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Hotel toiletries - the new green battleground

Hotel amenity kits are quickly becoming the latest battleground for hotels looking to assert their green credentials.

Last week, Spanish hotel chain NH Hotels rolled out a new set of environmentally-friendly amenity bottles, which the firm says biodegrade faster than comparable products.

The new line, called "Agua de la Tierra", uses an additive called polyolefin which catalyzes the break-down of plastic in the bottle, reducing it to between two to seven years rather than 100 to a thousand.

NH Hotels owns 392 hotels in Europe and some 60,000 rooms, meaning that at least eleven million bottles will be produced - and giving travelers a sense of scale when it comes to the overall market.

Despite their notoriety as one of the least green aspects of today's hotels, the little bottles neatly arranged in the bathroom are expected by most travelers and are seen as a key differentiator and brand awareness tool by establishments.

For these reasons, few hotels have committed to ditching them altogether, although several big names - including Starwood's Aloft and certain Marriott and InterContinental properties - have made the switch to dispensers.

For the rest, finding a way to "green" the amenity kits may be the most preferable option.

In February, America's Best Value Inn and Canada's Best Value Inn became the first national hotel chain in North America to implement biodegradable bathroom amenities across all of its properties.

With NH Hotels now following suit in Europe, pressure is bound to increase on larger chains to begin stating what their bottles are made out of, as well as what is in them.

Others have come up with creative solutions, such as a hotel in Chicago which provides donut-shaped soaps, or the Global Soap Project, which sanitizes and redistributes used hotel soaps to refugee camps in Africa (citing 2.6 million bars of soap discarded in US hotels every day).

Rwanda: Swiss Hospitality School to Extend

Kigali — Renowned Swiss hospitality and tourism school, Les Roches International School of Hotel Management, has identified Rwanda as the appropriate location of a sister hospitality and tourism school on the African continent.

The school is expected to open within three to five years, according to Alan Palmer, a renowned hospitality expert, who's facilitating Les Roches' entry into Rwanda.

But before the school installs its own Rwandan school, the Workforce Development Authority (WDA) has offered to provide the Swiss institution with temporary premises to launch the training. And that's exactly why Mr Palmer is presently in Rwanda - to assess the requirements necessary to start the training from a provisional location.

According to WDA Director General Albert Nsengiyumva, besides availing the provisional training facility, WDA will also equip the Remera-based training centre,. He added that Les Roches will be at liberty to use some of WDA's hospitality instructors.

Nsengiyumva welcomed Les Roches' move, underlining that WDA was more than committed to facilitating anybody wishing to invest in integrated Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET).

Hospitality is one of the top priority training areas for WDA - a relatively new Government institution, whose mandate is to regulate, coordinate and guide the implementation of an integrated TVET system in Rwanda.

"We have seen the facility and what remains now is to fit in the kitchen and to procure training equipment, most of which are readily available in Kigali shopping malls," said Palmer, who was also involved with the establishment of Kenya's Utalii College.

He explained that Les Roches' aim is to make the proposed school an "African centre of excellence in hospitality and tourism training'. "It should be able to receive students from other African countries, as well as visiting European students."

Mr Palmer observed that Rwanda's strategic location in the heart of Africa, its stability and friendly climate were some of the factors behind the Les Roches' move.

At its temporary premises, the school will initially offer vocational-level training courses in hospitality and tourism, according WDA Ag. Deputy Director General, Fatina Mukarubibi. The courses include culinary art, food & beverages, front office operations, housekeeping service, tour agency operations and tour guide.

Ms Mukarubibi added that efforts are underway to identify the most appropriate permanent location for the school.

Diff'rent Strokes star Gary Coleman died age 42

Diff'erent Strokes actor Gary Coleman died today after he was pulled off life support. He was 42.

His death is the result of head injuries he suffered during a fall at his Utah home earlier this week.

His wife, Shannon Price, 24, is said to have made the heartbreaking decision to switch off the life support machine after he fell into a coma.

A spokeswoman for the Utah Valley Regional Medical Centre confirmed Coleman died at 12.05pm local time

Family members and close friends were by his hospital bedside.

A spokesman for Coleman said: 'We are very sad to have to report Mr Gary Coleman has passed away.

'He was removed from life support; soon thereafter, he passed quickly and peacefully. By Gary’s bedside were his wife and other close family members. 

'Thanks to everyone for their well wishing and support during this tragic time. Gary is now at peace and his memory will be kept in the hearts of those who were entertained by him throughout the years.'

Coleman was rushed to ICU on Wednesday afternoon after suffering what his family called 'a serious medical problem' after falling at home and hitting his head.

He later fell into a coma and was put on on life support.

TMZ, the website which broke the news of Michael Jackson's death, was the first to report Coleman's death.

It was the actor's third hospitalisation this year, after suffering seizures in January and February.

The 4ft 8in star's growth was stunted by a congenital kidney defect and he had also had two kidney transplants.

Coleman played diminutive rascal Arnold Jackson and his famous line, 'What you talkin' 'bout Willis?', became a pop culture catchphrase.

But he was never able to recapture the stardom he enjoyed as a child and teenager. As an adult, he would appear on some programmes, but much of his work went straight to video.

However, he was still often in the headlines in the U.S. - mostly for the wrong reasons.

In 2007, he was arrested after a 'heated discussion' with his wife. He was cited for misdemeanour disorderly conduct by Utah police.

Two years later in July 2009, he and Price were once again involved in a domestic dispute in which his wife was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence.

His temper got him in trouble again earlier this year when he was arrested on domestic violence assault charges. This time he spent a night in jail.

Coleman lost most of his fortune in a protracted legal battle with his adoptive parents, who had control of his wealth until he was 18. By the end, he was left with just $200,000 (£140,000).

After menial jobs, including working as a security guard, he was forced to sell off his personal items - among them the bowling shoes he wore in Diff'rent Strokes, which went for $100. In 1999, he filed for bankruptcy.

Perhaps most bizarrely, he ran in California's 2003 governor election and came eighth.

The curse of Diff'rent Strokes is well documented. 

Dana Plato, who played Kimberly Drummond, died in 1999 at the age of 35 from an overdose after a long battle with drug and alcohol addiction.

Todd Bridges, who played Willis Jackson, battled cocaine addiction for several years in his 20s.

In 1988, he was arrested and tried for the attempted murder of Kenneth Tex Clay, a Los Angeles drug dealer, who, prosecutors argued, had been shot by Bridges while he was 'high'.

Bridges was eventually acquitted of all charges by a jury.

It ran for eight seasons between 1978 and 1986, racking up 189 episodes, attracting the kind of ratings enjoyed by Dallas, M*A*S*H and The Dukes Of Hazzard.

It turned Coleman into the highest paid actor on TV at the time, pulling in $100,000 each programme.

Bridges, now 44, claims to be clean from drugs and has become a Christian and speaks to young people about the dangers of narcotics.

Diff'rent Strokes revolved around a simple premise: the adoption by white millionaire Philip Drummond of two orphaned brothers from Harlem, and their enforced relationship with their new sister.

Hotel doors are revolving but it’s the Grosvenor that counts

Corporate activity seems to have returned to the hotel sector. In the past few weeks, a number of well-known London hotels have been sold or put up for sale, while the logjam of debt refinancing, a legacy of the buyout mania of pre-recessionary times, has started to ease. This is demonstrated by the negotiation of new terms for both the Alternative Hotel Group and the Rocco Forte Collection.

But appearances can be deceptive. Take the sudden rise in London transactions, which has seen the Stafford, in St James’s, sold to Egyptians for £77.5 million and the St Ermin’s, Westminster, go for £65 million to mainly American investors. Such activity, coming after two years with virtually no transactions, is encouraging but it is far too early to know whether it marks the start of a flow of such deals as debt funding returns or whether it is largely a case of cash-rich overseas buyers taking advantage of reduced prices and the cheap pound.

We will probably get a better feel for the market in the coming weeks as the bidding comes to a head on the auctions of landmark hotels including the Grosvenor House, the Cumberland and the St James’s Hotel and Club. The Grosvenor House and Cumberland are both being sold through CBRE Hotels on behalf of Royal Bank of Scotland, with estimated asking prices of £550 million and £220 million, respectively. Meanwhile, the St James’s, once part of Peter de Savary’s hospitality empire, has been put up for sale at £60 million by the Landesberg and Rosenberg property families through Savills and Gerard Nolan & Partners. There had been several unsolicited approaches.

There has been no shortage of interest in the three hotels. Indeed, the Cumberland was on the point of being sold to GuocoLeisure, the Hong Kong-listed owner of the Thistle and Guoman chains, which already leases the 1,019-room hotel from RBS, when the buyer pulled out on the scheduled day of completion. The bank has had to go back to the drawing board, although a sale still looks likely. London & Regional and Starwood Capital, the property investment firms, are both circling. However, the new favorite to swallow the Cumberland is Gulshan Bhatia, one of Britain’s wealthiest Asians, who owns the Hilton London Paddington and the Waldorf Hilton.

The sale of the Grosvenor House, which is run under the luxury JW Marriott brand, is also reaching a critical stage, with sovereign wealth funds from Qatar and Abu Dhabi rumoured to be among the final three or four bidders. Securing RBS’s minimum price — thought to be in the region of £500 million — could prove a challenge but it is not every day that a landmark property in one of the world’s most-prized locations comes up for grabs.

The issue of price remains a thorny one, particularly with so few comparative transactions. In many cases, hotels are changing hands at a 30 to 40 per cent discount to their value before the credit crunch and the recession on the back of reduced earnings. Although the attached graph is based only on the transactions in which Christie + Co was itself involved, the declines in each of the past two years are probably as accurate a barometer as any. Take the Cumberland Hotel: in the three years since the abortive sale of the four-star establishment to Vector Hospitality, when it was valued at £293 million, the price has fallen by about 25 to 30 per cent.

Values outside London, where trading has been less resilient, have fallen even further. The recent £650 million debt-for-equity swap by Lloyds Banking Group at AHG, the De Vere and Village hotel operator, equates to a reduction in value of about 35 per cent. As Andreas Scriven, head of consultancy at Christie + Co, says: “There continues to be a significant difference between the hotel transactional market in London and the regions. The regional market is more variable and has generally been harder hit. Hotels reliant on a single type of demand or geographical area have in many cases suffered, most notably in the meeting and conference segment. Stabilisation of trade is taking place but the road to recovery in the regions is looking less certain and more arduous than in the capital.”

Derek Gammage, at CBRE, says that one of the biggest factors in determining price is the quality both of the asset and the service, both of which, in turn, have an impact on trading. “You can have two very similar hotels in the same town and one is doing well and one is struggling. Just because it’s a recession, customers still won’t put up with ineptitude.”

The path to recovery will be slowed further if VAT is raised to 20 per cent, while the huge cost-cutting by government departments is also likely to hit expenditure in hotels. None of which bodes well as companies including Jarvis Hotels and Macdonald Hotels seek to renegotiate their debt burdens. Market chatter suggests that Grant Thornton is advising on a possible sale of some or all of Jarvis’s hotels, though it is not obvious where a buyer for these largely midmarket regional properties will come from — particularly with banks insisting on buyers stumping up at least 50 per cent of the price in equity.

Even if buyers do come forward for such hotel businesses, they are unlikely to be offering anything other than a bargain-basement price.

By: Dominic Walsh: Tempus

Source: Timesonline

World Cup ‘spin-offs’ falling flat

ZIMBABWE’S hospitality industry players are not blowing any vuvuzelas for the first soccer World Cup show to be hosted in Africa. 

Tourism and Hospitality minister Walter Mzembi told the Zimbabwe Independent on Thursday that Zimbabwe expected US$200 million from World Cup spin-offs, figures disputed by business as unrealistic.

“Zimbabwe leveraging with its proximity to South Africa can expect up to a 100 000 tourism arrivals and a revenue generation of US$200 million if all the enablers are in place,” said Mzembi.

The enablers, according to Mzembi are “a working Beitbridge border post, enabling visa regime, use of plastic money, uninterrupted supplies of water and electricity, open-skies and correct political signals (perception issues),” said Mzembi, pointing to “enablers” that business says Zimbabwe would be unable to put in place by World Cup kick-off in two weeks.

Although they couldn’t reveal their own figures, industry players told the Independent that government projects of World Cup spin-offs were falling flat as the event neared.

Despite the tournament being next door, industry players say hotel occupancy rates are subdued and airline passenger bookings are low, as teams and fans travelling to South Africa for the tournament give Zimbabwe a pass.

“It is not something that we should blow our trumpet over,” Shingi Munyeza, CEO of African Sun, the country’s biggest hotel chain, said of potential World Cup revenues trickling into Zimbabwe.
“The benefits have been exaggerated. People do not come to Zimbabwe to watch soccer in South Africa,” said Munyeza, adding that only hotels in Victoria Falls, which some South African tour operators include on their brochures, could get a piece of the action.

Zimbabwe’s hospitality industry, like other sectors of the economy, is struggling to sustain and improve on the recovery that followed the initial days of the coalition government.

A recent report by the Sports, Tourism, Image and Communications taskforce, which was tasked with co-coordinating World Cup-related events said poor planning, lack of coordination, official hesitation in the implementation of various programmes lined up ahead of the event, bureaucracy and collapsing infrastructure had affected Zimbabwe’s chances of benefiting from the World Cup.

The World Cup was expected to boost the hospitality industry’s recovery, but players such as RTG chief executive officer (CEO) Chipo Mtasa say they have lost hope.

“The opportunities might come but we are not giving it (the World Cup) any hype. We see very limited opportunities in the local market, nothing much really,” said Mtasa, whose group, the second largest after African Sun, operates hotels, lodges and a tourism services unit service that provides tour guides for tourists.

Meikles Ltd Group, which owns Harare’s luxury Meikles Hotel and Kingdom Hotel in Victoria Falls, said business remained subdued. Meikles chief executive Brendan Beaumont told the Independent that the firm had not recorded World Cup bookings.

“In general terms there has been no major improvement in our occupancy rates and earnings. The Kingdom Hotel does show some signs of late interest though,” he said. Local airlines haven’t been flying high either.
Responding to questions from the Independent, Fly Kumba CEO, Lloyd Muchaka said no one in the hospitality and airlines business in Zimbabwe had generated profits, adding that this was unlikely to change after the tournament. Fly Kumba, which operates the Bulawayo-Johannesburg route, said it hoped to cash in more on school children going for holidays than on the World Cup.

“We believe the school holidays in South Africa have improved the bookings, not necessarily the soccer,” said Muchaka.

Sluggish arrivals figures in South Africa caused by high travel, accommodation and match ticket costs have compounded local hospitality industry players’ problems.

By: Paul Nyakazeya

Tourism leaders walk fine line on oil spill spin

While oil from the BP PLC spill in the Gulf of Mexico hasn’t hit South Florida, local tourism leaders are scrambling to find the appropriate message and plan for the possibility.

The spill has hospitality pros walking a fine line between talking about it too much and not talking enough, said hotel consultant Scott Brush, of Miami-based Brush & Co.

“You don’t promote bad facts, but, as long as [facts are] positive, you want to promote them to a reasonable degree,” he said.

Lucky for Broward County, Nicki Grossman, president and CEO of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau, can promote a few simple facts.

“Our message is that everything is clear, the beaches are great and we’ve got great summer values,” she said.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has said that a portion of the oil slick from the spill in the Gulf has reached the Loop Current, which could bring it across the Florida Keys and to South Florida.

On May 20, Gov. Charlie Crist added Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach to the list of counties he has declared to be in a state of emergency as a result of the oil spill. But, just how much oil could come here – and in what concentration – remains unclear.

That uncertainty, coupled with images of slime along Louisiana’s coast, creates a perception problem for South Florida. To combat that, the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau is hoping potential tourists will view the live video feed on its Web site that shows an idyllic stretch of sand and surf on Miami Beach, said Rolando Aedo, senior VP for marketing and tourism. Miami’s CVB has also deployed a Web page addressing the situation, and it will be posting video interviews with people enjoying themselves on the beach, he said.

The CVBs in Broward and Palm Beach County are also using their Web sites to help.

There has not been an impact on cancellations or bookings in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, industry leaders said, but the Florida Keys have not been as lucky.

Following news that a few dozen tar balls had washed up in the Keys, bookings dropped about 50 percent, said Kevin Speidel, GM of the Casa Marina Resort and the Reach Resort in Key West. Speidel, also the president of the Monroe County chapter of the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association, said his hotels are like the Keys as a whole.

“It’s a tremendous slowing of booking pace,” he said.

To counter the fears, the Casa Marina and the Reach are offering guests a “clean beach guarantee” that would give them refunds if oil hits the shores.

“People were looking for reassurances,” Speidel said. “We wanted to provide the reservation agents with some talking points.”

At the Harbor Beach Marriott Resort & Spa in Fort Lauderdale, there hasn’t been any discussion of cutting rates, much less offering a clean beach guarantee, said Jay Marsella, director of sales and marketing. Harbor Beach hasn’t felt any impact, though the hotel is very concerned and stands ready to respond if the situation escalates, Marsella said.

No cancellations at Ritz-Carltons

While there have been no cancellations at Ritz-Carlton properties in South Florida, group business customers have expressed concern, spokeswoman Michelle Payer said. Ritz-Carlton – which has hotels in South Beach, Coconut Grove, Key Biscayne, Fort Lauderdale and Manalapan – probably won’t drop prices below the already competitive summer rates, she said.

Payer said this situation is like preparing for a hurricane: Information changes so quickly that it’s difficult to plan.

The CVBs of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach County plan to join with Visit Florida, the state’s official tourism marketing agency, for a marketing push. BP has pledged $25 million to the state for the marketing effort.

Miami-based cruise giants Carnival Corp. and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. are watching the spill carefully to see if itineraries need to be adjusted, the companies said.

Since it sails to New Orleans and Mobile, Ala., Carnival has had to route some ships around the spill; otherwise there’s been no immediate impact to business, spokeswoman Jennifer de la Cruz said. Carnival also sails from Galveston, Texas; Tampa and Key West, she noted.

So far, Carnival has not needed to perform costly hull cleanings on its ships, but the company would expect BP to pay if that happens, de la Cruz said.

Key West is Royal Caribbean’s only Gulf destination during the summer, though it sails to Galveston and Tampa during the winter, spokeswoman Lyan Sierra-Caro said. The company has not seen cancellations or a change in bookings, but it stands ready to change ship itineraries if needed, she said.

The Greater Miami & The Beaches Hotel Association is advising hotels to be proactive, President and CEO Wendy Kallergis said. The association is suggesting that hotels start tracking cancellations and bookings, and thoroughly review their insurance policies.

“We’re really trying to give them advice on what to do in the event that something were to happen,” Kallergis said. “The whole thing right now is that we don’t know what’s going to happen.”

By: Bill Frogameni

Source: bizjournals

Webinar - Für den ersten Eindruck gibt es keine zweite Chance - 24th June 2010

A BrightTALK Channel

Heathrow - BA Strike begins as peace talks fail

Cabin crew working for loss-making airline British Airways started the first of three planned five-day strikes today after peace talks broke down at the weekend.

Travellers face massive disruption despite BA’s attempt to fly as many planes as possible, although it had looked like industrial action could be avoided following a last-minute overture from the Unite union.

Staff are embroiled in a dispute over jobs and pay, but Unite’s joint leader Tony Woodley had promised to call off the strike if BA reinstated travel concessions for its members involved in March’s walkout.

BA said it would do that, but only if its deal was accepted in full. It had also called on Unite to get back round the negotiating table at conciliation service Acas.

Talks were abandoned on Saturday after demonstrators stormed the building where the meeting was being held.

Police were called after members of the left wing Socialist Workers Party got into the building were Unite leaders and BA chief executive Willie Walsh held fresh talks.

The airline says it will operate 60% of long-haul and 50% of short-haul flights from Heathrow, and run a normal service out of Gatwick and London City airport.

That means it could fly 60,000 people a day this week, although that’s down almost a third on the same period last year, giving rival carriers a boost.

On Friday, BA reported a record pre-tax loss of £531m as the carrier was hit by strike action, bad winter weather disruption and the impact from the global recession.

The pre-tax loss in the year ended 31 March compares with a £401m loss last year. Revenue fell by £1bn to £7,994m (2009: £8,992m).

Jamaica: State of emergency in Kingston

Authorities in Jamaica declared a state of emergency in Kingston on Sunday night after gang members blockaded a large swath of the capital city and attacked at least two police stations.

The declaration follows the United States issuing on Friday a travel alert for its citizens concerning the Caribbean nation. The U.S. cited unconfirmed reports of criminal gang members amassing in Kingston and the mobilization of Jamaican defense forces.

“The possibility exists for violence and/or civil unrest in the greater Kingston metropolitan area,” the alert said.

“If the situation ignites, there is a possibility of severe disruptions of movement within Kingston, including blocking of access roads to the Norman Manley International Airport,” according to the alert.

“The possibility exists that unrest could spread beyond the general Kingston area,” the alert said.

The U.S. Embassy in Kingston, Jamaica’s capital, is taking extra security precautions, according to the alert, which expires June 21.

“American citizens should consider the risks associated with travel to and within the greater Kingston metropolitan area,” the alert said. “U.S. citizens in Jamaica are advised to monitor local news reports and consider the level of security present when venturing outside their residence or hotel.”

The United Kingdom on Thursday updated its travel advisory for British citizens in Jamaica.

The British Foreign Office urged UK citizens to take extra care when traveling away from their homes or hotels due to the “increased risk of civil disorder and street violence in Kingston” and potentially other urban areas.

Die Hotel- und Gastrostudie von Mr. Proper - Für den ersten Eindruck gibt es keine zweite Chance

Die Hotel- und Gastrostudie von Mr. Proper gibt hilfreiche Tipps für zufriedene Gäste. Jetzt erhältlich!

Für acht von zehn Hotel- und Restaurantbesuchern ist der erste Eindruck entscheidend. Einer von drei Gästen würde Ihrem Hotel oder Restaurant den Rücken zukehren, wenn Sie nicht mit einem frischen Start überzeugen. Über 50 Prozent der Gäste nutzen das Internet als Informationsquelle, bevor sie außer Haus speisen oder übernachten. Dies sind die zentralen Ergebnisse der repräsentativen Hotel- und Gastrostudie von Mr. Proper. Sie zeigen, dass es angesichts des steigenden Wettbewerbs im HoReCa-Sektor wichtiger ist denn je, mit einem guten ersten Eindruck zu punkten! Denn die Menschen haben sich an hohe Standards im Gastgewerbe gewöhnt. 

Die Studie wurde vom renommierten Forschungsinstitut TNS Emnid im Februar 2010 durchgeführt. 1.022 Hotel- und Restaurantgäste über 14 Jahren haben an der Befragung teilgenommen. Die Umfrage gibt erstaunliche Einblicke in die Wünsche und das Informationsverhalten der Befragten. Die Ergebnisse bieten Hoteliers und Gastronomen wertvolle Ansatzpunkte, wie sie die Erwartungen ihrer Gäste erfüllen und somit letztlich deren Zufriedenheit steigern können: Es besteht kaum Zweifel, dass ein guter Start essentiell ist, um Gäste für sich zu gewinnen und zu halten. Schon kleine Details wie glänzende Oberflächen und ein frischer Duft wecken Vertrauen in die Qualität Ihres Betriebs und erhöhen das Wohlbefinden Ihrer Gäste. Und durch den steigenden Einfluss des Internets, erreicht deren Feedback ein stetig wachsendes Publikum. 

P&G Professional hat diese Studie in Auftrag gegeben, um Kundenwünsche von heute zu erkennen und Hoteliers und Gastronomen diese Resultate zur Verfügung zu stellen. Durch unser langjähriges Engagement im HoReCa-Sektor kennen wir die Bedürfnisse des professionellen Anwendungsbereichs und möchten Hotel- und Restaurantbetreiber mit dieser Studie dabei unterstützen, 2010 zu einem erfolgreichen Geschäftsjahr zu machen.

Den vollständigen Studienreport können Sie hier herunterladen.

Die Hotel- und Gastrostudie von Mr. Proper gibt hilfreiche Tipps für zufriedene Gäste. Jetzt erhältlich!

Deutsche Version (Deutschland)

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