Showing posts with label travel industry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travel industry. Show all posts

Eight Great Travel Innovations Make Travel Easier and More Fun!

3/16/2016 Unknown
Soon, even space vacations will be possible!
2016 promises to be an exciting year for travel innovations that make traveling more convenient, easier and even more fun. From futuristic space flights and self-driving cars, to check-ins that bypass the lobby and hotels that rent rooms by the hour, it seems like new innovations are happening daily. It's a quickly changing travel world! Here's our top eight...

Robots

Yes, robots are picking up the slack for their human counterparts, and it's not just about performing a service, these robots can also read human emotions. Starting this spring Costa Cruises will bring in humanoid robots to work along with the staff. Pepper Robots, made by French company Aldebaran, can also read human emotions. They interact with humans by communicating through intuitive interfaces including voice and touch. And they do it in German, Italian and English!

Book by the Hour

Perfect for an unexpected lay over or to get ready for a meeting or a special event, HotelsbyDay will book blocks of four to six hours at 40 percent less than regular room rates. Others seem to be following the trend, so be sure to ask your hotel.

No More Lost Room Keys

Starwood, Marriott, Hilton and other major brands are allowing guests to use their smart-phone as a room key. Get room details via a mobile app and wave your phone in front of the lock to open the door.

Avoid Lobby Check-In

Some hotel brands are allowing guests to check-in via text without having to download an app. Upgrades and customer service can be provided by text also. Check out Thompson and Joie de Vivre.

Traveling Alone

Solo travelers can forget about that extra fee they're usually charged for a room when traveling by cruise.  Royal Caribbean, Holland America and Norwegian are adding reasonably priced "cabins for one".  Ace and CitizenM hotels offer discount packages for solos too. Let’s hope others follow!

Get Aboard a Spaceship

Maybe not yet, but soon you may be able to take a flight with SpaceX and Virgin Galactic. Progress was made when NASA gave Elon Musk’s commercial company SpaceX a contract to bring astronauts to the International Space Station on its Crew Dragon spacecraft. Next up may be flights for the rest of us.

High-Tech Flying

Virgin America's new ViaSat Wi-Fi equipped Airbus A320 allows fliers to log onto their Netflix account and stream favorite shows to their laptop, tablet or phone up to ten times faster than any other onboard Wi-Fi systems. JetBlue has teamed with Amazon to offer free mega-fast Wi-Fi to prime members enabling them to stream almost anything for free.

No More Getting Lost

Use your smartphone to search for addresses and attractions with Google's new Offline Maps app. It offers turn-by-turn street directions pretty much anywhere in the world without internet access.


Read more in the November/December 2015 issue of ARDA’s Developments magazine, or at ARDA, JetSetter and RCI Ventures!
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It’s a Big Deal - $12.2 Billion Marriott Starwood Merger Creates World’s Largest Hotel Company

11/18/2015 Unknown
In our November 2nd blog, we mentioned a couple different scenarios after the announcement of Starwood's spin-off of its Vacation Ownership division to Interval International Group. Chinese companies were interested in Starwood, which would have been the largest-ever Chinese takeover of a U.S. company, and it was rumored that Hyatt Hotels was in merger talks with Starwood. Now we find out that it is Marriott who has sealed the deal.

It's a Big Deal!

Monday’s announcement of the merger of Marriott and Starwood creates the largest hotel company - 1.1 million rooms in more than 5,500 hotels across more than 100 countries. The overall value of the deal is $12.2 billion. That's $11.9 billion in Marriott stock and $340 million in cash. Starwood investors can expect to receive $2.00 in cash for each share of stock, and 0.92 shares of Marriott priced at $72.08 per share. Friday closing stock prices showed Marriott at $72.74 and Starwood at $75.00.

Combination of Distribution and Strengths Creates Value

Current Marriott CEO, Arne Sorenson will remain president and CEO of the combined company. He commented in a quote from the Business Insider, "this is an opportunity to create value by combining the distribution and strengths of Marriott and Starwood, enhancing our competitiveness in a quickly evolving marketplace. This greater scale should offer a wider choice of brands to consumers, improve economics to owners and franchisees, increase unit growth and enhance long-term value to shareholders."

Starwood Timeshare Business Not Part of the Deal

Interval Leisure Group will maintain ownership of Starwood's Vacation Ownership division, which it acquired in the recent spin-off.  According to Marriott management, shareholders will separately receive consideration from the spin-off of the timeshare business, which has an estimated value of $1.3 billion or about $7.80 per Starwood share. The timeshare transaction is expected to close before the Marriott-Starwood merger closes.

When the spin-off of Starwood's timeshare division was first announced, a letter to owners offered assurances that things would stay the same and perhaps even offer more choices of unique vacation experiences. The letter further stated that Starwood would continue to be the exclusive provider of vacation ownership for Westin and Sheraton brands, and would provide all the features and benefits of current ownership. Access to Starwood Preferred Guest® (SPG) program, current guidelines and fees, exchange rules reservation rights and all exchange options would remain the same. Hopefully, all involved stand by their promises.

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Timeshare Contributes to Hawaii’s Popularity

5/27/2015 Unknown
Why is Hawaii so popular? Do we really have to ask? What other destination offers such a variety of gorgeous beaches, heavenly scenery and wide variety of activities? Where else is it more conducive to bringing the entire family on vacation, where you still might find a secluded beach all to yourself, and where you can feel right at home, but still enjoy a culture quite different from your own? And it's all pretty easy to get to for most of us. 

Timeshare Helps Break Hawaii’s 2015 Visitor Record

"Total visitor arrivals hit a record in 2014, and we'll hit another in 2015,” announced Carl Bonham, executive director of the University of Hawaii economic research organization. He spoke at a recent Chamber of Commerce Hawaii event that explored a new wave of timeshare customers. In the fourth quarter 2014, Hawaii greeted 182,284 visitors—a 4.4 percent increase in timeshare visitors above the same period in 2013. Other data showed that Oahu hotel room rates have risen by double digits, possibly influencing the shift in tourist behavior to timeshare and vacation rentals. Repeat travelers are exploring alternative places to stay.

Hawaii Tourism Authority data shows timeshares were up 4.9 percent for the first three months of the year.  It's no surprise to those of us in the timeshare industry. A timeshare resort is the perfect place to stay in Hawaii. Condominiums offer lots of room for families to spread out in, extra bedrooms and baths, kitchens to use to save money on meals, onsite activities and prime locations, often beachfront with ocean views.

Timeshare supports the economy of the people and communities of Hawaii. President and CEO of ARDA, Howard Nusbaum reports, "Timeshare generates 4,000 jobs, $100 million in wages, and $67 million in tax revenue annually in Hawaii". He added, "Hawaii is the most sought-after timeshare destination, with nearly $1 billion in sales. At 85.2 percent you’ve got the highest timeshare occupancy in the U.S".

A Few of the Major Developers

Marriott is one of the major timeshare/vacation club developers in Hawaii according to a recent report released by Sharket.com, a free website that supplies data for the timeshare industry. Three of Marriott’s developments in Hawaii are ranked in the top 5 of all the Marriott resorts: 
  • #2 Marriott’s Ko Olina Beach Club Resort in Oahu
  • #3 Marriott’s Maui Ocean Club
  • #5 Marriott’s Kauai Beach Club
Disney is another major player. Its multi-million dollar, Aulani Disney Vacation Club in Oahu was voted #1 in Travel + Leisure’s 2014 Top Family Hotels in the U.S.A. Disney also offers cruises around the islands.

Starwood Resorts has multiple locations on all four of the islands, as does Hilton Grand Vacations.  California based, Grand Pacific Resorts has three locations in Princeville on Kauai—Makai Club Resort, Alii Kai Resort and the Hanalei Bay Resort.

Most Popular Exchange Islands

There’s no easy answer to this question as each island offers its own uniqueness and attractions, but most polls put the islands in this order:
  1. Oahu
  2. Maui
  3. Kauai
  4. Hawaii (Big Island)
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