Steve Sackman knew it would be a major undertaking to replace more than 5,000 light bulbs at the 212-room hotel.Yet the upscale Tarrytown House Estate & Conference Center expects a major payoff in lower utility bills as a result of the investment. The new compact fluorescent bulbs installed in the guest rooms, hallways, conference rooms and the lobby last 10 times longer and use far less energy than conventional light bulbs. Sackman said it is good news for the environment because each new bulb will save about 450 pounds of power-plant emissions over its lifetime.

“It is the right thing to do from a standpoint of cost savings and being a more profitable organization,” said Sackman, the regional director of sales and marketing at Tarrytown House. “But it also is about being a socially and environmentally responsible organization. That is certainly at the front of everyone’s mind right now.” Read more

Angola is to get 39 new hotels of various categories in the coming 30 months involving estimated investments of US$ 500 million, an official has said.

Rosa da Cruz of the Luanda tourism ministry’s planning department said Thursday that the new investment was due to a number of upcoming sporting events being staged in Angola, such as the African Nations Cup in 2010, Afrobasket and the African Women’s Handball Championships.

Angola’s hotel sector is set to grow by about 8 percent annually over the next few years, said da Cruz, with a parallel expansion in restaurants and overall improvement in quality of services.

“Angolan tourism has being developing positively. Results achieved and the country’s balance of payment figures are proof of this reality,” added the official.

Hospitality Properties Trust today announced that it has sold 18 Homestead Studio Suites hotels (2,399 rooms) for $205.35 million. HPT expects to recognize a gain on this sale of approximately $95 million.

HPT purchased these 18 hotels in 1999 from Homestead Village, Inc. (which was then a publicly owned company) for $145 million. The expected gain reflects depreciation expense realized by HPT since 1999. Simultaneous with this purchase, these hotels were leased by HPT to a subsidiary of that seller for minimum rent of $15,960,000/year plus percentage rent based upon increases in gross revenues at the hotels. In 2006, the percentage rent received by HPT for these hotels was approximately $509,000.   Read more

Kingdom Hotel Investments (KHI) said it bought Four Seasons Hotel Jakarta for 48 mln usd to diversify in high-growth emerging markets.

The hotel and resort investment company said it will own an 81.9 pct stake in the hotel and that this transaction expands KHI’s portfolio in Asia to nine properties in seven countries.

Hotels are no longer selling corporate meeting clients just a room, a sound system, a projector and some pitchers of water.

Some full-service chains are in the vanguard of a growing trend in which the hotels are creating a customized environment that uses sound, food, scent, decor, toys and gadgets to create moods that match the meetings’ objectives.

Kimpton Hotels began its Signature Meetings initiative last year. Omni launched a similar campaign — dubbed Sensational Meetings — earlier this year. The W and Westin also customize meetings.  Read more

Lodgian, Inc. , one of the nation’s largest independent owners and operators of full-service hotels, today announced it had sold the 202-room Holiday Inn hotel in Ft. Wayne, Ind. and the 159-room Holiday Inn in Bridgeport, W. Va. to undisclosed buyers in separate transactions for an aggregate price of $5.6 million. Proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes.

HREC Investment Advisors represented Lodgian in both transactions. “Our disposition program, which was announced in November 2006, continues as planned,” Ed Rohling, chief executive officer of Lodgian. “We now have sold 22 of the 27 non-core hotels designated in the program, have an additional three properties under contract and two hotels being actively marketed.”  Read more

 The greening of the Habitat Suites hotel in Austin started with a simple decision in 1991: The hotel stopped using pesticides on the property.

“We’re not pulling out machine guns to kill a roach,” says general manager Natalie Marquis. “It’s enlightened self-interest.”

Since then, the hotel (www.habitatsuites.com) has become more environmentally friendly. Some measures were easy, such as replacing standard light bulbs with compact fluorescents and using soap dispensers instead of bars of soap. Other adaptations were more expensive and challenging, such as installing systems to collect solar energy and turn off air conditioners in rooms when guests weren’t present.  Read more

Golden Tulip Hospitality is proud to announce three additions to its Benelux portfolio; two in the Netherlands and one in Belgium

Golden Tulip Hospitality Group has contracted a new Golden Tulip hotel in the Dutch city Gouda – the property will feature a minimum of 98 rooms and is scheduled to open by the end of 2008/ early 2009. Golden Tulip Hospitality, the Municipality of Gouda, Bontebal Vastgoed and Park King signed on Saturday June 23rd the agreements pertaining to the whole project named “Bolwerk”, this included the lease agreement for the Golden Tulip Gouda.   Read more

The proposed $50 million downtown Birmingham entertainment district will have two hotels rather than one, according to architectural plans unveiled today.

Fred Keith, president of Birmingham’s HKW Associates, told board members of the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex that a second 130- to 150-room hotel will be built as part of the project. It will be adjacent to the Southeastern Conference headquarters building at Richard Arrington Boulevard and 22nd Street.  Read more

Three resort hotels in Thailand including the Banyan Tree Phuket are among the top 10 eco-friendly hotels in Asia in a listing by Agoda.com, an independent online travel company that specialises in discount hotel bookings. The other two Thai resorts on the list are the Evason Hua Hin Resort & Six Senses Spa and the Anantara Resort & Spa Golden Triangle in Chiang Rai.

As travellers the world over realise that the responsibility to protect the environment is a shared one, they are adopting greener lifestyles and scrutinising the hotels and destinations they choose, Agoda said.

According to the International Ecotourism Society, about 70% of travellers prefer to pay a premium rate for a hotel that is eco-friendly than one that is better-priced but has no corporate social responsibility policies.  Read more