Swissôtels on Gold List

Once again two outstanding hotels of Swissôtel Hotels & Resorts made it to the Condé Nast Traveler Gold List. Swissôtel The Bosphorus, Istanbul and Swissôtel Berlin were voted among the world’s best places to stay by the readers of the prestigious luxury travel magazine, according to a press release from the hotel chain.

Swissôtel The Bosphorus, Istanbul, a member of the “Leading Hotels of the World”, is situated on the European side of the city and lies in a beautiful park, which is part of the former sultan’s palace, the Dolmabahce Palace. 600 spacious rooms and suites cater to the need of the most discerning guests and offer the highest level of service and privacy. Facilities offered include the Amrita Spa & Wellness, a “Leading Spa of the World”, extending over 4000 square metres, as well as the trendy Gaja restaurant, which has become a hot spot in town over the past years.

Located in the heart of West-Berlin, the Swissôtel Berlin combines traditional Swiss hospitality with a heartfelt service. The elegant and modern Business Hotel offers 316 rooms and suites as well as 10 conference rooms. Restaurant 44 with its amazing view to the city’s famous Kurfürstendamm is known for creative menus prepared by young chef Danijel Kresovic, who unfolds his culinary skills with his unique degustation menu concept.

Both deluxe hotels made it several times to the Condé Nast Traveler Gold List in the past.

Photo: Swissôtel The Bosphorus in Istanbul, Turkey (photo from Swissôtel)

HRG office in Georgia

Travel services company Hogg Robinson Group (HRG) has further strengthened its operation in Eastern Europe with the opening of a new office in Georgia, according to a bulletin released by the company.

To celebrate the launch of HRG Georgia, a prestigious event was held yesterday (7 December) for clients, suppliers and other corporate partners at the Marriott Hotel in Tbilisi.

Keith Burgess, Company Secretary and General Counsel  at HRG, comments: “We are delighted to move into the increasingly important Georgian market which continues to benefit from an influx of foreign business visitors, airlines and suppliers.  A growing number of multinational clients are opening their offices in Georgia and HRG will be able to provide corporate travel solutions for these clients.  Our global knowledge, combined with considerable local expertise in Georgia, will enable HRG to deliver first class customer service to our corporate clients through a full range of corporate travel services.”

HRG Georgia and HRG Ukraine are fully owned by Sky Travel Holdings Ltd, with whom HRG has had a strong working relationship since 1999.  Valerie Luyk, Managing Director, comments: “We see great opportunities in this growing market to develop the HRG brand and ensure that we continue to exceed our clients’ expectations.”

In addition to corporate travel management, HRG Georgia offers a well established and comprehensive Events and Meetings Management (EMM) service for meetings, incentives, conferences and events.

Unique college hotel training

ALTA, Norway—Ten students at the University College of Finnmark, Norway’s northernmost county, have received a head start in the job hunting queue upon completing training in the professional hotel management software suite PMI.

Since 26 October, ten students at the University College of Finnmark managed their own hotel using the online computer programme PMI. Today 65 percent of all hotels in Norway are using PMI, but it’s the first time that an educational programme in Norway offers this training to students. PMI keeps tabs on room bookings, budgeting, forecasting, accounting, staffing, procurement of food and beverages and everything else that the hotel management must keep track of to operate as efficiently as possible.

Impressed with the students

“It has been very educational and informative,” says student Lana Stock (21). She and her fellow students were first trained, then ran their own hotel for two weeks.

“In fact, they managed a real hotel, currently in full operation. We collected data from five hotels in Europe, including Norwegian chains Rica, Thon and two other chain hotels, as well as individual hotels. Students were told which hotel they ran,” says Chief Education Officer at d2o, Mr Kjell Gangdal, whose daily occupation is to educate hotel managers around the world in the use of PMI. He is impressed with the students’ efforts.

“They have been very clever and have operated hotels exceeding all expectations,” he continues. To motivate students to use PMI, the school had a competition where the best “Hotel Manager” among students receive a trip to a big hotel in Brussels to see how PMI is used to organise the operation.

“It has been a close competition and the students have really worked hard,” Gangdal adds. But it was  tourism student Trine Møller (24) from London who drew the longest straw. “It has been incredibly exciting to get an insight into hotel management,” she says. In the months of January–February she is going to Brussels. “It is very exciting,” she adds, looking forward to the journey. Text continued below photograph.

Valuable addition to the resume

“To teach students PMI is a really good initiative from the school,” continues Møller. This spring she finished her bachelor’s degree in tourism. She will be applying for jobs, and has plans to use the course diploma actively in the job application process. The same scenario with Lana Stock, which will receive a bachelor’s degree in hotel administration.

“This course will be added to my resume. I am very proud to know PMI. It is a boost for us that these students entered the programme,” she says. Silje Kjellmo Johansson (24) from Kirkenes currently works at Thon Hotel in Alta, also in Finnmark, at the front desk while studying. She sees only benefits of being able to use and understand PMI, as the hotel industry job competition is extremely tough. “Today there are only two persons at Thon in Alta who know PMI, and now I do, too,” she smiles, thinking it will give her a head start in her career.

Will continue the scheme

Associated professor Arild Røkenes, department head at the Department of Tourism, Hospitality and Media Studies, is pleased to hear of the positive feedback from students. “Experiences so far are entirely positive – the students have demonstrated that theoretical knowledge can be translated into practical skills and they have also been tested in their leadership skills. It has been gratifying to observe such high commitment from the students and, but not least, that the we can take pride in the results.”

“Teachers at the course have a clear goal to continue the scheme, which is also an expressed industry demand, to utilise this knowledge. We thank Rica hotels Finnmark, who have made the pilot project possible through financial support,” said Røkenes.

“I hope that the college will continue to provide this service to students. This is one of the most practice-oriented courses I have had over the years I have studied here,” says Lana Stock, from St. Petersburg, Russia. Now she focuses on a career in the hotel industry. “I have already hung my diploma on the wall,” she boasts proudly.

This article was originally published at the Finnmark University College website. Text (later translated) and all photographs by Ms Inger Elin Utsi.

Editorial disclosure: The company d20, appearing in the article, and HSMAI Europe currently maintains a partnership, while the article itself complies with our ethical standards, independently pre-published by the University College of Finnmark.

Top photo: Lana Stock (left) and Silje Kjellmo Johansen are studying for a bachelors degree in Hotel Management. This spring they completed their studies. Now they have learned to use the hotel management tool PMI, providing an advantage in their job search. PMI courses are only offered at the University College of Finnmark.

Middle photo: Kjell R. Gangdal giving lectures in the use of PMI. PMI is the computer programme most hotels in Norway use in the hotel administration.

Bottom photo: For the first time students in Norway received training in the professional hotel management utility of PMI. The students have provided feedback to the college that this is a very good measure.

European Turnaround Imminent

The European hotel real-estate outlook is getting better with every trophy asset changing hands, according to a statement from Deloitte, covered in HotelNewsNow yesterday.

Nick van Marken, global head of advisory, tourism, hospitality and leisure at Deloitte, said in an interview things have “improved quite remarkably” but that then again, the hotel industry has always been resilient.

“From a transaction perspective, there is no doubt there is a view within the investment community that there is opportunity to put money back to work,” he said. “The slight challenge has been the absence of anything to buy.”

With an absence of leverage and finance, particularly debt, there hasn’t been much activity since 2007.

Read the article in full at HotelNewsNow

First Class to Vegas

British Airways is introducing First class on its popular Las Vegas route next summer (from June 1, 2011) and increasing capacity by 18 per cent, according to a press release.

The direct daily flight from Terminal 5 at Heathrow was launched a year ago and operated by a three-class Boeing 777. A four-class B747 offering BA’s First cabin will replace it.

By moving to a B747, BA will be sending an additional 124 seats on every round trip. Each flight will now have 14 seats in First.

Richard Tams, British Airways head of marketing and sales, said: “Our direct service from London Heathrow to Las Vegas has been one of our most successful launches in recent years.

“It is one of the star performing routes on the BA network and such a winner with our customers that we are increasing capacity by 18 per cent from next summer and offering that extra touch of luxury.”

Gradual Polish Growth

Although Poland was not spared from a slowdown in 2008 and 2009, with the economic crisis curbing the imbalances that had been growing since 2006, recent figures reveal steady growth for the hotel industry, mirroring better economic performances.

The Polish hotel industry is well and truly on the upturn, with RevPAR growth in September reaching 5% and stabilising for year-to-date.

“These results verify Poland’s better economic performance during the downturn, as we know RevPAR usually follows a similar trend to GDP growth. Indeed, the country recorded the best GDP growth performance among OECD countries in 2009,” states Director of Development, MKG Hospitality, Vanguelis Panayotis.

According to MKG Hospitality’s market monitoring benchmark HotelCompSet, RevPAR in Poland has progressively increased month-on-month since March this year. This was mainly driven by a swing in demand, with occupancy increasing by over 8 percentage points in September and over 7 points for yearto-date. The last three months, July to September showing most promise.

Not surprisingly, traditional leisure and business hubs Warsaw and Krakow are best performing. The capital is particular strong, with RevPAR growths of 24% in August, 15% in September and over 7% for year-to-date. In fact, Warsaw manages to record an increase in ADR over recent months, at 3% in August and over 4% in September. The upscale segment is also showing greatest recovery, with almost 12% RevPAR growth in September alone, and over 6% for year-to-date, further verifying a return in corporate and leisure spending. “These are good signs that things are recovering and returning to normal, albeit slowly. First, that there are better results in the upscale segment. And then, that the hotel cycle is moving into the next stage. Once occupancy stabilises and then begins to increase, hoteliers can afford to start increasing their rates and boost RevPAR,” added Panayotis.

These trends were further verified by local industry, as Starwood Hotels & Resorts Area Manager for Poland, Thomas Schoen explains: “Definitely 2010 is an interesting year. It started pessimistic due to the volcano eruption. Slowly but constantly the market situation improved. This was especially seen after the summer, when the entire hospitality market in Poland noticed an improvement. I am optimistic about our market in the future and think Q1 2011 will confirm what trend we can expect for the rest of the year.”

“The business environment is changing and heading in the right direction. This positive trend will be supported with major upcoming events, namely EU presidency in 2011 and the UEFA championships in 2012. Both events will be very beneficial for Poland in terms of brand awareness and in influencing future traffic,” adds Schoen.

Revenue Manager, Start hotel chain, Marta Hancock says hotels dropped their rates for the wholesale market in order to stimulate base demand, which did not help ADR much. “We see more activity starting in the MICE segment, which helps build up high occupancy, as well as the growing impact of internet sale (OTA’s). A positive change in ADR is only visible the last three months. We are expecting (continued) growth in terms of occupancy, which will come from business clientele and from Internet sale, with quite a modest grow in ADR.”

According to Head of Corporate Communications, Vienna International Hotel management, Elisabeth Scheiring, good economic growth, mainly from private consumption and new investments will drive tourism growth, and especially the MICE segment. This will be supported by the EU presidency in 2011. This is further verified by forecasts from the Institute of Tourism, with the total number of inbound arrivals predicted to continue rising, from 11.9 million in 2009, 12.3 million in 2010 and to 12.7 million in 2011 – and at the same time, only modest growth in supply/competition.

“In general we believe our performance in 2011 will increase by 8% to 10%. With an increase in tourism arrival, on-going marketing actions, renewed infrastructures and a higher recognition of Poland worldwide as a business and tourism destination we believe in a positive future,” states Scheiring. “This year, Krakow was especially strong with the FIT segment. In Warsaw, key drivers of performance in the last few months were a mix of corporate, individual and leisure groups.”

“Group Business has increased in terms of volume, as has FIT (leisure), corporate, negotiated (local company rate), MICE and all various Internet portals, including our own booking engine, but overall prices are still very competitive and comparable to last year (2009),” confirms General Manager, Polonia Palace Hotel, Alexander Huschka. «Regarding nationality mix, the previous few months have shown a remarkable increase in room nights from Germany, the UK, North America and Scandinavia. The Polish market has developed over proportional during the last 12 months and this will be driven even more, due to Poland’s presidency of the EU in the second part of 2011».

Sweden Takes Nordic Lead

The Nordic countries’ hotel industries outperformed Europe as a whole during the first nine months of 2010, according to a press release from STR Global, the leading provider of market information to the global hotel industry.

The recovery of the Nordic hotel market after the worldwide economic downturn was evident in the year-to-date September performance results, with the region’s average daily rate (ADR) growing by 8.5 percent in Euro-terms and revenue per available room (RevPAR) by 10.7 percent. The European average showed higher occupancy growth (5.6 percent) resulting in a 9.5 percent RevPAR growth, as seen in the chart below.

However, when looking at the individual Nordic countries in their local currency, a different picture emerges. Sweden registered the highest rate of RevPAR growth through September, reporting an 8.0 percent RevPAR increase compared to Denmark (-5.9 percent), Finland (2.3 percent) and Norway (-2.5 percent).

Of the six Swedish markets tracked by STR Global, Malmo and Gothenburg showed RevPAR growth driven by improving average rates despite lagging occupancy due to new supply. Occupancy was the driver in Jonkoping, whilst both rate and occupancy growth played a part in the RevPAR growth of Stockholm, Helsingborg and Karlstad. Swedish RevPAR growth was supported by the country’s strong economic recovery and the related increase in consumer confidence.

In neighbouring Norway, three of the six markets tracked show RevPAR improvements so far this year. Oslo and Kristiansand are the only two Norwegian cities that reported declines in both occupancy and average room rates, declines that pushed down RevPAR by -3.5 percent and -7.7 percent, respectively. Oslo was also affected by a 9.6-percent room supply increase leading to a fall in RevPAR. Kristiansand is the only Norwegian market with a decline in demand compared to YTD 2009. In contrast, the market of Stavanger/Sandnes outperformed the rest of the country with growth in all three indicators, as seen in the table below. The recovering local economy led by the oil industry has helped improve the hotel performance of Norway’s “petroleum capital”.

Copenhagen suffered the highest declines in average rate and RevPAR of the Nordic markets reviewed, falling by 11.1 percent and 8.2 percent, respectively. It is the only capital that reported a decrease in RevPAR year to date. Copenhagen did have the strongest growth in demand year-to-date (12.4 percent), but this was insufficient to outweigh the 8.8-percent increase in supply year-to-date.

Helsinki’s demand for hotel rooms grew 9.8 percent year-to-date through September. Coupled with a slight decrease in supply (-1.2 percent), the city recorded the highest occupancy increase (11.1 percent) of the four Nordic capitals. However the growth in demand did not convert into average rate gains and RevPAR consequently only improved 3.6 percent year-to-date.

Nordic Scandic Expansion

Scandic is continuing to grow in the Nordic region, adding three new franchise hotels and renewing an existing franchise agreement. Three of the hotels are located in the city of Bergen in Norway and the fourth is in Arvika, Sweden.

“As part of our focus on developing and growing in the Nordic countries, we will be opening more new hotels in exciting locations over the next few years. We are extremely pleased that three new hotels in Norway and Sweden have chosen to join Scandic, cementing our reputation as the leading Nordic hotel chain,” states Anders Ehrling, President and CEO of Scandic.

Scandic Bergen City is renewing its franchise agreement. At the same time, two new hotels are being added in the thriving Norwegian city; Bergen Neptun (130 rooms) and Bergen Strand (98 rooms) will both become Scandic hotels around New Year.

In Arvika, Sweden, Scandic is entering into a franchise agreement with Oscar Statt, a central hotel with 88 rooms, a restaurant, bar, spa and conference facilities. The hotel will rebrand itself as a Scandic in 2011.

Photograph: The Bergen Neptun, Bergen, Norway

120,488 rooms in pipeline

The Europe hotel development pipeline comprises 705 hotels totalling 120,488 rooms, according to the September 2010 STR Global Construction Pipeline Report released this week. The region reported 310 projects in the In Construction phase with 56,582 rooms.

“The European pipeline is the smallest compared to the existing supply of all the global regions,” said Elizabeth Randall, managing director at STR Global. “We have seen an average of 1.2-percent increase of supply so far this year and the pipeline of 705 hotels makes up only 1.4 percent of the total supply. The maturity of the market and limited land availability are some of the reasons for the smaller pipeline. Despite this, we have seen a continued interest to add new supply in established markets like the United Kingdom and Germany, which have the most upcoming projects; followed by an emerging destination, Russia, which sees more development in secondary markets across the country.”

Among the region’s countries, the United Kingdom ended the month with the most rooms in the total active pipeline (28,734 rooms) and in the In Construction phase (10,656). Germany reported 16,672 rooms in the total active pipeline and 7,645 rooms in the In Construction phase, followed by Russia with 15,627 rooms in the total active pipeline and 6,981 rooms in the In Construction phase.

Among the key markets in the region, London, U.K., reported the largest amount of rooms in the total active pipeline with 9,755 rooms, followed by Berlin, Germany (4,469 rooms), and Moscow, Russia (3,997).

Of the seven Chain Scale segments, the Upscale segment accounted for the largest portion of the total active pipeline with 23.7 percent and 28,615 rooms. Three other segments each made up more than 15 percent of rooms in the total active pipeline: Midscale with Food and Beverage segment (16.2 percent with 19,464 rooms); the Unaffiliated segment (15.7 percent with 18,956 rooms); and the Upper Upscale segment (15.5 percent with 18,648 rooms).

Career Investment Scholarships

BAHA – the UK’s leading educational organisation for professionals involved in financial management, revenue management and IT within the hospitality industry – is inviting senior hospitality industry practitioners to nominate outstanding young employees – working in Finance, Revenue Management or IT – for a ‘BAHA Career Investment Scholarship’, designed to provide career development for upcoming young people currently working in the hospitality industry.

The new BAHA educational initiative involves the awarding of a total of five ‘Career Investment Scholarships’. The scholarships will afford the five lucky winners – who must be 25 years-old or under, and do not need to be BAHA members – an unique opportunity to learn from, be noticed and publicly recognised at, the forthcoming one-day BAHA Annual Conference and IT Exhibition, to be held on 25 November 2010 at the Sofitel Hotel, London Heathrow at Terminal 5.

Commenting on the new awards, BAHA Chief Executive Carl Weldon said: “The ‘BAHA Career Investment Scholarships’ offer the winning candidates an unrivalled chance to enhance their continuing professional development (CPD) at the Conference through attending a comprehensive programme of highly topical ‘best-practice’ educational workshops and presentations led by a distinguished array of speakers – all experts in their own fields – who will be addressing the most pressing current issues in hospitality finance, revenue management and IT.

“The prize for winning each of the five Scholarships comprises full-day attendance at the Conference and IT Exhibition; as well as a place that evening at the BAHA Conference Gala Dinner – one of the traditional social networking highlights of the hospitality industry year – where the candidates’ outstanding achievements will be officially and publicly recognised. And that’s not all – each scholarship recipient will be featured in BAHA’s monthly magazine ‘BAHA Times’!”

The criteria for application are that:

• Candidates must be 25 years-old or younger on 11 November 2010
• Candidates must be employed in a hospitality organisation and working in Finance, Revenue Management or IT
• Candidates must have been working in the hospitality industry for a minimum of 12 months
• Nominators must be senior members of staff and understand that there is only ONE application allowed per company/independently owned business
• Nominators must accompany their candidate’s application with a CV and letter outlining why the candidate should be considered.

To make the entry procedure as fair as possible, BAHA is asking all scholarship nominators to make their nominations online – for the nomination form, visit: www.bahaconference.co.uk. The closing date for entries is 4 November 2010, with judging taking place on 11 November. Further information can be obtained from BAHA head office on telephone: 01202 8894 30; or BAHA Chief Executive Carl Weldon on email: carl.weldon@baha-uk.org

About BAHA | BAHA is a non-profit educational organisation, formed in 1969 with the aim of bringing together those hospitality industry professionals involved in financial management, revenue management and IT. Since its inception, the membership has expanded to over 800 members and is recognised as the United Kingdom’s authoritative voice in the hospitality industry on financial management, technical accounting issues, taxation, and hotel valuation. BAHA is also the leading arena for debate on hotel systems and Revenue Management topics through their annual Conference and meetings programmes. BAHA provides the only industry specific Hospitality Finance qualification and is currently developing similar qualifications for Revenue Management and IT within Hospitality. For more information, visit www.baha.co.uk

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