Starwood sees improving group bookings
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. said it continued to see strong demand from business and leisure travelers in the second quarter, including those booking group itineraries.
Starwood is relocating its headquarters to Stamford from White Plains, N.Y., bringing some 850 jobs to Connecticut. In July, the Holiday Inn Downtown Stamford was re-branded as the Sheraton Stamford Hotel.
In the second quarter, Starwood earned $131 million as revenue rose 11 percent to $1.4 billion.
“The group pace in 2012 continues to improve, particularly as you”™re seeing the booking window lengthen,” said Jason Koval, vice president of investor relations for Starwood, in a conference call with investment analysts in late July. “We saw a very strong pickup in terms of the business being booked for 2013 and beyond.”
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Priceline tests local market deals
Priceline.com Inc. may expand a pilot service that offers local hotel and restaurant deals in New York City, in conjunction with a startup there called Group Commerce Inc.
Norwalk-based Priceline runs multiple travel websites, including Booking.com. Revenue rose 44 percent from a year earlier to $1.1 billion and the company more than doubled profits to $256 million.
“That”™s a test that we”™re doing ”¦ to see if the customer base is responsive to local deals,” said Jeff Boyd, Priceline CEO, in an analyst conference call. “As everybody knows, there is a lot of clutter in that space now, and a lot of emails and offers are vying for the attention of consumers now. But it”™s a fairly easy test for us to perform and so we”™re just going to keep working on it. And you may see it in another city or two as we try to figure out how accepting consumers are with those kinds of offers from the Priceline.com brand.”
Choice Hotels: State bid for HQ
The CEO of Choice Hotels International Inc. said Connecticut attempted to convince the company to relocate its headquarters there, without specifying any incentives the state may have offered.
The budget hotel franchisor”™s brands include Comfort Inn, Quality, Clarion and EconoLodge, among others. Choice Hotels detailed plans last month to relocate its headquarters within Maryland from Silver Spring to Rockville, where it is taking 130,000 square feet of space in a new office building.
“We got calls, not only from obviously the metro area ”¦ but also as far as Connecticut and Pennsylvania and other states who are really getting aggressive,” said Stephen Joyce, CEO of Choice Hotels, in a conference call this month. “But in the end we were very happy ”¦ about the program that (Maryland) put together.”
Mayflower Inn changes owners
Alan and Warren Kanders took possession of the Mayflower Inn & Spa in Washington, which includes 30 guest rooms and a spa on more than 50 acres.
According to the Waterbury Republican-American, the Kanders sued after the previous owner did not keep up with $21.5 million in mortgage loans they had extended the hotel.
Alan Kanders is a principal of Three Wall Capital based in New York City and has invested $7.8 billion in some 350 hotels in the course of his career. Warren Kanders lives in Greenwich and is executive chairman of Black Diamond Inc., a maker of rock-climbing gear and other outdoor equipment, and is a partner in the hotel Isle de France Saint-Barths.
HEI acquires California hotel
HEI Hotels & Resorts bought the 360-room San Diego Marriott La Jolla in La Jolla, Calif., with the San Diego Tribune reporting the transaction value at $71 million.
HEI is planning a $20 million renovation next year to include guest rooms, lobby, meeting space and expanded fitness facilities. It is the 12th Marriott-flagged hotel for HEI, which owns some 40 hotels in all.
