For the first time in four weeks, US Hotels posted positive gains in all three key performance measurements according to data form STR.

In year-over-year measurements, occupancy rose 2.0 percent, ADR saw 0.6% boost, and RevPAR increased 2.6 percent.

Some chain-scale segments did not enjoy the boost, however, especially the luxury segment which experienced a 4.5% drop in occupancy, a 12.2% dive in ADR and a 16.1% dip in RevPAR.

“While the outlook for the first six months of 2009 is not favorable, we still remain optimistic that performance will pick up in the second half of the year.” - Brad Garner, VP of Operations/Client Services at STR

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By now, we’ve become pretty accustomed to the amazing architecture and absurdly expensive luxury hotels and development projects in Dubai. But now they’re talking about keeping the sand artificially cool so that bathers can take in the sun without getting scorched.

It’s part of Palazzo Versace’s marketing gimmick, the newest Dubai Hotel in the making.

The beach is part of the $609 million investment, which includes a 12-story luxury hotel and residence complex. It’s been designed by the Milan-based fashion house, and according to the development crew the hotel should be ready for 2010.

As far as the beach, they’re considering using heat-deflecting materials and creative landscaping that would provide shade. If not, they may just direct the AC exhaust from the hotel to the beach. It is just another audacious over-the-top project, which most have grown accustomed to seeing in Dubai, city of the ultra-rich.

“Everything being developed in Dubai is over the top,” observed Stephen P. Leatherman, director of the International Hurricane Research Center & Laboratory for Coastal Research at Florida International University in Miami. But he added that the notion of cooling beach sand through “piped-in AC is ridiculous.” He said natural approaches such as spraying water from the sea or planting trees would be better if hot sand “is really that big of a problem.”

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Marriott International will be opening the Courtyard by Marriott Hotel in St. Petersburg, Russia in late 2009.

The hotel is part of a long-term agreement between Marriott International and OOO Stoiprogress.

The hotel will be located within a short walk to the famous Marinsky Theater It will be the second hotel of Marriott’s Courtyard-branded chain in St Petersburg.

‘The continued expansion of our hotel portfolio in St. Petersburg is exciting and we’re delighted to be part of the re-emergence of St. Petersburg as a vibrant cultural, commercial and leisure destination,’ said Arne Sorenson, Marriott’s chief financial officer and president of European lodging.

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Online video advertising spending is forecasted to run counter to economic developments, surging 45% in 2009 to reach over $850 million.

Part of this is due to the increasing quality and proliferation of high quality video content on the web. Major studios, television stations and other media are investing more time and money into their web video products, including putting copies of their telivision drama and series shows on their websites.

The other part comes from the tightness of ad budgets across all industries. Spending millions on single television campaigns is becoming prohibitive, especially when a cheaper medium for releasing their video is out there. Hotels can still reach out to clients with emotional messages to their customers via video, but save major budget dollars by releasing them to web audiences.

It is part of a larger trend of online advertising that will ignore the economic downturn to increase 14.9% overall in 2009, topping an impressive $12.3 billion. 

While online advertising cannot claim to be recession-proof, it is certainly recession-resistant. Its low-cost and large audience is proof of that, as is its continued growth, even amid worldwide recession.

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According to TopHotelProjects.com, more than 500 new first class and luxury hotels will be opening in the next months around the world.

28 percent will be opening in Europe, 27 percent in North America, and 41 percent in East Asia. Most of the largest hotels will be opening across Asia.

“After the first climax of the financial crunch, of course we watch the hotel projects market even more closely”, Rolf W. Schmidt, managing owner of tophotelprojects.com® reported. “Up to now we noticed only a few delays or even aborts of hotel construction or modification projects.”

Read the full details of opening hotels.

The US Hotel industry continued to post declines, this time in three key areas for the week ending December 6th, 2008.

“Continued macroeconomic deterioration is taking its toll on the U.S. lodging industry for another year,” said Jan Freitag, vice president of global development for STR. “This is now four out of the past five weeks that we’ve seen double-digit RevPAR declines, which are driven by double-digit occupancy declines in most major chain scales.”

Year-over-year measurements show that the industry’s occupany fell 9.8 percent to 50.2 percent, average daily rates dipped 3.2 percent to $103.45, and RevPAR dropped 12.7 percent to $51.93.

“The only silver lining is city conventions in Chicago, New Orleans and San Francisco, which account for the double-digit ADR growth for the week,” Freitag added.

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According to a report released by research authority PhoCusWright Inc., the Online Travel Agency market share has benefited from a counter-cyclical lift.

Currently the forcecast is that Online Travel Agencies will hold roughly 39% of market share to the Supplier Websites’ 61% well in to 2010.

Supplier websites grew rapidly as a result of mass advertising and the maturing of the online booking market. As a result, travel agencies saw a steady decline in their share of purchases and bookings made online.

Now the economic crisis has caused the Supplier Websites’ companies to pull back on their aggressive advertising campaign, giving room for the Online Travel Agencies to gain back a few points and entrench their position.

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NEW YORK, NY (December 8th, 2008) - Morgans Hotel Group Co. (NASDAQ: MHGC) and UrbanDaddy today announced a partnership to publish distinctive city guides on Morgans Hotel Group’s interactive website, launching today December 8, 2008.

‘The List’ (thelist.morganshotelgroup.com) - created exclusively for Morgans Hotel Group by the company’s world-class concierges in collaboration with UrbanDaddy’s national team of cool hunters – will feature up-to-the-minute news relating to local restaurants, nightlife, fashion and events in and around Morgans Hotel Group’s current markets in Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, San Francisco and London.

“Though we have very diverse guests they definitely all have one thing in common: they share our taste for the bold and the lifestyle that Morgans affords them. ‘The List’ will be a great way for us to share what inspires us as a company and as travelers,“ explains Morgans Hotel Group’s Chief Marketing Officer, Scott Williams. “UrbanDaddy has the necessary resources to make this project successful, and, more importantly, they completely understand our vision; we are stoked to be partnering with them“

UrbanDaddy is a sophisticated e-mail magazine and website that delivers a daily missive on luxury culture to discerning subscribers across the country. Through this new alliance, Morgans Hotel Group and UrbanDaddy will redefine the way guests think about hotel websites. ‘The List’ will serve as a digital destination for travelers and locals in search of the best in town.

“UrbanDaddy has obsessively compiled one of the most relevant and well-curated collections of city guide content around, with the unique ability to keep that information current, even up-to-the minute,” said Lance Broumand, founder and CEO of UrbanDaddy. “Given the style and sophistication of the Morgans brand, properties and guests, the opportunity is a great match for UrbanDaddy, which is all about delivering that lifestyle set with exclusive, in-the-know information through our daily publication.”

‘The List’ will be updated daily by expert concierges on each property, and give site visitors access to UrbanDaddy’s vast, dynamic and up-to-date database of cleverly written news about the latest nightlife, food, fashion and events for each market.

STR’s report for the US Hotel Industry for the week ending 29 November 2008 show large year-over-year drop offs.

The decreases are large in part because of the Thanksgiving holiday, which fell on the 27th this year and usually falls on the 22nd. The holiday is usually always a slow one for the US market.

Room occupancy fell 22.6 percent to 41.5 percent in year-over-year measurements according to the report. RevPAR fell 32.0 percent to end at $37.70, compared to $55.48 in 2007.

The numbers certainly aren’t the greatest, but they aren’t as bad as they may look,” said Mark Lomanno, president of STR. “Beyond the typical decline of the Thanksgiving holiday, the figures are in line with the downward trend the industry has been experiencing, especially when you consider the 28-day moving average.

“The last two weeks have been a bit of a roller coaster ride because the date of Thanksgiving shifted,” Lomanno added. “However, the industry appears to have settled into a pattern of declining year-over-year comparisons-a trend we expect to continue through at least the first quarter of 2009.”

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The $175 billion corporate meetings industry is taking a serious blow as companies of all sizes scramble to cut costs by reducing the number of conferences they hold.

With fewer big meetings in distant cities, companies save millions on airlines tickets, bookings, hotel rooms and a range of associated expenses. It’s not surprise that it is currently set neatly in their sites as they struggle to cut down costs.

While it seems an ideal and relatively nonintrusive way to save millions in expenditures per year, the sudden cut backs are creating a very real crises in the service industries that relied on them.

“I’ve been in this business 40 years and I’ve never seen anything like this before,” said Kevin Maguire, president of the National Business Travel Association.

“I call it the DDE for ‘devastating domino effect’,” said Maguire. It is having an impact from cab drivers and florists to restaurants and street vendors.”

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