Ritz-Carlton Launches New Mobile App

This is for all you tech-savvy travelers out there: there’s another app to add to your smartphone.

It may have taken them a while, but Ritz-Carlton Hotels launched their iPhone and Android mobile app this month, and it’s more than just an easy way to book a room.

The app uses tons of Quick Response (QR) codes, which are dispersed throughout individual Ritz-Carlton hotels and give a variety of information—from interesting city facts to hotel activities.

Check out some of the Ritz-Carlton’s around the world using QR Codes:

  • At the Ritz-Carlton Kapalua, guests can learn about the hotel’s art collection using the QR codes found and scanned in the app.
  • By scanning QR codes, guests can learn about wine pairings at the Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong.
  • The Ritz-Carlton Berlin gets kids involved by letting them participate in a digital scavenger hunt using QR codes and clues at each stop.
  • By scanning the QR code on the Ritz-Carlton Battery Park (New York) cocktail napkin, guests can obtain the recipe for the hotel’s signature 10-year anniversary drink.

The QR code function is built into the app, using your smartphone’s camera, so you don’t need to download anything additionally.

Don’t have the time trying to find and scan QR codes all over your hotel? The app has many more features!

  • Your phone’s GPS technology can identify when you have stepped into a Ritz-Carlton, signaling the app to gather landmark tips from Ritz-Carlton concierges from the mobile app, Foursquare.
  • The app has an activity calendar for every individual Ritz-Carlton, so guests can be in the know on the ongoing events during their stay.
  • You can look up other Ritz-Carlton locations.
  • You can make reservations for your next stay.

For more information on the Ritz-Carlton’s mobile app, check out HotelChatter!

InterContinental Hotel Group Expands Hotel-Soap Recycling Program

We are so happy to hear that InterContinental Hotel Group (IHG) is significantly expanding its hotel toiletry-recycling program with the non-profit organization, Clean the World.

Clean the World is an organization that collects and recycles partially used hotel soaps, lotions and shampoos. New and clean soaps are then distributed to needy families in U.S. shelters and around the world.

Today, 62 IHG-brand hotels participate in the soap-recycling program. But IHG officials expect most of its 3,274 North American hotels to join in very soon—adding about 400,000 more rooms to the Clean the World program. “Each property is encouraged to join the Clean the World program immediately upon announcement of the corporate partnership,” Paul Snyder, IHG Vice President of Corporate Responsibility told USA Today.

IHG says their guests will know that they are staying in a participating hotel by placing a Clean the World postcard near their toiletries. The company wants to ensure that their customers “…see how the soaps they leave behind will be recycled to benefit others around the globe.”

Those 62 IHG-brand hotels have so far contributed 268,517 bars of soap to Clean the World. By recycling the partially used soaps, about 41 tons of waste have been diverted from local landfills.

According to Snyder, the 62 hotels that have been collecting and recycling toiletries have showed the company “that it’s easy for the hotels to implement.”

For more information on IHG’s expansion with Clean the World, check out USA Today!

The Saguaro Hotel Lands Condé Nast Traveler’s 2012 Hot List

It’s that time of year again. This month, Condé Nast Traveler unveiled its sixteenth annual Hot List, a selection of the very best hotels around the world. Forty-one reporters anonymously visited hotels in 49 countries, resulting in 121 properties making the list of their favorite picks.

According to Condé Nast Traveler, “…a good hotel is more than just a blissful temporary roost: It’s also a bellwether, an important peek at what you…are really looking for in your travels, not to mention in the very destinations you’re traveling to.” And not only did Joie de Vivre’s The Saguaro Hotel make the list, the Scottsdale-based hotel also landed the cover of the magazine!

The 194-room Saguaro is an updated 1960s motel on the edge of Old Town and adjacent to the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts. While the Scottsdale building code requires its buildings to have a natural desert look, The Saguaro did not want to be another building along the sand-tone cityscape. With an okay by town planners, the hotel shines bright with colors of desert wildflowers—dozens of eye-popping hues dominated by oranges, pinks, yellows and purples. The same contrasting color blocks continue inside the hotel along with handcrafted wood and leather furniture to honor the Southwest theme.

The Saguaro is the first effort outside of California for the Joie de Vivre hotel group.

Check out Condé Nast Traveler’s 2012 Hot List to discover the other best new hotels of 2012!

“…all have one thing in common: We never wanted to leave.” -Condé Nast Traveler

Artwork, Amenities and Beyond – JW Marriott Announces New Partnerships

When you stay at a hotel, have questions like, “How did they choose this artwork for the room wall?” or “How did they choose this particular soap scent for the bathroom?” ever cross your mind?

At the Marriott International Global General’s Manager conference in Los Angeles, the JW Marriott brand took attendants though a tour of their partnerships and offered insight into why and how specific partners are paired with hotels.

In 2011, the JW Marriott Brand created partnerships with leading luxury brands to bring a bit more “lifestyle” into the guest experience. Using everyday concepts that guests use at home (i.e. scented soaps, yoga mats, magazines and magnets on refrigerators with funny sayings, etc), the partnerships were launched in the nutrition, culinary, art, culture and wellness areas to “enrich the luxury experiences” that are relevant in guests’ lives.

Here is what’s coming to JW Hotels:

  • Aromatherapy Associates: Whether you realize it or not, every bathroom amenity has a unique scent. Why? To sooth the mood of the hectic traveler. This month, JW Marriott and Aromatherapy Associates will launch a new line of bath and shower accessories, with a signature brand scent, that will be in all rooms by year-end.
  • Christie’s: Very well known in the world’s art business, Christie’s has partnered with JW Marriott to offer hotel guests a glimpse into the worlds of art, auction and beyond. Through the “What Not To Miss Guides,” Marriott guests (in cities worldwide) will receive information on Christie’s favorite museums, galleries, restaurants, nightlife and shopping.
  • Treasury Wine Estates – Etude Wineries: Fine dining and wine experiences has become a big luxury travel trend over the past few years. Partnered with boutique Etude Wines, JW Marriott will include everything from hosting wine makers for exclusive dinners, to on-property wine programs like food pairings and tastings.
  • Keri Glassman: A nationally recognized nutritionist, published author and founder of the O2 Diet, Glassman will serve as a member of JW Marriott’s panel of experts and provide guests tips on keeping up with a healthy lifestyle while traveling. Soon, guests will be treated to new room service menus, wellness retreats and turndown cards suggesting helpful mantras for a healthier life.

For more information on the JW Marriott Brand’s new partnerships, check out Boston.com!

Young Adults: The New Hotel Demographic

The hotel industry has discovered a new group of travelers that is crucial to its economic growth—those in their mid-20s to mid-30s who are addicted to technology, social media and design.

With a 20% increase in travel spending (in 2010) by this younger generation, many hotels owners and operators are remodeling existing hotels and introducing new ones that offer free hotel-wide Wi-Fi connections; large lobbies with comfortable, plush furnishings; state-of-the-art fitness areas; in-room power consoles to plug in electronic devices; and stylish bars that spill into the lobby.

About a decade ago, hotels were concentrating a majority of their efforts on the baby boom generation. Hotels highlighted their quality beds, brighter lighting and bigger work spaces to lure those in the 50s to 60s age bracket. But that was ten years ago. Today, Generation Y seems to be seeking the exact opposite—they want innovative and off-the-wall. Multiple bars and lounges are being installed to keep guests in the hotel, and lobbies are now becoming adorned with comfortable sofas and Art Deco furnishings.

Bjorn Hanson, divisional dean of the Preston Robert Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism and Sports Management at New York University, said, “If Millennials are wearing shorts and a T-shirt…a lobby that has mahogany paneling, English hunting scenes and Oriental rugs doesn’t connect as well.”

Because of their love for technology, it’s a given that almost every Generation Y’er has a cell phone, laptop, iPad or tablet in front of them at all times. Hotels are now installing power consoles in both rooms and public areas so charging all of these electronic devices is easier and more accessible. The Plaza Hotel in New York City even provides an iPad for each room! Here, guests can use the iPad to control lighting, air conditioning, order room service and even read the morning paper.

Hanson said that free and constant access to WiFi service is not only demanded, but it’s expected. “High-speed internet is almost like air to Millennials,” he said.

One of the most important efforts among hotel executives to attract the younger travelers? Social networking. If a younger traveler is unsatisfied with their hotel, they are more likely to rant about it through a medium like Twitter, rather than vocally complaining to a hotel manager. In response to this, Starwood Hotels and Resorts set up a team of 20 people to monitor and respond to online complaints and comments.

So don’t be surprised if your favorite hotel transitions from classic to “different”: lobbies start looking more like coffee shops, people in the lobby are constantly staring at a cell phone/laptop screen and ordering room service is through your in-room iPad. Generation Y is taking over the world of travel, and hotels want to benefit from that.

To find out more about hotels’ upgrades to attract the younger traveler, check out this article from The New York Times.