Lodging Daily News

The American Hotel & Lodging Educational Foundation (AH&LEF), the not-for-profit affiliate of the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA), has awarded 209 scholarships, totaling $297,000, through three of its core programs—the Annual Scholarship Grant, Incoming Freshman Scholarship, and Graduate Scholarship programs.   The Annual Scholarship Grant Program, the Foundation’s biggest program, is co-administered with 85 universities and colleges. In 2011, 194 students, nominated by AH&LEF-affiliated schools, received $244,000 in funds. The program is funded from

AH&LA’s Lodging Industry Profile (LIP) provides a comprehensive, easy-to-read list of these and other significant facts about the lodging, travel, and tourism industries, including employment impact, international travel statistics, and property and room breakdowns by location, rate, and size. The complete 2011 AH&LA Lodging Industry Profile is available on AH&LA’s Information Center website. For 2010, the U.S. lodging industry posted pre-tax profits of $18 billion—up from $16 billion in 2009, according to the LIP. The

Skyrocketing more than 50 percent in one year to more than 1,200 members, the word is out about the career-boosting benefits of AH&LA’s Women In Lodging (WIL) Connect. This membership category is free to anyone employed at an AH&LA member organization and offers exclusive benefits, including: –Mentorship Program | Share your expertise or benefit from the guidance of a seasoned professional by serving as a mentor or being mentored. –Education & Events | Get discounts

Marriott Hotels & Resorts and Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. raised the curtain on Broadway, unveiling a multimillion dollar renovation of the brand’s flagship New York Marriott Marquis in Times Square. At the heart of the extensive renovation is the brand’s reinvented lobby, including two signature restaurants and lounges, where guests can work, socialize, relax, eat, and drink. The makeover also encompasses the hotel’s nearly 2,000 guestrooms and a new, high-tech 29,000-square-foot Broadway Ballroom.  “Even

On any day of the week, you can find Jeff Plamondon at the Renaissance Newark Airport. Just don’t look in his office. Plamondon has been general manager of the hotel since December 2010—just as the hotel was about to undergo a massive renovation—and he’s managed the hotel through that process and then some. A self-admitted “hands-on” manager, Plamondon doesn’t have much use for his office or his computer—and for a while, his own home. “I’m