Oriens Travel & Hotel Management Exceeds Projections With Recent Contract Worth Estimated $250,000
12:56 PM | Author: Rubby
LAS VEGAS, Oct 7, 2008 (GlobeNewswire via COMTEX) -- Oriens Travel & Hotel Management Corp. (Pink Sheets:OTHM) ( http://www.orienscorp.com), a company that seeks out mid/lower-end hotel properties in developing countries and reorganizes them under the Hotel PURE brand, is pleased to announce the signing of its first contract with one hotel, worth approximately $250,000 per year in revenue to the Company. Oriens will facilitate all of the hotel's online booking needs and in return this order will allow the Company to achieve revenue ahead of projections.
This marks a major milestone for the Company since the initial projections of achieving revenue were forecasted to start in the third quarter of 2009. Statistics show that in Costa Rica in 2007, 1.9 million visitors occupied approximately 1 million rooms with an average nightly rate of US$150. The number of visitors is expected to increase to 2.4 million in 2008. With 15% of the total rooms being booked through the Internet and growing rapidly, the estimated worth of these 150,000 room bookings is just over US$22 million.
Recognizing these trends and utilizing the Company's proprietary online booking and processing technology, Oriens has launched a marketing effort to approach these hotels in Costa Rica in an effort to handle all of their online booking needs. As a result, the first contract was agreed upon with Hacienda Quachipelin. Oriens expects to put together a sales force that will market its online booking technology to the thousands of hotels in Costa Rica as well as other developing nations. Oriens is currently projecting to service an additional 40 hotels, worth approximately US$8 million in sales, over the next 9 months.
Ken Chua, President of Oriens Travel and Hotel Management Corp. stated, "We are extremely excited by the completion of this first contract with Hacienda Quachipelin. This agreement has now placed Oriens into a positive stage of revenue growth. Now that the first one is out of the way, the flood gate is now officially opened."
The Oriens Travel & Hotel Management Corp. logo is available at www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=4206
The above statements in regard to Oriens, which are not purely historical, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including Oriens' beliefs, expectations, hopes or intentions regarding the future. All forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and are based on information available to the parties as of such date. It is important to note that the actual outcome and the actual results could differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include risks and uncertainties, such as technological, legislative, corporate, financial and marketplace changes.
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NYC Plaza hotel owners win naming fight in Vegas
12:55 PM | Author: Rubby

LAS VEGAS: The owners of the Plaza Hotel in New York have won a court fight to use the Plaza name for a casino-resort planned on the Las Vegas Strip.

El-Ad Group, the developers of the planned multibillion dollar resort, said Monday they expect to break ground in spring 2010 and open in 2012.

El-Ad Group was sued by Tamares Las Vegas Properties LLC, which owns the Plaza Hotel & Casino in downtown Las Vegas.

El-Ad says a Clark County District Court jury sided with them because of federal trademarks that allow El-Ad to use the brand throughout the United States.

The new Plaza complex is expected to be built on the former site of the New Frontier casino-hotel, which was demolished by implosion in November 2007.

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Goldman Sachs analyst cuts hotel sector estimates
12:54 PM | Author: Rubby
Goldman Sachs analyst lowers hotel sector estimates on supply growth, economic uncertainty

NEW YORK (Associated Press) - A Goldman Sachs analyst lowered his 2009 and 2010 estimates for the hotel sector late Monday, citing broad economic uncertainty, projected supply growth and weakening business travel trends.

There were more than 650,000 hotel rooms in development, planning or construction in the U.S. in August 2008, a 16.9 percent increase over August 2007, according to a report produced by Torto Wheaton Research, Dodge Construction and Smith Travel Research.

While analysts predict that the credit crisis will lead to some cancellations, most developments already under construction are likely to be completed.

"Simply put, the majority of supply will hit the U.S. market just as demand is weakening," said Goldman Sachs analyst Steven Kent.

Kent expects hotels to generally meet third-quarter projections but provide a dim outlook for 2009 due to the uncertain economy and concerns about business travel. "Business travel is one of the first expenses to be cut in a downturn and one of the last to recover," he said.

Kent predicted that revenue per available room will drop 4 percent in the U.S. market during 2009 and dip 1 percent in 2010. Revenue per available room, or revpar, is considered a key gauge of a hotelier's performance.

The analyst cut his 2009 earnings-per-share estimates for the sector by 30 percent on average _ well below the consensus forecast. For 2010, he lowered his estimates by 40 percent on average.

Shares of major hotel companies fluctuated with the broader market on Monday morning. Investors got some early encouragement from a new Federal Reserve plan to buy massive amounts of corporate debt, but continued to grapple with fears about the clogged credit markets.

In morning trading, shares of Marriott International Inc. fell $1.01, or 4.7 percent, to $20.63. The stock has traded between $20.27 and $43.13 during the past 52 weeks.

Shares of Intercontinental Hotels Group PLC jumped 37 cents, or 3.5 percent, to $11.02. The stock has traded between $10.30 and $23.42 during the past year.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc.'s stock fell 87 cents, or 3.6 percent, to $23.01.
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