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TripAdvisor unveils UK's best and worst hotels

Britain's seaside resorts are set to make a comeback in 2009 with budget-conscious travellers, reveals TripAdvisor. A total of 11 beachfront hotels in the U.K. were awarded in the Top 100 Bargains in the World category (full U.K. list below), with rates ranging from GBP22 to GBP90 per night - and Blackpool is officially the U.K.'s top bargain destination.

Five hotels in the Lancashire resort renowned for its illuminations feature on the Top 100 World Bargain list, in addition to three in Bournemouth, one in Scarborough and two in Llandudno, North Wales.

Llandudno's Can-y-Bae -"Song of the Bay" - was named the U.K.'s Best Bargain, with TripAdvisor traveller reviews referring to "spotlessly clean and warm accommodation", "extremely welcoming owners" and "superb food".

Can-y-Bae was also the only British hotel to claim awards in two further categories, ranking sixth in the Best Service in Europe category and eighth in the Hidden Gems in Europe category.

Luke Fredberg, TripAdvisor spokesman, said: "When it comes to finding a true bargain, Britain's seaside towns have far more to offer the discerning traveller than great fish and chips. You may not be guaranteed good weather, but you will get good value."

The Bold and the Beautiful: U.K. B&Bs

In these budget-conscious times, B&Bs offer great value - and Britain's are officially amongst the best in the world, accounting for seven of the ten best B&Bs in Europe. However, Scotland outstrips England's performance, with five local B&Bs making the top ten, compared to just two in England (full U.K. list below).

Surprisingly, a London establishment takes the accolade of Best B&B in Europe - dispelling the myth that a rural setting is a must-have. Whilst the Bay Tree House in the London Borough of Enfield may be situated closer to Arnos Grove underground station than rolling countryside, reviews on TripAdvisor describe the B&B as "a home away from home" and commend it for offering reasonably priced accommodation in the Capital.

Fredberg adds, "Nobody does B&Bs like the British - and whilst ones in more rural settings have an unrivalled charm, urban B&Bs are set for success in 2009 as travellers visiting cities seek great value."

Tantalizing Treats: U.K.'s Luxury Hotels

Whilst budget options are front of mind for many, British hotels also cater for the more affluent traveller. Five hotels in the U.K. were awarded in the Top 100 Luxury Hotels in the World category - with London's Hotel 41 the highest ranking (number 23).

Beyond the Capital, Harrogate's Rudding Park Hotel also made the list (27), together with Hunters Quay Hotel in Dunoon (30), Lucknam Park in Chippenham (58) and The Atlantic Hotel in Jersey (100).

For the complete 2009 Travellers' Choice list, go to http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/travellerschoice

Faulty Towers: U.K.'s Dirtiest Hotels

In addition to unveiling the TripAdvisor Travellers' Choice(R) winners, TripAdvisor also revealed the U.K.'s ten dirtiest hotels for the third year in a row, based on traveller ratings for cleanliness. Seven properties in London make their mark on the roll of grime, together with one a-piece in Oxford, Brighton and Manchester (full U.K. list below).

The Cromwell Crown Hotel in London ranks in poll position, as the jewel in the nation's dirty crown. "Hell on earth is a compliment", writes one TripAdvisor reviewer, whilst others refer to "rat droppings on the bed", a bedroom which "stank of vomit and smoke" and "coffee that tasted of salami".

Despite being named and shamed in last year's dirtiest list, three repeat offenders failed to clean up their act. Nanford Guest House in Oxford, which claimed the top spot last year and second place in 2007, ranks at number three - whilst London's Eden Plaza Hotel moves up from ninth to fifth place and the Park Hotel, also in the Capital, moves down from sixth to tenth place.

Luke Fredberg, TripAdvisor spokesman, says: "The biggest and best dirtiest list is back, with TripAdvisor discovering that some hotels take the concept of offering dirt cheap rooms all too literally. Guests should be entitled to decent standards of hygiene, whatever rate they're paying - and we urge any properties failing on this count to clean up their act by 2012, so British hotels can prove they're equally as medal-worthy as our athletes."

U.K. HIGHLIGHTS - BEST BARGAINS IN U.K. (figure in brackets denotes ranking in Best World Bargains)

1. Can-y-bae, Llandudno, Wales (6) average GBP38pppn
2. Kenley Hotel, Blackpool, England (11) average GBP22pppn
3. The Croydon, Blackpool, England (22) average GBP25pppn
4. Hen-Dy Hotel, Llandudno, Wales (28) average GBP36pppn
5. Blue Palms Hotel, Bournemouth (35) average GBP35pppn
6. The Claremont Hotel, Bournemouth (38) average GBP35pppn
7. Collingwood Hotel Holmfield, Blackpool (65) average GBP27pppn
8. Avalon Beach Hotel, Bournemouth (74) average GBP90/night
9. Selomar Hotel, Scarborough (79) average GBP26pppn
10. The Ramsay Hotel, Blackpool (80) average GBP30pppn

Hotel Rossi, Blackpool also made the Top 100 World Bargains list,
ranked #87

Best Bargain in the World Winner - Hotel Vecchio Asilo, San Gimignano,
Italy

BEST B&Bs IN EUROPE (figure in brackets denotes ranking in Top Ten list)

Bay Tree House and Annex, London (1)
Avalon Guest House, Inverness, Scotland (3)
Pottery House, Dores, Scotland (5)
Craigatin House & Courtyard, Pitlochry, Scotland (6)
Chestnuts House, Bath (7)
Elmview, Edinburgh (8)
Ewich House, Crianlarich, Scotland (9)

BEST SERVICE IN EUROPE (figure in brackets denotes ranking in Top Ten list)

Can-y-bae, Llandudno, Wales (6)

Best Service in Europe Winner - Anastasis Apartments, Imerovigli, Greece

BEST LUXURY HOTELS IN THE WORLD (figure in brackets denotes ranking in Top 100 list)

Hotel 41, London (23)
Rudding Park Hotel, Harrogate (27)
Hunters Quay Hotel, Dunoon, Scotland (30)
Lucknam Park, Chippenham (58)
The Atlantic Hotel, St Brelade, Jersey (100)
Best Luxury Hotel in the World Winner - Aria Hotel, Prague, Czech
Republic

DIRTIEST HOTELS IN THE U.K.

1. Cromwell Crown - London, SW7 4DX
2. Corbigoe Hotel - London, SW1V 2BH
3. Nanford Guest House - Oxford, OX4 1EJ
4. Cosmopolitan Hotel - Brighton, BN2 1PD
5. Eden Plaza Hotel - London, SW7 5JT
6. Hanover Hotel - London, SW1V 4BN
7. Rose Court Hotel - London, W2 1TR
8. Imperial Hotel - Manchester, M13 0HY
9. Gresham Hotel - London, WC1B 3QJ
10. Park Hotel - London, SW1V 2BP

AWARDS SELECTION

The TripAdvisor Travellers' Choice award winners for 2009 were determined by a combination of TripAdvisor's Popularity Index and traveller ratings of specific property attributes. TripAdvisor's Popularity Index is a proprietary algorithm that determines traveller satisfaction based on a variety of sources, including TripAdvisor hotel reviews and travel articles and opinions from across the web. The hotel review process on TripAdvisor also allows travellers to "grade" hotels based on a variety of attributes, including cleanliness, value and suitability for specific types of travellers.

Guests of top hotel chains targets of new Internet scam

A well-organized online fraud is scamming over 71,000 travelers each month as they book rooms online at some of America's best known hotel chains, including Hyatt, Clarion, TraveLodge, Comfort Inn, Red Roof, EconoLodge, Super 8, Ramada, Days Inn, and Wyndham, according to an exclusive report by fraudtip.com.

Findings released for the first time this morning show that the Internet scam combines advanced online advertising, bogus hotel locators, third-party reservation systems, and an Internet browser virus to redirect hotel guest traffic to fake versions of well-known hotel chain websites.

The scam casts a big net and is evolving daily, reports FraudTip.com. Affected properties include hotels and suites, budget motels, airport hotels, luxury hotels, resorts, and casinos.

Hardest hit are Super 8 Motels, Days Inn, and Ramada, which are owned by Wyndham Worldwide in Parsippany, New Jersey, the world's largest hotel chain. A total of over 50,000 travelers seeking out these hotels are redirected to the bogus sites each month.

Another 15,862 prospective guests are redirected from Comfort Inn, the chain owned by Choice Hotels International located in Silver Spring, Maryland. Econo Lodge and Clarion Hotels & Resorts, also owned by Choice Hotels, are targets as well.

Red Roof Inn, headquartered in Kalamazoo, Michigan, is currently losing an average of 4,441 visitors per month. In addition, Hyatt Hotels, headquartered in Chicago, has fallen prey to the same fraud network.

FraudTip.com's preliminary findings show that the fraudulent sites are attracting a higher-than-average percentage of female visitors, teens, as well as adults 50+. The scam has also attracted a higher-than-average percentage of African American visitors, and has proven effective in attracting an affluent audience, and a high index of graduates and post graduates.

In conducting its investigation, FraudTip.com used several methodologies including an audience measurement approach that couples machine learning with massive quantities of directly measured data. The system, by http://www.quantcast.com/white-papers/quantcast-methodology.pdf,
is designed to deliver detailed audience information that can be leveraged in real-time for addressable advertising, however, it was used by FraudTip.com to estimate the magnitude of the fraud.

A series of conference calls for hotel chain executives will be held yesterday, January 26, with Washington, DC cybersecurity insiders to evaluate claims against the perpetrators, legal options, asset recovery, and continued monitoring.

Rosebank Hotel reopens with a new look

THE Rosebank Hotel reopened its doors this year to reveal its R305m refurbishment, which began more than 18 months ago.

Andrew Rogers, chief operating officer of Hospitality Property Fund and owner of hotel, says: “We have created a high quality hotel that will offer the best of South African hospitality in the face of a growing tourism market ahead of the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup.”

The hotel’s 318 rooms have been upgraded and the lobbies and entrances have been

“We put a lot of thought into the design, amenities and accessibility of the hotel. Time saving and convenience are important for the professionals, while luxury is important for the holiday maker,” says Rogers.

Nicole Mason, an architect at DSA, the firm which was briefed to refurbish the hotel, says the towers were completely redone and the windows were replaced with new contemporary materials — rough plaster with fragments of glass embedded in it. “The new entrance, the bar and the lounge are one, big light capturing space,” says Mason. “It’s a large volume, open-plan area, designed to let in as much light and be as airy as possible.”

Mason says some of the challenges for the firm were the positioning of the pool, which was moved from what is now the sunken lounge to outside the spa, and had to be built above an existing parking basement. This meant they could not dig into the foundations, but had to build the pool from the ground up.

Federal Budget May Assist Canadian Tourism Industries

Muskoka, Ontario - What's green, creates enormous job opportunities and spins billions into local economies at relatively low cost? Here's a hint - it's not Monster.com. Tourism is one of Canada's top industries in job creation, business capitalization and overall economic benefit to society.

The nice thing about tourism is that it's green and has a soft impact on the environment when compared to the resource sectors. It not only builds jobs in the service sector directly related to restaurants, resorts and hotels but the hospitality tourism sector also pumps money back into the economy through mega expenditures on infrastructure, commodity supply and contract services etc.

Tourism is a win/win industry. One of the most important factors when you attract tourists into the country from other destinations around the world is that you accomplish several goals:
A/ Bring in new money into the economy rather than just recycling dollars inside the country.
B/ Reduce the trade deficit.
C/ Introduce visitors who are potential investors to other Canadian markets and services that they may not have considered before visiting Canada.
D/ Spread international goodwill and the positive word of mouth that can only help re-enforce a positive image of the people, customs and economy ... and everyone knows a fresh look at international hospitality diplomacy is in order following the Bush foreign policy doctrine. Tourism and hospitality are synonymous in the truest sense.
E/ Let's face it, Canada has a lot to offer and is one of the most desirable countries in the world to live, work and play ....Canada needs skilled labour to compete, and tourism is the first step to attracting skilled resources to the country.

Canadian's are anxiously digesting the outcome of the Jan 27th/09 Conservative budget. While we know that well in advance, sources have leaked out the overall pot of available funding with certain expectations of infrastructure money and tax relief, the specifics are less than clear and may take some months to understand and work their way into the Canadian economy. One thing is for sure, almost everyone is in agreement that some measure of economic stimulus is in order. One would also be hard pressed to find an economist that wouldn't agree that increasing tourism expenditures is one of the most effective and timely ways to disperse money throughout the economy with little or no lag time on the resulting economic stimulus. "It's a race car revved up and ready to go," says Mark Coles, a web based marketing expert with many hospitality industry clients. "It's market ready and just needs an injection of advertising dollars - the positive economic results will cascade across the economy," adds Coles.

Some areas like Ontario are facing a manufacturing meltdown due to offshore competition, high energy costs, labour costs, inability to secure operating capital, and in some cases, simply bad management and poor planning. The nice thing about the tourism economy is it is well diversified and has beneficial effects on all Canadians. Most importantly, it has low environmental consequences and it benefits the socio-economic groups that have the highest potential of spending earned money into a plethora of other economic sectors.

Ontario by example is a popular tourist destination from many national perspectives. The Canadian dollar is low and an advantage for most out of country visitors, and Ontario has a wide mix of outdoor adventure, cottage country resorts, as well as big city conferences, shopping and hotel facilities. Ontario is also blessed with a number of world class destination attractions to market. Of importance to many offshore markets, Ontario has easy travel access - one can land in Toronto and be in a pristine lakeside wilderness setting in less than two hours. Good examples are world renowned Algonquin Provincial Park and the well branded Muskoka travel region.

"We're hoping that the Federal budget investment in stimulus will include infrastructure dollars and direct marketing dollars that filter into the tourism sector where there is already some momentum, but with the existing capacity to grow. In Ontario, the tourism sector is a huge economic benefit that can fill the gap and create massive employment opportunities at the same time. Tourism is always a great creator of wealth for all classes of society," says Rick Breckbill the owner of Severn Lodge (http://www.severnlodge.on.ca), an exclusive traditional Muskoka Resort on Georgian Bay. "We're expecting that this economic downturn is a great opportunity for resorts and hospitality in general to take advantage of low cost money and stimulus incentives to recapitalize tourism infrastructure while at the same time, providing an economic injection of new jobs as a direct result of government increases in tourism marketing," adds Breckbill.

The formula bears consideration. It's clear that if we can attract a bigger slice of the tourism pie from increased marketing of tourism product the resulting hospitality related new construction, renovations and purchasing of products and services will achieve a fast and far reaching boost to the economy. "This isn't just about service jobs," says Breckbill ... "this is also about attracting new money, infrastructure development in the private sector and spreading the wealth throughout the Canadian economy in a very green and environmentally friendly way."

Many economists would support the premise that tourism provides perhaps the largest potential for stimulus and most certainly the quickest and widest broadcast method to pump money into the economy and get things flowing again. Hospitality operators, associations and developers are pouring over the fine print of the budget hoping in earnest that it will help their industry and allow them their contribution to help bring this economy out of its economic funk.

About Severn Lodge: A Muskoka resort famous for its luxury accommodations, delicious meals and spectacular waterfront setting, the historic Severn Lodge has been a favourite Ontario resort for family vacations, romantic couple’s getaways, corporate retreats and wedding receptions. One of Georgian Bay and the Muskoka Lakes tourist region’s premier full service lakefront resorts, Severn Lodge offers a variety of charming rooms, suites and cottages, as well as extensive recreational facilities, complete conference facilities and fine dining, perfect for both discriminating vacationers and business travelers. For information on inclusive resort vacation packages & other affordable getaway packages, call Severn Lodge toll free 1-800-461-5817 or visit the web site http://www.severnlodge.on.ca.

Contact Information:
Rick Breckbill – Owner
Severn Lodge
116 Gloucester Trail
PO Box 250
Port Severn, Ontario L0K 1S0
Toll free: 1-800-461-5817
Local: 705-756-2722
info@severnlodge.on.ca
http://www.severnlodge.on.ca

French strike to cause severe travel disruption

International and domestic air and rail travel will be severely disrupted in France on Thursday due to a nationwide strike to protest against President Nicolas Sarkozy's government, officials warned.

Airlines will have to cancel 30 percent of their flights departing and arriving at Paris's Orly airport and 10 percent of flights from the main Roissy hub, aviation officials said.

The SNCF state rail company said only 60 percent of TGV high-speed trains would run and warned of even greater disruption on regional trains. It predicted just 35-50 percent of its Lyria high-speed service to Switzerland.

But Eurostar trains to London and Thalys trains to Germany and the Netherlands will not be affected, it said.

Metro and overland train services will also be badly disrupted, the RATP transport authority said, but buses and trams were expected to run normally.

French workers, spooked by the global crisis and fearful for their jobs, are preparing their biggest one-day strike since Sarkozy took office in 2007.

Syria: HMH outlines marketing strategy

Hospitality Management Holdings (HMH) held its first meeting of vice presidents at Coral Julia Dumna Hotel in Aleppo earlier this week. The high level delegation was led by the group’s CEO Michel Noblet and included top executives from the management.

The key objective of the conference was to primarily take stock of the magnitude of the ongoing global recession and to map the group’s development and marketing strategy in the current economic scenario. “None of our objectives have changed because of the crisis. Our business model is extremely robust. As a result, our performance has been globally satisfactory. We can say that so far we have been through the crunch without any injury,” Noblet said while outlining HMH’s 2009 global objectives.

“However, the economic outlook is serious. We have been hit by delays in some of our projects. Also, the market is moving more slowly this quarter. The leisure segment has been more hard hit. We have seen a drop of 15 to 20 in the average room rates. Hence urgent steps are needed to alleviate the situation. On the whole we continue to be optimistic because we have compelling products, he added.

Noblet hopes to make up for any slowdown in the coming months by continuing to expand aggressively. “We expect the rate of new room openings to remain strong. We have a hotel opening practically every three weeks in 2009. This will help us to get ready for the good times.”

In terms of sales and marketing a truly integrated approach is the way forward. “We have got to evaluate our existing policies and explicitly focus on enhancing visibility. Cooperation is the key to stay competitive. We are soon going to introduce a variety of attractive promotions and products across our properties. In these straitened times it is more important than ever to get more out of your present customers. On the other hand, emerging markets will continue to drive growth. Hence there’s need to define a broad strategy that would involve tapping both existing and fresh markets,” he said.

Lodging Interactive Launches Innovative Group Booking Tool for Branded Hotels

Lodging Interactive, a leading interactive marketing agency servicing the hospitality industry, today announced the roll out of its innovative group booking tool, link2brand.com. link2brand.com provides hotels with a simple way to convert long and hard to remember brand.com URL’s into short, “friendly” URL’s which redirect back to the brand.com website.

“link2brand.com is an exciting new group booking tool that enables hotel sales people to book more business,” stated Mr. DJ Vallauri, Founder & president of Lodging Interactive. “By providing group customers with short, relevant and easy to remember group booking links, hotels can provide better overall service and differentiate themselves against their competitive set. A Personalized URL (“PURL”) is not truly a PURL until it is customized made relevant to the customer.”

link2brand.com compliments existing brand customized group web pages and reservation links by going a step further. link2brand.com addresses the issue hotel sales people have always faced, providing group clients with long, hard to remember and complicated links for guests to book into their special group room rates.

Here’s how link2brand.com works:

link2brand.com converts booking links provided by the hotel’s brand into easy to remember and relevant links which can be printed on invitations or emailed:

Brand provided custom link: (illustration purposes only)
http://www.YourBrand.com/h/d/hi/1/en/advancedsearch?roomResult=none&hotelCode=CLTAP&rateCode=HYHNT&quickRes=city&_requestid=1302301

link2brand.com “friendlier” link:
http://HotelWeddingRooms.com/SmithWedding

When a customer visits the shorter, link2brand.com link, they are automatically re-directed to the longer brand established custom link.

“Ask yourself, which link do you think your bride and groom would prefer to print on their invitations or to email to their guests? By using shorter and group relevant links hotels can increase the level of personalization with their group customer,” stated Mr. Vallauri.
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Social Media Marketing: Why a Holistic Approach Pays Dividends

Increasing we are seeing travel companies who aren’t just gently participating in user-generated content, or dipping their toes tentatively into the social networking pool, instead, they are investing full-throttle in a multi-faceted social media strategy. They are participating in a variety of non-travel sites, in a variety of formats simultaneously. Between them, Southwest Airlines and Carnival Cruise Lines now have a presence on all the major social networking and photo/video sharing sites. They have pages on YouTube, Facebook, Flickr and Twitter. They both have their own blogs and their own social networking communities, all of which have been incredibly successful.

So what can travel companies learn from companies such as Southwest and Carnival, when it comes to their social media strategy? Can you work with one site, like Facebook, or do you need to have a presence on all of them, at the same time? How do you manage a multi-faceted social media strategy? And what benefits have Southwest and Carnival seen, by taking a holistic approach to social media?

Read on for an overview on the holistic approach Carnival and Southwest have taken to social media. Jeremy Jameson, Corporate Strategist – Strategic Planning for Southwest Airlines, will be offering a deeper insight into Southwest’s social media strategy at EyeforTravel’s 2nd Social Media Strategies for Travel Conference, being held on March 10-11 in San Francisco. For more information visit www.eyefortravel.com/social-media.

Carnival has set up their own cruise-centric social networking community called CarnivalConnections.com. This has been created specifically to bring family and friends together by helping them plan and manage their cruise vacations. The site features an “e-invite” electronic invitation tool that can be tailored family reunions, girlfriend getaways and other groups.

John Heald’s Carnival blog has had attracted 3 million visitors. Through his blog, Heald offers candid and colorful commentary on daily shipboard life, sharing interesting and often poignant tales of the guests and crewmembers he comes into contact with on a daily basis, all with his trademark brand of humor. This enormous amount of traffic creates good brand exposure for Carnival and with 25,000 comments it’s a proven customer-interaction tool.

In terms of videos and photos, Carnival as its own photo stream on Flickr, allowing customers to upload photos, and they also have their own channel on YouTube. On their website they have created a virtual tour, FunShipIsland.com, with sharing options, personalization tools and downloadable content.

Carnival was also an early adopter of Twitter – exploiting it to monitor their brand image, listen to questions from customers, communicate promotions and share experiences.

A pioneer in the on-line marketing arena, Carnival’s new Web-based initiatives are designed to provide a effective and innovative means for reaching out to consumers and travel agents. Both FunShipIsland.com and CarnivalConnections.com continue to achieve unprecedented success, with each exceeding the one million visitor mark in 2008.

Southwest Airlines implemented a social media strategy three years ago and, like Carnival, they have taken a holistic approach, participating in numerous sites simultaneously. They currently have a presence on popular sites: Twitter, Flickr, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn.

Southwest produces new video content for YouTube on a weekly basis. By creating new and unique content they are reaching out to a vast and growing audience of people who are watching online videos on a regular basis. This strategy will also have a positive impact on their search engine rankings.

Their blog “Nuts about Southwest” is a real success story. A team of 30 employee bloggers regularly keep the site updated with new content and as a result they receive a massive 70,000 unique visitors each month. “Nuts about Southwest” was also winner of the 2008 PR News Platinum PR award for blogs.

As well as a loyal following of blog-readers, Southwest also have a huge following of 8,000 people on micro-blogging site, Twitter. Twitter allows its users to send and read other users' updates (otherwise known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length.

Finally, Southwest Airlines is a heavy user of LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional network. They currently have 3,000 active employees connecting their professional networks via this site.

No other US airline has participated in such a multitude of social media sites in such a short space of time. And it is obviously paying dividends for Southwest, not just in terms of brand awareness but also generating huge volumes of traffic. Southwest continues to be one of the most successful airlines in the world posting a profit for 35 consecutive years -- something no other American carrier can boast.

“Our brand is suited to social media because it’s a natural progression of our 37 year commitment of having authentic relationships and conversations with our customers” said Jeremy Jameson, Corporate Strategist – Strategic Planning for Southwest Airlines.

The majority of Southwest’s’ customers are online, and if recent statistics are to be believed then those people are inevitably interacting with social networks. Customer service and transparency make up the DNA at Southwest; social media channels provide a compelling way to bring the brand promise to life. Although Carnival is less dependant on online bookings, their online image presents a down-to-earth attitude with top management communicating directly with customers.

Southwest and Carnival are both “fun” brands with loyal followings so are suitably poised to take advantage of the social media revolution. They both have a mass appeal and a positive, less-than-corporate attitude. Most importantly they are both brands which consumers feel they can easily engage with, and want to engage with.

Jeremy Jameson, Corporate Strategist – Strategic Planning for Southwest Airlines will be speaking at EyeforTravel’s Social Media Strategies for Travel Conference on March 10-11 in San Francisco (www.eyefortravel.com/social-media). He will be joined on his session by Jeff Hanson, Regional Director of Marketing & eCommerce - Western Region, Marriott International, Juston Parker, President, Parker Hospitality Group and Kevin Fliess, CEO, TravelMuse.

For more information on Social Media Strategies for Travel on March 10-11, 2009, in San Francisco, click here: www.eyefortravel.com/social-media.

Wyndham Hotel Group Grows in China with Seven New Hotels

Wyndham Hotel Group has announced that it continues to solidify its position as the leading U.S. hotel company in China with last month’s opening of seven hotels, three of which are all–new construction properties, under its Ramada®, Howard Johnson® and Super 8® brands.

Among the new hotels open are the five–star, 1162–room Howard Johnson Resort Sanya Bay on Hainan Island, one of China’s premier resort destinations; the four–star, city–center Ramada Wuxi hotel; and the Super 8 Hotel Shanghai Fen Ye Hong Qiao located near the Shanghai Zoo, Guangda Exhibition Centre and Qibao Old Town.

“Despite the economic climate and the devastating earthquake in May, Wyndham Hotel Group continues to be a leader in China,” said Tom Monahan, executive vice president of international development for Wyndham Hotel Group International. “The addition of these impressive properties further strengthens our position in the country with current and prospective owners and developers.”

The Hotel Group currently has over 170 properties in the country operating under the Ramada, Super 8 and Howard Johnson brand names.

Wyndham Hotel Group, one of three principal components of Wyndham Worldwide Corporation (NYSE:WYN), encompasses nearly 7,000 hotels representing approximately 581,000 rooms in 65 countries under the Wyndham®, Ramada®, Days Inn®, Super 8®, Wingate® by Wyndham, Baymont Inn & Suites®, Microtel Inns and Suites®, Hawthorn Suites®, Howard Johnson®, Travelodge®, Knights Inn® and AmeriHost Inn® brands. All hotels are owned individually and operated independently or by Wyndham Hotel Management. Wyndham Hotel Group is based in Parsippany, N.J. For additional information or to make a reservation, visit www.wyndhamworldwide.com.

Abu Dhabi developer ALDAR properties to commission seven hotels on Yas Island

Regulatory body of hospitality industry in the UAE capital, The Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority said that ALDAR Properties will commission seven hotels on the Yas Island by November. The commissioning will coincide with Abu Dhabi hosting the final round of the 2009 Formula One Grand Prix during the month.

"The hotels - four 5 star properties, one 4 star and two 3 star - together will boost Abu Dhabi's accommodation inventory by 2,298 rooms and its food and beverage stock by 30 outlets, including 20 individual restaurants," the tourism authority said.

ALDAR is Abu Dhabi's largest real estate developer by market capitalisation. Its development of real estate projects across its portfolio in the emirate of Abu Dhabi is estimated to have exceeded $72 billion (Dh264.47 billion) in terms of value with the entire portfolio slated to be completed and delivered over a period of seven to 10 years.