- Travel industry forecasts 90,000 new jobs in 2010
- Florida lawsuit alleges Orbitz and Expedia pocket millions in skimmed hotel taxes
- Coyle Hospitality Survey finds expensive spas still popular
- San Francisco hotel workers end 4-day walkout
- Five-star hotel in Croatia empty for 18 years
- India Hospitality Corp. plans multi-million-dollar acquisition fund
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) -- The U.S. Travel Association today is wearing rose-colored spectacles. The trade group predicts nearly 90,000 new jobs will be created in 2010 as the $770 billion travel industry gradually improves.
The industry lost a total 400,000 jobs in 2008 and 2009.
The trade group states leisure travel is expected to rise by 2 percent in 2010; business travel by 2.5 percent; and international inbound travel, by 3 percent.
The new-jobs forecast was made by Roger Dow, the group's president and CEO.
"The travel industry shares President Obama's goal of putting Americans back to work," says Dow. "Our industry is uniquely capable of adapting to economic upswings and quickly adding tens of thousands of jobs."
Dow says the travel industry is asking the Obama Administration and Congress to build a growth program that would include:
- Passage of the Travel Promotion Act to encourage millions of travelers to visit the U.S.
- Improvements in the visa and entry processes that have "largely driven the decline" in overseas travel to the U.S. after Sept. 9, 2001.
- Funding for a "NextGen' air traffic control system that will limit flight delays, cancellations and negative impact on the environment.
Suzanne Cook
- Encouragement of meetings, events and incentive programs through tax deductions and other mechanisms.
Suzanne Cook, the group's senior vice president of research, is confident there will be "a slight increase in business travel next year, based in part on pent-up demand for face-to-face meetings that drive growth and productivity" in the corporate arena.
(TALLAHASSEE, FL) -- Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum continues to press ahead with a lawsuit against online travel reservation companies Orbitz and Expedia.
The suit alleges the firms have skimmed millions of hotel tax dollars that should have been sent to the state's coffers in Tallahassee.
"Orbitz and Expedia are not remitting to the state all the taxes they have collected," McCollum charges.
Andrew Weinstein, a spokesman for the Washington, DC-based Travel Services Association, says the suit is without merit. "...It will hurt the interest of millions of travelers and tourism workers in Florida," Weinstein says.
Meanwhile, Florida Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink is pushing the Cabinet to add (political and legal) pressure on the companies.
"In these tough budget times, I hope we can ensure that these companies pay what may be owed to Florida, instead of pocketing the tax our citizens have already shelled out," Sink states.
(NEW YORK, NY) -- Coyle Hospitality Group of New York City and WTS International of Rockville, MD have completed a study showing consumer demand for expensive hotel spa services is still alive and well, even in a Recession.
"We found it particularly interesting that, despite the economy, many of the respondents could be swayed to spend more at spas with the right motivating forces, some of which were unexpected," says Arthur Chang, Coyle's vice president of development.
"People need to feel like their treatments are truly an "investment" in their well being and are looking for getting a value," Chang says.
"Many also commented that they would be drawn to spas that are somehow giving back to the community."
He says the survey highlights show:
- 74% cited word-of-mouth referrals as their primary method of selecting a new spa
- 69% had their most recent spa experience at a location near where they live; 21% were at a hotel they stayed at for leisure
- 84% say it is important for therapists to explain products and their benefits during the treatment
- 82% are interested in buying a series package in order to achieve benefits of skin care
- 81% cited discounts, not free treatments, as their number one reason to try a new spa
(SAN FRANCISCO, CA) -- Hotel workers at the Grand Hyatt Union Square are back at work today after staging a four-day limited strike against Hyatt Hotels Corp. (HYSE: H), the Chicago-based chain whose principal owners are the Pritzker Family.
The work stoppage comes two weeks after 92 percent of members in United Here Local 2 voted to authorize strikes at any of 31 luxury hotel properties in San Francisco.
Thomas J. Pritzker
Casey says that "despite amassing record profits over the preceding five years, hotel corporations in San Francisco and elsewhere have been using the economic downturn as an excuse to squeeze workers for long-term concessions."
Casey cited three non-union Hyatt hotels in Boston where the company recently fired all housekeepers and replaced them with outsourced workers paid about half of what the fired workers earned.
At the same time, he points out, Hyatt's CEO (Mark S. Hoplamazian) was paid $6.7 million in compensation for 2008 and its chairman (Thomas J. Pritzker) received a bonus of $1.4 million, according to Hotelnewsnow.com.
(DUBROVNIK, CROATIA) -- This is one for Ripley's Believe It or Not series.
The 450-room Hotel Belvedere, facing the Adriatic Sea and overlooking the historic city of Dubrovnik, has not had a paid guest in 18 years - even though an estimated nine million visitors vacationed on the scenic Dalmation Coast from January to August of this year.
The reason: Croatia's government bureaucracy and private interests have never agreed on how the hotel should be managed and operated. The government partly owns the hotel.
To generate some revenue from the property, the government rents the hotel roof for cell phone towers at a rate of $5,200 a month (3,500 euros), and leases the hotel's gutted lobby to companies and individuals for boat repairs.
Bill Montgomery
Tomislav Perovic, managing director, Colliers Croatia, also tells Reuters, privatization of properties is an almost insurmountable task.
"During communism, in the smaller areas, people had this sort of special fee taken out of their salaries put into the small town of Korkula, the most populated of Croatia's more than 1,000 island sites," Perovic says. "So everyone feels they have a right for anything that is happening to their city."
Meanwhile, Andro Viahusic, the mayor of Dubrovnik, tells Reuters he is "fed up with the delays (in renovating the Belvedere Hotel) and threatens to change the hotel's zoning permission to a museum, unless reconstruction begins soon."
(MUMBAI, INDIA) -- India Hospitality Corp. managing director and CEO Ravi Deol says his company plans to launch a multi-million-dollar acquisition fund to acquire growing hotel properties in the second and third-tier cities of India.
IHC's existing partners such as Navis Capital will contribute to the non-dilutive fund, rather than IHC using its own equity for the acquisitions, IHC chief operations officer Sandeep Vyas told VCCircle.com.
The company also hopes to raise funds from other institutional investors in the overseas market.
"We are largely looking at close to completion or completed projects," Vyas says.
He adds IHC sees Central India as a strong growth opportunity. IHC recently acquired the franchise rights for Pizza Hut from Treasure Food & beverage Ltd.
Leave a comment