"The Culinary World of Chef Brad"

New York – May 26, 2009: Roberto Wirth, owner and general manager of the venerable Hotel Hassler Roma, signed an agreement last week with renowned hotelier Moreno Occhiolini to create a new international luxury hotel chain, Hassler Hotels & Resorts.

The new company will have Wirth as chairman and Occhiolini as CEO. The original Hotel Hassler Roma will continue to be owned and managed by Wirth, who holds almost 30 years at its helm.

Destinations for Hassler Hotels & Resorts may include business and leisure cities such as New York, Washington DC, Chicago, London, Zurich, Doha and Jeddah.  The new properties will be housed in historic buildings similar to that of the Hassler Roma, or those in development that mirror the Hassler Roma’s unique location, service standards, personality and refinement.

In celebration of this new venture, Wirth and Occhiolini held an economic round-table seminar last week titled “The luxury hotel industry: finance and future.”  Guests included top hotel industry leaders, as well as Italian visionaries in business, finance, journalism and tourism.

via Wirth, Occhiolini CreateHassler Hotels & Resorts – 5/28/2009 8:54:00 AM – Hotels.

While parts of the Middle East have been struggling mightily throughout the past year, the region as a whole still has been a top performer globally and is expected to continue to be the top performing market for 2009. And while development has hit a slowdown, with about 20% of planned projects on hold, investor confidence remains strong in certain markets, and both regional and international brands have reaffirmed commitments to their pipelines in the region.

via Despite Hiccup, Mideast Outlook Mostly Positive – 6/1/2009 – Hotels.

Orlando, Fla. (May 28, 2009) – While the percentage of leisure travelers who report making reservations online has grown more than thirty-seven percent (37%) since the year 2000, “Consumers’ search behavior has changed in recent years as people have become more familiar with search technology and the number of travel planning/purchasing sites has grown exponentially,” said Peter C. Yesawich, chairman and CEO of Ypartnership.

According to the just-released National Travel MONITORSM, fully sixty-six percent (66%) of leisure travelers now use the Internet to plan some aspect of their travel (versus 35% in 2000), while fifty-six percent (56%) now report making reservations online. The nationally representative survey of 1,590 active travelers was conducted during the months of February and March, 2009, and is co-authored annually by Ypartnership and Yankelovich, Inc.

Travelers visit search engines such as Google, Yahoo or MSN first when considering vacation destination alternatives. The Web sites of a specific countries or destination boards are visited next, followed by online travel agencies such as Expedia and Travelocity. Only one percent (1%) of travelers commence their search for a vacation destination by visiting a blog:

via Travelers’ Online Search Behavior Evolves – 5/28/2009 9:58:00 AM – Hotels.

The Wit, a 27-story boutique hotel that opened Wednesday at the corner of State and Lake Streets, is a work of pre-crash architectural exuberance making its debut amid a post-crash depression. Only in the heady days before last year’s stock-market meltdown would an architect have designed a hotel with the likeness of a yellow lightning bolt zigzagging across its facade. Now, a basic room goes for $199.

In a sense, though, there is something timeless — or at least fitting — about the Wit’s design. Its raffish theatricality is in keeping with its surroundings, given that it stands across the elevated tracks from the blazing marquees and caramel popcorn smells of Chicago’s theater district.

via A bolt of urban energy; Flash of yellow tint gives 27-story hotel a playful look in theater district – May 28, 2009 Thursday – HOTELS.

The fine-dining, dinner-only CityZen restaurant inside Mandarin Oriental, Washington, D.C., proved too popular—and as such, too expensive—for all but the hotel’s wealthiest clients to rent out as event space.

However, the hotel happens to have an art gallery space located just off the restaurant’s main prep kitchen, along with a James Beard Award-winning chef who adores creatively customizing menus to the specific tastes of guests.

Thus was born CityZen Private Events by Eric Ziebold, a melding of bespoke 5-diamond cuisine and a creative venue offering stunning views of the U.S. capital’s Tidal Basin and Jefferson Memorial.

via At Mandarin D.C., Banquets Become Works Of Art – 6/1/2009 – Hotels.

CANCUN, Mexico — Diana Flores eases into an empty swinging poolside daybed, staring contentedly at the turquoise Caribbean Sea. “I feel like I’m in a Corona commercial,” the Los Angeles resident says, beckoning a waiter.

Flores, 52, and her husband had priced out nearby Laguna Beach and Palm Springs for the long Memorial Day weekend. But nothing beat the last-minute deals they found in a Mexico reeling from the economic affects of the H1N1 virus. So just days after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had lifted its advisory against non-essential travel south of the border, Flores booked her four-night trip to Le Meridien Cancun Resort & Spa.

via Mexico; With swine flu fears easing, tourists take advantage of good hotel and resort deals — and uncrowded beaches – May 29, 2009 Friday – HOTELS.

Metals magnate Mikhail Prokhorov, Russia’s richest man, has received permission to build a ‘seven star’ hotel near Izmir on Turkey’s Aegean Sea coast, national media reported on Friday.

The Milliyet daily said that construction work in Cheshme, on the outskirts of Izmir, is expected to start in September.

Currently the only hotel in the world that has received seven stars from an official international inspection body is the Town House Galleria in Milan.

via Russia’s richest man to build ‘seven star’ hotel in Turkey – May 29, 2009 Friday 12:43 PM GMT+3 – HOTELS.