Unusual Hotels

Name	The Manta Resort (Underwater Hotel)
Location	Pemba Island
Offered service	ü   Meal service, ü   Day trip to several spots ü   Diving course ü  Spa
Photos

Name	Treehotel (Harads)
Location	Sweden
Offered service	ü   Meal service
Photos

Name	Magic Mountain Hotel
Location	Chile
Offered service	ü   Meal service ü   Laundry Service ü   Spa and sauna
Photos

Name	Refugio Marnes Casas Rurales
Location	Spain
Offered service	ü   Meal service
Photos

Name	Karostas Cietums
Location	Latvia
Offered service	ü   Meal service
Photos

Name	Jumbo Stay
Location	Stockholm, Sweden
Offered service	ü   Meal service
Photos

Franchising

Franchising is a common approach for hotel business to expand their business. The model is as follows, the franchisor can expand rapidly under such development procedure, after paying the fee to franchisor, franchisee can use the rights to use the brands, trademarks and operation procedures etc.

Advantages

Franchising offers important pre-opening supports for company which seeking rapidly expansion, the support includes site selection, advertising design and construction, financing and training, franchisees can have everything ready when they start up the business.

Disadvantages

However, franchisees needs to bear the high costs of franchising fees , ongoing royalties , advertising fees and cost of maintenance to enjoy the benefits. Also , the independence of franchisee can be reduced since franchisee need to follow the operation procedures and restrictions , the franchisees need to bear the risk if they want to determinate the fixed franchising contract .On the other hand , if the franchisee perform badly , it can cause damage on the image of franchisors.  

Examples

Hilton Hotels and Resorts

Hilton Hotels and Resorts now have hotels branches in total 92 countries in the world such as Doubletrees Hilton, Hilton Garden Inn. The franchise fee is $75000 plus 5% of ongoing royalty fee and the term of renewable franchise agreement with 23 years. The franchisor will provide support to franchises in terms of marketing support (regional advertising, national media) , training and ongoing support like grand opening , security procedure and purchasing cooperatives.

Motel 6

Motel 6 is a USA company; the hotel chain is acquired by Accor in 1990 and the franchising in 1996. The franchisor supports franchisees in terms of 1-week training, ongoing support (security procedures, field operations) and marketing support like Ad slicks and national media.

Howard Johnson

Howard Johnson's is a chain of hotels and restaurants located primarily throughout the United States and Canada. The first Howard Johnson hotel opened in Georgia, the franchise fee is $3500 plus the ongoing royalty fee (4.5%) and the term of franchise agreement is 15-20 years.

Management Contract

Management contract is the arrangement between the owner and the management company, in such model, the management contract is not only selling the information of how to run the business but also actually doing them, such as technical operation of facility, accounting, human resources solutions, engineering, food and beverage etc.

For the agreement, the hotel owner needs to pay fees to the management company, the fee is usually a percentage of revenue earned by the hotel (usually 2-4.5% of gross revenues) and the length of management contract is usually about 5, 10 or 20years.

In terms of responsibility, the owner may get advantages from Management Company in terms of handling the daily detailed operation of the company and the terminations can also be turned over to the outsiders. However, privacy issue may become a concern since you need to give u some private information of the company and hand it to Management Company, such as financial information, employees’ records and personal information. Conflicts may happen in the management contracts so a legal agreement on handling conflicts should be set up in the contract.

Examples

Marriott International, Inc.

It is a leading hospitality company with more than 3,900 properties, 18 brands, managed and franchised properties around the world. It is founded by J. Willard and Alice Marriott and guided by Marriott family leadership for more than 80 years, the company is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, USA, and reported revenues of nearly $13 billion in fiscal year 2013.

Renaissance Hong Kong Harbour View Hotel

JW Marriott Hotel Hong Kong                  

                                     

 

Vacation Ownership

Vacation ownership means that in a period of time (days or weeks per year) that you can buy for a property or multi-destination club, during which you can have the right to use the property. The idea behind vacation ownership is that you have to “pre-paying" for a vacation place rather than renting it, as you might otherwise do. The profit that would have gone to the rental stays in your pocket. Under a Vacation ownership plan you agree to a one-time purchase price and an annual maintenance fee, Vacation ownership purchasers own their accommodation time and purchase the right-to-use it for a specified number of years.

Vacation ownership is more famous than before. Millions of families over the world have vacation ownership or vacation memberships.

In Recent years, leading hospitality companies such as Hilton, Accord Hotels, Hyatt, Fairmount, Four Seasons, Marriott, and Accord Hotels have been building and converting upscale hotels so that satisfying the Vacation ownership, membership demand. These popular companies would not tie their companies’ names to the untrusting business.

The main idea of vacation ownership is relatively simple. There are two basic types: right-to-use and fee simple.

In a right-to-use vacation ownership you are essentially taking a lease on a property, usually for one to two weeks a year, for a specific period of time (generally 15 years to 50 years, or for the lifetime of the owner). You can think of this type of vacation ownership as similar to booking a cottage rental in advance, except that in most cases you can give away, sell your right or rent to use to someone else whenever you like.

These vacation ownership mostly involve price for purchasing and the annual maintenance fee. Some of these vacation ownership operate on the "points" system that allows you can book vacations in different locations.

Example

Marriott Vacation Club

Vacation Club Points	Financing Available*		Annual Maintenance Fees	Annual Club Dues	Examples of hotel
	10% Down Payment	Approximate Monthly Payment
1,500 Points	$1,836	$265	$675	$175	Las Vegas, Nevada 3 nights Room Type: 2-bedroom villa Time of Year : Year Round
2,500 Points	$3,060	$420	$1,125	$175	Miami, Florida 10 nights Room Type: 2-bedroom villa Time of Year : Summer, Fall and Early Winter
3,500 Points	$4,284	$563	$1,575	$175	Kapolei, Oahu, Hawaii 7 nights Room Type: 2-bedroom villa Time of Year : Year Round

Latest trends and develop

1. International Knowledge Needed

Tourism industry is now developing in a rapid speed and large scaled growth, and becomes the biggest industry in the world. The World Travel & Tourism Council, forecasts that the industry is providing 328 million jobs by 2022, which is 10% of the workforce. In US its growth is especially fast with an increase in around 55000 jobs per month in 2013. By 2018 it is believed that there will be a 30% increase in international arrivals, so international knowledge is inevitable in travel industry as the most obvious trend. Kendall College President Emily Williams Knight stated her excitement as a thought leader of providing well-rounded hospitality education to students so that they could take the opportunity to develop it into professional. Chicago as the most advanced hospitality business center could provide training for this global industry. With more than 165000 hospitality careers will be offered in Chicago by 2020. In December 2012 96% of hospitality program fresh graduates are able to find their jobs in 6 months, hospitality becomes a vital industry in US and even worldwide.

2. Rankings generate revenue

Online rating nowadays becomes an important tool for business, which is mostly collected by other users on the Internet. Technology development creates a powerful digital world for review sites, which greatly affects business revenue. In US everyday 3.3 billion of brand names are mentioned in 2.4 billion brand-related conversations. A typical American mentions brand names 60 times a week. The 2012 Luxury Trend report stated that more than 33% of customers treat TripAdvisor reviews as extremely important.

3. Back at the Bar – Traditional Gets a Twist

Classic is the new contemporary, with bars serving up a renaissance of classic and pre-prohibition cocktails. And one of the most classic beverages, tea, is giving cocktails a makeover. With its broad range of appealing flavor profiles and vibrant spectrum of visual characteristics, tea is being elevated to a contemporary status as mixologists and spirit bars across the country are using it to enhance their gin-, rum- and vodka-based cocktails. Whether it is incorporating a floral hibiscus tea to gin or a smoky lapsang souchong tea to vodka, they can add interesting subtle or assertive dimension as a complimentary ingredient. Tea offers adaptability to cold or hot and savory or sweet cocktails making it more user-friendly and appealing to a wider audience in the market place.

3. Back at the Bar – Traditional Gets a Twist

Classic is the new contemporary, with bars serving up a renaissance of classic and pre-prohibition cocktails. And one of the most classic beverages, tea, is giving cocktails a makeover. With its broad range of appealing flavor profiles and vibrant spectrum of visual characteristics, tea is being elevated to a contemporary status as mixologists and spirit bars across the country are using it to enhance their gin-, rum- and vodka-based cocktails. Whether it is incorporating a floral hibiscus tea to gin or a smoky lapsang souchong tea to vodka, they can add interesting subtle or assertive dimension as a complimentary ingredient. Tea offers adaptability to cold or hot and savory or sweet cocktails making it more user-friendly and appealing to a wider audience in the market place.

City of dreams is a good example to introduce this latest trend in hotel industry. City of dreams which is composed of three main hotels including Hard Rock, Crown Towers and Grand Hyatt hotel has constructed a Soho Area in here which provides over 15 bars and restaurant so as to provide a platform to customers to enjoy their leisure time and make new friends.  

4. Sustainability is The New Standard

Hotel industry, one of the largest industries in United States, represents over 5 billion square feet of space and provides nearly 5 million guest rooms. Large as the hotel industry in U.S. is, applying the sustainability concept will be the latest trend so as to make our earth better and clearer. Since this industry consumed over 4 billion annual energy uses that will release many harmful gases and pollute our environment, so promoting the concept is a desirable way to reduce the pollution and educate the customers to protect our natural environment. In fact, 2013 marks the "tipping point" for sustainable hospitality, with eco-friendly practices becoming the norm, rather than the exception, so expect 2014 to see standard "green" practices, products, programs and packages. The message that sustainable practices can save money for a hotel operation has come through loud and clear. Sustainability will be the new standard.  

Hotel Crowne Plaza Copenhagen Towers in Denmark is one of the green hotels in the world, which encourage sustainability through various ways of saving energy usage. In 2010, the hotel launched the scheme of pedal-powered hotel. New electricity-generating exercise bikes were installed in the gym of the hotel. Guests in the hotel were encouraged to use the bikes to do exercise so as to keep fit and generate electricity at the same time. IPhones were attached on the handlebars of the bikes to monitor and show the amount of power generated by the guests while they were riding on the bikes. Of course the guests would be more motivated if there were rewards after they used the bikes. A free meal would be given to guests who were able to generate 10 watt hours or more power.

5. Room Service Reinvented

In the recent years, the room service revenue has been decreased dramatically, the majority of hotels are dedicated to reinventing the concept, contributing to an eight percent increase in the number of hotels offering room service from 2011-2012. For this year, most of the hotels try to use different kinds of solutions such as introducing well known chef names, concept-driven restaurants and artfully crafted menu items to digital in-room dining menus and online ordering to brown-bag meal deliveries with a view to improving the problems.

Hotel Belmont in Dallas enlisted Chef Tim Byres, voted best southwestern chef by Food & Wine to head up Smoke, a barbecue restaurant with an emphasis on smoked and cured items. And, Omni Chicago Hotel in Chicago offers a digital in-room dining menu, which includes pictures and descriptions of each meal. The term "at your service" will continue to evolve to support consumer needs for simple, fast and quality service – room service isn't going away anytime soon.

Other funny and value added trend

Welcome to the Age of Pump Dispensers

The minority of customers may think that pump dispensers in bathroom may not the good news for them who like those tiny, carry-away bottles of hair conditioners, lotions and shampoos. For hotel-owners, the growing trend of pump dispensers essentially means lesser expenditure and manpower for replacements/refills.

Guests are likely to waste lesser with dispensers. You might not want to jump on to this trend though it does offer the lure of some immediate savings. Some of your guests might love the neatly-wrapped soaps on the counter top that lends a personalized touch to your service.

Electronic Check-ins

Smarter (Electronic) Check-Ins has been introduced to the customers in the recent years upon us. However, this feature is presently modified by hotels and adjusted its usage. Most of them are offering it as a part of “Preferred Guest” services. Not only does this system can help hotel reduce the trouble process in the front desk but also can make customers more convenient.


References
http://demo3.urocksdesign.com/main/franchising/
http://blog.socialtables.com/2013/10/16/2014-hospitality-trends/
http://www.mycaboexperience.com/where-to-stay/vacation-ownership/what-is-vacation-ownership
http://www3.hilton.com/en/index.html