10 Finalists Announced in 1st UNWTO Tourism Startup Competition in Collaboration with Globalia

10 Finalists Announced in 1st UNWTO Tourism Startup Competition in Collaboration with Globalia

Hotel News - The 10 finalists will present their projects in January 2019 within the framework of Fitur in Madrid.   The finalists were selected among 3000 projects from 132 countries:   Awake (Colombia), By Hours (Spain), e-bot (Germany), The FreeBird Club (Ireland), Howazit (Israel), Kompas (UK), Pruvo (Israel), Refundit (Israel), Seevoov (Israel), Stay 22 (Canada). The collaboration between UNWTO and Globalia continues with regional competitions during 2019. The 1st UNWTO Tourism Startup Competition is a pioneering initiative that has identified emerging companies at the forefront of the transformation of the tourism sector and the promotion of innovation ecosystems through tourism. It is organized by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) in partnership with Globalia, the leading tourism group in Spain and Latin America. The 10 finalists will present their projects within the framework of the Fitur International Tourism Fair (23-27 January 2019, Madrid, Spain) with the presence of global tourism leaders from the public and private sectors, as well as potential investors. The competition sought innovative startups capable of transforming the way people travel and experience tourism, while adhering closely to the principles of sustainability (economic, social, and environmental). “For the first time, we have positioned tourism in the global innovation agenda, a well-deserved place that reflects the weight and socio-economic impact of tourism,” said UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili. “The key is to connect the public and private sectors collaboratively, thus creating opportunities to share ideas and projects,” he added. Each project’s uniqueness, viability, potential impact, business model and scalability, along with the profile of the team, were the criteria for selecting the 10 finalists. “We have jointly created this pioneering public-private collaborative model in tourism as a global tourism group and we are delighted to spearhead this action alongside the World Tourism Organization, working together to lead the transformation of the tourism sector and fostering the global innovation ecosystem and its entrepreneurs,” said Globalia CEO Javier Hidalgo.

Establishment of Hotel School in Ardebil province with the participation of international organizations

The head of the Azad University of Ardebil, referring to the step-by-step plans of establishment of a hotel school, said: "With the aim of developing the tourism industry and supporting the hospitality sector, the initiated the launch of a hotel school here." "We hope that with the coordination of the Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism organization, we will be able to begin modern training in hospitality industry" he said. The head of the Islamic Azad University of Ardabil Branch continued to consult with several international institutes to participate in the definition of training courses of this hotel school and said: “Training courses will be held with the participation of these institutions and will be welcomed by hospitality managers, directors and hotel owners, we hope. He emphasized that the Azad University hope that with the investments made up to now, the development of hospitality and effective training in this area will be possible and available.

Autonomous Travel Suite; A plan for the future of the hotel industry

Hoteliers Association of Khorasan Razavi Province

Hotel Northland to take guests in 2019

Hotel News -- Restoring Green Bay's Hotel Northland is going to take a bit more time than expected, the hotel announced Friday. The project to restore the 90-year-old building as a hotel began in 2016. Searching for specific parts has drawn out the process, construction officials say. “Many of the hotel’s original architectural elements simply can’t be duplicated today causing us to scour the country and beyond for a variety of replacement parts and pieces,” explained Executive Vice President Kelly Schleif of Ganther Construction. Those challenges have prompted the hotel to take guests sometime next year, rather than by the end of 2018 as some had hoped. “We are going to take whatever time is necessary to finish it properly to make sure everything is exactly as everyone in the community expects it to be. And then we are going to open the doors," said General Manager John D. Williams. Williams is leading the project. Until then, the Poke the Bear restuarant at the hotel is set to open December 20 at 11 a.m. It will be open Tuesday through Saturday, serving lunch, dinner, and cocktails from 11 a.m. until 7 p.m. The new bar and restaurant will expand its hours and days of service with the coming new year. Poke the Bear guests should enter at the hotel’s entrance at 304 N. Adams Street.

The development of the hospitality industry requires government support

Armed robbery from a hotel in Australia

Check out the top 5 ski hotels opening their doors in 2019

There’s a certain chic to the idea of a ski chalet, a resort on the cusp of a mountain where glamorous folks carve their way down black diamond runs all day and warming themselves with wine and hot beverages by a fire each night. These sorts of luxury accommodations are a backbone of the hospitality industry within some of the most popular travel destinations in the world, particularly in places like Europe and parts of North America. With their cache and relation to winter sports, they essentially never go out of style. It perhaps comes as little surprise that information from the TOPHOTELPROJECTS database shows that 2019 will be another great year for new ski resort properties across the globe. Without further adieu, here are five of the top ski hotels opening in 2019 and beyond, as per TOPHOTELCONSTRUCTION: Andermatt Swiss Alps Andermatt is a year-round destination in the heart of the Swiss Alps. The Andermatt Swiss Alps resort is currently being developed with the likelihood of opening in late 2018 or early 2019. The complete resort will include six 4 and 5-star hotels, 490 apartments in 42 buildings, about 25 chalets, convention facilities as well as an indoor pool and an 18-hole golf course. In addition, the Andermatt and Sedrun ski areas are being merged into the attractive Andermatt-Sedrun ski destinations. The first of the six hotels, the Chedi Andermatt, has been opened since December 2013. This project stands to yield 844 new rooms.

Hotel News Exclusive interview with the deputy of Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization on hotels pricing

Hotelchamp introduces AI Autopilot, aims to focus on personalized experience to take on Booking.com and Expedia

Hotelchamp, an Amsterdam-based startup has introduced a new technology called Autopilot. This new technology is set to revolutionize the way hotels think about their online guest experience. It is an AI (Artificial Intelligence) engine, which is trained to recognize and personalize the experience of visitors to a hotel’s website. Kristian Valk, the founder, and CEO of the Dutch startup Hotelchamp states that hotel websites provide a static experience for the visitors. This is bizarre given the different guests who visit these sites and their varied preferences. This is what the startup intends to change with the introduction of Autopilot. Without further ado, let’s see how Hotelchap aims to take over Booking.com and Expedia with its new AI feature. Hotelchamp intends to help hoteliers by providing a better experience to the guests. It is aimed at scaling up quickly and growing at a hyper-fast pace. Enhancing the experience of the guests comes with personalization. In fact, personalization is something that guests expect from hotels and it is a challenge to deliver that on a website in a meaningful way, claimed Valk. This is where AI comes to the picture. Artificial Intelligence can deliver a truly adaptive website experience, which is customized to every single visitor. It brings the right information or interaction to the right person at the right time, he added. The newly launched Autopilot is more than a chatbot. It customizes the static hotel websites by deploying a range of marketing techniques and tools. As it is seamlessly integrated, it offers a more lively, responsive and personalized experience. Furthermore, it guides guests throughout the direct booking process based on their requirements. Hotelchamp’s data science team has used their years of data and millions of A/B test impressions on developing Autopilot. They have used all these data to know what convinces guests to book directly. The new technology applies this knowledge against factors such as real-time data from the hotel’s website, best practices from thousands of hotels and GDPR-compliant visitor insights as well as behavior. Hoteliers just have to activate Autopilot with a single switch and the rest is assured.

300 Room Hilton Garden Inn Washington D.C. Downtown Sold For $128 Million

Xenia Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NYSE: XHR) today announced it has sold the 300-room Hilton Garden Inn Washington D.C. Downtown for $128 million, or approximately $427,000 per key.  The sale price represents a 15.2x multiple and a 5.8% capitalization rate on the hotel's trailing twelve month Hotel EBITDA and net operating income as of October 31, 2018, respectively. "We are pleased to have completed the sale of Hilton Garden Inn Washington D.C. Downtown," commented Marcel Verbaas, Xenia's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "The sale of this select-service hotel at an attractive valuation further exemplifies our dedication to upgrading the quality of our portfolio by making targeted investments and completing selective dispositions consistent with our long-term investment strategy of primarily owning high-quality luxury and upper upscale hotels in top 25 U.S. lodging markets and key leisure destinations." After the completion of this disposition and the addition of the recently acquired Park Hyatt Aviara Resort, Golf Club & Spa, Xenia's portfolio consists of 40 high-quality hotels located in strong lodging markets with a diversity of demand generators, with its 11 luxury hotels and 27 upper upscale hotels representing 24% and 72%, respectively, of its total room count. "We remain bullish on the long-term strength of the greater Washington D.C. market, and particularly the Northern Virginia market, as evidenced by our acquisition of The Ritz-Carlton, Pentagon City, in Arlington, Virginia, in 2017 and our continued ownership of the recently renovated Lorien Hotel in Alexandria, Virginia. We expect both hotels to benefit greatly from the vibrant economic climate in the area, including the recently announced addition of one of Amazon's headquarter locations," said Mr. Verbaas. "However, this sale represents another step in the evolution of our portfolio as we continue to upgrade the quality of our asset base while opportunistically harvesting value through timely dispositions. With the completion of this disposition, we have created additional balance sheet flexibility to take advantage of on-strategy acquisition opportunities as they arise." Proceeds from the sale will be utilized for general corporate purposes which may include debt repayments, acquisitions consistent with the Company's long-term strategy, and share repurchases under the Company's existing authorization..