The Strathcona Hotel, who generates 50% of all of their business online, was elected the 2008 eMarketer of the year. The award was presented before an audience of global industry leaders at the 2008 HSMAI Adrian Awards Gala in New York.

Accepting the award for The Strathcona Hotel was Ashok Narula, General Manager. “We are honored to receive the eMarketer of Year Award,” said Narula.  “The Strathcona has worked diligently to find the right balance ofonline marketing strategies, especially when it comes to our presence in the social networking world.  As communities on the web become the standard for connecting online, it is vital to understand how to leverage that channel for capturing profitable, and repeatable, business.”

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The gloom remains in the US Hotel Industry, which posted declines in all three key performance measurements yet again for the week ending January 17th, 2009, according to data from STR.

Year-over-year measurements revealed a decline in room occupancy by 12.9 percent, with average daily daily rates dropping 4.0 percent. RevPAR decreased 16.4 percent.

“It was more of the same,” said Brad Garner, vice president of operations/client services at STR. “The economy is battering the hotel industry.”

“We are mildly disappointed by the performance of the Middle Atlantic and Southeast regions where we thought there would be more of an uplift heading into Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend and Inauguration Day,” he added, “but we are still optimistic that we’ll see the true effect of the ‘Obama bounce’ in next week’s results.”

As has been the case, the Luxury segment posted the biggest declines, while the economy segment had the smallest decreases.

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Asian hotels, airlines and tourism operators are preparing themselves for a tough year in 2009 as the financial crisis continue to escalate and erode their incoming numbers.

“There’ll definitely be a drop in business, fewer tourists is a reality,” said Laurence Lai, the owner of two photo galleries at Hong Kong tourist hotspots, including the Star Ferry pier, selling iconic images of the former British colony.

“I expect a 30 percent fall at least. I’m having to shift my strategies to confront this financial tsunami, but you just have to stand firm and face the winds,” added Lai, who relies on tourists for half his sales.

Since the downturn in 2008, the neon-lit cities, impressing snow capped Himalayas and sandy beaches haven’t been enough to lure careful buyers. 

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Priceline.com announced today that The Travel Ekspert, a new blog, will launch. The blog promises to be full of budget-friendly travel suggestions and tips, as well as on advice for how to use the site’s various services, find smoking deals and other goodies.

Brian Ek will be the new editor, the long time Priceline.com in-house travel expert since the service’s launch 10 years ago.

“Travel prices are constantly changing, sometimes several times in a single day,” said Ek. “For consumers, the challenges are finding out where the bargains are and how to get them. The mission of The Travel Ekspert is to do the legwork for our readers, keep a close eye on what’s happening in the markets, and be the first to let them know when can’t-miss travel bargains hit our radar scope.”

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IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) celebrated the opening of Hotel Indigo London Paddington, the first Hotel Indigo outside of North America, as well as announcing a deal that will see three more Hotel Indigos in the city in the near future.

Hotel Indigo is the boutique hotel brand of IHG. It has 21 hotels open in North America and 56 hotels in the global development pipeline.

Speaking at the opening Andy Cosslett, chief executive, IHG, said: “Hotel Indigo combines the feel of a boutique hotel with the benefits of a large hotel group, including our reservation systems and loyalty programme.  The brand has been a success in the Americas and we are confident we can grow it around the world.”

He continued: “Hotel Indigo suits converting existing buildings as each hotel is designed to be different.  Conversions generally require less financing and can be up and running more quickly than new build hotels, which is an attractive option for owners given the current economic conditions.”

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The 57 new locations are comprised of 50 Motel 6 locations and 7 Studio 6 properties, totaling 4,837 rooms.

Accor is keeping to its goal of doubling the number of franchise properties for its economy brands.

‘Our growth plans in North America are consistent with Accor’s philosophy to maintain balance as an owner/operator, management partner and franchisor,’ said Olivier Poirot, CEO for Accor North America, Motel 6 and Studio 6. ‘By increasing the growth of both franchised and corporately-owned locations in our network, Accor is getting closer to achieving our goal of reaching 1,200 North American properties by 2010.’

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With the Hotel Industry facing the lowest occupancy rates since 1971, many trends, some of them alarming, are emerging. 

First and foremost, travelers are going to become much more demanding, and much less forgiving. Hotels need to make sure they get it right and do things well. With every penny assigned a much higher value in 2009, customers want to make sure they’re getting more than their money’s worth.

To make the first point more complicated, service levels are going to suffer as a result of layoffs and labor shortages in an attempt to cut costs. Likewise, many eco-friendly initiatives are going to be thrown out the window as cost-reduction will become the one and only goal. 

Read the full story here for the other trends predicted to emerge.

The US Hotel Industry saw declines in three key performance areas from 28 December-03 January.

RevPAR dropped 3.6 percent compared to the same week a year ago. Occupancy rate fell 0.5 percent, and average room rate declined 3.2 percent.

Depending on the segment, performance varied. Luxury segment saw occupancy jump 2.5%, while the other figures fell more drastically. Economy segment saw modest decliners of less than 2 percent in each area, while the Indpendent segment saw a bump up in occupancy and modest declines in the other area.

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The LuxuryMart09 annual luxury  business-to-business event sponsored by the Hurun Report will be held at the Pudong Shangri-La in Shanghai Thursday January 15th. It will welcome over 50 of the world’s top luxury brands including bentley, Princess Yachts, Cartier, Bank of China and Relais & Chateaux.

Commenting on this year’s ‘LuxuryMart’, Rupert Hoogewerf said “This is not just another conference in the business calendar, it’s an annual, private, peer to peer gathering designed to act as a powerful matchmaker between like-minded luxury professionals. It is the kind of event for which senior luxury brand decision-makers are ready to commit their time and energy.”

China is the fastest growing market for luxury goods in the world, and is forecasted to rank second only to Japan by 2015. The ‘Rich List’ of China includes 1,000 people with wealth in excess of $100 million or more and over 800,000 millionaires.

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