Marriott International is planning a corporate reorganization in which there will be four autonomous divisions, and Ritz-Carlton operations will be brought within the corporate structure, according to Travel Weekly.
The final details of the plan, including the number of jobs that will be moved or eliminated, are still being worked out, though Marriott President Arne Sorenson said, "The number of jobs lost will not be very large." He said there would be “significant reshuffling.”
PKF Hospitality Research surveyed a national sample of nearly 100 meeting planners on behalf of ConventionSouth magazine.
Roughly one quarter of the respondents are planning fewer meetings and exhibitions in 2009 compared to 2008. Next year, the majority of respondents expect the count of events to remain the same as 2009. It appears the market has reached the bottom and stabilized.
In 2009 and 2010, attendance has surpassed expectations for an increasing number of planners, as opposed to falling below expectations. After being surprised by the dramatic fall off in 2008, planners must have lowered their future expectations for attendance.
Surprisingly, only 54.7 percent of the respondents said that the economy has affected their destination and venue selection. In addition, fewer planners are looking at secondary and tertiary cities in 2009 compared to 2008. PKF believes this is partially attributable to the lowering of room rates and other meeting costs at the first-tier cities.
Read more about the findings from the PKF survey.
Deloitte, the business advisory firm, has found that year-to-September hotel performance fell across Europe. Revenue per available room performance in European hotels was down 19.2 percent to €58 (US$87). This decline was driven by a 12.3-percent drop in average room rates to €108 (US$162), while occupancy levels fell to 61.6 percent.
Alex Kyriakidis, global managing partner of Tourism Hospitality & Leisure at Deloitte, said: “The past year has been one of turbulence for European hoteliers as the economic crisis has taken its toll. Soaring unemployment, the outbreak of the H1N1 influenza virus and the strength of the Euro against many world currencies has seriously impacted hotel performance in Europe.”
In the euro zone, hoteliers saw RevPAR fall 16.8 percent as the strength of the Euro against Sterling deterred travellers to the traditional hotspots of Spain, France and Italy. However, countries outside the euro zone did not come out unscathed, with RevPAR dipping in excess of 20 percent, as average room rates drove the decline, according to data from STR Global.
Read the full press release from Deloitte.
Apollo Management, a private equity firm with some hotel investments, is planning to list on the New York Stock Exchange in the coming weeks, according to The Financial Times.
Apollo, which has US$38.3 billion in assets under management, would be the second buy-out firm to list in New York, after Blackstone, which went public in 2007. Apollo also bought bonds in Harrah’s Entertainment earlier this month.
Amid a continued high level of inquiries for possible new projects, the Architecture Billings Index (ABI) reached its highest mark since August 2008, just before the serious credit problems emerged in our economy, according to the American Institute of Architects. As a leading economic indicator of construction activity, the ABI reflects the approximate nine to 12-month lag time between architecture billings and construction spending. The AIA reported the October ABI rating was 46.1, up sharply from 43.1 in September. This score, however, indicates a continued decline in demand for design services (any score above 50 indicates an increase in billings). The new projects inquiry score was 58.5, following the 59.1 mark in September.
“This news could prove to be an early signal towards a recovery for the design and construction industry,” said AIA Chief Economist Kermit Baker. “On the other hand, because we continue to get reports of architecture firms struggling in a competitive marketplace with a continued decline in commercial property values, it is far too early to think we are out of the woods.”
Compiled by Stacey Higgins.
