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Tags: Hotel Openings / Tri-Pack Hotel / Tri-Pack BT / Four Points By Sheraton / Manhattan Hotels / Staybridge Suites / Fairfield Inn / Hotel Hype / → All Tags

Another Tri-Pack Hotel is Now Two-Thirds Open in Times Square

Where: 326 West 40th Street [map], New York, NY, United States, 10018

How could we forget that the Tri-Pack hotel in Times Square would have some competition. We got a press release today saying that the Four Points Times Square has opened. When we checked our archives to see what else we have written about this hotel, we found this story which focused largely on Gene Kauffman's Tri-Pack Hotel.

However, we also wrote that he was working on a similar packaged hotel at 40th street that would include "a Four Points by Sheraton, Fairfield Inn and Staybridge Suites, each more than 30 stories tall." For clarity's sake we'll call this new one Tri-Pack BT (Business Travelers.) The other Tri-Pack will have the more budget-y brands of Holiday Inn, a Candlewood Suites and a Hampton Inn.

Now the Four Points is open at Tri-Pack BT but Staybridge Suites won't take guests until January 16, 2010. On the other hand the Fairfield Inn is already open with rooms at $199, making this Tri-Pack hotel two-thirds open.

And yes, that's a Starwood property, an ICH hotel and a Marriott brand all sharing the same space. (Btw for giggles, check out the Staybridge Suites rendering on their site which shows the building as a standalone.)

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Tags: Staybridge Suites / Intercontinental Hotels / Kuwait Hotels / Hotel News / → All Tags

Staybridge Suites Rolls Out in Kuwait

Where: Kuwait City, Kuwait

Think Kuwait and you may think of Desert Storm and burning oil fields. But did you know this little country is becoming a tourist destination?

It has islands with white sand beaches, coral reefs, archaeological sites, museums, horse-racing clubs, festivals, serious shopping, and an amusement park with a haunted castle.

A testament to the success of the country's long-range tourism plan, Staybridge Suites is partnering with Intercontinental Hotels Group to roll out two new hotels -- and this is just one example of the massive outcrop of hotels and hotel chains that are scheduled to open in Kuwait city.

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Tags: hotel news / extended stay hotels / Holiday Inns / Staybridge Suites / → All Tags

Mid-Range Hotel Execs: Good Customer Service Costs Too Much

[Ed. Note: Hotel Maven Tim Leffel takes a look at how the hotel industry's bean counters figure out when extra bodies are worth it--and when you're on your own.]

Last week the Wall Street Journal ran an enlightening story on how finance executives decide whether it's worth it or not to have more people on staff for customer service. At Starbucks it pays to have an ample staff (because the most free-spending customers hate waiting). Apparently at Holiday Inn and Staybridge Suites hotels, it does not. ""Bellmen they have no use for," Holiday Inn President Mark Snyder says of the people who stay at the midscale chain's hotels. "Why would I invest in bellmen at the doors for people who've already dragged their bags through three airports themselves?"

If you have stayed at a Staybridge Suites, you may have been pleasantly surprised by the free food and drinks at the mid-week "Sundowner Reception." It's not done just to be nice: executives say it takes guests minds off the lack of service. "Housekeeping does a full room cleaning just once a week, and the front desk usually has no more than one or two people staffing it."

During their limited interactions, employees are also supposed to chat it up with guests.

"A lot of our guests really want that personal interaction -- the thing they get from home that they'd like to get from a hotel," says Rob Radomski, the vice president of brand management for Staybridge Suites. "There's conversations between guests and staff about projects they're working on, and their family back home, and the kid, the dog."

So, it's totally cool if housekeeping can't do a full room clean before we check-in, just as long as we can have a nice heart-to-heart about it.

Image via Vladka/Flickr

Related Stories:
· Good customer service costs money; some expenses are worth it, and some aren't [WSJ via Post-Gazette]