World Hotel Travel Blog

Most of the world’s leading airport operators (80%) intend to make passenger self-service the primary channel for check-in, according to a new global survey launched today. And 52% rated the introduction of “electronic documents” as the technology which will have the most significant impact at airports in the near future, initially driven by the adoption of bar-coded boarding passes sent directly to mobile phones – a key enabler for genuinely paperless travel.

The 6th annual SITA Airport IT Trends survey, co-sponsored by Airline Business and the Airports Council International (ACI), had a record 106 responses from airports and airport groups representing 172 airports from around the world including 56 from the Top 100 in terms of revenue and passengers.

The survey which was launched today at the ACI World Conference in Kuala Lumpur, also found that IT budgets for airports in 2008 were largely unaffected by the global economic downturn with IT investments as % of revenue decreasing slightly from 3.5% in 2007 to 3.2% in 2008. The world airport IT industry is estimated to be worth $3 billion and 45% of this year’s survey respondents expect an increase in budget in 2010 while only 14% expect a lower budget.

Catherine Mayer, SITA Vice President for Airports, said: “This year’s survey confirms that self-service is a global trend with almost 80% of respondents planning to make it the primary means for check-in by 2010 as is already the case at 40% of the world’s top 100 airports. Read the rest of this entry »

Marriott International (NYSE:MAR) today announced the signing of 21 management contracts for hotels and resorts in its Asia-Pacific Region.

The 21 hotels are scheduled to open through the end of 2013, represent four of the company’s lodging brands and will add nearly 7,000 rooms to Marriott’s previously-announced Asia-Pacific pipeline of 37 hotels and 9,400 rooms now under construction. They are part of the company’s global development pipeline of 110,000 rooms.

When opened, the 58 hotels now under development will add over 16,000 rooms to Marriott’s Asia-Pacific portfolio. This growth will bring the company’s presence in the region to 154 hotels offering 51,500 rooms in 18 countries by the end of 2013, ranking it among the largest international hotel operators in China, India and Thailand with 70, 31 and 26 properties respectively in each country.

In addition, The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, L.L.C. portfolio in the region currently consists of 16 hotels and resorts offering approximately 5,000 rooms with nine properties and 1,500 rooms under development. Included are Ritz-Carlton hotels opening in Shanghai-Pudong and Hong Kong-Kowloon next year. Read the rest of this entry »