Hotel Industry

With the summer pool season approaching, a battle is brewing between advocates for disabled Americans and hotel owners over how to make public swimming pools more accessible to people with disabilities. At the center of the dispute is a new regulation that requires hotels and recreation centers that operate public pools and spas to install or order permanent lifts - costing between $2,500 and $6,500 each, plus installation - by May 21. The requirement also can be satisfied by pool ramps, which are much more expensive.

With the summer pool season approaching, a battle is brewing between advocates for disabled Americans and hotel owners over how to make public swimming pools more accessible to people with disabilities. At the center of the dispute is a new regulation that requires hotels and recreation centers that operate public pools and spas to install or order permanent lifts - costing between $2,500 and $6,500 each, plus installation - by May 21. The requirement also can be satisfied by pool ramps, which are much more expensive.

In its nearly 60-year history in downtown Los Angeles, the Wilshire Grand Hotel has been host to such notable guests as Pope John Paul II and Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy. And, with the aging hotel closing to make way for a $1.1-billion tower complex, the final guest to check out will be a longtime fan with little notoriety. "I cherish the memories I have had here," said Richard Macias, a Los Angeles attorney who has been staying at the hotel for business since the 1960s.

The Los Angeles City Council is considering granting economic incentives to the local hotel industry to encourage modernization projects and better pay for workers. In a motion introduced on Tuesday, the council agreed to ask several city departments for reports on how "public benefits" and other incentives could be used to help strengthen the local tourism industry, which the motion said is "lagging behind where it can be. " Hotels, the measure said, are aging and falling behind in energy efficiency, and hotel workers are largely "underpaid and overworked.

When a 54-story, glass-sheathed hotel complex next to the L.A. Live entertainment center opened last year, it altered the skyline of downtown Los Angeles. It also changed the landscape for the city's hotel industry. Owners of existing downtown hotels are launching multimillion-dollar upgrades to keep pace with the upscale JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels that operate out of the glass tower. Across the street from L.A. Live and Staples Center, the humble three-star Holiday Inn has nearly completed a $10-million makeover, becoming a four-star property with a fancy new name: Luxe City Center.

The Los Angeles City Council is considering granting economic incentives to the local hotel industry to encourage modernization projects and better pay for workers. In a motion introduced on Tuesday, the council agreed to ask several city departments for reports on how "public benefits" and other incentives could be used to help strengthen the local tourism industry, which the motion said is "lagging behind where it can be. " Hotels, the measure said, are aging and falling behind in energy efficiency, and hotel workers are largely "underpaid and overworked.

Flash sales - limited-time-only discount offers for hotel rooms - may be hugely popular among budget-minded travelers, but the hotel industry is strongly divided on the practice. A recent survey by the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration determined that 42% of hotel operators had at least tried flash deals, but 46% of hotel operators said they had no intention of offering them. The remaining 12% were considering using flash sales. Flash sales, offered to subscribers of such websites as Groupon, LivingSocial and Jetsetter, can offer discounts of about 45% to 55% off of regular rates, according to the report, which surveyed nearly 200 hotel operators worldwide, most of them in North America.

Terranea, a Tuscan-themed luxury resort on the bluffs of Rancho Palos Verdes, couldn't have opened at a worse time. The sprawling seaside resort had 582 rooms to rent, a fancy spa, eight restaurants and bars, plus one of the largest ballrooms in the region — and, at its debut two years ago, faced the coldest hospitality market in decades. The owners hired 50% fewer employees than they had planned, launched generous discount promotions and prepared for the worst. In 2009, the hotel industry was in the roughest shape since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Just as the U.S. hotel industry begins to recover from the recession, industry leaders say they are being sabotaged by the Obama administration. The charge centers on a new rule proposed by Obama's Office of Government Ethics that would prohibit most federal employees from accepting free admission to conferences and other gatherings held by businesses or organizations that lobby the government. The American Hotel & Lodging Assn., the trade group that represents the nation's hotels, blasted the proposed rule, saying it is unneeded and would prevent federal employees from mingling with people to learn about trends and problems in the country.

Last week was another ghastly one for the hotel industry, researchers said Thursday, with occupancy and revenue again down substantially compared with a year earlier. Some cities were hurt less than others, with Washington hotels only slightly worse off than last year while New York was the hardest hit among major markets, according to Smith Travel Research Inc. Hotels located along highways suffered less than all other types of properties, such as resorts and upscale urban inns.

Low-cost airlines that cut out many of the extras might not be expected to get high marks for service - just as fast food is unlikely to win culinary awards. But J.D. Power & Associates' 2012 Customer Service Champions did not include long-established carriers such as Delta Air Lines, United Airlines or American Airlines among the 50 companies from various industries that won the distinction this year based on value, service and other measures. Instead, the report listed low-cost carriers Southwest Airlines, JetBlue Airways and San Francisco upstart Virgin America as the only airlines to win the award.

Flash sales - limited-time-only discount offers for hotel rooms - may be hugely popular among budget-minded travelers, but the hotel industry is strongly divided on the practice. A recent survey by the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration determined that 42% of hotel operators had at least tried flash deals, but 46% of hotel operators said they had no intention of offering them. The remaining 12% were considering using flash sales. Flash sales, offered to subscribers of such websites as Groupon, LivingSocial and Jetsetter, can offer discounts of about 45% to 55% off of regular rates, according to the report, which surveyed nearly 200 hotel operators worldwide, most of them in North America.

In the near future, the television sets at nearly every Hyatt hotel will do more than show the local news, pay-per-view movies and reruns of Seinfeld. Chicago-based Hyatt Hotel Corp., one of the world's largest hospitality companies, announced plans last week to install digital programs in as many as 60,000 rooms that will let guests use the in-room televisions to order food, book local tours, make dinner reservations, order extra towels from room service and surf the Internet.

With business and leisure travel growing, the average price for a hotel room rose 4.3% nationwide last year and is expected to climb further this year, helping the industry rebound from the Great Recession. The higher rates also reflected the limited growth in the number of new hotels, according to industry analysts. Last year's increases and this year's projections came in separate studies that looked at hotel bookings over the last year and advance bookings into the next nine months.

With travel demand continuing to grow, the nation's hotels are expected to raise rates an average of 3.6% in 2012, according to a study based on future bookings. The projected growth in demand, up 3% over last year, in addition to the higher rates represent the latest sign that the travel and hospitality industries continue to recover from the economic meltdown of 2009 and 2010, according to the study by New York-based TravelClick, a company that provides booking software and business data for major hotel chains worldwide.

In its nearly 60-year history in downtown Los Angeles, the Wilshire Grand Hotel has been host to such notable guests as Pope John Paul II and Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy. And, with the aging hotel closing to make way for a $1.1-billion tower complex, the final guest to check out will be a longtime fan with little notoriety. "I cherish the memories I have had here," said Richard Macias, a Los Angeles attorney who has been staying at the hotel for business since the 1960s.

More than 70 hotel industry leaders will be featured at the 15th annual Hotel Industry Investment Conference from Jan. 18 to 20 in Century City. The event, sponsored by UCLA Extension, is one of the largest gatherings of the hotel industry. The theme for the 2000 conference is "Foreseeing the Future in the Hotel Industry." The two-day event will feature panels on the impact of the Internet on travel, hotel lending and industry forecasts.

In a labor union's Garden Grove office, organizer Bill Granfield stands before a cluttered wall filled with charts. On the charts are the names of hundreds of maids, cooks and bellmen who make up the ranks of Local 681. "Gracie, where's Gracie?" he asks, scanning the faces of a dozen union captains until finally a hand goes up. "Estoy aqui, Bill," says 59-year-old Engracia Gabaldon, who for 14 years has worked in the Disneyland Hotel pantry and prides herself on her salads and fruit baskets.

Just as the U.S. hotel industry begins to recover from the recession, industry leaders say they are being sabotaged by the Obama administration. The charge centers on a new rule proposed by Obama's Office of Government Ethics that would prohibit most federal employees from accepting free admission to conferences and other gatherings held by businesses or organizations that lobby the government. The American Hotel & Lodging Assn., the trade group that represents the nation's hotels, blasted the proposed rule, saying it is unneeded and would prevent federal employees from mingling with people to learn about trends and problems in the country.

Telephone and mini-bar charges have long been standard, but the hotel industry is expected to pocket a record $1.8 billion this year with an assortment of new fees for housekeeping, room-service trays, bellhops and early cancellations -- services once thought to be part of room rates. The latest revenue estimate represents an 80% increase from 2001, when hotels generated about $1 billion from such fees, according to a new study by Bjorn Hanson, dean of New York University's Preston Robert Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism and Sports Management.