EU lets Accor take controlling stake in Germany's Dorint hotels

AP - The EU executive Commission on Monday agreed to let France's Accor SA - Europe's largest hotel group - buy a controlling stake in Germany's Dorint hotels.

The move will strengthen Accor's position "but it will continue to face sufficient competition" in Germany, it said in a statement.

Accor will acquire a stake in Dorint from the founding Ebertz family with which it will share control in the chain of 78 hotels, most in Germany.

The Commission said it examined "the impact of the acquisition mainly in Germany, but also in a number of other EU countries such as Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and Austria where both Dorint and Accor own hotels."

It said it considered the impact on local and national levels and found "the hotels run by Accor and Dorint are rather complementary."

In places where Accor and Dorint operate hotels in similar categories, the Commission found their combined market shares to be moderate.

Accor is Europe's largest hotel group with some 3,700 hotels of which 1,250 are situated in France and 700 in other European countries. Accor runs Sofitel, Novotel, Mercure, Ibis, Etap, Motel 6 and Formule 1 hotels.

Marriott Reaches Settlement With Hotel Owner

Washington Post  -  Marriott International Inc. said yesterday that it has reached an agreement with one of its hotel owners that will end litigation between the firms.

Marriott had sued Flatley Co., owner of the Boston Marriott Quincy Hotel, for trying to end its 30-year contract to manage the hotel. Flatley then sued Bethesda-based Marriott in August, accusing the nation's largest hotel-management company of fraud, accounting irregularities and taking kickbacks from suppliers, one of a flurry of hotel owner lawsuits filed this year against Marriott.

Details of the resolution were not disclosed, but the agreement will not make any significant changes to the existing management arrangements, said Marriott spokesman Tom Marder.

"We're just very pleased to resolve this matter without litigation," Marder said. "We look forward to a cooperative and productive relationship with the Flatley Company."

Under the new agreement, Flatley also dropped its suit against Avendra LLC, Marriott's online purchasing firm for hotels.

In a statement yesterday, Flatley owner and billionaire developer Thomas Flatley said: "We are pleased with Marriott's recent communications to its hotel owners, and we are very happy to again be working closely with Marriott." The 465-room Boston Marriott opened in May 2001.

At least three other lawsuits by the owners of Marriott-operated hotels were filed this year, including similar complaints of fraud and mismanagement.

Marder said Marriott has entered into arbitration with CTF Holdings Inc. of Hong Kong, which filed suit in April, accusing the hotelier of clandestinely pocketing millions of dollars in kickbacks through Avendra. CTF owns 20 Renaissance hotels. Marriott is also in arbitration with HPI, a sister company of CTF, Marder said.

A lawsuit brought by Strategic Hotel Capital LLC of Chicago, which owns eight luxury properties managed by Marriott, is pending. It alleges that Marriott sold its guest lists to third parties without sharing the profits and collected millions of dollars in "suspect rebates" from vendors.

Rod Petrik, a lodging analyst at Legg Mason Inc. in Baltimore, said the patching up of communications between Flatley and Marriott is a good sign that the hotelier could resolve the disputes with its other hotel owners.

"This is a positive for Marriott," Petrik said. "One by one, they want to get rid of the litigation."

In August, Marriott renegotiated its management contracts with Host Marriott Corp., the largest owner of its hotels, to allow Host to pay Marriott less to run its hotels. The hotelier also met this year with most of its hotel owners and franchisees that have multiple or large properties to explain how Marriott charges those properties for its management services.

Marriott shares fell 61 cents yesterday, to $32.77, on the New York Stock Exchange.

Also yesterday, Marrriott announced that it sold 12 of its senior living communities to CNL Retirement Properties Inc. of Orlando for $89 million in cash. In connection with the sale, Marriott will record a pretax loss of about $21 million, or 5.5 cents per share after taxes. Marriott officials said the company is likely to incur additional costs with its planned exit from the senior living business. 

Air Travel Survey Finds 30 Percent Of Business Travelers Flew Less Last Year

Nearly Half Of All Business Travelers Utilize Alternative Technology In Place Of Travel

The Travel Industry Association of America’s (TIA) latest consumer poll, the Air Travel Survey, examines the possible reasons for the continued declines in air travel. Sponsored by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, the survey was based on a representative sample of 4,000 travelers who have traveled by air at least once in the past year.

Thirty percent of all air business travelers reported traveling less by air in the past 12 months, as compared to only 21 percent who said they traveled more. Despite the decrease in air travel in the past year, intentions are relatively strong for 2003, with 29 percent of business travelers planning on traveling more by air next year and 55 percent saying they will travel the same amount. Eighty percent of leisure air travelers say they traveled the same amount or more in the past year. When asked about 2003, only 14 percent of leisure travelers said they would travel less or not at all by air.

Nearly 80 percent of all air business travelers say their company has one or more business travel policies in place. One-third said that one or more of these policies were implemented in just the past year. Examples of these new restrictions include limiting the class of air service that can be used (14%), requiring U.S.-only travel (31%), limiting travel per diems (19%), restricting the number of employees traveling (25%), and requiring/recommending they drive instead of fly (34%). Other new policies include restricting the number of trips taken (39%), restricting trip duration (25%), and restricting class of hotel (14%).

“The question arises as to whether the industry is seeing a major sea change in business travel patterns or whether this is just another short-term, cyclical downturn,” remarked Dr. Suzanne Cook, senior vice president of research for the Travel Industry Association of America. “Many companies have learned to do business in a different way and are taking a much more strategic approach to travel, in some cases calculating a return on investment to determine whether a trip should be taken or not. I do, however, think that many business travelers will return to the skies when times get better.”

The improvement in online business communications has accelerated the use of technology as an alternative to taking business trips. Teleconferencing was used by 42 percent of all air business travelers in the past year as a substitute for taking a business trip. Videoconferencing and webcasting or webconferencing were used in place of travel by 17 percent and 15 percent of business travelers, respectively. The usage of these alternative technologies rises with the frequency of travel. One-quarter of frequent air travelers (8+ trips per year), replaced some of their trips with technology, compared to only about 15 percent of infrequent travelers. While two-thirds of all air business travelers feel these technologies are more efficient in terms of the time and money spent on travel, only 20 percent feel they are more effective.

Business travelers say slower business conditions, lean travel budgets, the uncertain economy and the high cost of travel have generated a lesser need for travel. For leisure travelers, one-third said economic and price concerns were major factors in not flying. Second in importance was the lack of time or ability to travel as much by air as in the previous year, as reported by 23 percent of leisure travelers.

Business travelers are turning to the Internet for the best airline ticket price, with almost half of all business air travelers personally purchasing their ticket online at least once in the past year. Underscoring the impact of the Internet on business travel habits is the fact that 35 percent of those travelers say they plan on using the Internet much more in the next year to book business flights. And nearly one-third of those who did not use the Internet to personally book a flight in the past year say they plan on doing so next year.

Underscoring consumers’ concerns about their personal or business finances, only 16 percent of business and leisure air travelers say they are satisfied with the current cost of air travel, an interesting finding considering that airfares are now at their lowest level since 1988.

TIA is the national, non-profit organization representing all components of the $537 billion travel industry. TIA's mission is to represent the whole of the U.S. travel industry to promote and facilitate increased travel to and within the United States

News @ PATA

BALI CONFERENCE SHAPING UP WELL During December 13-18 PATA management held a positive and encouraging site visit to the 2003 PATA Annual Conference venue. PATA was reassured of several measures undertaken by local authorities to ensure the safety and well-being of all 2003 Conference delegates attending the Bali International Convention Centre and surrounding hotels. PATA Managing Director-Events, Ms. Sheila Leong, said: "PATA has received a range of operational assurances from all the concerned authorities. It has been very encouraging and bodes well for the success of Conference." For PATA Annual Conference registration and further information please contact PATA Assistant Manager-Events, Mr. Nathin Tongsiri. E- mail: nathin@pata.th.com. Tel: (66-2) 658-2000 ext. 113. Or visit www.pata.org

BALI RECOVERY TASK FORCE: REPORT IMMINENT The six members of the PATA Bali Recovery Task Force have completed their site inspections. Their reports are currently being sent to PATA Vice President, Mr. Peter Semone. The full report and recommendations will be presented to the Indonesia Ministry of Culture and Tourism in early January. Mr. Semone said: "Many of the recommendations will also be of strategic use to dozens of member destinations throughout our region." Task Force members include: * Dr. David Perl, Chief Executive, Docleaf (UK) * Ms. Yeoh Siew Hoon, Editorial Director, Reed Travel & Meetings (Singapore) * Mr. Anthony Concil, Director, Corporate Communications, Asia Pacific, IATA (Japan) * Mr. Bert van Walbeek, Managing Director, The Winning Edge (Thailand) * Mr. Robert Guy, Managing Director, Pacific World Destination Management (Singapore) * Mr. Jim Hogan, Managing Director, International Tourism and Training Services (Australia).

BEST OF BALI BAZAAR During PATA Annual Conference (Bali, April 13-17, 2003) delegates will be able to purchase Balinese handicrafts as part of the "Best of Bali Bazaar" which will take place in the grounds outside the Bali International Convention Centre. Purchases will directly benefit villagers producing the handicrafts. The initiative is being facilitated by the Bali Tourism Development Cooperation and is in line with the objective of promoting local culture through tourism.

LUXURY NICHE OPERATORS SATISFIED The PATA stand organised at the International Luxury Travel Market (ILTM) held in Cannes, France, December 10-12, 2002, attracted dozens of luxury travel buyers interested in the Pacific Asia region. A seller from the Pacific Asia region, Marketing Director of Pimalai Resort (Thailand), Mr. Henry Widler, said: "Our participation at the PATA stand was very fruitful...Our participation will generate additional revenue of at least US$300,000 during the next two years." For information about joining the PATA stand at ILTM 2003, contact PATA Europe at europe@pata.mc. 

New Year Promises New Revenues For Caribbean Hotels

Hundreds of hoteliers throughout the Caribbean can now earn healthy revenues with little or zero marketing costs.

The Caribbean Hotel Association Charitable Trust (CHACT), the body mandated to market the Caribbean with a single voice, has disclosed that effective immediately the entire membership of the Caribbean Hotel Association (CHA) will be eligible to list its inventory on the CHACT online travel site (www.gocaribbean.com) and benefit from both website and telesales through the toll-free service 1-888-CARIBBEAN .

The decision made by CHACT officials to widen the program's benefits to many more Caribbean hotels was an easy one. CHACT chairman Ralph Taylor said: This will help drive much more business to the Caribbean in 2003. He explained that an easy sign-up process is now available online.

Expedia, Inc's private label solution, Worldwide Travel Exchange (WWTE™) provides the booking engine, handles inbound telesales, customer support and travel inventory to the travel site www.gocaribbean.com. In a user friendly on-line environment, hoteliers are able to manage their room allotments and rates depending on their current or projected occupancies.

CHA member hotels that are currently engaged with Expedia are automatically part of program, while other CHA member hotels can join with the click of a mouse. Both CHA and CHACT membership options are available at www.gocaribbean.com (click on about CHACT).

CHACT is a public/private sector conglomeration of major hotel chains, airlines and credit card companies which have joined forces with both CARICOM and non-CARICOM nations to market and promote the Caribbean as a single destination. A regional fund has enabled the launch of a television campaign dubbed Life Needs the Caribbean. The campaign, launched in August this year, resumes early next year.

The overall intent of the campaign is to brand the region and, thereby, compete with other regions of the world that have been attracting increasing Caribbean market share of the US outbound traveler for nine consecutive years.

Eighteen destinations are participating in the campaign. They are Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Maarten, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos and the United States Virgin Islands.

Tourist record for NZ
 
The Christchurch Press  -  The New Zealand tourism industry has reached a milestone, welcoming more than two million visitors in a year for the first time.

It was only 10 years ago that New Zealand was attracting one million visitors a year.

"This is a phenomenal achievement," said Tourism New Zealand chief executive George Hickton.

"It took 90 years for New Zealand to reach its first million visitors per annum, and only a decade for it to attract a million more.

"This is a real endorsement of New Zealand's growing appeal as a visitor destination."

The exact number of visitors to New Zealand in the year ended November 2002 was 2,019,078, up 5.5 per cent on 2001, according to latest figures from Statistics New Zealand.

The number of tourists coming from the United States reached 200,000 this year for the first time.

At 201,488, the figure is a 7.2 per cent increase on last year.

In 1992, New Zealand's one million visitors were spending an estimated $ 2 billion, $ 1900 on average per visit.

In the year ended September 2002, it is estimated that visitors spent $ 5.8 billion, or $ 3431 each. --NZPA

Visit Philippines 2003 campaign launched in bid for more tourists

Asia Pulse  -  The Visit Philippines (VP) 2003 program was launched at the SM City Cebu over the weekend.

The World Tourism Organization (WTO)-endorsed visit-country year has made Cebu's tourism stakeholders optimistic about the industry's prospects for next year.

Department of Tourism (DOT) Region 7 Director Aurora Patria Roa said VP 2003 was a good marketing tool of the country.

"We are very optimistic. Unless there are undesirable incidents that will happen next year, tourism in Cebu will still be doing well in general," she said.

VP 2003 entails a structured 24-month marketing program, which includes the "More than the Usual" ads aired by the Philippines on CNN and BBC, as well as the Wow Philippines program designed to attract both foreign and local tourists, Roa said.

She said Cebu would be offering special tours to show off the province's heritage, guitar-making, pottery and shellcraft skills and fishing villages, and colorful flea markets.

There will also be golf tours, as well as island adventure, seascape and bird watching tours, Roa said.

On the other hand, tours in Bohol would be to the Chocolate Hills; Pamilacan Island, which is home to at least 11 species of dolphins and whales; and Cambuhat Village, where an oyster farm is among the sights.

In Negros Oriental, there are the trips to see the dolphins in Bais City and the international dive sites in Apo Island. Some 15 tour operators in the region, which comprises Cebu, Bohol, Negros Oriental and Siquijor, are offering the special tours.

The country aims to draw three million tourists to the country in 2003.

In 2001, the Philippines had 1.796 million visitors.

Australia, Indonesia to jointly work to promote Bali tourism

Channel NewsAsia  -  Australia and Indonesia will jointly work to revive Bali's ailing tourism industry hit hard by the deadly bomb blast last October.

More than 180 people died in the blasts. Half of them were Australians.

The Australia Indonesia Association and the Indonesian Embassy in Canberra will undertake a promotion in Sydney next March.

The promotion effort will be done through a festival in which thousands of Australians as well as Indonesian nationals living in Australia will take part.

The festival would present various performances and exhibitions with Balinese nuances.

"Australian people consider Bali as part of their lives so they have a strong concern toward Bali tourism and they hope that the tourism in the island will revive soon," said Wahdi Yudhi, Education and Culture Attache at the Indonesian Embassy of Canberra.

Since the bombing on October 12 (picture), tourists who usually besiege Bali this time of the year, are giving it a miss.

"Usually in November we have a 56% occupancy rate. This November it is 18% throughout Bali," said Gde Pitana, head of the Bali Tourism Industry.

"When you have a high travel warning you are not covered by insurance. So who would dare travel without it especially from the modern countries that are insurance minded," he added.

There are still those who dare to take the risk.

But even they could not help but feel a pang of regret for the island, which now needs the support of tourists more than ever.

"It's a pity all these very nice facilities are not being utilised. It's lovely. The locals are friendly. Obviously it's better when there are few tourists around but much more people should take the chance," said Swiss tourist Ernsy Jenni.

It is hoped that the joint promotion by Indonesia and Australia will help to attract people back to the tropical paradise.

Despite these efforts, Australia reissued its travel warning for its citizens on Monday, saying that the threat of terrorist activity in Indonesia remains high, especially during the festive period.

President Megawati Sukarnoputri has urged foreign governments to lift travel advisory warnings to their citizens.

Fairmont Hotels & Resorts - Good as Gold!

Two-Thirds of Fairmont’s Portfolio on Condé Nast Traveler’s Gold List

According to Condé Nast Traveler’s Gold List, an annual reader’s choice poll, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts epitomizes the gold standard, with 27 of its world-class properties making the list in 2003.  Rated on criteria including location, activities, service and guestrooms, the list is based on magazine-subscriber votes.

“We are very pleased that 27 Fairmont properties were selected for the Gold List, up from 21 last year,” says Brian Richardson, vice president of brand marketing and communications.  “Being selected for a list chosen solely by readers shows that travelers associate luxury and style with our name and is a testament to the quality of the brand’s unique collection.”

Headlining this year’s Gold List for Fairmont was one of the company’s Hawaiian resorts, The Fairmont Kea Lani Maui.   Distinguished by Condé Nast readers as a property where “the staff couldn’t be more attentive or friendly,” the Fairmont Kea Lani Maui scored a perfect 100 for service, making it number one in The Best by Service for the United States.  The Fairmont Orchid, Hawaii, the newest member of the Fairmont portfolio, also scored high with 86.6 out of 100 points for its luxurious rooms and scenic location. 

The Fairmont Banff Springs, known as Canada’s Castle in the Rockies, scored 99 points for its outstanding, picturesque location, making it the second Best by Location for the Americas.  Other notable mentions include the castle-like Fairmont Chateau Laurier, with 92 points in the categories of design and service.  Newcomers to the list include The Fairmont Vancouver Airport and The Fairmont Hotel Macdonald in Edmonton. 

Fairmont Hotels & Resorts is a collection of world-class resorts and city-center hotels that enjoy unrivalled prominence in the communities where they are located.  Operating 41 properties throughout six countries, Fairmont is committed to providing guests with exceptional service in distinctive surroundings.  Featuring such storied hotels as The Fairmont San Francisco, The Fairmont Banff Springs, Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac and The Plaza, Fairmont properties are often deemed attractions in and of themselves.   For more information on Fairmont Hotels & Resorts or reservations, please call 800-441-1414, or visit www.fairmont.com.

Spain Nov hotel occupancy 45.30 pct, down 5.46 pct pts yr-on-yr

 
AFX - Hotel occupancy dropped 5.46 pct points in November from a year earlier to 45.30 pct, the National Statistics Institute (INE) said.

In a statement, INE said a total of 3.7 mln travellers stayed in the country's hotels in November.

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