TRAVEL WEEKLY International Luxury Travel Market 2012 |
www.iltm.net
Hoteliers expand U.S. luxury offerings to meet higher demand
Arnie Weissmann: A
125 Brownell Travel is our oldest agency, and among our most progressive. 12
At 125, m
www .tr avelweekly .com
Cruise Vacation Week gets a push 6 AA reassures Caribbean officials 8 IATA comments anger ASTA 81
IN OTHER NEWS: Sale Mark Pestronk:
Sales of travel agencies are once again on the rise — and so are the prices being paid. 30 Sec tion
1 of 2
This year, the continued rise in luxury hotel room demand from both U.S. and non-U.S. travelers has fed more openings, refl aggings and development plans from high-end hoteliers looking to capitalize on the increase in business.
THE NA TIONAL NEWSP APER OF THE TRA VEL INDUS TRY OCTOBER 22, 2012
Cuba’s new visa policy greeted warmly, but warily, by industry
By Gay Nagle Myers
While many in the U.S. travel industry were pleasantly surprised by the Cuban government’s recent change in policy, lift- ing the widely reviled exit permits required for Cubans traveling abroad, the move also prompted some concerns about the possibil- ity of a mass exodus of people long deprived of the right to freely travel abroad. Whatever the results of the new policy,
however, Cuba experts said last week that the changes would not have much impact on the current people-to-people programs offered by companies licensed to operate extremely limited travel from the U.S. to Cuba. Nor does it change the visas required of
Cubans by the U.S. State Department. “Our own visa requirements remain un-
The travel und rstand
Latin
nderstand the Hispa unique che character
Page 56
avel industryry is striving to e Hispani market’ cs.
By Kate Rice Page
ce
p nic market’s eristics
changed,” said State Department spokes- woman Victoria Nuland. “We welcome any reforms that will allow Cubans to depart
from and return to their country freely, and we remain committed to the migration ac- cords under which our two countries sup- port and promote safe, legal and orderly migration.” As of Jan. 14, Cubans will no longer need
exit permits, which cost $150 in a country where the average monthly wage is $20. Nor will Cubans need letters of invitation
from their foreign hosts, which the Cuban government charges $200 to process. They will, however, still have to obtain vi-
sas from most countries they plan to visit, and they still need a passport to leave Cuba, a time-consuming process that costs about $110. Cubans wishing to visit the U.S. must
procure a visa from the understaffed U.S. Interests Section in Havana, where even be- fore the rules changed, by some estimates, applications just for interviews to begin the See CUBA on Page 82
[ JUST AS AGENTS BEGIN SELLING AIR AGAIN ]
Agencies see increase in debit memos as airlines cede auditing to 3rd parties
By Kate Rice
Even as agents find new ways to make mon- ey selling air and are working harder at it, many are reporting an increase in airline debit memos. A major reason for this, according to one
carrier, is that airlines are outsourcing ticket auditing to vendors whose systems audit tickets at much higher volumes than the airlines did. Agents say these third-party vendors
don’t know or understand the myriad com- plex rules that apply to ticket sales, result- ing in an increase in debit memos issued in error.
Debit memos, which can be as little as $4
or $5 but as high as $100,000, have fueled adversity in the often-fractious relationship between airlines and agents. They are the bane of agents and agencies, because their range and numbers represent the kinds of
unknowable liabilities that can quickly put an agency out of business. Errors as minor as using the letter O in-
stead of a zero when writing a code for a ticket will earn an agency a debit memo, as will clients who change their minds too often. An agent booking a full-fare, fully re- fundable, economy-class ticket for a client who changes the trip two or three times can get hit with a $100 debit memo because air- lines consider that “churning.” Though reports of increases in debit memos are anecdotal and difficult to quan- tify, there is ample evidence the trend is real. A spokeswoman for American Airlines said that third-party vendors use systems that can audit much greater volumes than American’s own systems could. American began outsourcing its auditing
of fares, taxes and exchanges in 2006 in a process that took two years to implement, See DEBIT MEMO on Page 84
Most notably, some brands that had traditionally operated most of their luxury resorts outside of the U.S. are expanding their presence within the country. Hilton Worldwide’s fi rst New York City hotel under the Conrad brand opened in March, while Mandarin Oriental refl agged Atlanta’s 127-room Mansion on Peachtree in May.
More traditional U.S. hoteliers also jumped further into the fray. Loews Hotels & Resorts in June acquired the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel in Los Angeles from CIM Group, with plans for $26 million in upgrades for the 632-room property this year. The hotel was renamed the Loews Hollywood Hotel.
tw_1022_1_1_20121018184217_168016.indd 1 10/18/12 6:42 PM
In September, New York City’s fi rst JW Marriott branded hotel opened in what was previously known as Jumeirah Essex House. The 509-room hotel, which fi rst opened in 1931 as the Park Tower Hotel, was acquired from the Dubai government by Strategic Hotels & Resorts and is getting $18 million in upgrades.
And in October, the MGM Grand Las Vegas completed its $160 million renovation of the property’s main tower and its 4,212 rooms and suites. Additionally, Langham Hospitality Group agreed to buy New York City’s Setai Fifth Avenue with plans on converting the 214-room hotel into the city’s fi rst Langham Place branded luxury hotel.
Hoteliers are opening up or taking over properties in a U.S. luxury hotel market that continues to outpace lower end sectors in terms of growth in room demand. Through September, revenue per available room (RevPAR) at U.S. luxury hotels rose 8% from a year earlier to $199.02, according to Smith Travel Research (STR). As a whole, U.S. hotels’ RevPAR advanced 6.9% to $66.79.
As a result, developers of luxury hotels appear to be getting the lion’s share of new construction funding. Through the fi rst half of 2012, the luxury hotel development pipeline widened 54% from a year earlier to about 106,000 rooms, while the total U.S. hotel pipeline had narrowed 6.7%, according to STR.
‘Hoteliers are opening up or taking over properties in a U.S. luxury hotel market that continues to outpace lower end sectors in terms of growth in room demand.’
For example, in February, the Trump Organization reached an agreement to redevelop Washington, D.C.’s 113 year old Old Post Offi ce building into a luxury resort that will include more than 250 hotel rooms as well as a number of restaurants, a ballroom and a curated museum.
Fairmont Hotels & Resorts in May reached an agreement to open its fi rst hotel in Austin, Texas, in 2015. The $350 million hotel will be designed by architecture fi rm Gensler and will have about 1,000 rooms.
And in June, Starwood Hotels & Resorts said 10 of its W hotels, including those in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and New Orleans, would receive a combined $100 million in upgrades by the end of next year.
Danny King Senior Editor, Travel Weekly
23
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164 |
Page 165 |
Page 166