Business Management Executive Q&A
Nov 15, 2007
By: Eugene Gilligan, Senior Hotel Editor
CPN Senior Editor Eugene Gilligan spoke recently with Jim Holthouser, senior vice president of brand management for Embassy Suites Hotels--the upscale, all-suites brand from Hilton Hotels Corp.--about the brand's growth prospects, and what he sees for the hotel industry in 2008.
CPN: What have been the highlights for Embassy Suites for this year?
Holthouser: We're ending the year on a high note. Almost half of our hotels, 45 percent, are undergoing to top-to-bottom renovations that will be concluded in 2008. We are about 80 percent done. One of our big ownership groups is spending $400 million on renovations on 42 Embassy Suites. We now have 50 hotels in our construction pipeline, with applications for about 12 more. We have set a goal to open 20 Embassy Suites a year, and with that sort of pipeline, we can do that. We are also growing internationally. We have opened a hotel in Mexico City, and will open a hotel in Valencia, Venezuela, in April of 2008, which will be our second hotel in Venezuela. We also have hotels in Panama City, Panama, and San Jose, Costa Rica, in the pipeline.
CPN: Please talk about the new Embassy Suites prototype.
Holthouser: Our "Design Option Three" prototype allows developers to build an Embassy Suites at a lower cost per key, and on a smaller land area, from four acres to 2.8 acres. The first "Design Option Three" Embassy Suites will open in Kenesaw, Ga., in the fourth quarter of 2008, and there are two more that will break ground shortly, in the Sugarloaf area near Atlanta, and the Savannah [GA.] Airport.
We're giving developers a "kit of parts," that they can use to put Embassy Suites into non-traditional formats. In Panama City, this 200-key Embassy Suites will be vertically stacked, in a 40-story building. The atrium is on the eighth floor.
CPN: What is your outlook for the hotel industry in 2008?
Holthouser: We occasionally hear recession talk, and we may see a slowdown, with GDP growth from 1.5 to 2 percent. But I talk to developers every day, and many are optimistic. From our vantage point, there has been much investment in our hotels, and new hotels opening in 2008, so I think 2008 will be a good year for us.
By: Eugene Gilligan, Senior Hotel Editor
CPN Senior Editor Eugene Gilligan spoke recently with Jim Holthouser, senior vice president of brand management for Embassy Suites Hotels--the upscale, all-suites brand from Hilton Hotels Corp.--about the brand's growth prospects, and what he sees for the hotel industry in 2008. CPN: What have been the highlights for Embassy Suites for this year?
Holthouser: We're ending the year on a high note. Almost half of our hotels, 45 percent, are undergoing to top-to-bottom renovations that will be concluded in 2008. We are about 80 percent done. One of our big ownership groups is spending $400 million on renovations on 42 Embassy Suites. We now have 50 hotels in our construction pipeline, with applications for about 12 more. We have set a goal to open 20 Embassy Suites a year, and with that sort of pipeline, we can do that. We are also growing internationally. We have opened a hotel in Mexico City, and will open a hotel in Valencia, Venezuela, in April of 2008, which will be our second hotel in Venezuela. We also have hotels in Panama City, Panama, and San Jose, Costa Rica, in the pipeline.
CPN: Please talk about the new Embassy Suites prototype.
Holthouser: Our "Design Option Three" prototype allows developers to build an Embassy Suites at a lower cost per key, and on a smaller land area, from four acres to 2.8 acres. The first "Design Option Three" Embassy Suites will open in Kenesaw, Ga., in the fourth quarter of 2008, and there are two more that will break ground shortly, in the Sugarloaf area near Atlanta, and the Savannah [GA.] Airport.
We're giving developers a "kit of parts," that they can use to put Embassy Suites into non-traditional formats. In Panama City, this 200-key Embassy Suites will be vertically stacked, in a 40-story building. The atrium is on the eighth floor.
CPN: What is your outlook for the hotel industry in 2008?
Holthouser: We occasionally hear recession talk, and we may see a slowdown, with GDP growth from 1.5 to 2 percent. But I talk to developers every day, and many are optimistic. From our vantage point, there has been much investment in our hotels, and new hotels opening in 2008, so I think 2008 will be a good year for us.
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