THE HOTEL INSIDER

Last week, at Historic Hotels of America's annual trade show, held this year at the Waldorf Astoria in Manhattan, it was reported that a number of new additions have grown this eclectic portfolio of landmark properties to close to 250 members across the country, up from a mere handful in less than a dozen years. Even more exciting, though, was news of a new entity, Historic Hotels Worldwide, which currently is in the midst of a soft launch. The Hotel Insider got a chance to learn about some of the spectacular hotels in HHW's portfolio and its strategic growth plans.

HHW was launched by the New York City-based Preferred Hotel Group, which has worked since early 2007 in partnership with the National Trust for Historic Preservation to grow and enhance Historic Hotels of America. "We have started with 50 hotels in gateway cities, with another 250 hotels in the pipeline," says Jack Geddes, executive director, corporate development, for HHW and a former long-time Carlson executive. "Our plan is to have 700 hotels in three to four years."

The first entrants in this unique and truly historic global collection include Kenya's first luxury hotel, the 217-room Sarova Stanley in Nairobi. Built in 1902 during Queen Victoria's reign, the property features several restaurants and meeting space for 350. HHW's first member in Asia is the 249-room Hotel Grand in Yokohama, Japan, which has played host to a number of high-profile Western visitors over the years, including Babe Ruth and Charlie Chaplin. Meanwhile, in downtown Brussels, Belgium, the 263-room Hotel Metropole, which in 2007 opened its Metropole Executive Centre, has joined the nascent group. This vintage 1894 property is outfitted with 21st-century Wi-Fi and Internet capabilities and is capable of hosting groups of up to 500.

"Our top priority right now is working with each property to get them in line with our marketing efforts," says Geddes. "What's essential is that they understand the importance of having a great, navigable website with current information and images. A meeting planner looking through our collection should be able to go to the hotel's site, garner all the  information they need on rooms and space, and submit an RFP online. That's the goal." While Historic Hotels Worldwide is a separate entity from Historic Hotels of America, meeting planners can expect to see some crossover, Geddes notes: "So far, about 40 of HHA's properties have agreed to be listed with us, and hopefully, more will join."

For more information on Historic Hotels Worldwide, visit www.historichotelsworldwide.com.

Environmentalists take heart. As this year's Earth Week wraps up across the globe, the hotel industry's commitment to green initiatives and sustainable programs has gained some serious momentum.

If a prize was being awarded for "outstanding environmental achievement by one property," the New York Hilton would get my vote. The 1,981-room property in Midtown Manhattan took time out this week from hosting the sixth annual Sustainable Operations Summit to unveil its new 16,000-square-foot, fifth-floor green roof and co-generation system. Together, these innovations will provide more than 50 percent of the hotel's electrical power and more than 40 percent of its steam consumption for heating and hot-water requirements. And all that new greenery has some significant added benefits: Not only are the plants harvested from an upstate New York farm, its vegetation will play a huge role in reducing the "Urban Heat Island" effect by absorbing air pollutants, preventing the buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and helping to reduce the property's thermal load.

This isn't the New York Hilton's first green achievement. In 2009, its neighbor, the Avenue of the Americas Association, awarded the hotel the Green Street award for its environmentally friendly electrical-energy fuel system, known as PureCell. The property's impressive green initiatives reflect parent company Hilton Worldwide's commitment to sustainability programs, which maximize operation efficiencies. The company's target goal is to reduce energy, carbon and waste by 20 percent, and water by 10 percent, at its 3,800 properties by 2014.

Also making strides this week was European hotel giant, Accor, which launched Planet 21, a direct reference to Agenda 21 (the environmental action plan signed by 173 heads of state at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992). Planet 21 takes aim at 21 environmental goals, including a crusade against those untold thousands of non-recyclable discarded hotel room key cards. The company is introducing new key cards made from from FSC-certified wood from responsibly managed forests, which break down naturally in landfills. That may sound like a small green battle to wage, but with more than 530,000 hotel rooms in 90 countries, that's sounds like a war to me.

Accor's Planet 21 program has spelled out some lofty operational goals for 2015: a 15 percent reduction in water consumption, a 10 percent decrease in energy use, and the use of eco-labeled products at 85 percent of its more than 4,000 owned and leased hotels worldwide. Those goals are all in keeping with the company's commitment to reduce its footprint on the planet, even as it ramps up expansion and development. "I am convinced that sustainable development will lead us towards a new business model," said Dennis Hennequin, chairman and chief executive officer of Accor.

Another first this week was Hyatt Hotels Corp.'s inaugural Hyatt Thrive Leadership Awards, for which the competition was fierce. More than 70 nominations were submitted from among the company's hotels, resorts and field offices for one of six awards recognizing leadership in environmental sustainability and community engagement, which were rolled out last year under the chain's global corporate responsibility platform, Hyatt Thrive. This year's winners included the Hyatt Regency Atlanta, which reduced its energy consumption by 35 percent and established a robust recycling and composting program; the Grand Hyatt Jakarta in Indonesia, which, armed with a US$20,000 Hyatt Community Grant, adopted an impoverished rural village and provided significant economic and health improvements for its residents; and the Grand Hyatt Erawan Bangkok in Thailand, which sheltered 233 hotel associates and their families, in addition to donating food, drinking water, clothes and other necessities to the Thai Red Cross, when severe storms flooded the region.

"We are honored and humbled to recognize the valuable contributions made by the winners of our inaugural Hyatt Thrive Leadership Awards," said Brigitta Witt, the chain's vice president of corporate responsibility, in announcing the awards. "Actively contributing to the environmental and social well-being of our communities is integral to sustaining our business; and the recipients of this award exemplify Hyatt's longstanding commitment to contribute to the prosperity, health and advancement of the many communities around the world that we serve."

With such sweeping initiatives becoming a priority in leading hotel companies, just imagine what strides can be made for the green cause during next year's Earth Week!

If Marriott Hotels & Resorts has any say in the matter, those dreaded, dead prefunction spaces will soon go the way of fax machines and armoires in guest rooms. Ditto, too, those nap-inducing, cell-block meeting rooms that can kill any creative idea before it becomes audible. The hotel chain plans to rush such relics into retirement with some exciting new offerings.

I recently met with Paul Cahill, senior vice president, brand management, Marriott Hotels & Resorts, and Mark Greiner, chief experience officer at Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Steelcase, one of the design arms behind the hotel chain's new meeting space concepts and services, and got a firsthand look at some of the concepts being considered for roll out at Marriott's full-service properties. According to Cahill, the explosion of mobile technology, and the importance of meeting and group business (which represents 40 percent of Marriott International's gross revenue) was the impetus for the redesign. "By 2013, 35 percent of the global workforce will be mobile," notes Cahill. "They are blending work, networking and entertaining, so we have to transform our spaces so they can work the way they want to. We also are changing the way we sell the meeting space. We are looking at charging by the hour, by the person. Every business model is under consideration."

The new spaces offer a mix of comfortable niches that range from huddle space for four, complete with round meeting tables, interactive video screens and whiteboards, to larger, more relaxed networking lounge-type areas with contemporary sofas, beanbags, warm-wood coffee tables and soft lighting. Not only are these model concepts visually appealing, they are functional, comfortable and flexible. My personal favorite? The high-end, ultra-comfortable and supportive beanbag chairs. I recommend every meeting space have at least two. "We narrowed 50 concepts down to 10, and those are what we are sharing with our general managers, customers, event managers and meeting planners, all of whom are giving us their feedback," says Cahill.

Not only do the new spaces come fully loaded with cutting-edge technology, Marriott is adding roving "tech gurus" to support them. Don't know where to plug in that charger? Not sure how to upload those files to your iPad? International attendees having trouble getting online? Just look for the men in black. I did, and as I sat in one of the newly designed spaces, clearly exasperated at my squirrelly Blackberry, a guru quickly figured out why I wasn't able to open e-mail attachments and even checked for other operating glitches. "We are creating a brand-relevant solution by hiring a new type of person to meet the technology needs attendees have," says Cahill. Meeting planners, that alone is worth a test drive.

Twenty-six years after starting out as a coffee server at a hotel restaurant, James Dale, now senior catering director at the 1,306-room Grand Hyatt New York, has walked off with Hyatt's prestigious Donald N. Pritzker Award for Excellence. Global competition is stiff for this lifetime achievement award, which honors general managers and directors in the field operation. "I was completely surprised and humbled, because they only give out one award a year," says Dale. "I went up to my hotel room to call and tell my wife and found out that she already knew and had been watching the awards through a webcast set up by the company." 

Life in the hotel industry's F&B realm is demanding. Dale estimates he and his staff of 12 execute more than 5,000 events per year, from small, closed-door board meetings to over-the-top weddings for several hundred. Last year, he was responsible for generating $40 million in catering revenue, and with meeting business picking up, he predicts this year will be even bigger. Meetings, he says, force him to stay on top of his creative game and relationship-building skills. "You have to really listen to what the client is asking for, then dig deeper and peel back the layers," says Dale. "Sometimes they have ideas that you know from experience is not the way to go. Like pre-setting the ballroom with smoked-salmon appetizers. The whole place will smell like fish by the time they open the doors."

The best part of his job, Dale says, is helping planners think outside of the box to stretch their budget dollars. To do it, he turns to his iPad, which is loaded with past events, to help clients visualize each space and pull ideas together. A hotel's public spaces, he says, offer tons of alternatives without adding to the bottom line. One of his personal favorites is staking out a corner of the Grand Hyatt's spacious lobby, with its striking sculptures, for a group breakfast. "The lobby has its own energy, and attendees can soak that up before heading in to the meeting rooms," he says. "It creates a buzz. And the other guests are like, 'What's going on over there?' It's inclusive and exclusive at the same time."

When he isn't checking up on the competition, meeting with clients or mulling over menus, Dale says he is out of the hotel looking for inspiration, which often turns up in the most unexpected places. On a recent scouting mission with the hotel's executive chef to a design and décor showplace in search of serving vessels, it was the store's trendy stainless-steel and glass shelving that caught his eye. "We bought the shelving instead. They became our new buffet tables," says Dale. As for his thoughts on food trends, the organic, local-farm-to-table, responsible-eating movement is not going away. More and more, he says, clients are asking for healthy options -- and not simply vegetarian. And the proliferation of food network shows, he adds, has made guests much more willing to try ethnic dishes. "Fifteen years ago, if you served someone seared tuna, they would send it back. Now everyone eats sushi," he notes. 

      But the real powerhouse of this event is Bill Marriott, the company's longtime leader and visionary, who at age 80 is officially stepping down as CEO after six decades at the helm of what has grown from one small hotel in 1957 to become one of the world's largest and most recognized global chains, with a portfolio spanning more than 3,000 properties.
     In a sit-down with The Hotel Insider, this industry icon candidly discussed his transition plans and perspective on the hotel industry at large.

Q. After so many years leading, what do your transition plans look like?
A. I will definitely stay involved and continue to advocate, because this has been my vocation, but I also want to spend more time at home and with my family.

Q. You have been a strong advocate for government-sponsored travel promotion and addressing the visa application problem. Has there been progress on those fronts?
A. The recent travel promotion piece by U.S. Travel Association has been a great effort, and the wait time for visas has improved, but Brazilians are still faced with huge delays because an in-person interview is required. They are the number-one visitors to New York City, exceeding Canada and England, and they spend a lot of money, so that has to be fixed. Every 35 visitors creates a new job. Nothing creates jobs faster -- it's the low-hanging fruit. And if we could get our international arrivals up, we could easily create 10,000 to 15,000 new jobs in this country.

Q. What are your travel plans? Are there any hotels in your brands that you would like to visit that you haven't seen yet?
A. I will be in China for 10 days at the end of May, and then in June I'll be in Europe. I hope to get to as many as I can. But I'd particularly like to get back to New Orleans to see how our hotel there is doing.

Q. Are there other markets Marriott will be looking to expand into?
A. We are just getting started in Africa, where we will open a hotel in Uganda soon. We also have something in Ghana, and we are working hard to get something in Nigeria. But you know, there is also a lot of demand for us in North Dakota because of the shale mining.

Q. What about the Middle East? How has the ongoing political unrest there affected business?
A. Dubai is going to be a huge success. We have a new JW there, which is very exciting. Cairo is the problem. They need to settle down their political situation or no one will want to visit there.

Q. Will you miss those marathon eight-hour days of around-the-world conference calls, which you mentioned at the general session?
A. Oh, I will still be conducting those, at least four times a year. And I will still be looking in on our hotels -- and the competition. In fact, yesterday I visited a few of our competitors. But I can't sneak up on our hotels like I used to. It's not fair to them. Sometimes, though, I drop in at the D.C. hotels for dinner without telling them I'm coming.

InterContinental Hotels Group has been very busy these past few weeks. Just 20 days after announcing the launch of Even, its new U.S.-based brand targeting an estimated 17 million health-conscious travelers, it has taken the wraps off another new brand, Hualuxe Hotels and Resorts. This one is designed specifically for the Chinese traveler and features some unique dining, meeting and leisure concepts.

Last fall, when Atlanta-based IHG announced plans for a Chinese brand, company officials were short on details and speculation was rampant that the company would simply tailor one of its existing brands to appeal to the Chinese consumer. So much for industry speculation. "We're not fashioning an already-existing international brand in China. We're actually building up a new one from the ground for Chinese customers. It doesn't exist anywhere else in the world," said Keith Barr, chief executive officer of IHG Greater China, in an interview this week with China Daily.

At each Hualuxe (Hua means "majestic China"; luxe, of course, represents luxury), restaurants will showcase local dishes rather than fine dining; foot massages will replace spa treatments; and in place of the typical lobby bar, there will be a traditional tea house. "While Western customers like to go to the bar to have a drink and do business, that's not the case in China. The Chinese want to go and have tea, and each hotel will have a wonderful, special tea house," said Barr in a company video explaining how the brand's signature elements will cater specifically to Chinese travelers.

Another unique concept to the brand is the multi-function suite, which according to Barr, "no other hotel company is offering." Such suites are designed to function as mini meeting rooms, where guests can dine, conduct meetings and entertain in one private location, with their own "relationships manager" to cater to their needs. "Westerners conduct business in boardrooms, but the Chinese do it at the dinner table," says Barr.

Less than five years ago, China was IHG's third largest market, after the U.S. and Europe. Today, with 160 properties in 60 cities, IGH counts China as its second largest market, making the chain that country's largest international hotel operator. IHG reports that so far it has inked 20 deals for its new Chinese brand, and it plans to open Hualuxe hotels in more than 100 cities in the next 15 to 20 years, with the first expected to open in late 2013 or early 2014. As with the announcement of Even, the company hasn't yet stated where the first property will be located. However, there's already talk of exporting the brand to other Asian destinations, such as Tokyo and Bangkok, Thailand, which have a high volume of Chinese travelers.

According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics in China and the United National World Travel Organization, China's hotel market is expected to surpass the U.S.'s to become the world's largest by 2025. According to China Daily, "Within 13 years China will have 6.1 million hotel rooms, the same as the U.S. By 2039, the number of China's hotel rooms will be 9.1 million, four times the size it is today." And IHG is betting it is one step ahead of its competition in tapping the surge of Chinese travelers. "We are the first to do this," says Barr. "Hualuxe is special and unique. It is designed to make our guests successful."