Seems New Orleans hoteliers have more to smile about than just their hometown Saints’ first Super Bowl triumph. USA Today reports the city’s hotels have seen a rush of reservations since 24 January when it became known that the Saints would play in the NFL’s biggest game.

"New Orleans and the hotels have been suffering quite a lot," said Simone Rathle, spokeswoman for the Soniat House Hotel in the French Quarter, which booked up soon after the Saints entered the Super Bowl. "People are looking at the Saints as their savior."

And we’ll bet area hoteliers are hoping more visitors share the same sentiment as New Orleans visitor Steve Garbarino.

"This changes everything,” said Garbarino, 46, a writer from New York in town for the game, as he jumped out of Cosimo's bar in the French Quarter on Sunday, minutes after the Saints won Super Bowl XLIV. "It's gigantic. It's mega. I don't want to leave—ever!"

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide’s proposed relocation of its corporate headquarters to Stamford, Connecticut, has hit a bit of a stumbling block, according to The Wall Street Journal.

It was reported in November that US$35 million in federal stimulus money would be used to lure Starwood and its 800 employees. The state also said it would make infrastructure improvements that would be paid for by the stimulus.

But there’s a problem: Federal stimulus funds can’t be used to attract jobs from another state. The state is playing down the issue, saying the infrastructure improvements are going to a much larger area than just the Starwood relocation.

If the federal grants are denied, Connecticut would have to pay for the relocation itself.

Vancouver hotels expect the upcoming Winter Olympic Games to help the destination, according to a story by Kerri Fivecoat-Campbell on HotelNewsNow.com.

Several new hotels have opened in Vancouver in time for the games, adding more than 1,300 additional rooms in the city. While the projects might have been conceived and broke ground around the same time the city knew it would be getting the games in 2003, experts believe the desire to build new hotels in Vancouver was the result of several factors, including the brand new convention center, the complete refurbishing of Highway 99—the so-called “Road to Whistler”—and the implementation of a new rail system.

Read “Vancouver hotels are hoping for gold in future business.”

People will pay more for the things they want, so personalization is the key to driving revenue, Peter Yesawich, the chairman and CEO of Ypartnership, said during the 2010 Hotel Association of Canada’s Annual Conference in Toronto.

“The way out … is when you allow people to get exactly what they want,” he said. That means allowing guests to choose their own room and view, type of food delivered upon arrival, temperature settings, etc.

For more information, read “With limited demand, personalization is key to driving revenue."

Best Western International’s long-rumored adoption of a descriptor system for its 2,200 hotels in North America will be up for a vote by its members.
 
The exact timing of the vote hasn’t been determined, but President and CEO David Kong said during a wide-ranging interview held during the Americas Lodging Investment Summit late last month he expects it to happen during the first half of 2010. If the measure passes, the descriptor program could be in place in 2011.

Read "Best Western’s descriptor plan closer to reality."

Compiled by Shawn A. Turner.