Lodging Daily News

Courtyard Hotel To Open In Woodland Hills, Calif.

Posted by LODGING Staff on  February 7, 2013
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Category: Openings
WOODLAND HILLS, Calif.—Courtyard by Marriott is set to debut in Woodland Hills, California. This is the first Courtyard in the area to feature the Refreshing Business lobby environment, where guests can enjoy an open and flexible space. Outfitted with semi-private media pods, a home theater, and Wi-Fi in a variety of seating zones, the redefined space works for meetings and social gatherings. Scheduled to open on February 15, the 122-room Courtyard Los Angeles Woodland Hills

Homewood Suites Opens New Hotel in Iowa

Posted by LODGING Staff on  February 6, 2013
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Category: Openings
McLean, Va.—Homewood Suites by Hilton announced the opening of its newest property in Coralville – Iowa River Landing, Iowa. Creating 20 permanent jobs, the six story, 95-suite hotel is owned by Cantilever Hotels, LLC / Lincoln and Lisa McIlravy and managed by Sagacity Inc. General Manager Matthew Traetow has been in the hotel industry for 15 years, and is supported by Sales Manager Kimberly Morgan. “Part of the brand new mixed-use Iowa River Landing development,

Marriott International Introduces JW Marriott Brand to Bangladesh

Posted by LODGING Staff on  February 6, 2013
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Category: Management
Marriott International signed an agreement with Jamuna Builders Limited to operate the 700-room JW Marriott Hotel Dhaka. The hotel will be part of a mixed-use development that will also include retail and office components, and construction of the hotel is already under way. Speaking at the signing in Dhaka Simon Cooper, Marriott International’s president and managing director Asia Pacific, said: “We are delighted to be working with Jamuna Builders Limited to open this wonderful JW

Outsourcing Restaurant Operations in Hotels

Posted by LODGING Staff on  February 6, 2013
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Many hoteliers are reluctant restaurateurs, and for a good reason: Restaurants are even more labor intensive than hotels. A standalone restaurant is doing extremely well if it achieves a net operating income (NOI) of more than 20 percent, since the norm is 10 percent or less. Add these two elements together, which is the exact scenario we have in full-service hotels, and your NOI is negatively impacted from the drag caused by the food and
Time is money. For the lodging industry, this is especially applicable when it comes to cleaning costs. Many facility managers assume they can multiply the number of guestrooms by some theoretical productivity rate to determine the time and resources needed to clean their hotels, but the results are generally inaccurate. Workloading, which involves calculating time standards for each task and area within the facility, is a reliable way to determine cleaning times. Before benchmarking performance