• Home
  • Post a press-release
  • Visibility packages
  • Subscribe email updates
  • Event Calendar
  • Contact

For Immediate Release | Official News Wire for the Travel Industry

Where press releases are breaking news

  • Home
  • Post a press-release
  • Visibility packages
  • Subscribe email updates
  • Event Calendar
  • Contact

Tallest modular hotel in the world will be built in New York City

April 18, 2019 by Forimmediaterelease

The world’s tallest modular hotel – which will carry a brand of Marriott International – is on track to be stacked in late fall in New York City with prefabricated and pre-furnished guestrooms. Once erected over a 90-day period, the 360-foot-tall tower will represent a milestone for Marriott’s ongoing initiative to encourage hotel developers in North America to embrace modular for new construction projects. To be topped with a modular roof and modular rooftop bar, the world’s tallest modular hotel is expected to open in late 2020 as the AC Hotel New York NoMad.

“In North America, the construction process hasn’t changed significantly in 150 years and it’s ripe for innovation,” said Eric Jacobs, Marriott International, Chief Development Officer, North America, Select and Extended Stay Brands. “The world’s tallest modular hotel in one of the world’s greatest destinations will act as a game-changing symbol to ignite even greater interest in modular among the real estate and lending industries.”

Fully finished guest rooms

The 168-room, 26-story AC Hotel New York NoMad is scheduled to rise at 842 Sixth Avenue with prefabricated guestrooms arriving at the hotel site fully constructed, inside and out. Besides finished, painted walls, each “module” will contain a fully outfitted guest room – with beds, sheets, pillows, flooring and even toiletries. The hotel’s roof and rooftop bar are expected to be produced using modular construction, and its more customized public areas such as the restaurant and lobby are expected to be constructed using traditional methods.

Prefabrication is a process that Marriott has found typically reduces the construction timeline, curbs site waste and noise, and results in a higher-quality product produced with factory level precision. The time savings comes from the ability to perform two crucial functions simultaneously – building the public spaces on site while manufacturing the guest rooms offsite.

“This is the moment where modular construction takes center stage,” says Danny Forster, a leading modular building advocate whose firm, Danny Forster & Architecture, designed the project. As he explains it, “This hotel takes every advantage of off-site manufacturing, as you might expect. But it does so in a way that defies expectation. We wanted to demonstrate that modular building can do more than just harness the efficiencies of the factory. It can produce a graceful and iconic tower. And yes, it can do so at the rate of an entire floor a day.”

Marriott sees a modular future

Marriott, which has the largest pipeline of hotels in North America, began researching modular construction in 2014 to offset lengthening hotel construction times – a trend attributed to the nation’s building boom and resulting labor shortages. Since 2011, Marriott has seen the average time to build and open a hotel in North America increase by as much 50 percent, depending on factors such as location and size of property.

Since 2015, Marriott has been educating owners, franchisees, architects, lenders, consultants, general contractors and other stakeholders across the industry about the benefits of modular by hosting town halls, factory tours and stacking events. The company also worked with leading modular manufacturers to help them better understand the untapped demand that hotel development companies represent.

Since the launch of Marriott’s initiative, the company’s development partners in North America have opened 31 Marriott-brand hotels – all low-rise structures – that incorporate prefabricated guestrooms and/or bathrooms, including a Fairfield by Marriott Inn & Suites in Folsom, Calif.; a Courtyard by Marriott in Pullman, Wash., and three AC Hotels in Oklahoma City, Louisville, Ky., and Chapel Hill, N.C. To date, the largest Marriott-branded modular-built to open is the 354-room, dual-brand Courtyard and TownePlace Suites by Marriott property in Hawthorne, Calif., while the first to also incorporate a prefabricated elevator bank was the Fairfield by Marriott Inn & Suites in Prairie, Wisc. Later this year, a developer will start stacking the first modular-built Moxy hotel in the United States in downtown Oakland, Calif.

The company continues efforts to support developers interested in leveraging prefabrication, most recently launching modular versions of its prototypes for four of its higher-volume brands: Courtyard by Marriott, Fairfield by Marriott, SpringHill Suites by Marriott and TownePlace Suites by Marriott. Underscoring its commitment to igniting demand for modular construction, Marriott this year is offering an incentive to development companies that leverage prefabrication for guestroom construction.

Travel News | eTurboNews

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook

Filed Under: Press Release Tagged With: American Travel News, and, Architecture, areas, arriving, Avenue, average, bank, bar, bathrooms, beds, benefits, better, boom, brand, brands, Breaking Travel News, build, building, built, c, center, center stage, changed, Chapel, Chapel Hill, chief, Chief Development Officer, city, commitment, companies, company, construction, contain, continues, Corporate News, Courtyard, Courtyard by Marriott, date, day, demand, designed, Destinations, developers, development, Downtown, efforts, embrace, estate, even, Events, expect, expected, extended stay, factors, factory tours, fall, firm, first, floor, foot, found, free, future, game, general, greater, greatest, guestrooms, help, higher, Hospitality News, hosting, hotel, hotel development, Hotel Travel News, Hotels, iconic, in, Incentive, including, increase, Industries, Industry, initiative, inn, innovation, inside, interest, interested, International, IT, just, labor, largest, late, later, launch, launching, leading, lenders, lobby, location, Louisville, low, Luxury Travel News, Manufacturers, Marriott, Marriott International, milestone, module, most, Moxy, N, nation, New, new york, New York City, News articles, noise, North, North America, Oakland, offering, officer, offset, Oklahoma, ongoing, open, opened, out, over, owners, painted, partners, percent, perform, period, pillows, pipeline, Pre, prefabrication, product, project, projects, property, prototypes, public, Pullman, quality, rate, real, Real Estate, represent, Resort News, restaurant, results, rise, roof, room, rooms, s, said, savings, says, scheduled, significantly, site, Size, spaces, stakeholders, start, states, stay, story, suites, support, the United States, The World, time, timeline, times, to, TO BE, tourism, Tourism Investment News, Tours, tower, town, traditional, Travel Destination News, Travelwire News, trend, United, United States, untapped, using, waste, way, We, worked, World, world's tallest, year, years, York, York City

Five challenges confronting Meetings Industry in 2019

March 25, 2019 by Forimmediaterelease

Tight meeting budgets, time pressures, organizational issues, a lack of creativity from hotels, increasingly complex and costly mandates in catering, a need for more dynamic and enriching experiences and resistance to change – these are among the major challenges confronting the meetings industry in 2019.Teneo Hospitality Group surveyed 150 meeting planners and hoteliers on the challenges they faced in effectively competing in today’s changing and complicated marketplace. Interestingly, some of the challenges planners faced are internal, within their own organizations. All identified limited meetings budgets, lack of time and somewhat inflexible corporate cultures that gave rise to additional problems such as a lack of innovation and poor cost control.

“‘Many of these challenges – and their solutions – are interdependent,” says Teneo President Mike Schugt. He notes that meeting professionals are saying that they have concerns within their organization and corporate cultures which contribute to resistance to change, resulting in budgets that are impacted negatively. Planners are also saying that these challenges, coupled with the many demands on time, inhibit creative strategies that could otherwise help solve the obstacles pointed out in Teneo’s most recent survey.

“Teneo and its hotel and DMC members have a unique opportunity to step up and help solve the challenges of our planner partners,” says Mike Schugt. “We can introduce creative, time-saving offerings that can also meet their bottom line. By understanding the needs that go beyond rates, dates and space, hotels can provide innovative, solutions to the challenges planners face behind the scenes.”

Challenge #1 Budgets. Inadequate budgets headed the challenge lists for all survey participants. Planners cited rising costs, especially concerning food and beverage, with no comparable increase in budgets. The complexities of gaining budget increases from various corporate departments impact every aspect of the meeting process from training staff to negotiating contracts. Despite a strong economy, some planners reported budget cuts. Respondents noted that the inability to obtain adequate funding reflected a lack of understanding of the profound changes in the meetings industry that demanded more, not less, investment. Needs of attendees are very different today, especially among Millennials and Generation Z who require a high degree of technical services, greater engagement and entertaining activities – needs that are difficult to meet on a tight budget. Yet management and attendees had extremely high expectations.

Suggested Solution: The fundamental way planners can achieve their budget is to be transparent and in open communication with a property. Though the tendency may be to play one’s cards close to the vest, transparency from the beginning of negotiations is key to effective planning and keeping costs in check. While many planners feel they must keep back some of their budgetary concerns until further on in the planning process, an honest and comprehensive view of the meetings objectives and resources will enable hoteliers to present a realistic budget.

Challenge #2 Lack of Time. Time pressures impact every business and organization, but some concerns have particular ramifications for the meetings industry. Virtually all respondents cited a lack of time and identified challenges that could have far-reaching consequences. With sweeping advances in technology impacting the industry, hoteliers and planners noted that they often lacked the time to keep up with technical developments. This problem was amplified when attendees were ahead of the planners and hotels in their own use of technology. Training a new generation of meeting planners and hotel staff is key to the industry’s progress. But few had time to develop effective programs, tailored to meet the different viewpoints and technical skills of a new generation. Most significantly, respondents worried that the overwhelming details of day-to-day work left little time for long-term, strategic planning. And the top time waster? Too many unnecessary e-mails.

Suggested Solution: Hotels are often inundated with leads and may not always be able to reply in 24 hours. Planners are encouraged to indicate their timeline for response up front so hotels and resorts can offer a higher quality of response. For planners, they can then gather their lead responses all at one time and be assured that the quality of response is going to be higher if a little more time is allocated to the properties of interest. Planners that source more than 6 or 7 hotels per lead and in multiple cities will tend to be taken less seriously by a hotel. So planners can save time and drive up quality of response by reducing the number of hotel sources they contact.

If planners can share flexibility with dates early in the process, they will save time and the hotels can provide multiple options, which will likely have differences in pricing leading to greater value with the budget. Giving the hotel as much information as possible saves everyone time and can save on the budget.

Challenge #3 Keeping Up with Technology. In a technological environment that is moving at lightning speed, staying current and knowledgeable of technology’s impact on meeting productivity can be daunting. Realizing that millennial attendees may be way ahead in their technical knowledge, technology applications and expectations can be intimidating. Even leadership within select organizations don’t always seem to grasp how technology is revolutionizing the meetings experience today.

Suggested Solution: Staying current and out front with technological progress is critical to the successful outcome of every meeting, conference or social gathering. Yes, some long-term practices are still prized such as white boards and LCD players. But engaging with attendee devices puts the meeting’s learning literally in the hands of conferees in a way that resonates within a generation who grew up on texting, social media posts, interactive apps and more. These are the tools they use for their everyday living, and should be the tools they can expect to use within meetings important to their and their employer’s success.

Challenge #4 Lack of Creativity. Big brand hotels’ corporate bureaucracy partially accounts for planners’ demand for greater creativity in the meeting process, and a far more flexible business environment. Larger hotel brands often have corporate policies that may place limits on pushing the boundaries of creating the ultimate meeting experiences for planners. But the need for innovation and original events, imaginative use of technology, effective teambuilding exercises, new experiences in even the most tried and true destinations, and diverse, sustainable and healthy food cannot be ignored.

Suggested Solution: Partner with a hotel or resort that creatively works with planners and groups to construct a meeting itinerary customized to a specific group and set of meeting objectives. Independent and small brand properties, by the very nature of their independence, have proven to be expert in creatively discovering and helping plan for achieving meeting goals of professional planners and groups, doing so with out-of-the-box thinking, highly unique group initiatives, and far from run-of-the-mill teambuilding programming. Private destination management companies can also be an important resource, and Teneo suggests partnering with them to help make a city or destination come alive for meeting guests by maximizing local resources and attractions in a way that is meaningful to the group.

Challenge #5 Increasing Complexity and Rising Costs of Food & Beverage. As the population becomes more diverse, food preferences and dietary requirements have become more complicated. Growing awareness of wellness and sustainability issues add to a mix that could become more problematic and costlier. Paleo, keto, pescatarian, vegan and religious dietary requests are among the newest trends in conference dining in 2019. Respondents also called for better management of food ordering to keep costs down and eliminate waste.

Suggested Solution: This is an area where independent and small-brand hotels can get ultra-creative for the planner as they are in a more entrepreneurial and creative mode, less restricted by big-brand requirements and constraints. They can typically offer a more creative product with reduced costs. By working with chefs and banquet managers from these properties at the beginning of the planning process and being candid about budget constraints, it’s possible to obtain serious savings on food and beverage while achieving maximum creativity.

Travel News | eTurboNews

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook

Filed Under: Press Release Tagged With: and, applications, apps, area, Assured, attendees, attractions, Awareness, better, beverage, big, boards, bottom line, Box, brand, brands, Breaking Travel News, budget, budget cuts, budgets, Business, cards, catering, challenge, challenges, change, changes, check, chefs, cited, cities, city, close, come, Communication, companies, complex, concerns, conference, contact, contracts, control, corporate, Corporate News, cost, costs, creative, creativity, critical, cultures, current, cuts, day, demand, demands, Destination, Destination Management, Destinations, developments, devices, differences, different, dining, dmc, DMC members, doing, down, drive, e-mails, early, Economy, employer, encouraged, engagement, environment, even, Events, everyday, expectations, experience, experiences, expert, face, far, food, free, funding, gathering, giving, GO!, greater, Group, groups, guests, healthy, help, Helping, high, hospitality, hospitality group, hotel, Hotel brands, hoteliers, Hotels, hotels and resorts, hours, ignored, impact, important, in, increase, increases, increasing, independence, independent, Industry, information, initiatives, innovation, innovative, interactive, interest, International Travel News, introduce, Investment, issues, IT, itinerary, keep, knowledge, lack, LCD, LCD players, lead, leadership, leading, leads, learning, less, lightning, Limited, limits, line, Living, local, Make, management, managers, marketplace, May, media, meet, meeting, meeting planners, meeting professionals, meetings, meetings budgets, meetings industry, meetings.travel, members, MICE Industry News, Mike, millennials, more time, most, moving, nature, need, needs, negotiations, New, new generation, News articles, notes, number, offer, offerings, open, opportunity, options, ordering, organization, organizations, original, out, participants, partner, partners, Place, plan, Planners, planning, play, players, policies, poor, population, posts, practices, preferences, present, president, pricing, private, problem, problems, product, productivity, professional, professionals, programs, progress, properties, property, quality, rates, recent, recent survey, religious, reported, requests, require, requirements, resort, resorts, resource, resources, respondents, response, rise, rising, rising costs, s, save, savings, saying, says, serious, services, Share, significantly, skills, small, social, social media, Solution, solutions, Source, sources, space, staff, strategic, strategies, strong, success, successful, suggested, survey, Sustainability, sustainable, Technical, Technology, Teneo, Teneo Hospitality Group, Teneo President Mike Schugt, term, texting, time, timeline, to, TO BE, today, tools, top, tourism, training, transparency, transparent, Travel & Tourism Organizations News, Travelwire News, Trends, tried, ultra, unique, up, use, value, vegan, view, waste, way, We, wellness, were, white, WHO, work, working, works, World News, worried

Search



Recent Articles

  • Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) situation in Thailand as of 28 February 2021, 11.30 Hrs.
  • Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) situation in Thailand as of 27 February 2021, 11.30 Hrs.
  • Seychelles Tourism Board’s Annual GCC Roadshow Goes Virtual
  • From Airline to Landline: United Offers Seamless Travel from Denver International Airport to Breckenridge and Fort Collins
  • Newly formed Thai Airlines Association names inaugural President
  • American Airlines and Deloitte Pioneer Market-Based Solution to Reduce Carbon Emissions from Air Travel
  • Provincial entry and exit rules as Thailand further eases COVID-19 control measures from 22 February 2021
  • Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) situation in Thailand as of 26 February 2021, 11.30 Hrs.
  • ‘Lutetia by Lebua: The Vertical Pop-up’ immersive experience open from 2 March to 25 April 2021
  • Hyatt House Nashville Airport Celebrates Official Opening

Copyright © 2021 · Metro Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in