Archive: August 2010

As a young and idealistic architectural student, Editorial Director Christine Born had a crush on John Portman and his iconic hotel, Atlanta’s Hyatt Regency, at about the same time that she first read Ayn Rand’s “The Fountainhead.” [...] Read more

In the same way that cities are building medical and science facilities to attract meetings to their destinations, some cities are revamping or creating arts districts in an effort to attract more tourism and groups business. [...] Read more

The economic downturn wreaked havoc on the finances of many cities and states across the country. One way cities can raise additional revenue to help bridge budget shortfalls is to raise travel taxes for everything from hotel occupancy taxes to rental car, airport, meal and other taxes. Raising travel taxes can be an effective revenue generator, but for cities that rely on tourism and conventions, raising taxes too much can hurt that all-important visitor business. [...] Read more

Social responsibility is one of the buzzwords floating around in corporate America, and the idea is spreading quickly throughout the meetings and conventions world. Service projects, donation drives and volunteer days are a few ways attendees can give back to cities in which events are held. [...] Read more

Sheraton Seattle began construction of The Garden Walk, a pedestrian corridor and urban garden designed by landscape architects Gustafson Guthrie Nichol, last month. The walkway turns Seventh Avenue into a green space in the middle of Seattle, right along the route visitors take from the hotel to the convention center. Sheraton Seattle Hotel is the largest hotel in the Northwest with 1,258 rooms and 75,000 square feet of event space, including an 18,300-sq.-ft. grand ballroom.

Fairmont [...] Read more

Officials from West Virginia University and the owners of the Waterfront Place Hotel in Morgantown, W.Va., renewed talks about a possible gift-type transaction between the hotel and the university. [...] Read more

The flagship brand of Hilton Worldwide has changed its name from Hilton Hotels to Hilton Hotels & Resorts and introduced a new logo. [...] Read more

The inaugural Best Performing Hotel Awards were given by hotel research company STR during the 2010 Hotel Data Conference. The hotels were divided into seven chain-scale segments and judged based on reported performance by hotels, including occupancy, average daily rate and revenue per available room, compared with their respective market-scale performance.

The winners:

• Luxury Segment: Four Seasons Hotel New York

• Upper Upscale Segment: Westin Sunset Key (Florida) Guest Cottages

• Upscale Segment: Homewood Suites Jackson (Wyoming)

• Midscale-with-Food-and-Beverage [...] Read more

A united front of local, state and government officials from Florida, Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi formed the Gulf Coast Economy: Ready 4 Takeoff Coalition to bolster the beleaguered region’s economy. Local stakeholders, including representatives from the public, private, nonprofit and academic sectors, are pushing the region’s skilled workforce, pro-business environment and other assets to help the region bounce back from a string of hardships ranging from hurricanes to April’s BP oil spill.

“As our fishing communities, [...] Read more

The coalition encourages professionals who work in the travel industry to make their voices heard by calling elected officials, communicating with local media to get stories out, recruiting friends and neighbors to host events, organizing virtual town hall meetings and more. [...] Read more