Congrats to all five of these amazing people!

Georgia Kirsner
Vice President, Travel Industry Sales, Ritz-Carlton

“If travel agents could have just one wish, it would be that hotels give their clients the star treatment. Kirsner knows that a happy customer is a return customer, which is why she introduced the Ritz-Carlton’s STARS program, reserved exclusively for top trav- el agencies working with the company. Selected agents have access to a password-protected website for booking. In addition to the attentive service accorded Ritz-Carlton guests, STARS clients are monitored by a designated “guardian angel” at each property for even more personalized attention.”

Christie Hicks
Senior Vice President, Global Sales, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

“In her current position, Hicks directs more than 250 global senior sales associates and is responsible for $3.2 billion in annual revenue. The hospitality industry has recognized her business acuity: Acknowledgments by her peers have included the Vision Award from NYSAE and the PCMA Professional Achievement Award.”

Kathleen “Katie” Taylor
President and COO, Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts

“In her nearly two decades with Four Seasons, Taylor has helped grow the 48-year-old Toronto-based company into one of the finest hotel brands in the world. She oversees all of its global operations, making sure the company’s 76 properties in 32 countries maintain a consistent standard of excellence. Any Four Seasons loyalist can attest that it’s working; despite the wild expansion in the number of luxury properties in the past decade, the brand more than holds its own.”

Michelle White
Director of Environmental Affairs, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts

“As the children’s song goes, it’s not easy being green--especially if you’re a huge international chain like Fairmont Hotels & Resorts. That hasn’t stopped White from helping the brand take a leadership role in addressing such industrywide challenges as improving water conservation and waste management, as well as increasing the use of alternative energy. The hospitality field will be closely watching the innovative Fairmont Green Partnership program.”

Vivian Deuschl
Corporate Vice President for Public Relations, Ritz-Carlton

“Deuschl’s roots are journalistic: She was a reporter in Texas and a newspaper editor in Taipei. As one of the highest-ranking female executives at Ritz-Carlton, where she has worked for the past two decades, Deuschl steers public relations strategy and has helped cement the venerable brand’s reputation as a purveyor of modern luxury. Known for schooling reporters new to the travel beat, Deuschl has been honored three times with the Society of American Travel Writers’ highest award. She served as spokesperson for the Travel Industry Association of America’s 9/11 task force.”

Linkage
Forbes.com: 25 Most Influential Women in Travel

JJ recently teamed up with Erin O’Neill to develop some fun new concepts in hotel industry content such as YoungHotelier.com, and their recently launched HotelierIdol.com. These websites do a great job maintaining their core values of Connecting, Learning, Growing and Belonging, while Being Different, Having Fun and “Keeping it Real”.

The next time I am in Dubai (which will also be my first time), I’ll certainly try to make it out for a hotel industry networking event organized by JJ and Erin through HotHoteliers.com.

In association with the launch of their whacky Hotelier Idol website, Erin and JJ co-authored an interesting article about the U.A.E.’s hotel development pipeline, as well as their acute recruitment challenges. It’s a good article, and I am happy to feature it here:

Hotelier Idol Expos?: The hidden hotel industry casting crisis takes centre-stage

Case Study: The United Arab Emirates, specifically Dubai and Abu Dhabi

If one was to look at the global inventory in the pipelines and view it as a “city state” Dubai has officially the largest Construction Pipeline of any other Metropolitan area in the entire world, even greater than Las Vegas, New York, Washington, London, Shanghai or Beijing!

Described as the ‘most vibrant and fastest developing destination in the world’ Dubai in the not so distant future shall officially be the largest hospitality playground in the world. Currently experiencing over 6 million tourists annually, Dubai’s long term strategy is to become the ‘Destination Brand’ with its estimated growth to 15 million by the year 2015. In our eyes there is only one word that best describes this.... ‘Surreal’. Hoteliers currently struggle to stay informed as new hotels open daily and experience the ‘normal’ 95% and above occupancy levels before many of us have even realized the buildings are complete. We are all too familiar with the tales from many of these that are even opened before this completion stage is reached. That is an entirely different story.

For hotel experts the word on the street at the most recent Hot Hotelier’s Networking event in Dubai was about the soon to open Atlantis hotel on Palm Jumeirah; an astounding 1539 hotel rooms. Truth be told this is no big fish in the sea when one compares it to the Bawadi development, a soon to be home to an astounding 29,200 rooms. Now that is what one considers as truly staggering! This Comprises of an additional 31 hotels to the Emirate over the next eight years, nearly doubling the current number of hotel rooms in Dubai. The centerpiece of the development will be the world’s largest hotel, Asia-Asia, which alone will provide 6,500 rooms, combining 5,100 four star and an additional 1,400 five star rooms. So how does the Atlantis’ Director Of Fish Operations and his school of 27 dolphins plan to tackle this shark?!

According to Saeed Al Muntafiq, CEO of Tatweer who is one of the main investors in this AED 100 Billion Dubailand Monster, the launch of the project effectively signals the next major phase in tourism development in Dubai and the expected growth in the next eight years. Dubailand is expecting 3.3 million visitors by the year 2016. Let’s do the math? That means just over 21% of the total number of tourists that Dubai expects to host by that time are destined for this monstrous playground. Simplifying that further, 1 in every 5 people visiting Dubai shall be headed for what is expected to be the world’s the most exciting entertainment and leisure hubs - Dubailand. It will occupy a full 20 kilometers, hosting the largest concentration of leading hotels anywhere in the world. Now that is some interesting math! Did you know that 40% of the world’s construction cranes are currently sitting in Dubai?

There is also room in the playground for the corporate nerds and business traveler! The Bawadi project shall also act as a strong catalyst to stimulate tourism growth and also for related sectors such as MICE (Meetings, Incentive Travel, Conventions and Exhibitions). Inevitably an attractive place to ‘live, work and play’. Just think in time we could see the Global CEO Forum and Conferences of such statue being held in RESTLESS PLANET: The Dinosaur-themed Park featuring more than 100 animatronic dinosaur replicas in a lifelike environment, recreating the sights and sounds of 1 million B.C. I am sure this experience could teach these old dinosaurs a few tricks.

So now we hear you asking yourself who is going to feed, water and bed these dinosaurs in this playground? No doubt you regularly hear the terminology that the success of a hotel is due to ‘location, location, location.’ A recent General Manager’s survey performed by Chris Jackson in Hotelier Middle East tells us that on the contrary the GM’s minds are ringing home something a little different...... ‘People, people, people’. 53% of the GM’s questioned during this study highlighted that “labour issues” were their greatest challenges. Increased competition was a key issue for them… not surprising with 155,989 rooms spread over 527 announced and signed projects in the pipeline in the Middle East region alone. Astounding! According to its quarterly Construction Pipeline Report for the Middle East, Lodging Econometrics claims that Dubai accounts for 31% of all of the projects and 39% of all rooms in the Total Middle East Pipeline.

Jackson’s research also stated that most general managers were clear about the most enjoyable aspect of their work: the people. One five star GM said “It’s all about the people, welcoming and entertaining guests, coaching and leading my department heads”. If so then why did 54% of the GM’s think the pay rates at their respective hotels were not generous? Retaining key talent is inevitable in the current market place. Labour shortages are anticipated to remain at the top of the 3 key issues facing the industry, with more than 40% pointing to rising inflation rates and the rising cost of living - the associated costs of attracting and retaining key staff talent.

Shall these ‘not so generous’ pay rates be cause for hoteliers to move from Dubai to clear leaders tipped as the ‘hot’ markets of the future: Abu Dhabi, Qatar and further afield?

Abu Dhabi has embarked on its own development program in efforts to establish itself as The Cultural & Educational Hub of the Middle East. It has the second largest Pipeline in the region with 73 projects adding an additional 21,809 rooms to their inventory. Aside from bedrooms they are again home to some world class projects such as a Formula One racetrack, a Ferrari World Theme Park! So do we hoteliers opt for the Dinosaurs or the Ferrari’s?

Further afield, in Asia Pacific, Dubai’s development is only a cog in the wheel on the global scale of things. According to the predictions from Global Hotel Real Estate Company Lodging Econometrics there are 1.7 million rooms expected to come into the global inventory. Middle East alone stands responsible for 150,000 keys of that development while Asia Pacific is set to contribute over 495,000 keys - 2218 properties. Now that is what we call ‘phenomenal’. Almost as phenomenal as the Skilled Labour Shortages that are on the Horizon!

Back to the topic at hand...the recruitment, training and retention crisis on the horizon in the hotel industry. We’re all set for a record development pipeline and unprecedented growth. But hotels and hospitality have always been about the people and the ‘human touch’. That touch requires skilled, well trained, well motivated and forward-looking staff.
So just what are the questions plaguing owners and managers alike in the hotel industry now and in times to come?

* Great hotels aside...who’s going to run them? With ‘traditional’ labour markets coming into their own, where will we hire skilled staff from? ...or forget the skills, where do we find these bodies!!

* Will the people we hire be able to meet the ever-increasing service standards expected by our guests? Or shall they be employed based on the sole criteria of ‘two hands, two feet and a pulse...’’? How will we train these bodies...or will hospitality robots be the future?

* Will my great employees stick around after all that time and money spent on training & developing them (or the absence of it)? Will they walk out the door to the next big property that pays just a little more? How will we retain any talent we discover and nurture?

We may not have all the solutions at hand, and it won’t be an easy battle by any means. But well prepared is well armed. Savvy hotel industry leaders are beginning to walk the talk and dig in for the war to come. Hotelier Idol was created to drive awareness about the training, recruitment and retention crisis in the hotel and service industry. While this is presented in a fun, entertaining style (which we hope can rekindle the passion and showmanship so essential for true hospitality), our underlying aim is to facilitate solutions through creating support, discussion and learning platforms like YoungHotelier.com and the Hot Hoteliers Networking Group. Life, after all, is not a dress rehearsal - every day is opening night. So remember to enjoy the journey!

Erin O’Neill and Jitendra Jain
Founders, www.hotelieridol.com
Watch the Season 1 Trailer and auditions, as our hapless candidates battle it out for the position of Hotel General Manager! Visit hotelieridol.com for the videos, to vote on who YOU think makes the ‘cut’, discuss the problems and possible solutions.

Season 1: So you want to be a Hotel General Manager?
The Trailer can also be viewed on YouTube

Attendees at the reception included renowned celebrity chefs Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Gordon Ramsay (who seemed rather pleased with himself that he was meeting the Queen for the second time).

Unfortunately the You Tube video embed (yes, from the “Royal You Tube Channel") is disabled so I can’t feature the the video here, but you can check out the short piece by clicking here. And if you would like more info about events with the British Monarchy, of course you can check out their official website!

The hospitality reception must have been quite a career highlight for the attending British hospitality professionals who, perhaps, needed to brush up of their etiquette to meet the Queen in person.

A few years ago in Vancouver, Canada, I was the Director of Operations at the Delta Suites hotel. We had the occasion to host Canada’s representative to the Monarchy—our Governor General, for a breakfast function. At the time, Canada’s Governor General was Adrienne Clarkson.

My hotel G.M. was absent on business that day, so I was delegated to represent the hotel for the Governor General’s arrival. Like most Canadians, I wasn’t too savvy with protocol for the arrival of a national dignitary, but I had a requisite meeting with a member of Canada’s protocol office for a little ‘training’. I discovered that I should greet the Governor General as “Your Excellency”.

I admit that I was a little nervous upon the Governor General’s arrival (with her entourage), but all that went away quickly when she breezed past my outstretched hand and verbal niceties and bolted for the elevator. I ran after her in time to jump into the elevator, where I dutifully pushed the elevator button like a good citizen.

When the Queen decides to honour hospitality bloggers at her next reception, I’ll hit the ground running with a quick change from Your Excellency to Your Majesty!

Although the People’s Republic of China is the obvious leader in the number of hotels currently being built in the region, other destinations in Asia-Pacific are also experiencing a renaissance in hotel development and tourism growth.

The HVS Hotel Valuation Index 2007 (PDF) recorded some interesting statistics showing excellent tourist arrival growth in destinations such as Japan, Malaysia, Cambodia, Indonesia and Vietnam (among others)—all of whom recorded double digit growth in 2007 over the previous year.

Tourism Vietnam’s website shows international tourist arrivals in Vietnam for the first four months of 2008 to be 1.7 million, outperforming 2007 numbers by 16 percent.

France-based Accor is currently the largest hotel operator in Vietnam. Back in March 2008, the Accor Group announced they would further expand their network in Vietnam from eight hotels to at least twenty by the end of 2010 with the launch of its luxury Pullman and mid-scale Mercure brands, and expansion of its Novotel brand.

Both the InterContinental Hotel Group (IHG) and Hyatt International currently have properties in Vietnam. Hyatt operates the Saigon Park Hyatt, and InterContinental has their Hanoi Westlake hotel. Both operators are also expanding in Vietnam with resorts currently under construction near Danang, Vietnam’s fourth largest city. In April 2008, IHG also announced a third property—a new Crowne Plaza, opening in Nha Trang, the coastal city hosting the Miss Universe pageant this year.

China Beach, Danang

According to Wikitravel, Danang city is “often overlooked by tourists but is one of the most friendly to backpackers in all of Vietnam. China Beach, a former R&R destination for American G.I.’s, is now home to a small community of guest house owners, marble statue shops, and other various trades. Some of the most beautiful and isolated beaches in Vietnam are found here, among some of the friendliest people. This is a must stop for the budget traveller.”

Danang is growing in popularity as a destination, and is home to China Beach, one of Vietnam’s most beautiful (and still underdeveloped) beaches.The Danang area lies at the base of the renowned Marble Mountains, and boasts four UNESCO-designated World Heritage Sites: the former imperial city of Hue, the ancient ‘Silk Road’ trading port of Hoi An, the spiritual center of the Champa civilization called My Son, and the mystical Phong Nha Caves in Quang Binh province. Over the next three years Danang will certainly begin to emerge as a must-stop destination for the luxury traveller, following the opening of the the new Hyatt and Crowne Plaza luxury resorts.

Hyatt International recently announced development of its new Hyatt Regency Danang Resort on China beach.

“Scheduled to open in early 2010, after a US $100 million investment, the resort’s 226 guest rooms will be complemented by residential developments, including 150 condominium and 30 two-storey oceanfront villas for sale.”

The 500 room, $52 Million Crowne Plaza Danang resort, also on China Beach, will be Crowne Plaza’s first location in Vietnam:

“InterContinental Hotels Group has signed an agreement to manage a new-build, 500-room hotel under its Crowne Plaza brand in Danang, Vietnam. Developed by Hoangdat Silver Shores Exceptional International Entertainment Joint Venture Company, Crowne Plaza Danang is expected to open in early 2009.”

Building on China Beach will certainly be favorable for the guest experience and (hopefully) to the local economy, but the environmental impact to the area will always be a concern. Hopefully both brands place a high importance on sustainable development practices during construction and operation phases.

Of the two brands now building on China Beach, InterContinental appears to be the clear front-runner in this regard, with IHG’s clearly defined Corporate Responsibility best practices. Perhaps Hyatt does have a culture of environmental responsibility, but information on what that might entail has proven difficult to source online, and there is little or no mention of any global sustainable practices at all on their corporate website.

The multiple award winning Furama Resort Vietnam is currently the leading resort destination along the beaches outside Danang. Under the leadership of G.M. Duncan MacLean, the Furama has achieved the number one ranking for a resort property on Tripadvisor for China Beach.

Although both Hyatt and Crowne Plaza will undoubtedly provide ample competition to the Furama resort, the presence of these new developments will also help generate increased marketing exposure to the Danang area as a destination. The Furama resort’s extensive efforts in reaching out to the local community, and the fact that it has already scooped up virtually every award imaginable for a local resort should position the property quite nicely against the new competition.

Linkage
China Beach photo thanks to flickr member besar bears

Fairmont Nile City will be an uber-luxurious five star hotel (even by Fairmont standards), weighing in at 567 rooms. According to the Hotel Management Network, Fairmont Hotels and Resorts (FHR) have entered into a joint venture with the Nile City Investments Company (NCIC) to outfit and manage the property. FHR and the Kingdom Hotel Investment Group (KHI) have invested approximately $10M for an interest of 15 percent each. Development cost for the Nile City hotel is estimated to be approximately $80M USD.

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

Inside the Fairmont Nile City

The property is slated to open later this year under the leadership of veteran Fairmont G.M. Frank Naboulsi. Before arriving in Egypt, Mr. Naboulsi was the G.M. of the Fairmont Dallas where he was an instrumental force behind the dicey (and successful) evacuation of hotel guests at the (former) Fairmont New Orleans during hurricane Katrina in 2005. I had a chance to meet with Frank recently for coffee and I heard the incredible story behind the tenuous situation in New Orleans, which included a heavily armed Navy Seal escort and many, many, tense moments.

The New Orleans scenario is most certainly the stuff of movies, and clearly this was a case of life being stranger than fiction. Mr. Naboulsi is the kind of charismatic G.M. who actively reaches out to, and partners with the local community at every opportunity. When a crisis hits, this is the kind of G.M. who can make things happen. Of course, it didn’t hurt that Frank actually trained with members of the Navy Seals!

The Fairmont Nile City is in high-gear construction mode, which is currently in full swing. Yesterday I was very fortunate to have an insider tour of the hotel with Nassiba Zouinati, Director of Rooms at Nile City. Nassiba transferred to Cairo from the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, and she was a wonderful ambassador for the property. Nassiba introduced me to many key players on Fairmont’s leadership team, and she walked me through the myriad luxury accoutrements the hotel will boast. Panoramic elevators, luxury car service, butlers on call, personalized service around every corner—this hotel is going to have it all.

Check out a quick drive-by capture of the hotel’s facade:

Food and beverage offerings include what will quickly become some of Cairo’s most anticipated outlets. The O Bar will open as a Jazz style cigar and sushi bar on the lobby level, and Saigon Blu will be a top-notch Vietnamese restaurant. Rihan will be a coffee and tea inspired lobby lounge, and the Napa Grill will feature California-modern cuisine for three meal periods—as well as an extensive California wine inventory. Sky Bar and the Sky Pool are located on the 25th floor of the Fairmont Nile City adjacent to the pool and health club. Sky Bar will be a trendy hot-spot hosting international DJ’s, and serving Lebanese cuisine.

Fairmont Nile City’s overall design motif will be heavily influenced by the Art Deco movement, which will also be reflected in guestrooms with rich brown and black tones and extensive dark marble accents and leather throughout the hotel. Sounds like a nightmare for housekeeping, but will definitely be a dramatic, sexy design scheme. I love Art Deco design so I’m excited to see what’s in store for the Nile City. Think New York’s Chrysler Building, and Vancouver’s awesome Marine Building for a little design inspiration.

Posh design elements are going to be incredibly important for Fairmont Nile City’s ability to be competitive in Cairo’s top-heavy luxury hotel market, but service will have to be Fairmont’s unique selling proposition. Service, of course, is orchestrated and delivered by people, and it is Nile City’s people that will be Fairmont’s competitive advantage. During my hotel tour yesterday I met with most of Nile City’s senior management team, and I was struck by their graciousness and enthusiasm. Leadership is young, vibrant and passionate—something that I believe is somewhat atypical in the local market.

My experiences relating to hotel service in Egypt so far (Cairo, Sharm El Sheik and Ain Soukhna) have leveled somewhere between horrific and completely average. If the Nile City can deliver on Fairmont’s promise of “turning moments in to memories”, this hotel is going to re-define what can be achieved in Cairo.

In a recent post, Onsea House revealed some interesting information about expansion plans from German-born Kempinski Hotels, which will include such locations as Comores Islands, Egypt, Mozambique, Seychelles, South Africa, Madagascar, Sudan, Nigeria, Mauritius, Mauritania, Burundi and many more.

Just before Africa’s largest travel show Indaba in Durban, South Africa, Kempinski top management revealed ambitious plans for the group during the 2008 Arabian Travel Market (ATM) which took place at the Dubai International Conference and Exhibition Centre from May 6 to 9.

“Kempinski Hotels has announced its intention to become a clear market leader in Africa, leading global tourism’s foray into the rapidly evolving continent with an unrivalled portfolio of diverse luxury properties - from spectacular city hotels and beach resorts to exotic eco forest retreats and game park lodges.’

>> Check out the entire article on the Onsea House blog...

Construction on the ParaYso Hotel (para-Why-so?) is expected to kick-off in the summer of 2009. Local hospitality entrepreneur Graham Alexander has finalized a land deal at 620 Seymour street for $5.5M, and he plans to develop a small hotel property at the downtown location.

“The Company plans to build a hotel with a roof top bar lounge, of up to 91 nicely designed interior suites, and energy efficient hotel. The interiors will be exquisite but will be for the 20th century where beauty, green and energy are of high concerns. The development is lead by Graham Alexander, a developer of hotels in Mayan Riviera Mexico and Chilliwack, B.C., Canada.”

[via Yahoo! - & no doubt the PR writer meant 21st century]

The ParaYso Hotel will be located near the financial district, within one block of the new Canada Line shuttle from the Vancouver International Airport and a few blocks from the new convention centre. The hotel lies adjacent to the Steve Nash Sports Gym, Gotham Restaurant, and the Shore Club restaurant.

The 600 block of Seymour Street in Vancouver is not exactly the most upscale strip downtown, and incidentally, the hotel’s location sits almost exactly on the spot where two men were gunned down in a targeted gangland shooting in January of this year.

I’m sure developments like the ParaYso Hotel are exactly what Seymour needs as part of a long-term strategy to rejuvenate the area. The newly renovated Moda Hotel to the South on Seymour, and the Delta Suites to the North of the ParaYso will certainly benefit from more hotel critical mass.

And hey, who doesn’t love roof-top lounges? Watch out Loden—yours isn’t going to be the only one in town.

The WTO suggests that in the year 2020, Middle Eastern destinations will receive 68.5 million arrivals (vs. 46.4M in 2007), representing a growth rate of 7.1 percent over the period 1995-2019. The global average for the same year is expected to be 4.1 percent. This is certainly good news for tourism operators in a region marked by incredible growth in the hotel industry, with no immediate signs of abatement.

While the current growth in hotel supply in the Middle East is built on a promise for the future, current hotel industry results in financial performance indicate that the region is on the right track.

ArabianBusiness.com magazine published some impressive Q1 hotel industry statistics yesterday for 2008, confirming the Middle Eastern region’s position as the current world’s top performer in average rate and occupancy.

The study, compiled by industry analysts at Deloitte, reveal a chart-topping average rate of $181 USD, and an overall occupancy of 74.3 percent. Absolute RevPAR (revenue per available room) in the region for Q1 grew 19 percent year over year.

Looking ahead, Rob O’Hanlon, Tourism, Hospitality and Leisure Partner for Deloitte Middle East said: “With the strongest occupancy and average room rates in the world, hotel performance in the Middle East is off to a very good start in 2008.  If the rest of 2008 follows the pattern already set for the first quarter, hoteliers could enjoy a remarkable five-year run of double-digit growth.”

Naturally these results are averaged over a number of distinct and varied hotel markets in the region, with some areas performing significantly better than others. According to Deloitte, the hotel industry in the Middle East has been characterised by two distinct overall segments in 2008:

One segment has shown strong absolute RevPAR and growth in average room rates with a decrease in occupancy due to the influx of new supply. Obvious examples of this market segment include Dubai and Doha.

A second segment in the Middle East is achieving a much lower absolute RevPAR but is experiencing high RevPAR growth, driven by increases in both occupancy and average room rates. Amman and destinations in Egypt are examples of this segment.

Hospitality consultancy HVS International released a fresh study titled Middle East Hotel Survey 2008 (PDF), which offers a gold-mine of interesting statistics about the regional hotel trade.

According to HVS, approximately 253 hotels will be entering the market in the next fours years, adding an additional 120,000 guestrooms to current supply—not including the massive but unconfirmed ”Dubailand” project in the UAE.

“The UAE accounts for nearly 75% of the new supply, followed by Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Oman. Approximately 25,000 rooms are set to enter the Dubai market in 2008, 20,000 in 2009, 25,000 in 2010 and 20,000 in 2011.

The most active operators in the region in terms of brand expansion are Accor, InterContinental Hotels Group, Marriott International, Rotana Hotels, and M?venpick Hotels and Resorts.”

Egypt Hotel Stats—Since our blog HQ is in Cairo, I wanted to share a few local stats compiled by HVS for 2007:

Last year, many markets in Egypt saw occupancy rise by ten percentage points or more. A notable exception was Cairo (City Centre), which saw an increase in guestroom supply. Sharm El Sheikh recorded a rise in occupancy of ten points, Hurghada 11, and Cairo (Heliopolis) 12 points in 2007.

Both Cairo (City Centre) and Cairo (Heliopolis) increased their average rates significantly, by 38 percent and 39 percent respectively over last year (I still think that Cairo is currently undervalued in average rate compared to other destinations!).

And the best news for local hotel owners? Cairo (Pyramids) and Cairo (Heliopolis) experienced growth of 52 percent and 45 percent respectively in GOPPAR (gross operating profit per available room), and Cairo (City Centre) grew their GOPPAR by 14% year over year.

Linkage
Dubai skyline thanks to flickr member [Qba from Poland]

The anticipated restaurant located in Montreal’s newest boutique property plans to “blend urban glamour with modern Asian cuisine in a theatrical, 9000 square foot setting”. Sounds like Vancouver’s thriving Asian-Chic culture is taking over Canada’s hippest city…

Opus Montreal’s Koko Restaurant, the Video:

Executive Chef Don Letendre of Vancouver’s renowned Opus Hotel kitchen has created a pan-Asian menu, served in the Japanese izakaya “sharing-style”. Letendre’s culinary experience in Tokyo, including cooking at popular Soba Ni Umazake Yoshimura, left an indelible impression and influenced his style of clean and innovative cuisine.

Says Letendre, “My experience in Japan taught me about balance between cooking, tasting, and seeing, and gave me a foundation for my senses. It helped me to trust in my hands.”

“Koko adds an exciting new element to the dining scene in Montreal,” says John deC. Evans, President of Opus Hotels. “Much as its setting integrates the classic aspects of Joseph-Arthur Godin’s 1914 art nouveau structure with its adjoining contemporary concrete and glass structure, Koko blends an array of Far Eastern flavours and textures with Western culinary techniques to bring an international dining and socializing experience never before scene in this city.” To set the mood, resident DJs spin with international talent to bring the latest electro-house rhythms from East and West.

Nice Hotel Marketing, Opus

I love the Opus’ promo video-release for Koko. Cheap and cheerful, and effective. 

The folks at Vancouver’s Opus Hotel were early adopters in leveraging social media to connect with their guests when they introduced their popular Blog. The site was very well received by guests and the hotelier community under Opus VP Daniel Craig’s terrific writing. Daniel has since left the company to pursue fame and fortune in the literary world, but you can still read his hilarious hotel dispatches at his new blog.

I receive lots of boring industry press releases (usually unsolicited) in my inbox, and virtually all of them hit my trash folder unread. Not this one though, because Debbie did her homework. She knew a little about me (like, my name for starters), and she presented her info in a way that she knew would be meaningful to me.  And it worked.

Through our interactions, I was made to feel that that Opus Hotels would also make an effort to connect with me in a personalized manner.

Opus is a pretty cool boutique brand in Canada—one of the few in my mind who offer a chic, “happening” vibe. This is a rare experience indeed for a Canadian hotel (c’mon fellow Canadians, you know it’s true). I’ve been a fan of the Opus in Vancouver for years.

Next time I am in Montreal I will be first in line to check out the Opus Montreal—and you can be sure that I’ll try Koko Restaurant + Bar. Thinking about it right now is making me dread hitting the streets of Cairo in my never-ending search for decent cuisine (c’mon fellow Caireans—you know it’s true).

Linkage
Opus Montreal [Vacant Ready]
Recent Feature [Montreal Real Estate Blog] - thx 4 the link!

My favorite “personal” hotel industry perspective has to be a blog called Feather or Foam written by the ‘Queen of Clean’ herself. The QofC resides in Cork, Ireland, and she’s a self-styled “Hotel Management Type Thingy”.

QofC often writes about her daily life in the resort where she works, and some of these posts are hilarious.

Here’s a personal fave, titled “Gimme Gimme Gimme”:

“Why can’t I have a discount”?

(Because you’re a flatulent greedy bitch that’s why)

“Because Company policy does not allow extra discounts on top of special rates for tour operators”

“But the special rates are only for the room, not the facilities”

(You already get nearly 50% off, how fucking greedy can you get?)

“Sorry, I really cannot change Company policy”

(Actually I can, but you have really put my back up, you have been clicking your knobbly fingers at the waiters since you walked in the door, who do you think you are, you sell rooms, that’s all, you sell holidays and shit)

“But I bring you lots of business don’t I?”

(Yes you do, and so do a lot of other operators/agents, stop making a fool of yourself, and go home, I am not giving you the steam off my.... anxious nods from a co worker trying to tell me that my 11 O’clock appointment is here)!

“Well, I really cannot understand why you won’t bend the rules a little, I mean you could give me lodge for a night or two, you’re not full, and I have some colleagues coming over for a couple of days...they are very interested in seeing the standard of accommodation, just as a goodwill gesture? Some of these people are very influential, they will love it here and they would be willing to do wonderful PR for the Resort....”

Response: [insert expletives en-masse here] ....click here to read the Queen of Clean’s response!

Ouch!