Saint Louis
Hotel News
January, 2010
St. Louis Hotels Guide
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The expansive lobby and front desk areas of the Drury Hotels Plaza - St. Louis feature imported Italian marble and granite and original matching millwork on the 24 massive support columns in the historic Fur Exchange Building.
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Drury Plaza - St. Louis Recognized As One of Top 25 Hotels in the United States
by Betty Moore, SLFP.com
ST. LOUIS, MO (HOTELS-STL.com), January 21, 2010 - The Drury Plaza - St. Louis was recognized as one of the "Top 25 Hotels in the United States" by TripAdvisor.com. As part of TripAdvisor's 2010 Travelers' Choice awards, the Drury Plaza ranked 21st out of 143,654 hotels. The Travelers' Choice winners "are based on millions of real and unbiased reviews and opinions from travelers on TripAdvisor.com", according to the most popular and largest travel community website in the world.
In a statement, Chuck Drury, President and CEO of Drury Hotels Company said, "We are honored to be recognized by TripAdvisor.com and its readers. We are especially grateful for this recognition because it was given by the critics who matter most-our guests."
The Drury Plaza - St. Louis, located at Fourth & Market Streets near the Gateway Arch and Busch Stadium in Downtown St. Louis, is housed within three buildings that required extensive renovation before it opened in 2000. These included the historically significant International Fur Exchange Building, built in 1919; the Thomas Jefferson Building, added in the late 1950's; and the historic stainless steel clad American Zinc Building, built in the mid 1960's, influenced by the design of the Gateway Arch.
Demolition work had already started on the Fur Exchange Building when it was discovered by Charles and Shirley Drury who were on their way to Mass at the nearby Old Cathedral in 1997. "You'd be surprised at the increase in value of an old building in the process of being torn down," Drury said. "I learned a lot about inflation," he laughed. After months of serious discussion with Drury corporate and immediate family members about buying the building, he related that it was still hard to say yes to undertaking such a huge project. Yet, when the decision was finally made, everyone jumped in and said 'let's get it done.'
Noted St. Louis architect Richard Hemni worked closely with the Drury Inn architects to restore the exterior of the Fur Exchange Building and design a new face for the Thomas Jefferson. The expansive lobby and front desk areas feature imported Italian marble and granite utilizing many features of the original building to reflect period architecture, including the original matching millwork on the 24 massive support columns and along the top of the walls. The Fur Exchange Building was originally designed by St. Louis architect George W. Hellmuth.
The nearly 15,000 pieces of Waterford crystal in the chandeliers and light fixtures promote a feeling of elegance. Sculptures commemorating St. Louis' fur trading history add to the ambience. The gracious period decor was personally handled by Shirley Drury.
Inside the hotel, guests enjoy Drury's many free amenities, including free hot breakfast, free wireless Internet and the soon-to-be-unveiled 5:30 Kickback. The 5:30 Kickback will feature free hot food & cold beverages every evening from 5:30 to 7, beginning January 25th. For more information or reservations, call 1-800-325-0481 or visit Drury Plaza - St. Louis.
IHG Encourages Its Loyalty Program Members to Donate Points to Haitian Earthquake Relief
ST. LOUIS, MO (HOTELS-STL.com), January 20, 2010 - InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) is encouraging its 47 million members of its guest loyalty program, Priority Club®Rewards, to donate their points to the American Red Cross for Haitian Earthquake Relief.
Priority Club Rewards members can donate their program points in 10,000-point denominations. Points will be converted into cash by IHG. The funds will be given to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund to meet the urgent and critical needs of Haitian earthquake victims by providing emergency shelter, food and water. Members can donate points online at www.priorityclub.com or by calling 1-800-272-9273.
The company is also encouraging its employees, owners and hotels to make contributions to be given to CARE.
"Although we don't have any hotels located in Haiti, we do have many employees working in our hotels across the Americas region who have family and friends in Haiti who have been impacted by this devastating earthquake," said Jim Abrahamson, president, the Americas, IHG. "During difficult times, the IHG family of employees, owners, hotels and our Priority Club Rewards members have demonstrated time and again tremendous compassion to helping those in need and I am confident that they will again."
IHG owns, manages, leases or franchises, through various subsidiaries, nearly 4,400 hotels and over 640,000 guest rooms in 100 countries and territories around the world. The Group owns a portfolio of well recognised and respected hotel brands including InterContinental® Hotels & Resorts, Hotel Indigo®, Crowne Plaza® Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn® Hotels and Resorts, Holiday Inn Express®, Staybridge Suites® and Candlewood Suites® and also manages the world's largest hotel loyalty programme, Priority Club® Rewards with 47 million members worldwide.
IHG has 1,500 hotels in its development pipeline, which will create 140,000 jobs worldwide over the next few years.
Guests Want to Know Hotels' Rate Rules
ST. LOUIS, MO (HOTELS-STL.com), January 14, 2010 - Hotel revenue management techniques cause hotels to adjust their rates in response to demand and occupancy patterns, but if guests don't know what those rate-changing rules are, they tend to think of them as being unfair.
A new Center for Hospitality Research (CHR) study found that hotel guests are more likely to think a rate setting practice is fair when they know how the rules work.
The hotel revenue management study involved showing one of eight distinct scenarios to 815 U.S. respondents, and asking whether the hotel was acting fairly in that particular scenario. Taylor, who is a marketing analyst for the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino, conducted this study for his senior thesis at the Cornell School of Hotel Administration, where Kimes is the Singapore Tourism Board Distinguished Professor in Asian Hospitality Management.
"We know that hotel customers accept the idea that hotel rates will change, but we don't know when guests will think of those rate changes as being fair," said Kimes. "We tested three factors that we thought would influence guests' perceptions of fairness-type of trip, amount of information, and hotel brand class, in this case either five-star or three-star. Of those three factors, only familiarity with the rate rules had a strong effect on perceptions of fairness."
As a result of this strong indication that guests want to know the rules, Taylor and Kimes suggested that hotel revenue managers focus their efforts on increasing guests' familiarity with their pricing practices.
While this does not necessarily mean publicizing all of a hotel's rate fences, hotels could post the conditions for a particular rate class on its website, and indicate ways for guests to lock in a particular rate (typically, by booking far in advance).
In the current environment, Taylor and Kimes suggest that reservation agents and front-desk clerks can explain differential rates and their associated conditions, thus shifting the guest's focus away from simply asking for a discount.
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Archived St. Louis Hotel News:
- Drury Unveils Plan to Serve Free Hot Food & Cold Beverages
- Hilton Connects with Road Warriors in 'Up in Air' Staring George Clooney
- Drury Hotels Focus on Quality Guest Services & Customer Satisfaction in Tight Economy
- St. Louis Union Station Marriott Finds New Life at Historic Landmark
- Westport Plaza Area Residence Inn Rated "Green" in Quality
- Drury Inn & Suites Forest Park Teams Up with St. Louis Attractions for 2009 Staycation Promotion
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© 1997 - 2010 Moore Design Group.
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