Category: hospitality
RevPAR stands for 'revenue per available room.' It is considered a critical measure of hotel health.
Apple (AAPL) has sold more than two million iPad tablet computers since its launch on April 3rd. Techcrunch 5/31/10
Wal-Mart (WMT) is cutting prices an average of 30 percent on 22 foods and other essentials, restoring brands it previously dropped, and replacing trendy clothing with basic styles to reinforce their brand positioning and fight competition from dollar stores, local grocery chains and other big box retailers. Huffingtonpost.com 5/29/10
Ford Motor Company (F) says it’s reviewing its portfolio of brands and specific nameplates but won’t confirm it plans to kill the Mercury brand. LAtimes.com 5/29/10
A key attraction of Procter & Gamble’s (PG) purchase of Natura Pet Products is thought to be access to Natura’s distribution channel of independent pet stores. But pet supply retailers have taken to social media to protest that the buy will adversely affect them. Advertising Age 5/29/10
Heineken has launched "Your Heineken", enabling European consumers to personalize Heineken sleeves with provided photography/images, see 3D visualization of their creation and order the six-pack of Heineken. Mediabistro 5/28/10
When guests check in at Intercontinental Hotel Group (IHG) brands – Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, Hotel Indigo, Holiday Inn Club Vacations, Staybridge Suites or Candlewood Suites – on the Gowalla mobile social network via their mobile phone between now and Aug. 31, they receive “Hit it Big” rewards including loyalty points, double air miles, retail gift cards, etc., to promote IHG’s loyalty programs. Mobile Marketer 5/28/10
Time Warner and NBC Universal do not plan to convert their existing Flash-authored videos to HTML5 format so they can be viewed on Apple’s new iPad. PCMag.com 5/28/10
Ann Taylor (ANN) apologizes for altering images of models on their web site to make them appear perfectly shaped and unnaturally slender. Jezebel via BrandFreak 5/28/10
Kraft (KFT) is targeting women 35-54 with their recently launched Sandwich Shop brand of flavored, restaurant-inspired mayonnaises. Brandweek 5/27/10
Procter & Gamble (PG) has relaunched the Pantene brand with a new campaign and a contest that announced the “First Reality TV Hair Star,” during NBC's season finale of The Biggest Loser: Couples. Brandweek 5/27/10
Pabst Brewing Co., the maker of Pabst Blue Ribbon and Schlitz, will be sold to food investor C. Dean Metropoulos. Pabst Blue Ribbon is seeing a resurgence in popularity 20-somethings. HuffingtonPost.com 5/26/10
Microsoft (MSFT), Sephora, NASCAR and Comcast (CMCSA) are using Twitter as a component in sweepstakes promotions to boost buzz about their brands. Adweek 11/22/09
Complaints over ads from competitors filed with the National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus, the industry’s main self-regulatory program for national ads, will set a record in 2009. Combatants include Pantene vs Dove, Science Diet vs. Iams, AT&T(ATT) vs. Verizon Wireless (VZ) and Campbell Soup vs. Progresso. New York Times 11/22/09
Mega media brand Oprah Winfrey is ending her talk show in 2011 after 25 years on the air to launch OWN, the Oprah Winfrey Network. Adweek 11/20/09
eBay (EBAY) will sponsor free wireless Internet on Delta (DAL) flights during the holiday travel period Nov. 24 through Nov. 30 to promote eBay’s “Holideals.” Clickz 11/18/09
Intel (INTC) hopes to strengthen the connection between it’s brand and consumers through a new website they’ve launched called LifeScoop. The site is designed to appeal to consumers interested in technology “but aren’t hard-core geeks.” Brandweek 11/14/09
Hundreds of “older, poorly perfoming” Holiday Inn hotels in North America could lose the right to call themselves a Holiday Inn if the franchisees don’t meet franchisor Intercontinental Hotel Group's (IHG) quality specs and undertake extensive renovations. Wall Street Journal 11/13/09. Requires subscription.
McDonald’s Corp. (MCD) plans to open about 1,000 new restaurants, remodel 2,300 existing ones around the world next year, and is experimenting with new technology to prepare for a global economic recovery. Wall Street Journal 11/13/09. Requires subscription.
The American Family Association is calling on consumers to boycott Gap Inc. (GPS) and its brands, which include Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic, this holiday season because the retailer's ads downplay the word "Christmas." Brandweek 11/13/09
Burger King franchisees are suing the company, alleging that Burger King Corp (BKC). doesn't have the right to set "maximum prices" for certain menu items. The lawsuit was spurred by the double-cheeseburger promotion that franchisees fought against saying it causes them to lose money. Advertising Age 11/12/09
Miracle Whip bought every ad slot on The Colbert Report on November 12th, and announced the buy “in newspapers warning Colbert that his commercial breaks would expose his viewers to “hardcore Miracle Whip attitude.” The Miracle Whip ad roadblock was in response to a parody of a Miracle Whip ad that Colbert ran on his show in October. MediaFreak 11/12/09
Ashley Furniture sponsors live-streamed birth on MomsLikeMe.com, a one-year-old site owned by newspaper publisher Gannett. The company had a featured banner running during event which was seen by 3,600 people watching the live stream, and an additional 148,600 unique visitors who downloaded the video during the next 72 hours. ClickZ Network 11/11/09
Breaking with other airline sites, Continental Airlines (CAL) plans to sell advertising on their website, saying their 10 million monthly unique users are in a trip-planning frame of mind, creating “an extremely conducive atmosphere for advertisers."Brandweek 11/11/09
Oscar G. Mayer, the chairman of the meat processing company that bears his name, and the grandson of the founder of Oscar Mayer Foods, has died at the age of 95. Did you know there was a Oscar Mayer person? Huffingtonpost 7/8/09
“
Burger King has asked franchisees to consider temporarily dropping the price of their double cheeseburger to $1, a move likely aimed at igniting a burger battle with McDonald's Corp.”
Chicago Tribune 7/8/09
Delta Air Lines Inc. plans to form an alliance with Virgin Blue Airlines Group that will broaden both carriers’ capabilities between the United States and Australia.
Atlanta Business Chronicle 7/8/09
Sears has launched an online boutique called Christmas Lane at sears.com and kmart.com and has set up Christmas décor shops at 372 Sears stores. Usually the retailer waits until Nov.1 to unveil holiday merchandise.
Chicago Tribune 7/8/09
The founders of
Hotels.com have announced the launch of
Getaroom.com, a new online hotel booking site. Bob Diener and David Litman, founded hotels.com and sold it in 2003.
Dallas Business Journal 7/8/09
Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. (SMG) will shut its 56-store Smith & Hawken chain by the end of the year. “The combination of a weak economy and the lack of scale proved too great to overcome.”
Columbus Business First 7/8/09
Data storage giant
EMC Corp. (EMC) is purchasing
Data Domain (DDUP), a provider of deduplication storage for disk backup, archiving and disaster recovery with a $2.1 billion all-cash offer, according to a regulatory filing Wednesday.
Boston Business Journal 7/8/09
Air New Zealand says their fares have nothing to hide, and to prove it they’re screening a new in-flight safety video featuring staff members and company chief executive, Rob Fyfe, clad only in body paint. Seatbelts, luggage and life vests provide "appropriate” concealment where needed. NYTimes 6/29/09
A “vicious industry wide slump” in the luxury hotel business has generated friction between the Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts management company and Four Seasons hotel owners with distressed profit margins. While some owners want to cut expenses, the Four Seasons resists the potential negative impact to the brand. BTW, did you know that Bill Gates owns nearly half of the Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts management company? NYTimes 6/28/09
LinkedIn says their survey asking translators if they would volunteer to translate the LinkedIn site was intended to develop a crowd sourcing model similar to Wikipedia’s legions of volunteers and provide increased exposure for the translators. The survey generated mixed results among translators, with some feeling it was an opportunity for increased work and exposure, while others felt LinkedIn was simply trying to get professional services for free. NYTimes 6/28/09
Acer is the world’s third largest seller of personal computers, and “appears poised to overtake Dell as the world’s second-largest seller of personal computers” this year. The company positions its four brands to cater to various consumer segments, such as eMachines for affordability. Other brands include Gateway and Packard Bell. NYTimes 6/27/09
Target (TGT) has rebranded its core commodities line — a product category that includes everyday items such as baby wipes, sunscreen, dryer sheets and plastic containers — under the name “up & up. The trend is consistent with an overall increase in store brands that are more profitable for the retailer and attractive to consumers who are “increasingly buying in-house brands to save money.” Atlanta Business Chronicle 6/25/09.
Yahoo (YHOO) is working to change its branding, with the new branding to be unveiled when it releases is new main home page design in the fall. Atlanta Business Chronicle 6/25/09
Brandweek reports that Kayak.com “is among a handful of online brands, including Zappos.com and Amazon.com(AMZN), that are now seeking traditional agencies (and offline tactics) to create mass awareness and define more broadly what they do.” Brandweek 6/22/09
El Pollo Loco says competitor KFC uses beef powder and rendered beef fat in the marinade for its grilled chicken; KFC says the beef flavoring accounts for just .2% of the total seasoning. AdFreak 6/19/09
Nestle USA's baking division is recalling Nestle Toll House refrigerated cookie dough products after 66 consumers have reported getting sick after consuming raw dough. Brandweek 6/19/09
The NCAA denies some flavors of The Coca-Cola Co.’s(KO) VitaminWater could cause student athletes to test positive for impermissible or banned substances. They had previously listed six flavors as containing impermissible or banned substances including taurine, caffeine, guarana seed extract, L-theanine, green tea extract, ecgc, Rooibos tea extract or glucosamine. Atlanta Business Chronicle 2/11/09
Maybelline has launched “Lash Stiletto™ aka “The only mascara that does for lashes what stilettos do for legs.” Great name, great visual.
Pier 1 Imports (PIR) plans to cut 10 percent of full-time positions and may to close up to 125 stores. Atlanta Business Chronicle 2/4/09
Women’s apparel retailer Chico’s says it plans to cut 180 headquarters jobs and close as many as 25 stores. Atlanta Business Chronicle 2/2/09
Lance Inc. (LNCE), owner of the Archway Cookies brand, has filed a lawsuit against Canadian company Voortman Cookies, alleging that their packaging adopts colors and other design elements closely simulate Archway’s and is calculated to take advantage of the Archway bankruptcy “to persuade consumers and retailers to accept the infringing Voortman package as the successor in the marketplace to the well-known and highly regarded Archway products.” Charlotte Business Journal 2/10/09
Look ma, no hyphen: Name Wire says Hilton has officially removed the hyphen from their Waldorf-Astoria brand. It’s now Waldorf Astoria. Hilton is also reportedly finalizing plans to introduce a new “lifestyle hotel brand to the world next month. Name Wire: The Product Naming Blog 2/10/09.
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Deloitte’s just released report, “Hospitality Vision: U.S. Performance Review” U.S. indicates a signficant slowdown in most world regions in 2008 --- particiularly in the final quarter ---as the economic meltdown trickled through and impacted the number of tourists and buisnss travelers making rips and staying in hotles. Although2009 is expected to be a tough year for global tourism and business travel, the report projects that the U.S. lodging secton will return to growth in 2010. Visit http://www.deloitte.com/us/HospitalityVision for the full report. Source: Deloitte 1/26/09
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Sony (SNE) will post a 100 billion yen ($1.1 billion) operating loss this fiscal year through March, its first since 1995, due to declining sales of its liquid crystal display screens and other products and declining profits on goods sold abroad, hurt by a strong yen, says the Nikkei business newspaper and broadcaster NHK. HuffingtonPost 1/12/09
“The Home Depot (HD) is ending its multimillion-dollar sponsorship deal with the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) and discontinuing a program that offered jobs and benefits to American athletes.” At the height of the program, which began in 1992, The Home Depot employed more than 200 athletes. Chain Store Age 1/11/09
“During a year when the stock market lost a third of its value — its worst performance since the Great Depression — shares of McDonald's gained nearly 6 percent, making the company one of only two in the Dow Jones industrial average whose share price rose in 2008.” The other was Wal-Mart (WMT.) The company’s improved performance is attributed, in part, to “a focus on quality, service and restaurant experience rather than simply providing the cheapest, most convenient option to customers.” International Herald Tribune 1/11/09
CEO Todd Diener, of Chili's Grill & Bar, owned by Brinker International (EAT), has invited Drew Carey to manage a Chili’s restaurant for a few hours, with proceeds going to a charity of Carey’s choice. Carey recently told the Washington Post that if acting hadn’t panned out he would probably be managing a restaurant. “I'd be at a Chili's near you. I'd be the boss that everybody liked." Chili's Grill & Bar 1/9/09
FedEx Corp. (FDX) is cutting its marketing budget by more than 25 percent for 2009, sharing its rationale on the company blog. It notes that it will not be advertising in the 2009 SuperBowl. BTW, the Kinko’s brand name will disappear in 2009; FedEx Kinko’s locations are becoming FedEx Office. Atlanta Business Chronicle 1/8/09
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Overall restaurant sales are weak, but oatmeal is hot, especially upscale versions with fruit and nut toppings such as those introduced by Starbucks (SBUX) and smoothie chain Jamba Juice (JMBA). Oatmeal doesn’t require elaborate cooking equipment, has high profit margins and doesn’t spoil easily like fresh breakfast foods. Wall Street Journal 12/18/2008
The nation’s hospitality industry has entered one of the greatest recessions in the history of the American lodging industry, says a report from PKF Hospitality Research. Revenue per available room (RevPAR), a critical measure of hotel health, will fall 7.8 percent nationwide in 2009. Net operating income of the average U.S. hotel will fall 14.9 percent. Atlanta Business Chronicle
“Products geared toward at-home use — canning supplies, baking ingredients, and wine — were among the fastest growing food, drug, and mass merchandiser retail categories in October.” Canning Supplies was the fastest growing year over year category in dollar and unit sales growth for Food/Drug/Mass Merchandisers. The Nielsen Company 12/10/08
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