The world’s financial situation isn’t exactly peachy keen just yet, but the global population appears to be up for traveling. Both luxury and budget brand hotels are popping up across the world.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts, which came in at the top of its category in the recent 2013 Harris Poll EquiTrend, “expects to have enough cash in the next three years to add another global luxury brand bringing their total to ten.” 

Mitzi Gaskins, VP/global brand manager for JW Marriott, noted that the “luxury space is growing a lot” and is “anticipating 50 percent growth over the next four to five years with 79 JW hotels up and running by 2015.” Less than half of the 30 or more hotels that the brand has in the pipeline are in the United States. Gaskins told Fortune that the luxury markets that are growing fastest are “top tier destinations and gateway cities,” noting that the JW brand was opening soon in Cabo, Turks & Caicos, Macao and Hanoi, and had “just launched” in Venice.Continue reading...

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...

When 12-year-old Claudia Kincaid and her 9-year-old brother Jamie decide to run away in 1967’s The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, they head off to New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, where they sleep in a big, antique bed and they make money from the coins tourists throw into the fountains. 

If the fictional pair were to hit the road today, they might want to head to the headquarters of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide in Stamford, Connecticut. That is where the company has opened its new two-level Starwood Experience, an open idea lab that might also appeal to another young hotel lover (Eloise). The showcase invites visitors to check out what’s coming next in a few “next generation model guest rooms,” according to a press release. (Certainly this would feel better than the old lumpy antique bed at the Met.) 

The idea is to test out new innovations in two- and three-dimensional design, guest-facing technology, brand programming, event activation in public spaces, and food and beverage initiatives for such Starwood hotel brands as Sheraton, Westin, Le Meridien, Aloft, Element and Four Points by Sheraton.
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Question: What was the first hotel brand to offer a pool? A restaurant? A lounge? Free ice? A "Kids Stay Free" program? Online booking?

Answer: Holiday Inn.

With the first Holiday Inn opening in 1952, the iconic brand is very much alive 60 years later. Owned by InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), Holiday Inn has over 1,200 hotels worldwide; it was the first international midscale hotel brand to open in China in 1984.

So how does a 60-year old brand stay relevant? Brandchannel spoke with Jim Anhut, SVP, Americas Brand Management for IHG, who told us about how Holiday Inn made a "tough decision" to relaunch the brand several years ago, which included refurbishing properties and instituting a new brand identity.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...

The gay-rights movement was kicked off back in 1969 when a police raid on the Stonewall Inn, a hangout for the gay community of the time, in New York’s Greenwich Village was met with outrage, protest, and violence. More than 40 years later, New York is getting its first gay, but “straight-friendly,” hotel.

The Out NYC is scheduled to open in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood on March 1. Hotelchatter.com reports that room prices start at $229 a night, although there is actually a cheaper option. The Out also has $99 “Sleep Share” rooms that will have you sharing your room with three other people. Don’t worry, you each get your own bed, TV, privacy curtains, and “a cubby to store your belongings,” the site reports.

The Out will have its own nightclub (partially put together by the creators of New York’s legendary Roxy), restaurant, and 5,000-square-foot fitness center along with three courtyards, one of which the hotel suggests would be good for a wedding now that gay marriage is legal in the state of New York.

Morgans Hotel Group pulled out of its minority stake in the Las Vegas Hard Rock Hotel & Casino back in March, but the company can’t seem to stay away from the gambling capital.

This time around, though, the company that owns 13 hotels, such as New York’s Hudson Hotel and the Delano in Miami's South Beach, is going into Vegas by buying a 90% stake in Vegas nightclub operator the Light Group for around $47 million, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Nightlife is a key component in Morgans' brand reputation.Continue reading...