Hotel brands are looking beyond Brazil, Russia, India and China as it relates to global development, according to Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels.
Branded international expansion is likely to accelerate in such markets as Indonesia, Malaysia, Nigeria, Turkey and Vietnam.
“Hotels in the United States and Western Europe are heavily weighted towards global brands, with nearly 70% of all properties bearing globally recognized names. The situation in much of the rest of the world is almost the inverse in the aggregate,” Clay Dickinson, executive VP for JLLH and leader of the firm’s Strategic Advisory and Asset Management division in Latin America. “The need to be in markets in which their customers are increasingly traveling, limited competition from local hotel brands and the potential to capitalize on the rapidly growing middle class incentivizes international companies to continue expanding abroad, ideally until the size of their presence abroad more closely reflects that in their home markets.”
As has been the case with several other first-quarter hotel earnings reports of late, Choice Hotels International said it notched gains in key hotel operating metrics.
Domestic system-wide revenue per available room was up 8.6% during the quarter; occupancy increased by 2.5 percentage points; and average daily rate grew by 2.5%.
"Domestic RevPAR growth exceeded our expectations due to a combination of strong occupancy gains and increases in average daily rates," President and CEO Stephen P. Joyce said in a news release. "While the development environment continues to be challenging, we are pleased with the continued strengthening of leisure travel and the success of our programs designed to drive business through our central reservation channels, which deliver guests at the highest average daily rates."
U.S. hotels recorded growth in occupancy, RevPAR and ADR for the week ending 21 April, according to data from STR, parent company of HotelNewsNow.com.
In year-over-year comparisons for the week, occupancy was up 12.6% to 65.5%; ADR increased 7.8% to $106.66; and RevPAR jumped 21.4% to $69.91.
The strong weekly performance, particularly in the group segment, is a result of the easy year-over-year comparisons; the week of 17-23 April 2011 led up to the Easter weekend.
When faced with an I-9 audit, employers should have a comprehensive internal I-9 policy in place to reduce some of the burden caused by errors, experts said during a recent webinar, according to a report from HotelNewsNow.com’s Alissa Ponchione.
Hiring outside counsel was a common theme during the webinar. “No matter how good the internal people are, it’s always beneficial to have a second set of eyes,” said Paul Zulkie, managing principal at Zulkie Partners LLC, a law firm specializing in immigration law. An outside law firm can give a business an objective perspective and provide expertise on I-9 regulations.
An added benefit of consulting outside counsel deals with attorney-client privilege. “When an attorney is doing the audit, it becomes information that can’t be disclosed,” Ilana Drummond, partner at San Francisco-based Jackson & Hertogs said. “If an employee does it, they can be deposed and be asked questions that cannot be asked of an attorney. The information the attorney gains in an audit can’t be questioned in any legal process.”
Marriott International intends to open at least one hotel in China every month during the next three years. Contributing to its China push, the company announced that it signed a long-term management deal with Galaxy Entertainment Group for more than 1,300 rooms, suites and floating villas at the Ritz-Carlton Macau and the JW Marriott Hotel Macau. The properties anchor the second phase of the Galaxy Macau.
As of the end of the first quarter, Marriott’s pipeline of hotels either under or approved for construction in China totaled 54 properties and 17,000 rooms.
Compiled by Shawn A. Turner.
