Summary:
- Marriott teams with Samsung and Legrand unveil ‘smart’ hotel room for the future
- Meliá Hotels increases profits by 23.3% across first nine months of 2017
- Marriott opens second Residence Inn property in the UK in Aberdeen
- London, Munich, Istanbul, Moscow and Dublin set for hotel room bonanza
Marriott teams with Samsung and Legrand unveil ‘smart’ hotel room for the future
Marriott International has teamed up with transformative ideas and technology specialist Samsung and Legrand, a global specialist in electrical and digital building infrastructures, to launch the hospitality industry’s Internet of Things (IoT) hotel room to inspire the ultimate hotel experience of the future. The IoT Guestroom Lab – powered by Marriott’s Innovation Lab at the company’s corporate headquarters – explores concepts that have the potential to elevate the guest experience and create more efficient hotel room design and construction. The project will ultimately help to deliver a personalised experience for customers. “We know that our guests expect to personalise almost everything in their lives, and their hotel experience should be no different,” says Stephanie Linnartz, global chief commercial officer, Marriott International. Marriott is working towards a future where hotel owners would have a seamless, transparent and flexible end-to-end solution that requires minimal equipment, while customers would enjoy an integrated experience with access to their own data and information, as well as accessible voice and mobile-optimized controls. Following a three-month-long IoT Guestroom Lab, Marriott, Samsung and Legrand say they will “analyse feedback to continue innovating with IoT technology”. Consumers will hopefully start to see elements of the technology in hotel rooms within the next five years.
Meliá Hotels increases profits by 23.3% across first nine months of 2017
Meliá Hotels International has increased profits by 23.3% and improved margins and sales efficiency, consolidating a business model focused on hotel management. The Palma de Mallorca, Spain-based company has seen an increase in EBITDA of 9.2%, thanks to an increase in fee revenues, but warned the situation in Catalonia, the Venezuelan Bolivar exchange rate, the hurricane in Puerto Rico and the closure of several airlines in Europe has had a negative impact on performance. Meliá Hotels says a 5% increase in total revenues has been supported by a 6.1% growth in Revenues Per Available Room (RevPAR) as a result of price increases. It plans to sign more than 30 new hotels into its management portfolio during the remainder of 2017, having already signed 23 new hotels in the first nine months of the year. Its pipeline (hotel agreements signed and in the process of opening) currently boasts a global offering of over 17,000 rooms in 70 hotels, representing 18% of the current portfolio. The company highlights the improvement of 42 basis points in the EBITDA margin versus last year thanks to cost optimisation and actions to improve sales efficiency. Across EMEA, Meliá Hotels reported a 0.4% increase in RevPAR and a 12.7% rise in fee revenues across the first nine months. The positive results are thanks to consistent recovery in countries such as France and the United Kingdom, as well as the growing importance of the business-leisure segment in cities with tourism potential. Germany performed well while the United Kingdom and France also experienced a clear recovery, it says, while Italy registered a strong quarter and premium and city hotels in Spain saw significant growth.
Marriott opens third Residence Inn property in the UK in Aberdeen
Marriott International has expanded its extended-stay Residence Inn brand in Scotland with the opening of its Aberdeen hotel. The 126-unit Residence Inn Aberdeen is housed within the mixed use Marischal Square development, around half a mile from the city’s main railway station and close to Aberdeen Maritime Museum. Studio and one-bedroom suites offer fully-equipped kitchens with fridge, hob, microwave and dishwasher, while hotel facilities include a 24-hour lobby, free self-service laundry, a restaurant and Grab n Go market shop and fitness centre, catering well to longer stays. “Globally the extended stay category makes up one third of all business travel room nights, with 34% of those room nights spent in Europe,” says John Licence, vice president premium & select brands Europe at Marriott International. Alongside the existing Residence Inn Edinburgh and recently opened Residence Inn London Bridge, a fourth UK property will be introduced in early 2018 with the opening of Residence Inn London Kensington.
London, Munich, Istanbul, Moscow and Dublin set for hotel room bonanza
The latest October 2017 Pipeline Report from benchmarking specialist STR shows 274,743 rooms in 3,035 hotel projects under contract in Europe. The data, which includes projects in the ‘in construction’, ‘final planning’ and ‘planning’ stages but not projects in the ‘unconfirmed stage’ now includes an expanded listing following STR’s acquisition of AM:PM, adding a number of properties that were not previously included in the UK and Ireland, such as Independent hotels with fewer than 10 rooms. Across Europe there are 96,517 hotel rooms in 770 projects under the ‘in construction’ category. Five key European markets reported more than 3,000 rooms in this criteria and comprise: London, England (7,520 rooms in 78 projects); Munich, Germany (3,982 rooms in 19 projects); Istanbul, Turkey (3,867 rooms in 20 projects); Moscow, Russia (3,618 rooms in 16 projects); and Dublin, Ireland (3,152 rooms in 31 projects).