INTERNATIONAL REPORT—Whether it’s celebrating an anniversary, receiving an award, earning a certification, debuting a new product or expanding the business, hotel companies and vendors achieve new milestones on a daily basis. Here’s a look at recent accomplishments:
Access Point Financial Provides $11M in Financing for Chicago Renovation
Access Point Financial LLC (APF) has completed an agreement with a Chicago-based ownership group to provide $11 million in financing for the renovation of the Sheraton Chicago Northbrook Hotel.
The property opened in 2008, and is located in Northbrook, IL, a suburb of Chicago. The 161-room hotel selected APF for financing in order to fund a recapitalization and renovation of the entire property as part of Marriott’s ongoing improvement of the entire Sheraton brand. The update is expected to commence over the next several months.
The borrower acquired the property in late 2019. Aimbridge Hospitality will continue to manage the property following the renovation.
Colcord Hotel Adds Beyond TV by HIS
Hotel Internet Services (HIS) has implemented its BeyondTV comprehensive entertainment platform equipped with advanced voice control and virtual assistant abilities at the Colcord Hotel in Oklahoma City. HIS also enhanced the property’s WiFi service.
Guests of Colcord Hotel can now use BeyondTV to securely cast their content onto guestroom television screens. Eliminating the need to enter in sensitive information such as usernames or passwords, BeyondTV takes data security a step further with its patented privacy technology that automatically deletes any usage data upon checkout. Guests are further provided with the option of deleting such information at any time with the push of a remote control button.
BeyondTV allows guests to access information on available hotel services, as well as the ability to submit requests without having to pick up a guestroom telephone or visit the front desk.
SiteMinder Launches Insights
SiteMinder has unveiled Insights, a set of smart monitoring and reporting capabilities that usher hotels into the intelligence era—the new era of distribution. The capabilities are native to users of the channel management, direct booking and pricing intelligence features within SiteMinder’s platform, to provide hoteliers a single place to access clear and actionable data on their local market, business performance and guests.
The Hotel at Midtown is among the early adopters of SiteMinder Insights. Using it alongside the channel management feature within SiteMinder’s platform, the 55-room boutique property in Chicago benefits from the intelligence on a day-to-day basis.
Lakaz Chamarel Exclusive Lodge Recommends eRevMax
Mauritius-based Lakaz Chamarel Exclusive Lodge has recommended eRevMax solutions for connectivity and online distribution. The hotel is using RateTiger Channel Manager and Price Shopper and deriving benefits in terms of effective pricing data and expanding online visibility through efficient channel management.
RateTiger, powered by LiveOS, provides rate shopping, channel management and connectivity solutions to hotels worldwide to support complex revenue generation strategies. It offers 99.5% system uptime and is security certified under ISO, PCI and GDPR.
Lather Taps King as Chief Growth Officer
Lather, a manufacturer of synthetic fragrance-free beauty and wellness products, has appointed Caroline King as chief growth officer (CGO).
The brand’s new CGO role is part of its continued expansion. The goal is to identify and pursue growth opportunities in the retail and hospitality spaces that will fuel revenue and profit for
the company. There will also be a focus on business development, sales and creating/refining processes.
King brings more than 12 years of experience in marketing and communications. Most recently, she served as VP of marketing and creative at Nasty Gal, and held a prior leadership position at C Wonder.
