Inter IKEA, the parent of IKEA, announced last summer that it was partnering with a hotelier to create a new hotel brand that oddly wouldn’t feature any of the Swedish furniture maker’s products. It’s now been confirmed at the Berlin International Hotel Investment Forum that Marriott is the partner and Moxy will be the name of the new affordable hotel chain, which plans to open 150 locations across Europe in the next decade.

“Moxy Hotels is the essence of the next generation traveler, not only Gen X and Y but people with a younger sensibility, for whom contemporary style is paramount,” said Arne Sorenson, president and CEO of Marriott International in a press release. “Every aspect of the hotel was thoughtfully researched and crafted to reflect and deliver on the changing lifestyles and expectations of this fast-growing customer segment.” 

According to TravelBite, this will be Marriott’s first budget brand in Europe. Fifty of those locations should be up and running in the next five years and Inter IKEA will be ponying up $500 million to help out, the Wall Street Journal reports. While the hotels won’t use IKEA furniture, the company has found a way to keep construction costs down in a different way: “Many of the hotels will use rooms prefabricated offsite and then assembled like IKEA furniture, a modular type of construction that is new for Marriott.”Continue reading...

The Arabian city of Dubai has become synonymous with over-the-top luxury; a fitting description for a paradise city that is home to the tallest building in the world and now the tallest hotel in the world: the JW Marriott Marquis Dubai. 

Situated in the Business Bay district, the hotel stretches 1,164 feet above the ground—just 85 feet shy of the Empire State Building. The outpost, which was officially crowned the "tallest" by the Guinness Book of World Records, is now a part of JW Marriot's 59 locations around the world. JW is the luxury arm of Marriott International, which plans to expand to 79 properties in 28 countries by 2015.Continue reading...

Ship happens #CarnivalTriumph twitter.com/OGSergi0/statu…

— Sergio™ (@OGSergi0) February 15, 2013

News of the Carnival Triumph’s ‘cruise from hell’ was nearly exhausted as the limping, stinking ship arrived by tug boat in Mobile, Alabama, thanks to wall-to-wall social media coverage and CNN’s helicopter suspended overhead. 

All that remains now is a report card on how Carnival is handling the crisis, and what the impact will be on the industry. "You have 3,100 people on that ship telling their family and friends they're never going on a cruise again, you have tweets and photos coming out now, and you have a freakin' CNN helicopter overhead. You think that's not going to resonate?" commented travel expert Jason Clampet, co-founder of travel website Skift.com.  

Stranded at sea for five days following a fire in the ship's engine room, Carnival launched a dedicated news page on its website, continually updated its Facebook page (with two million likes) and used two Twitter feeds (@CarnivalCruise and @CarnivalPR) with tweets such as: "We've taken more than 7,000 calls from family & friends & have been in regular contact with our guests' designated on-shore contacts."Continue reading...

'1' hotels will rely on reusable materials in their construction, Starwood says...

...while the Baccarat brand will invoke the elegance of the longtime crystal manufacturer. 

It's been 13 years since private equity firm Starwood Capital Group got out of its investment in hotel giant Starwood Hotels & Resorts. But apparently, it misses the lodging business.

SCG, which is involved in many areas of global real estate, announced on Wednesday the creation of two hotel brands: Baccarat Hotels & Resorts and 1 Hotels & Resorts.

The announcement comes as the U.S. hotel industry shares a boom that is also occurring in many world cities. Many analysts expect the expansion will continue for at least a few years as supply attempts to catch up with demand.Continue reading...

There’s one in Denmark, and there’s one in England. And now there will be one in Carlsbad, California: a Legoland Hotel. Don’t worry, the place won’t be built out of Legos – at least not the whole thing.

The hotel – complete with a dragon-guarded entrance -- is slated to open in early April of next year right outside the Legoland theme park and will feature “interactive Lego features, themed play areas, family pool and kid's entertainment,” according to Lego's website. The 250 rooms at California's Legoland Hotel will all have a theme: Pirate, Kingdom, or Adventure.  

Since the hotel is aimed at housing families who are in town to visit the Legoland theme park (and not to those harboring pirate fantasies of one sort or another), each room has two sleeping areas, one with a queen-sized bed and the other with sleeping spaces for up to three kids. After all, it's hard to beat a brand extension you can sleep in.

No wonder Lego is rolling in dough right now.Continue reading...

Loews Hotels found its name in the news in recent days because the fire-alarm system of its Nashville hotel was set off by a drunken two-time Olympic gold medalist, snowboarder Shaun White. His schoolboy antics led to the whole place being evacuated and a contrite apology from the snowboarder. Not exactly the kind of security Loews wants to be known for.

Now the hotel chain is the first hospitality brand to participate in a first-of-its-kind security partnership with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. U.S. citizens who sign on to Loews’ loyalty-rewards program, YouFirst Platinum, gain complimentary enrollment into the DHS’s Global Entry program and allows guests to expedite airport screening with TSA PreCheck.

"Partnerships are integral to the way we do business as a brand," stated Loews Chairman Jonathan Tisch. "Our collaboration highlights the importance of the public and private sectors working together to improve hospitality for all our guests, whether that be at our hotels or traveling through an airport."Continue reading...

"Stay Hilton" + "Go Chill," "Go Refresh," "Go Toast," "Go Foodie" — that's the message from Hilton Hotels & Resorts in the brand's new branding campaign showcasing unique experiences guests can find in the brand’s portfolio of more than 550 hotels in 80 countries.

The campaign highlights the local nuances of each destination (hence "Go NY" on its Facebook cover photo) and the guests who visit and is an evolution of the chain’s global footprint 'Stay Hilton. Go Everywhere.' campaign.

“Rolling out now in the U.S., our latest evolution of the campaign shifts from highlighting our global footprint to a focus on the experiences guests can have in our hotels," stated Andrew Flack, VP, global brand marketing, Hilton Hotels & Resorts. "The campaign illustrates how the Hilton brand connects travelers to the world in amazing and unexpected ways."Continue reading...

People generally get hotel rooms because they need a place to sleep. The location of the hotel is more often than not selected for convenience than for the hotel itself. So Renaissance hotels, which is owned by Marriott, is going to play up the surrounding areas of its hotels in its new ad campaign.

The hope, of course, is to attract a younger, hipper market that is mostly visiting due to business travel. To do this, Renaissance introduced a “Navigator” program back in 2010 “to provide tips about the hotels’ surroundings,” the New York Times reports. The hotels have attempted to host more musical events in the past two years of both local and national acts, such as Bruno Mars.Continue reading...