Dear W Fort Lauderdale. I really miss your pool.

Today was Career Day at Cornell.  Aside from climbing up the slope in the rain while wearing my Sunday best, I was really looking forward to networking with recruiters from Starwood, Kimpton, Marriott, Expedia, and a cool company called Nor1.

Now that my interview with Expedia is over and the networking is done (at least for today), I’m ready for a quick break to reminisce about a recent stay at the W Fort Lauderdale.  Today’s rain really made me miss those warm southern Floridian days.

If I could sum up the new W Fort Lauderdale in a few words, I would describe it as the ultimate bachelor beach pad.  Aside from the modern beach design and the primo oceanfront real estate, it’s got a knockout pool party scene with some of the hottest bodies in southern Florida.  The W Fort Lauderdale takes the pool party lifestyle to the 10th degree with a rooftop pool, a live music DJ crankin out jams, and a huge deck that overlooks the Atlantic.  If you enjoy people watching, this is your weekend scene.  If you really enjoy people watching, then ditch your lounge chair and make your way to the steps that cut through the pool into the lobby below.

No idea what I’m talking about?  Check out the pics below and pay attention to that glass structure in the middle of the pool
. . .

China loves Starwood! 50 properties and counting, SPG membership soars

Starwood's 50th property in China

Looks like China is showing much love to Starwood these days.  The company just opened its 50th property in China, the Sheraton Jinan Hotel, which boasts 410 guest rooms and five restaurants/lounges.  Where the hell is Jinan though?

In the past 10 months, Starwood has signed 18 new hotel deals, and that’s not even the end of the party.  The company expects to have 100 properties in China by 2012.  2010 will also see the first W Hotel in Shanghai!  It’s about damn time.

And to think in 1985 Starwood was the only international hotel chain in China with the historic Great Wall Beijing Sheraton.

The Chinese have totally bought into Starwood’s Preferred Guest Program as well.  Reports indicate that China is SPG’s biggest source of new members, with enrollment jumping 50% in 2009 over last year.  China has now become the fourth largest member base of active SPG members, behind only the US, Canada, and the UK.

Starwood CEO, Frits van Paasschen said, “In a few short years, China will be one of the world’s largest outbound tourism markets with the Chinese generating more than 100 million trips a year. And when the Chinese do travel, they are going to stay in the brands that they know from home, which will have a meaningful effect on our business globally and underscores why we are investing so heavily in this critical market now.”

From a Starwood press release:

China is currently home to the largest number of Starwood hotels outside of North America, and it has the largest pipeline of new hotels outside of the United States. So far this year, Starwood has opened three hotels in China: Sheraton Jinan Hotel, Four Points by Sheraton Guangzhou-Dongpu and Sheraton Shunde Hotel. Through the remainder of the year, Starwood is expected to open four additional hotels: Le Meridien Qingdao, Le Meridien Chongqing-Nan’an, Four Points by Sheraton Lianyungang and The Westin Tianjin.

Source: Conference and Incentive Travel

Starwood ready to conquer travel social media with new Twitter and Facebook tools

Came across the announcement of SPG’s newest strategy to connect with its frequent travelers via social media.  The news came out this morning while I was lounging poolside at the W Fort Lauderdale, so apologies for not having this posted sooner.  I know many of you blog readers are into this kind of thing.

So SPG has launched a website with the aim of publicizing of all its social media channels.  This includes Starwood’s traditional thelobby.com blog, Twitter page, and Facebook fan page.  It also includes two nice enhancements related to Twitter and Facebook . . .

Help SPG Insider out. Contribute!

1) There’s the new SPG Insider which is a new map-based travel suggestions database powered by tweets.  In other words, you can use a mobile Twitter application to tweet tips on things like restaurants and bars in the city/town you’re visiting.  Then SPG does some magic trick and uploads your tweet tip on a shared Google map based on your GPS location.   The goal is to create a searchable world map that has a huge list of tips tweeted by SPG members.  Will this work?  Let’s hope this doesn’t fizzle and die out with the SPG community like it has with some other similar sites.  I also did a search for coffee/cafe tips for San Francisco and no results turned up.  How can that be!?  I guess it’s still in its infancy.  See instructions on how to tweet your recommendations on the right, and I included a screenshot of the map output below . . .

2) Then there’s the new SPG TripShare Facebook app that lets you share trip photos directly from your Facebook accounts.  You have to have the photos previously uploaded on your profile page.  Basically the app lets you choose up to five photos from a trip that’s already posted in a photo album on your Facebook profile.  Then you can tag them however you want.  The end result is a community of SPG members browsing photos of trips that may or may not be (but most likely will be) Starwood Hotels and destinations.  I think this will be the more entertaining of the two new social media functions, but I wonder how inappropriate or irrelevant photos will be weeded out.  I just did an upload of a recent trip to Waikiki with my five fave photos.  See the second screenshot below . . .

The new SPG Twitter function - GPS based tweets re: travel suggestions

The new SPG TripShare Facebook App - Share your fave five photos!

Here's all of Starwood's social media channels

Some quick remarks on hotel outlook from Starwood CEO and CFO

Starwood’s CEO, Frits van Paasschen, and Starwood CFO, Vasant Prabhu, both had some remarkable things to say in two recent interviews.  In a session with Bloomberg, Frits van Paasschen suggested emergence from the US recession may be signified by an increased in demand for the New York City hotel market.

“New York is a good leading indicator because it’s such a crossroad of so many places,” Van Paasschen said in the interview.  “Occupancy is starting to come back, yes, at low rates, but if this recovery looks like a normal recovery we would see in a couple of quarters rates come back as well.  I am just not sure if this is a normal recovery.”  Frits also said that Starwood’s luxury brands have picked up pace in markets such as Asia, Africa, and the Middle East excluding Dubai.

As much as I enjoyed taking advantage of the low rates at NYC hotels this summer, I’ve noticed they are starting to creep back up again.  It’s not too clear whether it’s due to high season or if there really is a resurgence in demand.  I’m hoping the hotel market, along with the job market, picks up for 2010 so more companies start hiring again.

Starwood CFO, Vasant Prabhu, offered his opinion in a separate presentation.  ”The next six weeks are very critical in my point of view.  It is the first indicator of what next year’s trends look like.”  Now that the summer travel season is wrapped up, Prabhu believes the next six weeks are a test of how business travel demand will shape up in 2010.

The Bloomberg article also highlighted that Starwood reduced its corporate workforce by 30% in the past two years in response to the economic downturn and to boost earnings.

Sheraton Manhattan at Times Square, a 665-room convention and business traveler property in NYC

Sources: Bloomberg, Reuters

On October 6 . . . Thousands of free rooms at Sheraton Hotels in celebration of a $4 billion Sheraton brand makeover

This Sheraton's in Shenzhen, China, so don't expect a free night here

Woohoo!  Sheraton is giving up thousands of free nights at many North American properties as part of a campaign promoting the $4 billion touch up of the Sheraton brand.  Starting October 6, the campaign for the free nights kicks off.  It’s important to note that the free night is available for redemption ONLY ON OCTOBER 23.  The free rooms will be released to guests on a first come first serve basis, and you’ve got to visit the following link between October 6-9 to have a chance at getting a comp night: www.sheraton.com/freenight.

A total of 86 newly renovated Sheratons in the US and Canada are chipping in rooms for this campaign, and roughly 2,100 rooms will be dished out to lucky guests.

“In North America, we’ve had a pretty mixed history. We’ve have some great hotels and we’ve have some hotels that were substandard,” said Hoyt Harper, SVP of brand management. “This is a new beginning for the brand.”

You better believe this poor grad student is gonna do everything he can to get a free room!

From the AP . . .

As part of the effort that was launched in 2007, Sheraton cut underperforming locations from its roster and added or renovated 70,000 Sheraton rooms around the globe. Nearly three-quarters of them were in the U.S. and Canada, and almost half of the brand’s 203 North American locations have been renovated through the effort.

Morningstar analyst Michelle Chang said such an undertaking is vital for hotels, which must constantly update themselves risk losing customers for good.

“If a hotel company doesn’t continually reinvest in their properties, it’s going to lose its luster, and it’s going to look run down,” she said. “And so you have to keep reinvesting in the property to keep it fresh and keep it new and keep it updated.”

Ross Klein departs from his position at Hilton following Starwood’s espionage lawsuit

What's left of DenizenHotels.com . . . nothing

The image to the right is what’s left of Hilton’s launched but then withdrawn Denizen Hotels brand website.  I remember it was a flashy site that sparked my curiosity big time about the new brand, but there’s not much to see these days when you visit the site today.

Remember Starwood’s lawsuit against Hilton re: the corporate espionage that led to Hilton’s ability to develop Denizen Hotels so quickly?  Just as a quick refresher, Hilton hired several Starwood employees including Ross Klein and Amar Lalvani, to lead the development of their lifestyle hotel brand.  Hilton at the time did not have a brand in this market category.  Hilton at this time still does not.

Hilton has recently replaced Ross Klein after the Starwood lawsuit accused him and Hilton of stealing highly confidential information.  Previously, Klein was placed on administrative leave back in April but apparently he is no longer with Hilton.  His successor is John Vanderslice of Miraval Spa.  Without any surprise, there is no comment from anyone.

From Times Online:

The lawsuit, filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleges that Mr Klein and Amar Lalvani, a former Starwood colleague who defected with him to Hilton, “stole massive amounts of proprietary and highly confidential Starwood information.”

The news that Mr Klein has left will reignite speculation that Hilton, which is also being sued, is close to agreeing a settlement with its rival aimed at drawing a line under what the writ called “the clearest imaginable case of corporate espionage, theft of trade secrets, unfair competition and computer fraud.”

Kimpton Hotels joins Element Hotels on going 100% green!

Kimpton Hotels just announced that it has made a strategic decision to convert all of its 50 or so properties into “green” certified hotels.  This initiative is similar to the strategy behind Starwood’s Element Hotels, though there are some key differences.  Primarily, the organizations that are conducting the inspection and certification for each hotel company are not the same.  Kimpton is applying for certification through Green Seal, which is an independent, non-profit organization.  Starwood’s Element Hotels is going through the US Green Building Council and their LEED certification.  Once each of Kimpton’s properties receive Green Seal certification, the company will boast the largest portfolio of ALL green certified hotels in the US.

Currently Kimpton Hotels has already achieved Green Seal certification for several of its properties.  In Chicago, the Hotel Allegro, Hotel Burnham, and Hotel Monaco have all received Silver Green Seal certification.  And let’s not forget about the Hotel Monaco in Portland, which has also received honors.

While going green is certainly the “in” thing to do in the hotel industry, the economic downturn has made many owners and developers prioritize these initiatives a bit lower in the food chain.  It’s good to see that this California-based hotel company is still setting a good example, which I’m sure chain after chain will mimic in the  next few years once the economy ramps back up.

Source: USA Today

Starwood’s “quintessential” Hawaiian address is now The St. Regis Princeville Resort

Welcome to The St. Regis Princeville Resort.

After almost a year long renovation process that transformed the former Princeville Resort into a St. Regis, the property reopened its doors to welcome back 290 employees who worked there prior to the renovation and rebrand.  An overwhelming 96% of the staff are from the former Princeville Resort.  As I flip through the pages of my organizational behavior course packet readings, I can’t help but think of what a strong work culture the hotel has managed to develop if that many of its previous associates decided to come back.

“The idea was to make them feel special and like St. Regis guests,” said St. Regis Princeville Resort General Manager Milton Sgarbi.
“We’re so grateful they came back,” he also added.  A few returning employees even shed a few tears.  How touching!

As for the property itself, what can we expect to see on the grand opening date of September 26?  For starters, it seems like the “European marble-style” was thrown out and replaced with what I consider to be a much more locally fitting “Hawaiian style.”  I haven’t seen the before, and I doubt I can afford to see the after any time soon on my grad school budget, but I’ve heard this property is just stunningly beautiful beyond imagination.

Sgarbi also expressed a thriving interest in The St. Regis Princeville’s upcoming grand opening events, which includes an appearance by Mitzi Gaynor on October 3 during a private gala.  Did you know that the site of The St. Regis Princeville Resort is where parts of the “South Pacific” was filmed about 50 years ago?

Source: Kauai World

Holy stars. Check out the new SPG promotion for Gold and Platinum members!

i'm a lowly gold, so only the double nights offer for me. :-p

Open up the flood gates because there are a pair of new SPG promotions that are open to all SPG Gold and Platinum members that just got rolled out earlier today.

The first promo is called, “Nights Advance.”

I have never seen anything like this before.  I think this is the first time SPG has allowed its members to actually accrue elite qualifying stays for the following year BEFORE the end of the current year.  Basically, you can get a head start on next year’s elite qualification time frame starting NOW.  It appears any nights between October 1 and December 31 will count towards 2009 accrual as well as 2010 accrual.  Here’s the link: spg.com/nightsadvanceterms

The second promo is called, “Nights Count Double.”

All Gold members will be able to double the accrual of their nights toward qualifying for elite status.  While not quite as exciting as a double stays promo, there’s nothing to complain about double nights.  Find out more information by clicking here: spg.com/ncdterms

Apparently Platinum members actually have a choice between either promotion.  Also, don’t forget that there’s always a lot of extra hotel rooms layin around during the Thanksgiving and pre-Christmas time periods.  It might be a good time to travel and score some rates that are sure to put a smile on your face . . . and some double stay/night credit in your SPG account too!

The 999 SPG Promotion. Does that mean rooms at $9.99?

No, not quite but at least it’s something on the table.  There are a variety of incentives to book an upcoming weekend stay in the Northeast or Midwest including the following:

• 999 bonus Starpoints
• Room upgrades
• Breakfast or parking for just $9.99

If you’ve got an upcoming trip in either the Northeast or Midwest, click here or on the picture and see what’s being offered at the hotels there.  Just remember you’ve got until September 9 to book and you’ve gotta stay by December 27, 2009.

Happy Labor Day!