The Super Bowl helped MGM Resorts post three of the top five days in revenue it has ever recorded at hotels on the Las Vegas Strip, executives said Tuesday.
25.01.2024 - 20:33 / skift.com / Ihg / Sean Oneill / Jolyon Bulley
Jolyon Bulley became IHG’s CEO of the Americas in July 2023. He has big shoes to fill — his predecessor, Elie Maalouf, ascended to group CEO.
Skift spoke with Bulley about IHG’s strategy this week during the Americas Lodging Investment Summit (ALIS) in Los Angeles.
Bulley spent the past five years doubling the hotel group’s portfolio in China. He aims to bring that same rapid metabolism with him — he calls it “China Speed.”
IHG’s half-dozen luxury and lifestyle brands represent 22% of its global pipeline for hotel development — almost double the share of five years ago.
“I see huge growth for us in the Americas,” Bulley said. “All I need now is to get some of these wonderful properties to open upand show our offer to the market.”
One obstacle to growth: IHG hasn’t had a strong reputation among owners for luxury in North and South America. True, flagship brand InterContinental remains the largest luxury brand in the world, with 216 properties. Yet it stagnated in the 2000s and early 2010s.
Bulley has helped lead a revival. IHG is modernizing the brand’s restaurants, bars, and decor to appeal to younger travelers. About 90 InterContinentals are in the works. Renovations are taking place at hotels in Atlanta, Chicago, and Miami.
Regent was another brand Bulley’s team refreshed. The first Regent in the U.S. has been plagued with delays but is set to open in Santa Monica Beach this year.
IHG bought Six Senses in 2019. Eight recent signings will triple the portfolio to 38. In the U.S., it has signed a deal to create a resort with branded residences in Napa Valley.
As IHG scales up in luxury and lifestyle, it must add employees with operations, strategy, and hotel development expertise. Bulley’s priority has been on skill building and career development within IHG. For example, it has been making it easier for staff to see potential career progressions.
“They can now see that the aspirations they’ve had before can be realized, either within a brand or across the brands,” Bulley said.
At the senior level, Bulley championed a re-organization that consolidated leadership for the group’s luxury and lifestyle hotels for a coherent strategy. In March, for instance, IHG will move Leanne Harwoodfrom her role in leading growth in Japan to senior vice president and managing director of luxury and lifestyle brands in the Americas.
“There’s a short-term tactic of growing your capability by acquiring talent,” Bulley said. “But the long-term path is growing it.”
The move is part of a multi-year overhaul in structure.
Another example: Kathleen Reidenbach had been chief commercial officer of Kimpton, a lifestyle brand, where she focused just on that brand’s growth. IHG then elevated her to senior vice president of
The Super Bowl helped MGM Resorts post three of the top five days in revenue it has ever recorded at hotels on the Las Vegas Strip, executives said Tuesday.
Alaska Airlines is expanding flight service from its hub at Portland International Airport (PDX).On Monday, the Seattle-based carrier announced plans to add more than 20 daily departures to popular destinations starting this summer. Alaska, which is in the midst of a potential merger with Hawaiian Airlines, said its capacity has increased by 25 percent.Alaska plans to increase service from PDX to a handful of cities, including Las Vegas, Reno, Sacramento and Ontario, California beginning August 20. Starting October 1, the airline will increase service from PDX to Dallas-Fort Worth, Denver, Phoenix, Fresno and Medford, Oregon.The carrier will also add a second daily roundtrip flight between Portland and Redmond/Bend on October 1 and has extended nonstop seasonal flying from PDX to Billings, Kansas City and Minneapolis until the end of the year.Alaska currently serves 53 nonstop destinations from Portland, recently launching nonstop service to Miami. Meanwhile, year-round flights to Nashville start on March 14. By summer, the airline will have more than 100 average daily departures from Portland."We've been the largest carrier in Portland for more than 20 years. We don't take that for granted. It's important for us to provide our guests with a variety of convenient flight options at PDX along with the addition of new routes. We know travelers have a choice and we want them to fly with us," Kirsten Amrine, vice president of revenue management and network planning for Alaska Airlines, said in a statement."We're thrilled about the added flights out of PDX," added Dan Pippenger, chief aviation officer at the Port of Portland. "As our largest carrier, more Alaska flights means even more options for travelers, whether they're flying cross-country or within the state. And the increase in service means more visitors for our concession and ground travel partners – the local businesses that are the heart of our region and bring so much excitement to our airport."Contact your travel advisor or visit AlaskaAir.com to book the airline's expanded service from PDX.
In January, Alaska celebrated its 65th anniversary of becoming the 49th state. Such a milestone sets the stage for high expectations, and with good reason: Following a record-setting tourism season in 2023 led by more than 1.6 million cruise visitors, predictions are for another banner year in 2024, according to the Alaska Travel Industry Association (ATIA).
More than 10,000 rooms will surround the lagoon powered by Crystal Lagoons® technology, recently inaugurated in the United States. It is located just steps from Disney World and Universal Studios in the heart of Orlando, the most visited destination in the US, with 75 million tourists annually. This city offers a wide range of entertainment options but lacks a beach, an issue remedied in this great development with a crystalline lagoon of the multinational innovation company founded by the scientist Fernando Fischmann. The lagoon forms part of the Evermore Orlando Resort, one of the largest tourism projects in Florida. The large 8-acre body of water with extensive beaches breaks the hotel paradigm by providing truly superior standards and consolidates the presence of Crystal Lagoons in the hospitality and entertainment industry.
IHG Hotels & Resorts ended 2023 with plenty to brag about — roaringly successful openings for its Regent brand in the south of France and Hong Kong, a planned refresh of the storied InterContinental brand, and a hefty pipeline of new hotels to add to its ultraluxury Six Senses brand.
Volcanic activity in Iceland has been rumbling on for months, centred around the Reykjanes Peninsula near Reykjavík, in the southwest of the country. After multiple earthquakes, the most recent series of eruptions kicked off at the end of 2023, when an explosion along a 2.5-mile fissure sent lava into the air a couple of miles northeast of the fishing village of Grindavík; another followed shortly afterwards.
Iceland’s volcanic eruptions have deterred some tourists, according to an analysis of booking patterns released Thursday.
Hilton executives said Wednesday that acquisitions are possible – a shift from the past 16 years when it has focused on creating new brands rather than buying up existing ones.
Hilton is continuing a more than three-decade tradition of running TV ads during the Grammy Awards: On Sunday, it released spots touting why music lovers and concert-goers should pick its brands when booking hotels.
There’s a lot of attractions competing for the attention of little ones in Orlando—from Walt Disney World to Universal Orlando—but Villatel Orlando Resort has created something that will make kids and adults alike want to spend all their time in the hotel room.
Karim Alibhai knows better than most how to make luxury hotels profitable. He’s the founder and top boss of Gencom, which has owned, part-owned, or developed 8 Ritz-Carltons and 150 hotels under other brands over three decades.
As a dynamic coastal city in the San Francisco Bay Area, Oakland has a wonderful, diverse arts scene, and its delectable cuisine inspires people from all over the country to visit the city that’s called the “bright side of the bay” for its fantastic weather. What you may not know is that this diverse, progressive city also has one of the best vegan food scenes in the country. Here are just some of the restaurants of Oakland’s vegan food trail you should try.