An existing building in Diyarbakir, with a café famous among both locals and travelers, will be converted into a 161-room hotel, the first property of InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) in this city. Holiday Inn Diyarbakir – City Center shows the continuous expansion of the company that has, at the present moment, 15 hotels in Turkey […]
IHG
Accor & Other Hotels Say Bye Bye to Summer Profits
Just as some have feared but so few forecast officially, this Summer’s travel was not as big a hit as expected. When Accor Hotel Group warned their investors profit may not meet expectations last week the recession’s effect on hoteliers was cemented for the season.
The Curious Case of Room Key
A news release yesterday via Business Wire tells of conglomerate hotel booking site Room Key’s coming out of Beta status. What’s curious about this news is not so much the fluffy nature of it, but claims of millions having flocked to the startup to book their hotel rooms. At least this is the feel of the announcement. A bit of one of those “non-event” specialties creative PR agencies excel at perhaps? What’s the real story?
Roomkey: On the Verge of Success & Failure At Once
Roomkey. If there were ever a more appropriate name for a hotel booking channel, a more symbolically significant potential for branding, that would have to be perfection. Roomkey.com actually does have that possibility. But, like all great ideas and initiatives, the big time hoteliers’ 3rd interjection of intelligent engagement, has it’s problems too. There’s room for lots of niche products in travel, but is Roomkey an escape hatch or a marketing channel? And if exit marketing is introduced, even niche traffic and conversions could be scared away.
Who’s the Big Bad Wolf of Hotel Marketing?
Just out, the Distribution Channel Analysis study via the American Hotel Lodging Association (AH&LA) and STR, has been released. The detailed study, supposedly aimed at helping “all” hoteliers better understand hotel room distribution, discusses distribution channel mix, among other salient hotel profitability instances. But, is the study really meant for all hoteliers, or just the fat cats?