US$84.35 per person per day in Thailand and stayed an average 7.93 days.

This brought in US$6.73 billion in foreign exchange for Thailand, she said.

Four Seasons Hotel London named number one in 2002 Conde Nast traveller and 2002 Travel+Leisure Magazine reader surveys

Within just two weeks Four Seasons Hotel London received two of the travel industry’s most prestigious awards.  In a ceremony at the National Science Museum on 18^th September Conde Nast Traveller Magazine Readers named Four Seasons Hotel London the Best Business Hotel in the UK and number 19 on the World’s Top 100 ‘Best of the Best’ list.

Readers were asked to rate their choices according to various criteria, such as service and value for money. With an overall score of 87.52 Four Seasons Hotel London outranked its nearest competitor by nearly 2 points. The ‘Best of the Best’ list is comprised of all categories from hotels and spas to airlines and airports and pays tribute to the highest scorers in all categories.

“I believe that the enthusiasm of our staff in delivering informed, personalised and detailed service to our guests when they visit London was a key element in our gaining this prestigious award. We are all thrilled to have been recognised by the readers of Conde Nast Traveller magazine in this way” commented Regional Vice President and General Manager, Mr. John Stauss.

The Conde Nast Traveller Readers Award follows on the heels of the recently announced Travel + Leisure magazine survey announcing the best hotels for business travellers in more than 50 cities around the globe, as chosen by the readers of the magazine. Four Seasons Hotel London received the accolade for the best Business hotel in London rated on rooms/facilities, location, service, restaurants/food and value.

Travel + Leisure is considered one of the top consumer travel publications in the world reaching 4.6 million readers monthly. A select group of subscribers were supplied with a unique code in their February and March issues enabling them to complete the survey.

‘To receive both accolades within one month is unprecedented and truly exciting’ said John Stauss. ‘It it a fantastic recognition for our staff and Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts’.  

In further developments Four Seasons Hotel London recently received an ‘Award of Excellence’ from the British Tea Council for extremely high standards for afternoon tea. Mystery tea tasters visited London’s members of the Tea Council sampling the full afternoon tea menus available. ‘After winning the London Top Tea place award in 1999, I am extremely proud that we continue to rank among the best places in London to enjoy this tradition” said Mr Stauss.

Also just announced were the results of the Institutional Investor’s 22^nd annual World’s Best Hotels Survey. Building on last year’s success, Four Seasons Hotel London was again rated among the top 75 world’s most prestigious hotels. Institutional Investor is the premier financial monthly magazine, which has won 74 awards for editorial excellence in 36 years. Senior financial executives from 31 countries, who averaged 61 nights a year at hotels last year voted in the poll.

Macao's tourism industry booming
 
(Xinhua) --Macao reported a double-digit growth in the number of tourist arrivals from January to August, led by a huge influx of China's inlanders.

According to the latest figures from the Statistics and Census Services, tourist arrivals in the Special Administrative Region ( SAR) jumped 10 percent to 7.61 million in the first eight months of this year.

Hong Kong remained the largest tourist source for Macao with 3. 55 million visitors, but the figure dipped 1.4 percent on a year-on-year basis.

China's inland was catching up quickly, providing slightly more than one-third of tourist arrivals in Macao, while Taiwan tourists made up 13.6 percent of the total.

In August alone, visitors from China's interior surged 19.2 percent from a year ago.

Industry insiders noted that Macao's tourism industry has benefited greatly from a sharp rise of travel agencies allowed by the China National Tourism Administration to manage the SAR-bound tours.

Currently, the Macao Government Tourist Office is trying to make tourists stay longer and spend more as the number of same-day visitors reached 3.19 million or 42 percent of the total in the January-August period.

Tourists to Macao hit a record of more than 10 million in 2001 and the figure for this year is set to rise further.

Boom in Philippine hotel industry

AsiaPulse  -  The hotel industry in the Philippines is experiencing another surge after the hotel construction boom in the mid-1970s.

But the surge this time is happening south of Metro Manila as evidenced by the rise in the Alabang business district of The Bellevue Manila, the first hotel with global standards in the area.

"The hotel business is a boom and bust industry," said Bill Vincent, vice president for hotels of the Hotels and Restaurant Association of the Philippines (HRAP).

Vincent added, "But the industry is easily affected by external factors such as economic recession, political instability, peace and order situation, power crisis, airline deregulation policies, even weather disturbances."

The September 11 attacks on the United States affected international and domestic tourism in countries around the world, including that of the Philippines.

This had a significant bearing on our Philippine economy as the hotel and tourism industry suffered huge reductions and even losses as many companies and individuals are down in their travel and tourism budgets.

However, Vincent pointed out that the local industry is well on the way to recovery, citing the recently concluded military Balikatan exercises between the US and the Philippine Army and their victory against Abu Sayyaf terrorist groups that have led to the lifting of travel bans, allowed foreign nationals to travel to the Philippines and consequently increased visitors arrivals.

Just recently Tourism Secretary Richard Gordon arrived from his roadshows and sales mission from the United States (San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Washington D.C., Las Vegas, Chicago, San Diego, San Jose, New Jersey and Toronto in Canada) and China (Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Hong Kong) to aggressively promote the Philippines as favored destination.

As of May this year, statistics show an 11.13 per cent increase in hotel occupancy from last year's 55.32 per cent to this year's 66.45 per cent. There is likewise, an increase from 2.64 nights average stay to 2.65 nights.

The DOT is also encouraging investors by allocating benefits through the Omnibus Investments Code (EO No. 226).

This EO authorizes the Board of Investment (BoI) to grant fiscal incentives to tourism enterprises engaged in the development of tourist estates, establishment of tourists accommodations and the likes.

These incentives may come in the form of Income Tax Holiday (ITH), tax credits, guaranteed repatriation of foreign investments and earnings. Today, much of the new hotels in the Philippines are located in the Makati and Ortigas areas.

As of May this year, 60 per cent of the 67 accredited de luxe hotels in the Metro Manila area can be found in these areas.

Although there are a few existing service apartments and condotels in the Alabang area, it is not yet saturated as the Makati and Ortigas areas and can definitely welcome the addition of new hotels. 

Hotel TV giants to explore combined global standard

e-Tid.com  -  Nasdaq-listed On Command Corporation and privately-held Quadrigha Worldwide have announced plans to create a global standard video and audio entertainment model for the hotel industry.
The pair hope the system will reduce cost and improve revenues from guest stays.
They claim a global standard would allow guests on-demand content, internet access through the TV and plug and play broadband connections for laptops, all using a single system.
ON Command’s technology is used in 923,000 hotel rooms in 3,440 properties in the US, Canada, Argentina, Mexico, Portugal and Spain. Quadriga specialises in Europe and the Middle East, and is used in over half a million hotel rooms in 6,350 contracted hotels.
Details have been posted online. Click here to read the release on Quadriga’s web site, which includes details of it and On Command’s current products.