Travel Industry Archive

With the summer travel season upon us, hotel companies are vying for travelers’ dollars by amping up their loyalty rewards programs, even trying to one-up each other in their offerings. InterContinental Hotels Group came out this week with its latest Priority Club Rewards deal: a “Points & Cash” program that allows members to redeem night stays with a combination of cash...

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My travel roundup on Monday mentioned the trouble metro Phoenix resorts are facing — foreclosure. While Phoenix’s hotel industry is imploding, California’s resorts also seem to be crumbling. According to a report by GlobeSt, the Golden State’s hotel foreclosures have jumped 125 percent in the last two months. Also more than 500 resort owners and developers have...

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US-EU Open Skies Phase I was the easy part. All it did was allow any airline from the US to fly between the US and anywhere in the EU and vice versa. Its ultimate success, however, was dependent on Phase II, and those talks are just getting started. In practicer, all Phase I really did was open up Heathrow to more airlines. We’ve seen Continental, Delta, and US Airways move in to the...

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Four more resorts face foreclosure in Phoenix area — Four more resorts are facing notices of trustee sale, according Ion Data, a Mesa, Ariz.-based research firm. The four hotels facing foreclosure auctions are: • Xona Resort Suites • Carefree Resort & Villas • Embassy Suites Phoenix-Airport • Crowne Plaza Phoenix All four resorts are still open for business and accepting...

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I suppose it’s not a surprise that during a recession, people tend to stay closer to home and they take shorter trips, but it’s quite staggering to see some actual numbers here. NileGuide’s CEO Josh Steinitz sent me over some search data from their site showing just what a change they’ve seen. Since NileGuide is a trip planning site, they should know this stuff. First...

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Hotels will face low point in third quarter — PKF Hospitality Research estimated that hotel revenue per available room will reach its low point this summer and that while 2010 will be hard, it won’t have such rollercoaster lows as 2009. The “bottom” is tied to unemployment and the research group reported that 2010 will still have rising job losses. RevPAR is expected to...

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The Sukhoi Superjet, Russia’s latest and greatest entry into the commercial aviation market, appears to have gained a bit of traction at the Paris Air Show this month. Hungarian-carrier Malev has placed a letter of intent for up to 30 aircraft. I doubt that Bombardier and Embraer are quaking in their boots just yet, but the Superjet’s 98 seats are meant to compete with their...

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United’s pilot union put out an update on negotiations on June 20, and I think they’ve correctly nailed down Scope as the biggest concern for the upcoming negotiations. In their words . . . This week we passed a proposal to the Company on Section 1, Recognition, Scope & Career Security. Scope is undoubtedly the most important section of the Contract as, without capturing...

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Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary suggested today that passengers should ferry their own luggage from airport to airplane — but still pay £5 (about $8) per bag to place them in the hold. O’Leary said that getting rid of baggage handlers would help the budget airline save £26 million ($43 million) a year. “What it means is no more waiting at the carousel, no more...

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Red Roof Inns defaults on loans — Red Roof Inns Inc. defaulted on four loans totaling $361.4 million. The loans are 30 days overdue and its collateral includes 113 Red Roof Inns, according to credit rating company Realpoint LLC. The four loans are valued at $181.75 million, $76.6 million, $67.6 million and $34.4 million. Red Roof Inns Inc. said it intended to restructure the debt and...

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