Luxury Hotels In Fort Lauderdale|"Hotels Fight Comparison Shoppers With Lower"

Source             :   nytimes.com
Category        :   Luxury Hotels In Fort Lauderdale
By                  :   JULIE WEED
Posted By     :    Hotels In Fort Lauderdale

Luxury Hotels In Fort Lauderdale

For hotels, they are some of the most maddening of customers — those who repeatedly book and cancel rooms at no cost in search of the best deal. While the customer ends up with a low rate on a good room, the snubbed hotel is left with an empty room and no revenue.It is a practice that has grown in recent years as powerful new search and comparison tools become available on the Web.  Now, hotel companies are starting to respond, offering lower nonrefundable rates to those who pay in full when they make reservations. Travelers who need more flexibility will still find it, but they will pay more for that option. Andrew Greenwell of Pleasanton, Calif., knows the game well. He spends almost half the year staying in hotel rooms for his job in residential real estate and for vacation travel. He rarely uses the first reservation he makes. “I book a room just to make sure I have something, but check about once a week online for better deals on a four- or five-star hotel,” he said. As travel comparison sites have proliferated on the Web in the last decade, so have the ranks of those who use them. “Shopping around is a very common behavior with travelers now,” said Tom Meyers, the editor of EuroCheapo.com, a Web site that reviews and books hotels in Europe. “It’s almost a game. They book the room and then wait awhile and search around to see if prices have gone down.”

Chris Anderson, a professor at Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration, studies hotel revenue management and pricing, and estimates that 20 percent of hotel reservations experience a price decline after the guest books the room and by the time the guest arrives. The average price drop of 10 percent leads to a net revenue decrease of 2 percent. The hotel industry, with its history of being accommodating on room reservations, is realizing there is more to lose than just an empty room, said Jeremy Murphy, chief executive of TheSuitest.com, which compares amenities and prices of hotel suites. “Empty hotel rooms can also mean emptier hotel bars and restaurants, so a canceled room can have a greater effect than the lost room rate,” he said. “Hotels prefer to lock in revenue rather than get stuck with empty rooms,” even if that revenue is 10 to 15 percent less than they would get otherwise, he said.

Nonrefundable rates have always been part of the hotel industry, said Kathleen Reidenbach, senior vice president for marketing at Kimpton. “It’s just that they are more transparent now and not buried in the fine print,” she said, and they are also promoted more often now. A recent e-mail advertisement for the Kimpton chain, for example, offered a 20 percent discount for guests who lock into reservations that cannot be canceled and are paid upfront. “We do offer some extraordinary discounts and in return, we ask our guests to make a commitment,” Ms. Reidenbach said. The Preferred Hotel Group, which represents hotels in Los Angeles, Portland, Rome and Kuwait, offered a discounted nonrefundable rate for the first time in 2013, and it has quickly become one of the most popular rates with guests, according to Michelle Woodley, senior vice president for revenue management and distribution at Preferred. Our hotels rarely focus on discounting, preferring value-added incentives instead, so it’s been interesting to see how the package performs,” she said. Individual hotels can stop offering the rate when they are sufficiently full for a specific time period.

Not all cancellation policies are immediately obvious to travelers when they are booking hotel rooms, and even within a hotel chain, transparency may not always be consistent. On the Fairmont Hotels Web site, the Shanghai Peace Hotel offered a rate called “Internet special prepayment and nonrefundable,” while the Pittsburgh hotel offered a discounted “Weekend Savers” rate but travelers had to click two levels down to see that such reservations could not be canceled.A “prepaid” rate was the first to appear in a recent search of the Web site of the W Hotel Leicester Square in London, offering savings for travelers willing to book a nonrefundable room for one night and deeper discounts for guests staying longer. A line of text noted there was a penalty for changes or cancellations. Hilton Hotels has redesigned its Web site to make comparing rates easier. Check boxes allow travelers to narrow their search among choices like the more flexible Easy Cancellation, or less expensive Pre-purchase, as well as AAA, Senior or HHonors points.

Lower nonrefundable rates are more popular with vacation travelers than with business travelers, who usually prefer flexibility over savings because their plans are more likely to change, said Howard Adler, professor of hotel management at Purdue’s School of Hospitality and Tourism Management. In addition, the business travelers are not usually paying for the room themselves and may already have a negotiated corporate rate. “You could call me a typical traveler,” said Professor Adler, who researches hospitality industry trends. “I compare rates and lock in something lower-cost and nonrefundable for my vacations, and book the university’s rates when I travel for my job.” For travelers who do not mind a bit of uncertainty, HotelTonight, a mobile app for iPhone and Android, offers another model for nonrefundable room rates. It gathers room inventory from a list of hotels, and offers it at a discounted price at noon each day, for that night’s stay. More than price, Ms. Reidenbach says, her customers choose Kimpton for its other attributes, including the wine hour, free bikes and ambience. “The pricing is a small component,” she said. In the end, hotels need to build their customer base on more than just price, Professor Adler said. “If guests come and the cleanliness, facilities or service isn’t what they expect, they won’t book there in the future, just to save some money.”

Source:nytimes.com/2013/10/01/business/hotels-fight-comparison-shoppers-with-lower-locked-rates.html?pagewanted=2

Affordable Hotels in Fort Lauderdale|"Hotel Review"

Source             :   theguardian.com
Category        :   Affordable Hotels in Fort Lauderdale
By                  :   Chris Moss
Posted By     :    Hotels In Fort Lauderdale

Affordable Hotels in Fort Lauderdale

The climb out of New Quay in Ceredigion on the Wales Coast Path is short and very steep, but worth the effort, for the views over Cardigan Bay, the choughs and fulmars and bottlenose dolphins.Back in town, I make for the Black Lion, a 19th-century inn with views out to sea. It looks austere and a bit nonconformist. In April 2013, it reopened as a nine-room hotel. The refurb is very evident. There's a smell of "new" when I come into reception but the decor is plain, pared down, and everything looks sturdy, solid and functional. My room, one of five with sea views, has high ceilings and sash windows on three sides, with plenty of west Wales light pouring in, even on a drizzly autumn day. Cream, beige, brown and olive linens make the room feel vaguely autumnal too, and an original oil entitled Welsh Winter completes the effect. The bathroom is big and warm, with Cole & Lewis soaps but, sadly, no bath; walkers in need of a restorative soak may want to ask for one of four rooms with a tub. Owners Llinos and Mike Young are away and their young stand-ins, Sam Knight and Cara Cook, are super-efficient and chatty. But they appear to know little about Dylan Thomas, who lived nearby in a bungalow called Majoda (his "shack at the end of the cliff") in 1944-5 and was a regular at the inn.

The town became popular with cyclists in the 1890s but by Thomas's era it was a bohemian redoubt – perfect for skint poets who liked a drink. Now New Quay draws walkers, nature lovers, foodies and watersports fans. The Black Lion pays discreet homage to Thomas's memory, with black-and-white photographs of him smoking, drinking, being the family man. The food is posh pub grub, with daily hiker-friendly specials such as hunter's chicken, pasta and meatballs, and steak and Doom ale pie. I dine early on creamy chicken liver paté and fresh chutney. The Black Lion is a free house, with guest ales, including fruity Purple Moose from Porthmadog; I have one with my steak pie, plus a few beers from Mantle, a microbrewery that opened in nearby Cardigan in August. An army officer tried to kill Thomas during his year in New Quay, possibly because of the poet's communist sympathies, more probably because he was sleeping with the soldier's wife. Nothing so exciting happened during my stay. The pub, like the town, was sleepy, and my own slumber was assisted by the sound of lapping waves.

But it feels new, fresh, hopeful. Sam tells me the Black Lion is fast becoming New Quay's local boozer – important in a town where half the houses are second homes. Next year is the centenary of Dylan Thomas's birth (dt100.info). The pub is firmly on the pilgrim trail. It just needs a few books, some poetry readings, and a bit of the poet's spirit – hair down, glasses full, the possibility of chaos – to be a great inn.

Source:theguardian.com/travel/2013/oct/28/black-lion-inn-new-quay-ceredigion-wales-hotel-review

Hampton Inn Ft Lauderdale|"Last Minute Hotel Booking"

Source             :   edition.cnn.com
Category        :   Hampton Inn Ft Lauderdale
By                  :   Daisy Carrington
Posted By     :    Hotels In Fort Lauderdale

Hampton Inn Ft Lauderdale

As cell phones have become an increasingly ubiquitous part of our day-to-day lives, they've had the effect of unleashing a kind of epidemic of spontaneity. As a result, many of us have become exceptionally bad at planning, preferring to set vague parameters for meetings and work out the finer details later. Lately, our last-minute mania has started to shape how we make hotel reservations. According to market research firm PhoCusWright, last year 7% of hotel bookings were made via tablet and mobile phones (a figure 12 times larger than it was in 2010). By 2014, the number is expected to jump to 20%. According to a Harris International poll last year, 70% of those bookings are for same-day deals. "There's a changing behavior that's fueling this," notes Gerry Samuels, CEO of Mobile Travel Technologies, a company that specializes in mobile technology for the travel industry. "People are getting more and more comfortable making last-second reservations, not just in the hotel space, but in general."

Not surprisingly, there has been a flood of apps aiming to carve out their own piece of the same-day booking market. Last month saw a particular scurry of activity; HotelTonight -- the company that pioneered the trend -- announced it had raised $45 million in funding for its expansion plans; Berlin-based app JustBook launched in five cities in the United States; Groupon acquired Blink, a similar app that operates solely in Europe.Samuels isn't convinced that the onslaught of last-minute booking apps -- most of which offer users cut-rate deals -- is necessarily healthy for the hospitality industry."I think there is a really big risk of cannibalization. If a hotel loses the ability to control their inventory and who sees it, they can end up with the nightmare scenario whereby customers are re-educated to stop booking early in hopes of getting a better deal, and that can be very dangerous," he says. To combat that danger, companies like HotelTonight curate a handful of hotel deals, which they rotate daily. According to Sam Shank, HotelTonight's CEO, the system was put in place to protect the hotels he has a relationship with.

"Because we rotate the list, you can't guarantee the hotel you want to stay at will be on sale that day," he says. Furthermore, argues Shank, HotelTonight gives smaller properties the opportunity to break into a market that would otherwise be out of their reach. "If you're an independent hotel, it's hard to have an app that will reach a broad selection of customers. We have seven million downloads, and can bring in customers that would never have otherwise thought to stay at a certain hotel," he adds. Stefan Menden, the founder and CEO of JustBook, admits that when he started his company, there was some worry among his clients that it would have an adverse effect on the industry. "There was anxiety this would be a new Groupon-type model, and that it would loot their brand and price value by bringing their deals to deal hunters," he says. "What really happened was that we brought in a different clientele of customers that were spontaneous, but were looking for the best value-for-money, not necessarily the cheapest offering."Furthermore, Mendan argues that his company is actually good for the hospitality industry, offering hotels a much needed break from their dependency on big intermediaries like Expedia and Priceline.

"The big booking partners own so much of the market that they can raise their commission rates from year to year. In the U.S. those rates range from 20 to 25%," he says. JustBook, by comparison, charges 15% commission. In addition to offering better rates, Shank claims that the start-up apps like his are also superior in the user-experience offered to customers. "It's only three taps and a swipe to book a room, and it can be done in 10 seconds," he notes, "and we only work with the best hotels."

Luxury Hotels In Fort Lauderdale|"Copacabana Hotel In Rio De Janeiro"

Source             :   nytimes.com

Category        :   Luxury Hotels In Fort Lauderdale

By                  :   SAM BORDEN

Posted By     :    Hotels In Fort Lauderdale

Luxury Hotels In Fort Lauderdale

Starting rates of about $450, with prices apt to soar during next year’s World Cup.Some say that a hotel in Rio is just a place for cleaning off the sand, but for those who prefer to do so with monogrammed towels, Trousseau toiletries and a marble soaking tub, the Palace fits the bill. A piece of Old World elegance amid the allure — and menace — of Copacabana Beach, the Palace, with 232 rooms, completed an extensive renovation late last year. It promotes itself as a modern property that still conjures the glamour of the days when Marlene Dietrich and Orson Welles were guests. In many ways, the combination is spot-on: the glistening pool deck, for example, is hip (and gorgeous); the maddening wait for one of the two clunky elevators in the lobby, however, is an irritating throwback to the technology of yesteryear.The good: Copacabana Beach is about 50 yards from the front door, and the hotel offers beach loungers and towels to guests. The bad: when asked if the neighborhood was safe to walk around at night, the receptionist nodded a little too quickly, then whispered: “It might be better if you leave your passport in your room when you go. And maybe stay away from the side streets, O.K.?” Best advice: Take cabs.

The hotel staff refers to rooms as “apartments,” and my king-bed dwelling certainly was bigger than the average Manhattan studio. The furnishings were antique and elegant — no ergonomic desk chair here — but there was the standard iPod clock and a DVD player alongside a flat-screen TV. The airy and open space seems nice until you realize there’s no coffee table or anywhere to place, say, a room-service tray.It was spacious enough to contain a sizable closet, along with a marble vanity and a shower with a glorious high-volume spray. But the adjacent tiny room for the toilet was so cramped that it was difficult even to be alone with one’s thoughts.Luxury comes naturally at the Palace, but it will cost. For example, the Palace contains a high-end spa with myriad treatments, like the five-hour “Copacabana” experience, which included a mask of Amazonian white clay. It cost about $600. On the other end, whiling away the hours by the sleek, heated pool was free, as were the flip-flops left by my bed during turndown. The complimentary Wi-Fi was adequate but not especially speedy; to upgrade to a faster tier, it cost about $25 a day. The most useful amenity was a plug converter placed conveniently in the desk drawer.

You could certainly do worse than having lunch at Pérgula, the poolside patio restaurant, and dinner at Hotel Cipriani, the northern Italian spot also on the premises. Both are highly regarded, though I preferred to venture into the city for meals. For room service, the options are extensive; my “light breakfast” was anything but, featuring an egg-white omelet, toast (without the crusts!), a yogurt smoothie, tea, papaya and cottage cheese with turkey. While tasty, the price also wasn’t particularly light: 79 reais, or about $35 at about 2.26 reais to the dollar.It is often hard to find a middle ground between beach grime and overwhelming opulence in Rio, which has a reputation as a mediocre hotel town. The Palace isn’t in that elusive middle either, but you mostly get what you pay for — if you’re willing to pay.

Source:nytimes.com/2013/10/27/travel/hotel-review-copacabana-palace-in-rio-de-janeiro.html?_r=0

Attraction Hotels In Fort Lauderdale|"Hotel Concierge Helps Soothe Your Hangover"

Source             :   abcnews.go.com
Category        :   Attraction Hotels In Fort Lauderdale
By                  :   JOANNA PRISCO
Posted By     :    Hotels In Fort Lauderdale

Attraction Hotels In Fort Lauderdale

Who hasn't. It's easy for travelers to get swept up in the revelry of the French Quarter. And at least one luxury hotel in the Crescent City is prepared to nurse your wounds the next day. The Ritz-Carlton New Orleans offers a Recovery Concierge to weekend guests in the exclusive Club Level Maison Orleans, providing them with a signature "Hair of the Dog" Bloody Mary, the specialty Cure (Kir) Royal, fresh fruit or whatever other spa remedies are needed to get right again. "The service is completely unique to the Ritz-Carlton New Orleans," Sonja Franck, a longstanding recovery concierge at the hotel, told ABC News. "It serves dozens of guests every weekend morning." But that's not the only indulgence offered these days. At another property, the Ritz-Carlton Lodge in Reynold's Plantation outside Atlanta, guests can summon a BBQ butler to whip up flame-kissed fare at their cottages with complementary cooking tips. The carnivore's delight costs $245 per person per session.

For every ying there is a yang, however. And some travelers prefer to indulge in healthy activities when they're away too. Those with a yen to increase their running time might want to book a stay at a Westin sometime soon. The hotel group recently announced that Christopher Heuisler, a veteran runner who has competed in 25 marathons in 20 states, was chosen as its first RunWestin Concierge. "After an extensive search for the ideal candidate, we are thrilled to have Christopher join the Westin team as our first RunWestin Concierge," said Brian Povinelli, global brand leader at Westin Hotels and Resorts last month. "Not only does he have the marathon experience and impressive credentials we were looking for, but he is also an impassioned individual who will seamlessly connect with our guests and ultimately help them achieve their goals." The Boston-based trainer will share his advice on marathon running and training with Westin guests through social media outlets, warmups and training runs throughout the year. After working up such a sweat, a guest may want to head to Mexico to relax. There, at the Viceroy Riviera Maya in Playa del Carmen, all guests are greeted by Soap Concierge Alberto Corona upon check-in. Corona will roll up to the room and visitors are invited to choose their favorites from creamy, colorful slabs created by a nearby artisan, which he will then hand-cut for them on site.

Source : abcnews.go.com/Travel/hotel-concierge-helps-soothe-hangover/story?id=20639497

Luxury Hotels In Fort Lauderdale|"Gansevoort Park Avenue Hotel’s Neighbors Fed Up"

Source             :   newyork.cbslocal.com
Category        :   Luxury Hotels In Fort Lauderdale
By                  :    CBS Local Media
Posted By     :    Hotels In Fort Lauderdale

Luxury Hotels In Fort Lauderdale

Neighbors of the hip Gansevoort Park Avenue hotel say enough is enough. As CBS 2′s Tony Aiello reports, Murray Hill residents say since the hotel opened in 2010 they’ve complained that it has been the source of loud noise, traffic on the weekends, crowds gathering on the street and parties in the rooftop pool that seemed more like a “Girls Gone Wild” video. Their latest frustration came early Sunday morning when groups of young adults leaving the clubs inside the hotel clashed on Park Avenue South. Neighbors could hear the screams and then the sirens. “Punches being thrown, women screaming, there’s about a dozen people out there,” described Jim Allen, who recorded video of the melee from his apartment. “I was about to call the police, and then I heard and saw three police cars respond.”

An ambulance also arrived to treat people for minor injuries. Allen also caught video of one young man who needed assistance just to cross the street.“It’s intolerable,” Allen said. Residents have met repeatedly with hotel management and been promised things will get better — promises that have proven to be empty, they say. Mario Messina, president of the 29th Street Association, said he is sending video of Sunday’s incident to the New York State Liquor Authority and asking that regulators withdraw the hotel’s liquor license. “I believe that unless something drastic is happening and the authorities gives us a hand, it’s going to get worse,” he said. Calls to the Gansevoort Park Avenue hotel and its public relations firm, Nancy J. Friedman Public Relations, were not returned.

Source : newyork.cbslocal.com/2013/10/21/gansevoort-park-avenue-hotels-neighbors-fed-up/

Luxury Hotels In Fort Lauderdale|"Website Leaking Chinese Hotel Guest Details Closed Down"

Source             :   scmp.com
Category        :   Luxury Hotels In Fort Lauderdale
By                  :    Patrick Boehler
Posted By     :    Hotels In Fort Lauderdale

Luxury Hotels In Fort Lauderdale

Three Chinese characters and a search bar are the only features to be found on the website chakaifang.info. However as internet users throughout China discovered last week, the nondescript website contained detailed records of individual guest bookings at hotels across the nation, including their names, addresses and phone numbers. The site, which was blocked sometime between Sunday night and Monday morning, added fuel to a debate about online privacy as China reviews its two-decade-old consumer rights legislation. It is unclear who runs the website. Its domain is registered to a delivery company in Xinghua, Jiangsu province. A woman reached at the company, who declined to be identified, denied any knowledge of the website.

Two weeks ago, the online security watchdog WooYun reported that hackers had taken advantage of a security loophole in the database of CNWisdom, a Zhejiang-based company which calls itself the country’s largest provider of wireless internet for hotels, to gain access to thousands of records. The company issued a statement denying involvement in the security leak, saying that information from hotels not serviced by the company had also been leaked. Soon, a seller on Taobao, China’s largest e-shopping website, offered eight gigabytes of hotel guest data for sale for 2,000 yuan. The Taobao shop has since been closed.

A leak of CNWisdom’s data could be substantial. The company serviced 450,000 hotel rooms in 2011, the last time it updated its figures, in more than 4,500 hotels. Hotel guests have to register their personal data, including address, phone number, ID card, date of birth and workplace, to gain access to CNWisdom’s Wi-fi services. Zhao Zhanling, a legal adviser for the state-run China Internet Association and Beijing-based IT-legal expert, said hotel guests could hold hotels liable for compensation already under the current law, but hotels can bring a legal case against the service provider, who allowed the leak. “Those of you who aren’t married, don’t access this site!” one internet user wrote after visiting the website. “Those who are, try to avoid checking.”

Source:scmp.com/news/china-insider/article/1336456/website-leaking-chinese-hotel-guest-details-closed-down