HOTEL CHAIN

Hotel Chain

Hotel Chain

A hotel, according to the EU, is defined as 'a collective accommodation establishment, typified as being arranged in rooms exceeding a nationally specified minimum and as providing common services, including room service'. Generally, the UK definition is made according to the holding of a licence to sell liquor.

According to the latest preliminary figures from the HotelBenchmark Survey by Deloitte, the UK hotel industry has proven to be the strongest performer in Europe in the first six months of 2004, with revenue per available room (revPAR) rising 11 percent against the same period in 2003, resulting from a balanced mix of rising occupancies and average room rates. London, which is the leading performer in the UK, experienced a 6% increase in average room rate year on year.

From the Smith Travel Research where the grand demand for the Residence Inn was at 30% and the supply was only at 8%. The Marriott PLC has developed a new category called "Residence Inn" to adapt this large market demand (Michiel 1999 85-99).

UK middle market hotel brand, Thistle, is launching a luxury global sister - Guoman, which is set to spread globally. In order to grow the brand Thistle intends to upgrade some existing properties in the UK and launch an "ambitious acquisition strategy" abroad. Whitbread has made the decision to reduce their exposure to (and ultimately exit from) the full-service hotels sector where they are the UK operators of the Marriott brand, due to the low returns from this franchised business. The company also acquired Premier Lodge from Spirit Group for £505 million, and combining Travel Inn and Premier Lodge and marketing them to the UK consumer under on brand.

Mandras Group has outlined an aggressive e-commerce strategy since 2002 to build a series of Web sites for its largest markets including the UK, Germany, and Japan. The effort resulted in the creation of eight localized Web Sites representing seven different languages.

Olympic - London has won the competition to host the 2012 Olympic Games, which will boost tourism revenues owing to increased visitor numbers. London hoteliers have agreed to provide 40,000 affordable rooms for London 2012. Euro - Following the government indecision on the Euro, hotels are split on their opinions or joining the single currency, 52% of hoteliers were against adopting Euro (Jennings and Frederick 1992 25).

Interest Rates - were at a 40-year low during 2003; however, the Bank of England has slowly increased the rates in order to curb high levels of consumer debt. In May 2004 interest rates rose to 4.25%, the third rise over the last seven months.

The domestic holiday market - The rate has increased in 2003 and 2004, due to apprehensions about traveling abroad during the Iraq War and the natural disasters. Growth in total expenditure has continued to rise by 16% between 2000 and 2004 but basically only in nominal (not adjusted for inflation) terms (Kaufman 1997 1-6).

Significant growth in key socio-economic groups - There has been a significant shift over the last few ...