In one of the odder news stories about new hotels, the Hayden Ferry Lakeside development in Tempe, Ariz., which was to include condos, a hotel, retail and office space, has told Starwood's Le Meridien to take a hike.
The Valhalla Development Group, the developers of the project, are ready to have a groundbreaking in December, but Le Meridien isn't ready to commit to the project yet - so the developers decided to go with another 4-star hotel brand which has not yet been announced.
Yikes. No wonder New York is the self-professed city that never sleeps: At an average of $350 a night in a hotel room, who can afford any shut-eye?
That figure spiked $50 in May from a year ago, according to figures released this week by the official marketing and tourism organization for the Big Apple. And even though 90 percent of all those spendy rooms were filled (that's some 2.05 million rooms), we're still betting the $99 rooms at the Jane Hotel couldn't come any quicker for travelers en route to New York.
Speaking of which: for a visual dose of depressing hotel rates, search for Manhattan on Hotel Map Search, a handy guide to hotel locations and average rates.
There's tons of hotel news flying around this week and we don't have time to give each and every story the love and attention it may deserve, so you will have to settle for some news briefs.
· Room Rates May Decrease: Occupancy in U.S. hotels fell in the first half of August, leaving some industry analysts to think that room rates might get reduced. Yay! [BizWeek]
· Westin Napa Valley Is Taking Reservations: The Westin Verasa will open on September 18th at $289 a night. But Starwood never makes it easy on us. The website is taking reservations for after September 26th. [Official Site]
· Kevin Bacon Eats at the Viceroy: We just came back from a quick meeting at the Viceroy and spotted Kevin Bacon dining at Whist on our way out. We wonder: Did he try an Elvis Truffle? [HC Twitter Feed]
These days you can't take a quoted room rate at face value. Before making a decision you must estimate the taxes and fees that will inevitably be added to your bottom line.
With the travel industry struggling, more and more surcharges are sneaking into our bills.
For spontaneous travelers and hotel geeks like ourselves, there is some good news in all of this recession and economic woes talk: hotels won't be raising room rates as much or as frequently in the near future. In fact, there may be some discounts abound!
Many hoteliers and CEOs sounded off at the NYU Tisch Hospitality Center conference last week, which Andrew Gindy dutifully reported on for us.
According to BTN Online, Bill Marriott even said that discounting will probably start happening. Yet it was Barry Sternlicht who seemed to have the bleakest outlook on the hotel market:
Barry Sternlicht, chairman and CEO of Starwood Capital Group, said to expect the softening to continue for at least 18 months....
"The U.S. consumer is stretched, and we've been waiting for him to collapse for quite some time. Businesses will do what they've always done in every cycle: tighten their belts," Sternlicht said. "It's going to be worse before it gets better."
Whoa, Barry Downer. He's probably just depressed that he's trying to launch a chain of luxury hotels in these trying times.
Hotel investors meet up at the spot in the Waldorf where they get five bars cell reception.
What a crazy last two days! The biggest hotel conference of the year just wrapped up yesterday afternoon at the Waldorf=Astoria after two days full of guest speakers, informative panels, excellent networking opportunities, and numerous cocktail parties. Over 2,500 attendees were there to witness the hotel madness, including us.
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by AndrewC
Yikes. No wonder New York is the self-professed city that never sleeps: At an 
There's tons of hotel news flying around this week and we don't have time to give each and every story the love and attention it may deserve, so you will have to settle for some news briefs.
