Happy New Year, Hotsheet readers, and thanks for reading! On this day of fresh starts, what resolutions would you like to see hoteliers make in 2009? I'll go first. Free Wi-Fi. Comfort over looks. Soundproofed windows and walls. Now your turn. (Also, hoteliers feel free to weigh in with resolutions guests should make when checking in at your property).

In the Asia Pacific region, Construction Starts are at a five-quarter low and will continue to trend downward, closely tracking development trends in the US. Because accessing financing is so difficult, many projects already in the Pipeline cannot migrate forward towards Construction, but are stalled in the Scheduled Starts in the Next Twelve Months and Early Planning stages. Project Cancellations are at an all-time high, reflecting the unavailability of financing and heightening developer concerns about a global slowdown. The fall-off in international travel, guestroom demand and attendant pricing pressures are accelerating and expected to continue to trend downward well into the next year as the full impact of the economic crisis in the region takes hold.

The nightly room rate at the Best Eastern Sovietsky Hotel in Moscow is $279. At least that's what the Expedia sales agent promises Ilan Saadia. But the hotel begs to differ when he checks in. It jacks up his rate to $839 a night. Who's right? And who should pay the bill? Q: I am writing because I feel I've exhausted all my options. I recently booked two rooms at the Best Eastern Sovietsky Hotel in Moscow for three nights by phone through Expedia. The total price per room was confirmed at $839, or about $279 a night.

From hotels to airports to exchange rates to terminals, this was a year that defied business-travel expectations. At the end of each of the thirtysomething years that I have survived a life on the road, I inevitably reach the same conclusion: It sure has been another bizarre 12 months for business travel. Who'd have guessed that more than 80 airlines would fold in 2008, many of them destroyed by the price of oil this spring and summer? Who'd have imagined that the airlines could cut domestic seat capacity by double digits this fall and still see chairs go empty and fares drop? And who'd have thought hotels, expecting record increases in room rates in 2008, would end the year discounting lustily and mulling huge declines in 2009?

The industry's prospects for 2009 look grim as anxious leisure and business travelers cut spending. By Roger Vincent. On New Year's Eve in downtown Los Angeles, hotel lobbies were crowded with revelers and guests, many of whom were planning to attend the Rose Parade or Rose Bowl football game in Pasadena the next day. But the holiday crowds concealed the uncomfortable fact that the incoming year would probably not be a very good one for the hospitality business.

If you want your sheets changed daily, your breakfast delivered to your room or even the reassurance of knowing the toilet has been sanitized, you may be a candidate for an overnight stay in one of the 48,000 properties that populate the U.S. lodgings landscape But hotels, motels and bed-and-breakfasts aren't for everyone, especially in these economic times when a seven-day stay can cost four figures. That factor coupled with the growth of the Internet makes the times ripe for exchanging or renting a home.

Hospitality companies are facing troubling times with the economy’s weakness beginning to weigh on the hospitality industry at large. Consumers are retrenching on most types of discretionary spending, including travel. This means that hospitality companies not only have to protect themselves from an economic downturn, but they also must undertake measures to adjust to a changed business environment. In this publication, titled “Weathering the Economic Storm: How hospitality companies can thrive in challenging times,” Deloitte reviews four key actions that can help hospitality companies navigate and even prosper through these troubling times. For example, an economic downturn can be a good opportunity to optimize performance management capabilities, improve spend effectiveness, re-evaluate customer segments and review loyalty programs.

Sol Meliá has reached an agreement with Italia Turismo to manage a five star hotel in Sciacca, Sicily from 2011 under the Meliá brand, incorporating all of the services and features of the Spanish hotel brand.

Dubai hotels scrambled to rework New Year's Eve plans Wednesday following a last-minute order to mute holiday festivities as Arab states sought to tone down celebrating amid the violence in Gaza. Beachfront fireworks and live music acts at the recently opened Atlantis hotel were canceled as the tourist spot followed Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum's ban on "all forms of celebrations."

Thorpe Sotheby's International Realty announced this month it will extend to a select group of luxury hoteliers and investors the opportunity to acquire the last developable oceanfront site in the Village of Bal Harbour, Florida. The Bal Harbour Beach Club hotel-marina site totals 16 acres, and is located on the world famous Collins Avenue within the confines of one of the world's most prestigious and exclusive communities. This ultra luxurious site also offers for the first time the 10.5 acre, 36 slip Bal Harbour Yacht Club on Biscayne Bay. The marina is directly accessible via a greenway from the Bal Harbour Beach Club hotel parcel. Slips can accommodate yachts of 140' plus with direct ocean access. Known as "The Playground of the Rich and famous" Bal Harbour offers one of the most exclusive shopping destinations in the world only seconds away. Ranked "#1 Most Productive Shopping Center in the US" by Women's Wear Daily, the Bal Harbour Shops rivals Beverly Hills, Paris and St. Tropez.

Here at HeBS we firmly believe that a comprehensive, ROI-centric Internet marketing strategy is the hotelier's perfect "survival tool" in the current economic environment. In the difficult year we expect 2009 to be, a well-executed Internet marketing strategy can help smart hoteliers generate incremental revenues, improve marketing ROIs, retain existing and attract more affluent travelers, and out-smart the competition. For the past almost 14 years, our experience shows that Internet-savvy hoteliers with robust Direct Online Channel strategies are the winners in economic downturns like this one.

Happy New Year, Hotsheet readers, and thanks for reading! On this day of fresh starts, what resolutions would you like to see hoteliers make in 2009? I'll go first. Free Wi-Fi. Comfort over looks. Soundproofed windows and walls. Now your turn. (Also, hoteliers feel free to weigh in with resolutions guests should make when checking in at your property).

In the Asia Pacific region, Construction Starts are at a five-quarter low and will continue to trend downward, closely tracking development trends in the US. Because accessing financing is so difficult, many projects already in the Pipeline cannot migrate forward towards Construction, but are stalled in the Scheduled Starts in the Next Twelve Months and Early Planning stages. Project Cancellations are at an all-time high, reflecting the unavailability of financing and heightening developer concerns about a global slowdown. The fall-off in international travel, guestroom demand and attendant pricing pressures are accelerating and expected to continue to trend downward well into the next year as the full impact of the economic crisis in the region takes hold.

The nightly room rate at the Best Eastern Sovietsky Hotel in Moscow is $279. At least that's what the Expedia sales agent promises Ilan Saadia. But the hotel begs to differ when he checks in. It jacks up his rate to $839 a night. Who's right? And who should pay the bill? Q: I am writing because I feel I've exhausted all my options. I recently booked two rooms at the Best Eastern Sovietsky Hotel in Moscow for three nights by phone through Expedia. The total price per room was confirmed at $839, or about $279 a night.

From hotels to airports to exchange rates to terminals, this was a year that defied business-travel expectations. At the end of each of the thirtysomething years that I have survived a life on the road, I inevitably reach the same conclusion: It sure has been another bizarre 12 months for business travel. Who'd have guessed that more than 80 airlines would fold in 2008, many of them destroyed by the price of oil this spring and summer? Who'd have imagined that the airlines could cut domestic seat capacity by double digits this fall and still see chairs go empty and fares drop? And who'd have thought hotels, expecting record increases in room rates in 2008, would end the year discounting lustily and mulling huge declines in 2009?

The industry's prospects for 2009 look grim as anxious leisure and business travelers cut spending. By Roger Vincent. On New Year's Eve in downtown Los Angeles, hotel lobbies were crowded with revelers and guests, many of whom were planning to attend the Rose Parade or Rose Bowl football game in Pasadena the next day. But the holiday crowds concealed the uncomfortable fact that the incoming year would probably not be a very good one for the hospitality business.

If you want your sheets changed daily, your breakfast delivered to your room or even the reassurance of knowing the toilet has been sanitized, you may be a candidate for an overnight stay in one of the 48,000 properties that populate the U.S. lodgings landscape But hotels, motels and bed-and-breakfasts aren't for everyone, especially in these economic times when a seven-day stay can cost four figures. That factor coupled with the growth of the Internet makes the times ripe for exchanging or renting a home.

As the credit crunch bites and the travel industry looks to cut costs, Business Traveller asks if environmental initiatives may be quietly dropped. 2008 was billed as the year of travelling green, with airlines offering carbon offsetting and hotels plying guests with Fairtrade and free bikes, but as the year drew on it was the credit crisis that was grabbing headlines, along with the soaring cost of oil and airlines going bust. As 2008 draws to a close, many in the industry are taking stock after heavy losses.

Hospitality companies are facing troubling times with the economy’s weakness beginning to weigh on the hospitality industry at large. Consumers are retrenching on most types of discretionary spending, including travel. This means that hospitality companies not only have to protect themselves from an economic downturn, but they also must undertake measures to adjust to a changed business environment. In this publication, titled “Weathering the Economic Storm: How hospitality companies can thrive in challenging times,” Deloitte reviews four key actions that can help hospitality companies navigate and even prosper through these troubling times. For example, an economic downturn can be a good opportunity to optimize performance management capabilities, improve spend effectiveness, re-evaluate customer segments and review loyalty programs.

Sol Meliá has reached an agreement with Italia Turismo to manage a five star hotel in Sciacca, Sicily from 2011 under the Meliá brand, incorporating all of the services and features of the Spanish hotel brand.

Dubai hotels scrambled to rework New Year's Eve plans Wednesday following a last-minute order to mute holiday festivities as Arab states sought to tone down celebrating amid the violence in Gaza. Beachfront fireworks and live music acts at the recently opened Atlantis hotel were canceled as the tourist spot followed Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum's ban on "all forms of celebrations."

The hotel that will be home to President-elect Barack Obama and his family for the next couple of weeks offers one of Washington's best views of their future home, the White House, and a past linked with political movers and shakers. The Obamas will be moving into the Hay-Adams hotel this weekend, aides say. They're doing this in part so that the family's daughters, Sasha and Malia, can begin school when classes reconvene after winter break.

As the term "staycation" gained traction in the American lexicon, hotel stocks plunged in 2008 as both consumers and businesses cut back on travel spending. Demand for hotel rooms weakened in the spring and summer as soaring gas prices, the housing market crisis and broader worries about the economy helped make the "staycation" - a vacation spent at home - a new trend for anxious Americans.

CLEVELAND, Ohio |The Lexington Collection of fine Hotels, Plaza Hotels, and Resorts Worldwide is pleased to announce the opening of its newest property today located in the heart of the premier college town of Alabama -- Auburn.

The U.S. hotel industry experienced steep declines in three key performance measurements during the week of 21-27 December 2008, according to data from STR. In year-over-year measurements, the industry’s occupancy fell 16.4 percent to end the week at 35.8 percent (42.8 percent during the comparable week in 2007). Average daily rate dropped 9.5 percent to finish the week at US$92.49 (US$102.22 in 2007). Revenue per available room for the week decreased 24.3 percent to finish at US$33.13 (US$43.78 in 2007).

Thorpe Sotheby's International Realty announced this month it will extend to a select group of luxury hoteliers and investors the opportunity to acquire the last developable oceanfront site in the Village of Bal Harbour, Florida. The Bal Harbour Beach Club hotel-marina site totals 16 acres, and is located on the world famous Collins Avenue within the confines of one of the world's most prestigious and exclusive communities. This ultra luxurious site also offers for the first time the 10.5 acre, 36 slip Bal Harbour Yacht Club on Biscayne Bay. The marina is directly accessible via a greenway from the Bal Harbour Beach Club hotel parcel. Slips can accommodate yachts of 140' plus with direct ocean access. Known as "The Playground of the Rich and famous" Bal Harbour offers one of the most exclusive shopping destinations in the world only seconds away. Ranked "#1 Most Productive Shopping Center in the US" by Women's Wear Daily, the Bal Harbour Shops rivals Beverly Hills, Paris and St. Tropez.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- On a balmy evening earlier this month, wealthy guests in backless gowns and tuxedoes gathered to toast the city's newest high-end hotel, SLS, which boasts such amenities as poolside concierges and in-room massages. But no amount of top-shelf liquor could dull the dreary outlook confronting SLS and the cadre of recently opened luxury hotels. In Los Angeles, where self-indulgence rises to art, SLS splurged on a $700,000 opening party. The company has already begun offering discounts for its freshly minted rooms, showing how the deep strains on the hotel industry are being felt even here.

China -- The Westin Beijing Financial Street ended a spectacular year by being named as the “World’s Leading Financial District Hotel” by World Travel Awards 2008. This is the third award the hotel received from the prestigious World Travel Awards, yet the highest category as worldwide.

WHITE PLAINS, NY -- The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) is now accepting seminar proposals for the 94th annual International Hotel/Motel & Restaurant Show® (IH/M&RS), taking place November 7-10, 2009, at New York City's Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. Experts are encouraged to share their research and insight at North America's premier event for the hospitality industry, which attracts some 35,000 trade professionals and 1,000 exhibitors annually. The deadline to submit proposals is March 2, 2009.

The next chapter of the World Wide Web will not be written in English alone. Asia already has twice as many Internet users as North America, and by 2012 it will have three times as many. Already, more than half of the search queries on Google come from outside the United States. The globalization of the Web has inspired entrepreneurs like Ram Prakash Hanumanthappa, an engineer from outside Bangalore, India. Mr. Ram Prakash learned English as a teenager, but he still prefers to express himself to friends and family members in his native Kannada. But using Kannada on the Web involves computer keyboard maps that even Mr. Ram Prakash finds challenging to learn.