There’s been a new agreement between Starwood Hotels & Resorts and one of the major credit cards companies, MasterCard, to offer U.S. travelers better benefits when traveling to Latin America.

The partnership consists on providing MasterCard cardholders better benefits and exclusive offers at the Starwoods & Resort Hotel all around Latin America.

MasterCard cardholders will saver more than 25% when they stay at any of the Starwoods & Resort Hotels in Latin America. Starting now, until September 30th, MasterCard cardholders will have the option to choose from a one night free when they purchase two or receive 25% off on stays of 5 nights.

The hotel group Accor, the Tainui Group Holdings and Auckland International Airport have recently signed a joint venture to build a 260 room Novotel hotel at Auckland Aiport.

The hotel will be finished in time for the Rugby World Cup in 2011 and it will be a world-class hotel featuring Novotel Hotels’ signature.

The Novotel at Auckland Airport will be designed by Warren & Mahoney Architects and they will incorporate the culture and heritage from New Zealand. The new Novotel will be also managed by Accor under its well-known brand Novotel.

The Novotel Auckland Airport Hotel will be open in the first quarter of 2011.

The Shangri-La’s Villingili Resort and Spa is the first international luxury resort to be opened i Southern Maldives Archipelago.

The hotel opened on Sunday, July 26th,2009 welcoming guest from all over the world. This is the first hotel opened in the southern-most tip of Addu Atoll, which is to be considered one of the least explode areas in the world.

Jens Moesker, General Manager of the Shangri-La’s Villingili Resort and Spa commented on the opening:”After months of preparation and tailored training in order to provide our guests with discreet, personalized and renowned Shangri-La hospitality, we are delighted to launch Shangri-La’s Villingili Resort and Spa, Maldives.”

The resort has 142 private ocean retreats to tropical luxury tree house villas in a unique location featuring the most luxury accommodation in the area.

LaSalle Hotel Properties has recently reported a significant profit drop in this second quarter of 2009. The earnings were cut in half as room rates and occupancy kept falling down.

The Hotel George in D.C. and the Hilton Alexandria Old Town are suffering the global crisis. According to last year’s net income of $20. million which means 51 cents per share, these hotels went down to a net income of $8.2 million, 16 cents per share in 2009.

Mr. John Bortz, LaSalle Chief Executive commented on this drastic drop:”In light of the substantial reductions in revenues so far this year, our team and our operators continue to develop and implement cost savings measures.”

LaSalle Hotel Properties owns the Hotel George in D.C. and the Hilton Alexandria Old Town among other properties.

India’s ITC has released the information that they are looking for a hotel partnership to spend $2 billion in hotels business over a period of 5 years.

The firm ITC Ltd isn’t interested in big hotel chains, they are seeking small hotels to partner with them to expand. It was at the ITC’s annual shareholders meeting where Y.C. Deveshwar commented about partnering with small hotels:”It could be a strategic partnership which could have a common branding exercise and marketing under a common umbrella.”

The company is planning to keep investing money on the hotels that they’ve already owned.

According to the Starwood Hotels & Resorts report, there has been an increase of revenue in the second quarter of 2009.

Executives from the firm Starwood Hotels & Resort have commented that there’s been a 28% increase profit on the back of $120 million tax benefit.

Mr. Frits Van Paasschen, Starwood’s Chief Executive has commented:”Despite an estimated $10 million impact from H1N1 during the quarter, we were able to beat expectations based on our continued focus on managing costs and driving revenue.”

The firm is expecting to keep growing by the end of this year and they are confident that the 28% increase profit is a promising sign.

The Holiday Inn Express is going to open its second hotel in Bogota, Colombia. The 11-story 76-room hotel will join the Holiday Inn Express chain in this country.

The hotel will be located in the OXO Center of Bogota near the park “Parque de la 93″. The Group Contempo S.A. is the owner of the Holiday Inn Express in Colombia.

The hotel will feature a fully equipped business center, five boardroom-style meeting rooms, fitness center and free WiFi.

Mr. Alvaro Diago, President of IHG in Latin America commented:”We are very proud to be opening this hotel as we continue to grow our midscale brands throughout Latin America.”

The HSH (Hongkong and Shangai Hotels Ltd.) has recently announced that they have signed a $1.225 Billion four year term loan facility with a group of seven international banks.

The leader banks that will finance the loan are from Australia and New Zealand. However, the Bank of China and HSBC, among others.

Mr. NEil Galloway, Chief Executive Officer of HSH commented on this loan facility:” This is the first time for several years that HSH has come to market in Hong Kong, and our financing has met with a very strong response from the bank market.”

The HSH Ltd. is a holding company that manages thousand of prestigious hotels and commercial and residential property around the world.

The Hilton Firm has recently signed the Franchise License Agreements in Tanzania with the owners of the Opulent Hotel Group. The Hilton Hotels Corporation will introduce the Doubletree by Hilton brand in Africa.

Senior Vice President of Hilton Hotels Europa and Africa Mr. Patrick Fitzgibbon commented on this agreement:” Our belief is that guests and investors should be able to choose between a multitude of brands each offering a range of services relevant to their travel needs, whether traveling on business or for pleasure. Tanzania as a whole has seen an increase in international tourist arrivals, as well as domestic and intra-regional travel, leading to high demand for quality hotel accommodation.”

The Hilton Hotels Brand has more than 200 locations around the world and the Doubletree by Hilton will introduce leisure and business to travelers in Africa.

From June 22nd to 25th, the 2009 Hospitality Industry Technology Exposition and Conference was held at the Anaheim Convention Center in California. There were more than 3,700 hospitality professionals attending the conference and the main issue discussed was technology.

The conference touched different topics, but the most important to be addressed was the necessity of improving technology in the industry. Along the conference a variety of new techniques and exhibitions were exposed to the attendees to make their business more profitable.

They’ve announced the launching of new products to the market and professionals from the hospitality industry discussed their signature technology to help others to improve the industry.