INVESTMENT INTENTIONS Asia
Pacific investors revealed an extremely low interest in selling assets
(14.0%). “This suggests that most owners are unhappy with
current pricing levels and are unwilling to sell in a weak market.
It also shows confidence in future trading improvement” explained Mr
Gibson. “The survey shows that the majority (46.7%) intend
to hold onto their assets and ride out the current downturn in market
performance, poised to reap the benefits of the upturn”. The
buy sentiment is the only strategy to have declined in favour since the
last survey, reconfirming the expectation of further decline in trading
performance. Markets falling out of favour since our last survey are
Tokyo, Seoul and Hong Kong as investors are discouraged by the lack of
investment opportunities. Whilst
Beijing and Phuket, along with Seoul are the preferred destinations for
the development of hotels, only 15.0% of investors in the Asia Pacific
indicate they would build hotels in the current climate.
Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels, the world’s leading hotel investment services group, provides clients with value-added investment opportunities and advice. In 2001, its success story includes the sale of 7,972 hotel rooms to the value of US$1.3 billion in 39 cities and advisory expertise on 100,550 rooms to the value of US$26.3 billion across 255 cities. Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels’ services include transactions, mergers and acquisitions, financial advice and capital raising, valuation and appraisal, asset management, strategic planning, operator assessment and selection and industry research. Jones Lang LaSalle (NYSE: JLL) is the world’s leading real estate services and investment management firm, operating across more than 100 key markets on five continents Contact: U.S. SCRUTINY URGED FOR HOTELS’ NET PLAN A new company formed by top hotel chains to link travel
sites to room reservation systems should be closely scrutinized by the
government, a travel agent industry group said. The American Society of Travel Agents expressed concerns about plans the hoteliers announced Monday to launch the Hotel Distribution System (HDS) Source: News.com
Portals offering hotel
listings are attracting growing numbers of Internet users and becoming an
important marketing tool for hotel owners, according to industry
officials, while Web designers and portal owners see a demand for
increasingly sophisticated services such as online booking. More
choices, more competition “Simply
browsing through information about hotels is nothing new and is not
particularly useful for customers who then have to call or email their
chosen hotel,” Muś said. “Newer portals have more extensive
descriptions of hotels, take reservations and offer promotions and
discounts, which makes them more attractive.” According
to Agnieszka Sokołowska, the firm’s director for strategy and
development, price agreements with hotels mean that visit.pl can offer its
customers discounts on bookings of as much as 70%, ramping up the number
of inquiries generated by the site from its current average of 300
inquiries per month to more than 900 in the run-up to the 2002 holiday
season. Straight to the source CORPORATE COOL – FOR LESS Forbes Fact
Starck designed nearly everything you see
at the Mondrian. Ring room service for a toothbrush and the funky teeth
cleaner you get will be his design. He has also designed cutlery,
candlesticks, lemon squeezers, even televisions (alas, not the one in your
room at the Mondrian), and, yes, even a few pasta shapes. DUSIT THANI HOTEL GROUP AMONGST ASIA’S MOST ADMIRED
COMPANIES The Dusit Thani PCL was amongst
Asia’s Most Admired Companies and received Top Ten ranking among Thai
companies in the recent Asia’s Most Admired Companies (AMAC) survey
organized by Asian Business Magazine. Dusit was the only hotel group in
Thailand that received this high honor. The annual survey conducted among a
broad base of CEOs, senior executives and company board members in 9 Asian
countries reflects their perceptions of the region’s best companies. Besides Dusit, the Top Ten Thai
firms include Sony, Singapore Airlines, Siam Cement, Thai Farmers Bank,
Unilever, Charoen Pokphand, TelecomAsia, McDonald’s and PTT Exploration Mr. Khampi Suwanarat, Chief
Operating Officer of The Dusit Group, remarked that Dusit was very
grateful to be consistently highly ranked by AMAC. A major factor for
winning this award is the company’s effort to continue improving the
range and quality of products and services, against the still widespread
global economic downturn. Dusit also obtained from AMAC
survey the distinction of being in the Top Three hotel brands in the
Hotel/Leisure Category. First
and second ranking went to Shilla Hotel and Hyatt Hotels, respectively. Khun Khampi added that public
support and acceptance of Dusit quality products and services have been
consistent. However, the company is not resting on its laurels but adheres
to a commitment to excellence, in line with its basic emphasis on Thai
traditional hospitality and service. Additionally, Dusit Hotels &
Resorts became a founding member of the Asian Hotels Alliance (AHA) last
year. AHA has a firm commitment to better serve the clients with more than
60 hotels in nearly every city and resort destinations in the region. Over the years, Dusit has been
receiving top magazine survey awards in Asia, Europe and the US. AMAC of
Asian Business and the Review 200 of Far Eastern Economic Review Magazine
conduct annual company rankings, in which Dusit has consistently received
top honors for several consecutive recent years. Rezidor SAS hospitality has reported its seventh consecutive year of
growth in number of hotels and business volume, with 2001 operating
revenues up 2% to €379m (£234.4m). INCOME
FOR HOTELS IN SOUTH AFRICA ROSE 6.1% IN DECEMBER The total income for
hotels in South Africa rose with 6.1% to R505.6-million in December last
year, compared with the same month in 2000, Statistics SA said yesterday. The room and bed
occupancy rates for December 2001 stood at 52.1 and 38.4% respectively, it
said in a statistical release. This represented increases of 4.6% and 4.3%
respectively over December 2000. Increases in the room
and bed occupancy rates occurred in seven of the nine provinces and 20 of
the 25 tourism regions with the South Coast and Interior region recorded
the highest increase — of 11.6% in the room and 12% in the bed occupancy
rate. At the other end of
the scale, the Pietermaritzburg and Midlands region had drops of 11.7 and
10.8% respectively. The highest increases
were found in one and two-star hotels, which had a 15.9% rise in the room
occupancy rate and a 24.6% increase in the bed occupancy rate. Three-star hotels had
increases of 11 and 4.3% respectively, and five-star hotels decreases of
0.9 and 3.9% in the two categories. A comparison of the
statistics for the whole of 2001 with those of 2000 indicated that the
room occupancy rate rose by 1.3% and the bed occupancy rate by 1.1%, the
release said. The total hotel income
in 2001 was 1.5% higher than in 2000, income percentages were not adjusted
for inflation, it said. - Sapa FOUR SEASONS NET
PLUNGES, OUTLOOK BLEAK (Reuters) - Luxury
hotelier Four Seasons Hotels (FSH)
(FS),
a barometer of the health of the top-end travel business, reported a drop
of more than 75 percent in fourth-quarter profit on Friday and warned that
the outlook for the first half remained bleak. Although the results
largely met analysts' expectations, chief executive Isadore Sharp said the
fallout of the Sept. 11 attacks on the travel industry "stress
tested" Four Seasons "well beyond the limits of any prior
economic cycle." Analysts said luxury
hotel chains will suffer this year as low bookings, the uncertain global
economic picture and ripples from the attacks will take time to fade. But Four Seasons
shares jumped 7.4 percent, or $2.70, to close at $46.51 on the New York
Stock Exchange as investors cheered the company's ability to cut costs,
remain profitable and give forecasts that seem encouraging. On the Toronto Stock
Exchange, the shares rose C$5.32, or 7.7 percent, to end at C$74.49. "We expect the
gradual recovery of demand levels to begin in the latter part of
2002," Sharp said as the company revealed slumping vacancy rates for
its worldwide properties. The operator of more
than 50 high-end hotels and resorts around the world earned C$9.3 million
($5.8 million), or 27 Canadian cents a share, in the quarter ended Dec.
31. In the fourth quarter of 2000, it earned C$38.5 million, or 97
Canadian cents a share. Eleven analysts polled
by Thomson Financial/First Call had forecast earnings of between 5 cents
(8 Canadian cents) and 19 cents (30 Canadian cents) a share. Revenues slumped 26
percent to C$76.9 million from C$104.1 million in the quarter. ANALYSTS SURPRISED BUT
CAUTIOUS Analysts said Four
Seasons' earnings were stronger than expected, but that the company will
suffer more than other hotel chains this year because of its higher
prices. "It's going to be
tough. (Four Seasons) will be hit harder but they are showing the same
type of recovery patterns," said Joseph Greff, a gaming and lodging
analyst at ABN AMRO in New York. Four Seasons said
lower occupancy levels had cut the revenue generated per available room --
a measure of hotel performance -- by about 13 percent in January. That's
slightly worse than the 9 percent decline industry-wide. During the quarter,
revenue per available room, on a U.S. dollar basis, fell 28.8 percent in
October, 24.3 percent in November and 16.3 percent in December. Four Seasons warned
that it sees first-quarter profit falling 60 percent from year-ago levels,
with earnings per share between 19 Canadian cents and 21 Canadian cents
before other operating items. But it said it sees full 2002 earnings
growing between 8 percent and 10 percent. ABN AMRO's Greff
forecasts Four Seasons to earn around C$1.45 a share in 2002, well below
the company's own prediction of between C$1.69 and C$1.74 a share. "In general,
their second quarter (forecast) seems to be aggressive. It appears to be
more optimistic than other hotel operators," Greff said. Sharp said Four
Seasons plans to add five new hotels to its portfolio in 2002 and nine in
2003. "We are entering
2002 with the strongest balance sheet in the company's history," he
said. Four Seasons' shares
have recovered from a steep fall following the September attacks and are
now about 2 percent above Sept. 11 levels. They have underperformed
Fairmont Hotels (FHR),
whose shares are up 21 percent in the same period. FIERCE
COMPETITION FOR MIDDLE EAST HOTEL "OSCARS" The
high standards of hotel facilities, service and design throughout the
Middle East have been reflected in over 110 individual entries, from 40
different five-star hotels, to the DEPA Middle East Hotel Awards 2002. With
judging due to take place at the Semiramis Inter-Continental Hotel in
Cairo on 18th & 19th February, the international judging panel faces a
tough task in deciding who will walk away with the top prizes at the Gala
Dinner and Awards ceremony being held at the Semiramis Inter-Continental
Hotel on 18th April 2002. Likened
to the recently-announced movie Oscars, the Middle East hotel
"Oscars" have drawn entries from all the leading five-star
hotels in the region, with competition being particularly fierce in the
categories for Outstanding Hotel of the Year, Restaurant Innovation of the
Year, Conference Hotel of the Year and Business Hotel of the Year. Hisham
El Sharkawy, Area General Manager Egypt, DEPA Hotel Interiors, said:
"Sponsoring this event gives us an opportunity to witness the
innovation and creativity within the region's hotels, and allows us to
monitor trends and new developments throughout the Middle East. The
standards set at the inaugural event in Dubai last year were high, but the
content and professionalism of the award entries for Cairo 2002 surpassed
all our expectations. I do not envy the judges their task in choosing the
winners." The
judging panel of international experts, who will be in Cairo on 18th &
19th February for two days of extensive judging, comprises:- Stephen
Head, Vice President, Lausanne Hospitality Consulting They
will judge the following categories:- 1)
Outstanding Hotel of the Year 2002 The
nominations will be announced on Monday 25th February, with the
shortlisted hotels in each category then having to wait until the
"Oscars" style Gala Dinner and Awards ceremony on the evening of
Thursday April 18th to find out whether they have won or not. A
magnificent Gala Dinner is being planned by Clement Soustra, the Executive
Chef at the Semiramis Inter-Continental Hotel in Cairo, as part of the
awards ceremony. Soustra commented: "This is a real challenge, as
well as an honour, for us. Although we are used to cooking for heads of
state, royalty and VIPs, this is the only hotel industry event of its kind
in the Middle East, and our clients on 18th April will be our peers -
other hoteliers and suppliers, as well as hotel owners, all of whom are
used to eating in five-star hotels throughout the Middle East and the rest
of the world, and are accustomed to hotels excelling at food and beverage.
Our brief from the organisers and sponsors is to 'wow' them, and the team
and I have been devising a culinary delight that will remain a
closely-guarded secret until the night." The
gala dinner and awards ceremony at the Semiramis Inter-Continental Hotel
in Cairo on 18th April will be attended by over 300 senior professionals
from the Middle East and international hotel industry. Gianaclist, the
well-known Egyptian wine supplier, will be offering a variety of exciting
wines throughout the night, and use the event to launch their new
Sparkling Wine, which will be used to toast the winners. For
further information contact: Mirage Global Events. Tel: + 357 2442 7491
Fax: + 357 9946 5133 email hotelawards@intelligence-me.com PUTTING SOME BUZZ INTO SPACE HOTELS The
"cycler" spacecraft would constantly ferry people and materials
between the two planets, enabling earthlings to explore, commercially
develop and eventually colonize the Red Planet. "We
believe these regular planetary flybys would create an entirely new
economic and philosophic approach to space exploration," the
researchers wrote in a December report prepared for NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory. "Reliable,
reusable and dependable cycler transportation can be the key to carry
humanity into the next great age of exploration, expansion, settlement and
multi-planetary commerce." Aldrin
is working with a team of researchers, including professors and
engineering graduate students at Purdue, the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology and the University of Texas. The former astronaut is an
engineer by training and holds a doctorate from MIT. "We
are going to put in a proposal for a more detailed study to narrow down
some of the choices of the different kinds of cyclers and decide which
ones seem to fit into a very nice operational mission," Aldrin said. Modified
versions of the space shuttle's external fuel tank might be used as
building units for cyclers. The tank ordinarily is jettisoned during
shuttle flights, and it burns up in the atmosphere. However, the shuttle's
external fuel tank could be modified, adding two additional empty tanks
atop the existing fuel tank. Instead
of being jettisoned, the modified external tank assembly could then be
carried by the shuttle all the way to low-earth orbit, where the dry tanks
could be separated from the main tank and used to construct the
spacecraft. Cyclers
would take advantage of the gravitational forces that are exerted by the
sun, the planets and their moons, which provide "gravity
assists" to passing spacecraft. As
a spacecraft travels close to a planet, its flight path is bent, causing
it to whip around the planet while boosting its speed. The path is
commonly called a "slingshot" trajectory, which enables a
spacecraft to achieve the proper speed and heading. "The
cycler essentially is in orbit around the sun and makes regular flybys of
Earth and Mars," said team member James Longuski, a professor of
aeronautics and astronautics at Purdue. "Once you put your vehicle
into a cycler orbit, it continues on its own momentum, going back and
forth between Earth and Mars. You may need to carry some propellant for an
occasional boost, but it's pretty much a free trip after that." In
their report to JPL, researchers said a cycler would practically fly
itself and "become a permanent, man-made inner solar system companion
of Earth and Mars, tapping the free and inexhaustible 'fuel supply' of
gravitational forces to maintain orbit. Like an ocean liner on a regular
trade route, a cycler will glide perpetually along its beautifully
predictable orbit." However,
it is difficult to precisely design cycler trajectories because of the
complex orbital relationship between Earth and Mars as the planets travel
around the sun. While the Earth orbits the sun in a nearly circular route,
Mars' orbit is oblong, or elliptical. That means the distance between Mars
and the Earth varies dramatically depending on Mars' orbital position
around the sun, complicating the design of spacecraft trajectories between
the two planets. "If
they were both in circular orbits, any cycler that you would design would
repeat perfectly over and over again," Longuski said. "Mars'
orbit is somewhat eccentric. That throws a curve ball into the whole
design." Determining
the precise path for cyclers requires engineers highly skilled in
celestial mechanics who use mathematical techniques to create and evaluate
numerous possible trajectories, eventually arriving at the best choice. Longuski
and his students have previously designed trajectories for an unmanned
spacecraft to Jupiter's moon Europa, which is tentatively scheduled for
launch in 2006. The team also designed trajectories for a hypothetical
manned mission to Mars. "Some
day, people will be going to Mars on a regular basis," Longuski said.
"Most people are convinced that we are going to do this; the only
question is when." The
cycler spacecraft would have to encounter Mars and Earth at precisely the
right distance and speed. If a cycler approached Mars too fast or at the
wrong distance, too much fuel would be needed for steering rockets and it
would be more difficult for "taxi" spacecraft to dock with the
cyclers as they sped by. A
cycler might fly past the Earth at about 21,000 kilometers per hour, or
roughly 13,000 miles per hour. Small taxi spacecraft carrying people and
supplies would have to rendezvous with the speeding cycler. "This
is sort of like a bus that doesn't stop," Longuski said. "When
it comes by, you have to run alongside of it and grab on. " The
outbound trip to Mars would take six to eight months. "Then,
when you get to Mars, you get in the taxi and de-orbit down to the
planet," said Longuski, who is working with Purdue graduate students
to design "outbound" and "inbound" trajectories, or
the trips from Earth to Mars and from Mars to Earth. "These
cyclers would be like space hotels," Longuski said. "They would
provide the usual creature comforts." Cyclers
would rotate slowly to create artificial gravity and prevent the
debilitating effects of weightlessness on its passengers. The spacecraft
also would be roomy enough to make the trip tolerable. The earliest
versions of the space hotels might accommodate up to 50 passengers. One
cycler would not be sufficient: By the time that craft arrived at Mars,
the two planets would have moved much farther apart, making a return trip
impractically long. Rather, a family of perhaps three cyclers,
continuously providing outbound and inbound flights, would ensure that
passengers could get to Earth and Mars within a reasonable amount of time,
Longuski said. While
the Purdue engineers are working on the interplanetary celestial mechanics
of getting back and forth between Earth and Mars, researchers at the
University of Texas and MIT are helping with other critical aspects of the
trip, such as getting a cycler into the proper position to begin its trip
to Mars and learning how to design the taxis. "We
have to look at the configuration of those taxis and how much energy will
be needed to intercept the cyclers," Aldrin said. Perhaps
the first cyclers could fly around 2018, he said. "The
first mission will be more conservative, and it will have more safety
supports until we are sure we know what we are doing," Aldrin
said. ARGENTINE TOURISM PINS HOPES ON DEVALUED PESO
New York Times
- Until early January,
Argentina was perhaps the most expensive country in Latin America for
tourists. But it has become dramatically cheaper as a result of an almost
50 percent devaluation of the peso, which for more than a decade had been
fixed at one to one with the American dollar. "Our
economic situation continues to be complicated and our image abroad is not
favorable, but the prices are now much more attractive, and we hope that
will help overcome whatever hesitation foreign travelers may have,"
said Marco Palacios, president of the Argentine Association of Tourism and
Travel Agencies. The
currency devaluation and the resignation of President Fernando de la Rúa
on Dec. 20 were preceded by several days of mass street demonstrations and
even food riots in working-class suburbs of the capital that left 27
people dead. On Jan. 3, the State Department issued an announcement
cautioning American visitors that "the political, social and security
situation is likely to remain fluid" and that they "should avoid
large public gatherings." The
statement was still in effect at press time on Feb. 11, but Argentine
officials argue that it is no longer necessary and say that they are
lobbying Washington to rescind it. "The end of December was
difficult, but that has all been overcome," said Daniel Scioli, the
government's Secretary of Tourism. "Social peace has returned, and
Argentines have their arms open wide to receive foreign visitors." Demonstrations
continue periodically here in the capital, but they take place at
specified times in two locations (on the squares in front of Congress and
the Presidential Palace) and are not anti-American in character. There has
been no unrest reported in the areas that have traditionally been tourist
favorites: Patagonia, including the ski resort and lake district of
Bariloche, and the Iguaçú Falls, on the northern border with Brazil and
Paraguay. "I
was here right around Christmas and found this place so expensive and so
chaotic that I decided I'd be better off hanging out in Brazil for a
while," said Ellen Marchese, a Pennsylvanian on a yearlong
backpacker's tour of Latin America, as she waited outside a currency
exchange on Calle Florida in Buenos Aires late last month. "But the
situation seems to have calmed down now, and it's amazing how much cheaper
everything seems." To
replace the "one peso equals one dollar" policy that had been in
place since 1991, Argentina initially opted for a complicated dual
exchange rate: 1.40 pesos to the dollar for foreign trade and a free
floating rate for most other transactions, including tourism. On Feb. 3,
however, a decision was made to simplify things by abandoning the fixed
rate and letting the peso float, or find its value on the open market. During
the first few weeks after abandoning the one-to-one policy, the floating
exchange rate was running as high as two pesos to the dollar, making the
cost of a restaurant meal in early February half of what it was barely a
month before. But economists foresee an even greater slippage of the peso
throughout 2002, with many of them predicting that the Argentine currency
will end the year trading at about 2.70 to the dollar. Of
course, the end of the one peso, one dollar system means that American
visitors must once again translate prices from pesos. Exchange rates now
fluctuate daily, too, so to get the best rate for their money, visitors
should check the financial pages of the Buenos Aires Herald, an
English-language paper published here. In
addition, the collapse of the Argentine economy has led several provinces
to issue bonds that are used as an alternative legal tender. When they
make change, owners of stores and restaurants often try to foist this
scrip, which can be easily counterfeited, on unsuspecting tourists.
Complaints have been common, so under no circumstances should a visitor
accept the bonds, known as patacones or lecops, as change: always insist
on receiving pesos and only pesos. Another
consequence of the devaluation has been to force Argentines to stay at
home. A strong peso had encouraged them to become inveterate travelers to
Europe and the United States; and the money spent by Argentines abroad far
exceeded that spent by visitors to Argentina: $5.5 billion versus just
over $3 billion in 2000, according to Mr. Palacios. But
the average Argentine can no longer afford foreign travel, and with the
Southern Hemisphere summer vacation season in full swing, that means local
resorts and attractions, such as Mar del Plata, are more crowded than they
have been in recent years, especially on weekends. "There are plenty
of empty rooms, but in terms of both availability and prices, the best
deals are to be found during the week," said Oscar Ghezzi, president
of the national hotel association.
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