The longstanding chairman of Intercontinental Hotels Group is to step down late in the year. Reports said late last week that David Webster is to end his eight-year run as Chairman of the UK-based hotel firm just before Christmas, which will bring to a close one of the lengthiest periods under a single chair for [...]

The cost of booking a hotel room in London during this summer’s Olympic Games has soared. This is in spite of the fact that the organisers have handed back a large volume of rooms they no longer require. VisitBritain’s head, Sandie Shaw, said that she believed that many hotels were deliberately waiting before offering rooms [...]

The award for Best Budget Hotel Brand has been scooped by Premier Inn at the 2012 Business Travel Awards held at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London. The Whitbread owned budget brand took the award ahead of Travelodge and Hampton by Hilton for the third consecutive year. The awards have been happening for 17 years, [...]

Hotel chain Best Western has announced plans to open in Haiti to serve business travellers visiting the country. The hotel is due to open in Port-au-Prince this summer and will operate under the Premier banner which was launched in 2011 as a way of attracting higher-end customers. The property will be seven stories tall and [...]

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) has said its new brand in China would be launched within the first half of 2012. The hotel conglomerate said last week that the operation would eventually be expanded into other markets around the Asia Pacific area as part of its efforts to become the top hotel provider for upscale Chinese [...]

The historic Las Vegas Hilton is changing its name and will no longer be affiliated with the Hilton brand. The hotel, set east of the central part of the famous Las Vegas Strip, announced this week that it’s official name – The Las Vegas Hilton hotel-casino – will be trimmed to become simply The Las [...]

Hotel giant Hilton has announced that it will be returning its brand name to Albany, New York. Hilton Hotels & Resorts said in a press release issued on Friday that the Hotel Albany, formerly the Crown Plaza Albany, is to undergo extensive renovations before a re-launch in 2012 as the Hilton Albany. The company said [...]

Hotel firm Rezidor has announced that it will soon be opening two new hotels in the Norwegian capital. Officials for Rezidor Group, one of the world’s fastest growing hotel firms, unveiled plans for 135-room Radisson Blu Hotel Oslo Alna and the 208-room Park Inn by Radisson Oslo Alna, both of which are set to open [...]

Edinburgh councillors have agreed in principle to introducing a new tourist tax on the price of a hotel room. If it goes ahead, it will be the first ever revenue making scheme of its kind in the UK. The plan is to place a charge on rooms of £1 or £2 per night, and could [...]

Tourists visiting Edinburgh may soon be required to pay a ‘tourist tax’ on all hotel rooms in the city. City council members have reached a principle agreement for a new revenue-boosting scheme, in which the city says it could generate some £10 million annually by charging a tourists a £1 to £2 per-night levy on [...]