Hotel Blogs

Sheraton Hotels & Resorts and Microsoft Corp. announced today a partnership to implement products and services at the

Euro Travellers are looking to squeeze more value from their Euro when travelling in Euro Zone in Europe which includes most of the major destinations such as France, Italy, Spain, Greece and Ireland. In order to help you get more from your euro Europe a la Carte has lined up some great panelists to give you some advice and insider information. You don’t need any special equipment to join in, just come to this post on Tuesday 20 May at 20:00 British Summer Time, (you can check the time in your zone here). So please come along and join in. I’m sure that you will have some hot tips for Euro Travellers too and/or would like to ask the panelists some questions.

Here is an introduction to the confirmed panelists in alphabetical order of their first names.

Christopher Cook currently lives in Tallahassee Fl where he received his second Masters Degree from FSU. As an avid traveler he maintains a new budget travel blog, www.noambit.com in the hopes of inspiring others to just get out there and see Europe. He has lived and studied in Tübingen Germany and travels as much as possible each year to cities throughout Europe. His writing has appeared on thetraveralg.com, vagabondish and bravenewtraveler.

Hi, I’m Sean O’Neill, senior editor of BudgetTravel.com, the website of Arthur Frommer’s Budget Travel magazine. Our blog is called This Just In and our magazine’s editors regularly post newsy, practical tips, along with trip ideas. We aim to help middle class Americans who have real-world travel budgets. In a world where luxury advertisers define much travel coverage, we’re fighting an uphill battle–though our magazine was recently nominated for a national magazine award for general excellence–the US magazine world’s equivalent of “best picture Oscar”. Anyway, for the next two months, BudgetTravel.com is running a series Affordable Europe offering tips on how to make Europe more affordable. The series is mainly driven by freelancers in Italy, Paris, and Rome.

I’m Tom Meyers from www.eurocheapo.com. EuroCheapo is a guide to budget travel throughout Europe, and publishes a daily blog about practical ways to save money while traveling.

How I see it as a small, young fish in a large, old pond...

Executive Grooming At Marriott

Here is a story about Marriott executives and seniors leaving the company after years and years of employment to move on to executive positions for other companies.
As a young manager, I've spent my ENTIRE four years (I know, many of you skip over jobs you've only had for that short of time.) working for the same company, and many of my upper managers have been with the company for 20+ years.  It is a scary thought that after so much time and work devoted to a company that top executives are leaving the companies they grew with.  Does this mean that companies aren't doing enough to retain their employees and to really utilize their investments?  Perhaps it is a good thing for Marriott to keep things new with a fresh pair of eyes every few years. This often makes me wonder how far down my path will I travel with the same company before realizing that they aren't getting me where I want, giving me what I want, or that I have outgrown my company. I hear not too many people keep the same jobs through out their upper management years, so it must be a good thing to keep moving. Harry Beckwith writes in his book 'Selling the Invisible' to "Be a shark, never stop moving." This seems to apply on all levels of work, from the small things such as keeping your standards and procedures fresh and relevant, all the way to career courses.  Staying in one place for too long is never good, you get lazy and too comfortable. Maybe the key to success IS to "be a shark" and always keep moving towards your personal goals, not just your companies goals.

I always use the Airport Parking Shop price comparison site to find the cheapest UK airport parking charges. We’re flying from Edinburgh to Pisa at the end of May. Although we could take the train from Berwick upon Tweed to Edinburgh on the outward trip we arrive back at Edinburgh at 20:30 too late to be sure of catching the last train to Berwick.

by ladybugbkt

The Airport Parking Shop cheapest rate was £25 for 8 days airport parking very close to Edinburgh airport which I thought was a reasonable price.

The Westin Dubai Mina Seyahi, which threw the hottest opening bash in Dubai last week, has now opened it's doors to guests and the hotel occupancy is already looking strong, according to sources. The Westin Dubai, the brand's flagship resort property i...

Go Mobile With Choice Hotels: Worldwide lodging franchisor Choice Hotels International announced the launch of a mobile Web-enabled Choice Hotels Website. Travelers can now access choicehotels.com on any Web-enabled mobile devices such as cell phones a...

Starwood's Newest Hotel Brand Launches This Summer Making It Chic and Easy To Be Eco-Friendly Rock stars notoriously trash their hotel rooms, but you don't have to be Sid Vicious to leave your room in disarray. In fact, it's your everyday traveler's et...

Westin Hotels becomes the First to Adopt Nintendo's Specially Designed Wii Console for Hospitality Industry; Announces Plans for Integration of Wii Fit Tennis, anyone? Nintendo and Westin Hotels & Resorts announce a partnership today that will a...

A recent video by Marriott Exec VP Global Communications, Kathleen Matthews about the phenomenal growth in the Middle East, particularly Dubai. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EymOF1UBdH0

Was having a look at Marriott's Youtube channel and happened across this new dance video Marriott has added for TownePlace Suites: David Elsewhere is everywhere in the new TownePlace Suites by Marriott. Check out his gravity-defying dance moves. D...

This could be the world's first ever 100 per cent ecologically-friendly hotel - and its 'green' credentials will set the benchmark for hoteliers around the world. The solar powered 'Innovation Hotel' - which is the brainchild of the InterContinental Ho...

Westin ATM party draws over 2,000: Pre-ATM bash declared

Easycar.com have done some research into the causes of arguments between British couples when driving a hire car abroad. My ears pricked up at this as my husband and I will be hiring a car to explore off the beaten track in southern Tuscany and Umbria at the end of this month. It doesn’t exactly portent well with more than a third of couples arguing when driving abroad (I’m actually surprised it isn’t higher) with poor map reading skills being the most likely cause of the argument.

by finnur

I had to laugh at some of the tips in the article such as ask locals for direction, which should have the addition of “assuming that the locals can speak English well and are good at giving directions”. Another gem of wisdom was to play music that you both like (assuming that you both like the same music) as you’re unlikely to argue when your favourite tune is playing (would you like to bet on that?).

What are your tips for avoiding arguments when driving abroad?

Hotel Manager Talk: Issue #8 for the week 5/4/08
Stories Discussed:

• STR Report Update from previous week
  Found on Smith Travel Research
  
  
• Resorts Worry About Lack of Foreign Workers
  Found on MSNBC.com
  
  
• Why Positivity Isn't Enough
  Article by Renie Cavallari found on HotelMotel.com
  
  
• The Internet Revolution and Your Hotel
  Article by Mark Forrester found on www.4hoteliers.com
  
  
• AOL Travel / Zogby Survey Finds More than Half of Americans Have Less Money to Spend This Year on Summer Vacations than in 2007
  Found on HTrends.com
  
  
• IHG Launches 'Green' Hotel
  Found on HotelsMag.com
  
  
• Hotels Try New Features With Test Rooms
  Article by Claire Atkinson found on NYTimes.com
  
  
• Boutique Hotels - Good For The Good Times
  Article by Robert Mandelbaum found on HTrends.com
  

American Motel Hotel Brokers Network announced today that based upon the
most recent STAR Report published by Smith Travel for the week of April 27
through May 3, 2008, throughout the United States the Occupancy for the
week was 63.1%.....down from previous year by 2.9%. " With Occupancy
dropping it is interesting to note", according to Mike Sprinkle, CEO of
Century 22 Worldwide Hospitality and Lodging's, American Motel Hotel Broker
Network Division, "that Average Room Rates maintained a high level of $108.55,
for the week giving ADR a 4.1% increase over the previous year".  Rev Par
also remained constant at $68.47, an increase of 1.1%.