New York hotelier Ian Schrager announced in May a new boutique hotel brand, Public, that would kick off in Chicago.

True to his word, the property opened this month, and has been drawing accolades from locals suspicious that he would ruin the Ambassador or its famed Pump Room restaurant, which has reopened under chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten.

Public's website explains the brand concept as "Ian Schrager has taken the best from the luxury segment, boutique hotels and select service to create a new genre of hotel where everything has been rethought and every original idea updated. At PUBLIC, service matters most. But the key point of differentiation is in the kind and quality of services it offers. The brand will only offer services that matter, those that guests really want and need rather than an array of superfluous services they do not use."Continue reading...

Got something to say about a hotel owned by Starwood? Well, they want to hear about it. 

Starwood Hotels and Resorts is the first U.S. global hotel owner to provide an online-review function on its own website so that visitors to Sheraton, Westin, W and other Starwood brands can share how they feel, according to USA Today.

Of course, opening up their hotels' websites to surface the opinions of guests and providing ways to share them via Facebook or Twitter isn’t necessarily a good thing, particularly if one of the thousands of people who stay in a Starwood brand each night has a bad experience.Continue reading...

Hyatt workers today returned to work, following a week-long strike that saw local religious leaders join the picket line in a show of solidarity.

Thousands of Hyatt workers in Chicago (with two hotels), Los Angeles, San Francisco and Honolulu walked off the job in a strike that ended at midnight last night, part of an "ongoing demonstration against the hotel chain, which hasn’t renegotiated contracts since Aug. 31, 2009 and has racked up 15 OSHA citations," as the Huffington Post reports.

Contract renewal talks on a new deal for housekeepers, bell staff, and restaurant and banquet workers have apparently did not go well after union workers hit the picket lines last week, “after a series of one-day work stoppages,” according to the Chicago Sun-Times.Continue reading...

As businesses continue to eliminate the human element of customer service and push consumers to doing more and more business online, they've given rise to growing danger for those who end up sharing a lot of info online: identity theft.

Most at risk, according to a new report from British insurance company Willis Group Holdings, are business travelers who book hotel rooms and resorts online.

“Insurance claims for data theft worldwide jumped 56% last year, with a bigger number of those attacks targeting the hospitality industry,” says the report, according to the Los Angeles Times. “The largest share of cyber attacks — 38% — were aimed at hotels, resorts and tour companies.”Continue reading...

Who says sex sells? The Hooters Casino Hotel in Las Vegas has filed for bankruptcy.

The former Howard Johnson Hotel site, which rebranded as Hooters and opened during Super Bowl weekend in 2006, filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday, according to the Las Vegas Review Journal.Continue reading...

Hilton Hotels & Resorts, vying to be considered the global leader in hospitality, has developed “a tailored experience for Chinese travelers that takes its name from the Chinese word for 'welcome.'”

Beginning in August, Chinese travelers will find the Huanying program in place  at 30 Hilton properties including San Francisco, New York, Hawaii, Vancouver, London, Tokyo and Sydney.  

It’s all part of a global outreach by the world's top hotel brands as increasing numbers of tourists from mainland China join the global travel market as hotels compete for their business.

"Chinese travel is going to provide one of the great opportunities that we'll ever see in the business," said Hilton CEO Chris Nassetta.Continue reading...

Starwood has spent a few billion dollars over the last few years trying to revamp the image of its Sheraton hotel chain.

The company must be feeling pretty good about its efforts because it is now spending $20 million on an ad campaign in hopes of bringing more revenue (and loyal customers) to the 74-year-old business.

The main thrust of its new “Meet You There” campaign, according to a press release, is how Sheraton nurtures a sense of community for its guests.Continue reading...

While the global economic recovery may be meager, hotels chains are anxious to move on and drive up occupancy rates. That's why two of the top chains, Marriott International and Hilton Worldwide, are pursuing new initiatives to convince upscale travelers to stay at their high-end properties.

Marriott is forming "strategic partnerships" with other brands to create "a deeper luxury guest experience." The company said it will work with Aromatherapy Associates, auction house Christie's, nutritionist Keri Glassman, international vintner Treasury Wine Estates, and Tumi, makers of travel luggage, eyewear and accessories.

In partnership with Christie's, for example, its Grosvenor House in London, a JW Marriott Hotel, is hosting a unique photographic exhibition this month — Beatles Illuminated: The Discovered Works of Mike Mitchell — which brought out celebrities such as Sienna Miller to the preview of never-before-seen photographs of the Beatles’ first hysteria-inducing trip to America in 1964.

Marriott will marshal these partners specifically to enhance its JW Marriott hotel brand, which is a notch below Marriott's ritzy Ritz-Carlton, but ranks above Marriott hotels. Mitzi Gaskins, VP of JW Marriott, admitted to the New York Times that there is "some confusion" between JW Marriott and Marriott.Continue reading...