Person of the Week

Charles Boyd

Charles announced the launch of a new venture at the Northumberland House State Rooms this week. Operating under the name Hamilton Boyd, he will be pooling his resources with Charlton House and Chester Boyd. He commented, "I absolutely love Chester Boyd and my job; I am a round peg in a round hole. It's a win-win situation in that I will continue to develop and support the Chester Boyd experience of this niche sector to become a venue owner in my own right.”

Quote of the Week

"The first thing you need to know about Goldman Sachs is that it's everywhere. The world's most powerful investment bank is a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money."

Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone

Article of the week

In this ongoing series from EP magazine, the article this week is from the EP archives and is a business feature entitled: "You have to be creative to survive"

EP meets Ewan Venters, the Director of Food and Catering at Selfridges, to discuss the transformation of the retailer's shopping experience in recent years. It focuses on the food and drink arm of the business and presents Ewan's views on what has been important to date. In an economic climate which has challenged even the most established retailers, this article provides a perspective on how Selfridges approach the fusion of fashion and hospitality. What added value does this bring?

Facts of the week

Do the dynamics of hotel ownership need to change?

New report argues that the strategic decision to operate hotels under management contracts (and franchise agreements) is coming under greater scrutiny

• In a market where the hotel development pipeline has significantly reduced, this detailed document by Christie & Co suggests that hoteliers may need to become more flexible in their approach.
• Increased exposure to fee based arrangements has increased the risk for hotel operators, given the impact of a challenging trading environment and low property prices has reduced shareholder returns.
• Jack Egberts, Associate Director comments: "Measures such as guarantees or key money or other operating structures such as leases and, dare we say it, asset ownership, are as yet not fully back on the agenda for most operators. However, it is these measures that may need to be revived in order for the sector to remain an attractive investment opportunity and to assist the development/investment process in future years."
• Will we see more operators move to mixed ownership models, which spread risk, and include owned, leased, managed and franchised?

See the PDF report here

The fear of redundancy hangs over consumers

The threat of unemployment will make any recovery protracted

• Unemployment figures increased by 281,000 during the three months to the end of May according to figures published this week
• Whilst Charlie Bean, Deputy Bank of England Governor, said this week that the economy is probably bumping along the bottom, the article reminds us that unemployment is a lagging indicator.
• Economist Howard Archer noted, "The extended deep economic contraction seen in the second half of 2008 and the first quarter of 2009 will continue to fee through to hit the jobs market pretty hard for some months to come."
• How will consumer confidence continue to be affected this year?

Source: telegraph.co.uk