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  • News: Hertz Equipment Rental teams with Donlen

    The Hertz Corporation and Donlen, the fleet industry’s most comprehensive and integrated provider of financing and asset management solutions, today announced the launch of HERC Ready Finance™, a groundbreaking equipment acquisition program, in collaboration with Hertz Equipment Rental Corporation (HERC).

    HERC Ready Finance combines the financial expertise of Donlen with the breadth of obtainable resources from Hertz Equipment, to give the broadest range of goods and funding options available within the fleet industry. Hertz Equipment’s commercial customers now have access to “one-stop-shopping” for financing and assets across a whole spectrum of kit and trucks.

    “HERC Ready Finance shows what two industry leaders can achieve by working together. Hertz Equipment has one of the crucial strongest fleet mixes within the equipment rental industry; by also offering financial options through Donlen, we further illustrate our position because the leading market solutions provider,” comment HERC President, Lois Boyd.

    “Today’s hard-pressed credit markets often make it difficult to access capital, especially for small to mid-size companies,” said Mike Lewis, Donlen SVP and General Manager, Equipment Leasing. “Customers are searhing for options, and HERC Ready Finance gives them a continuing financial solution for the acquisition of HERC equipment. By employing our respective resources, Donlen and HERC together are providing how to help companies succeed and grow.”

    This is the second one product launched by Hertz and Donlen that leverages the strength in their relationship. Previously, Hertz Value Lease™ was introduced to the market, providing the fleet industry’s first true leasing alternative product. By virtualizing the Hertz rental inventory and making it available to their customers for lease, commercial fleets can finance quality, pre-driven vehicles for a shorter time at a lower price.

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  • IHIF: Leisure investment growing in importance for UK banks

    The UK hotels and leisure sector has become the third-largest lending marketplace for NatWest and RBS under the Funding for Lending Scheme, with the bank offering cost-effective FLS loans of over £200m to the world to this point.

    NatWest and RBS is forecasting continued, strong demand for lending from this key client base in 2013 because the sector invests for growth.

    NatWest and RBS’s commercial banking division, which caters for business with an annual turnover of under £25m, launched FLS facilities in August 2012 and, as at the beginning of 2013, had allocated over £2.26bn across 15,000 SMEs through the UK.

    On a sector-by-sector basis, hotels and leisure is now the third biggest recipient of FLS loans, finishing behind healthcare and agriculture.

    Andrew Taylor, head of leisure for commercial banking at NatWest and RBS, said: “I’m delighted at how successful we have now been in helping clients inside the hotels and leisure sector access cost-effective funds – we’re committed to working with businesses of all sizes.

    “Under the FLS, we believe we’ve made a true difference to this business base, making a collection of bespoke finance packages for a lot of firms during the UK.

    The specialist Hotels and Leisure Team incorporates people inside the bank’s vast network with coverage around the UK, meaning we will draw on a broad range of expertise including the economic and business banking teams.”

    NatWest and RBS formed its dedicated Hotels and Leisure Team in September 2011 and regards the hotels, restaurants, pubs and leisure sectors as one of the vital key lending targets across commercial banking.

    The team includes greater than 80 managers and directors around the RBS network. The bank operates across all aspects of the leisure market, splitting the arena into seven sub-sectors – with hotels receiving the best percentage of fund allocation.

    In 2012, total lending from the Leisure Team was up eight per cent against 2011, and is predicted to extend again for the year ahead.

    Andrew Taylor, head of leisure for NatWest and RBS, concluded: “We take lots of pride in both sector expertise, in addition to our ability to hear each business to realize an in depth understanding in their specific needs. The united kingdom has fantastic businesses operating within the leisure sector.

    The diversity of our skill set is something that we believe stands us with the exception of the contest.

    “Our team commits to at the least two full days a year devoted to all the businesses on our books, and we maintain a powerful want to understand and appreciate every client on both an intensive business, and private level. We realise, however, that the work is much from over, and we shall remain committed to helping hotels, restaurants and the numerous other businesses operating within the sector to fulfil their aspirations and ambitions.”

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  • News: easyjet adds Copenhagen service

    Low cost carrier easyJet is increasing its services between London Gatwick and Copenhagen with an early morning departure from Copenhagen and a night departure from London Gatwick.

    The move will see easyJet’s flights increase from three to four daily from 24 May 2013.

    Paul Simmons, easyJet’s UK Director said: “We are actively improving our product choice, flexibility, availability and quality to aid our business passengers by offering early morning and evening flights seven days per week which can be supplemented by two afternoon departures.

    “Our flights to Copenhagen can be found from as low as £29.99** (a technique including taxes) and we deliver outstanding value with our regular fares proven to be cheaper in eight out of ten occasions and flexi fares nine out of ten, so it really does make business sense to fly easyJet.”

    easyJet has also increased the frequency of its flights from London Gatwick to the Croatian cities of Split and Dubrovnik in addition to Nice in France and currently also serves Copenhagen from Bristol, Edinburgh and London Stansted.

    easyJet celebrated flying 10m business passengers across its network in 2012 and has seen a vital increase within the variety of passengers flying with the airline on business.

    The airline made its ‘flexi fares’ available to all via easyJet.com in 2011 giving passengers greater choice and suppleness with benefits corresponding to unlimited free date changes from one week before, to 3 weeks after the unique travel date and Speedy Boarding included within the fare price.

    Over 200,000 passengers fly easyJet between its largest base at London Gatwick and Copenhagen and this figure will rise to over 300,000 owing to these service additions.

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  • Andy Murray serves up a lift for his home town with new luxury hotel venture

    It was confirmed today that the usa Open and Olympic champion has acquired Cromlix House Hotel, with reference to Dunblane. His plans to remodel the elegant Victorian mansion right into a 15-room five star destination will create as much as 40 new jobs for the area people and generate significant custom for other businesses nearby.

    Following extensive refurbishment, the Perthshire hotel is scheduled to re-open next spring, previous to the 2014 Ryder Cup, that is being staged a quick drive away at Gleneagles.

    Commenting on his new venture, Andy said: “I am pleased to have acquired Cromlix House and stay up for securing its future as a successful business.

    “By re-establishing Cromlix as a number one luxury hotel on the heart of the Dunblane community we can attract new visitors to the world, create numerous new jobs and concentrate on supporting other local businesses. I’m pleased so that they can give something back to the community I grew up in.”

    The hotel would be managed on behalf of Andy by Inverlochy Castle Management International (ICMI), who already manage eight other renowned independent properties around Scotland, including Inverlochy Castle, near Fort William, Greywalls Hotel in Gullane and The Atholl, in Edinburgh. ICMI’s group of industry experts includes Albert Roux OBE, KFO, owner of Le Gavroche in London, the 1st UK restaurant to be awarded thee Michelin stars.

    The refurbished Cromlix House will boast a Chez Roux restaurant offering fine dining using locally sourced produce. With Chez Roux’s very cost-effective menu Andy hopes to draw diners from the Dunblane and Stirling area, as achieved by the logo elsewhere in Scotland.

    Previous owners, the Eden family, who ran the hotel for greater than 30 years said they were delighted the venue was staying in local hands after completing its sale to the tennis champion. a well-liked wedding venue through the years, Andy’s brother Jamie married his Colombian wife Alejandra Gutierrez there in 2010.

    Situated in beautiful countryside, lower than five miles from Dunblane, Cromlix Home is set in 50 acres of secluded woodlands and garden, with a good looking trout loch. The hotel currently has 14 bedroom suites, a chapel, reception hall, two drawing rooms, conservatory, dining room, library and meeting rooms.

  • New Hotel INvestment Tool from AECOM

    AECOM has launched a brand new interactive tool called HINT (Hotel INvestment Tool).

    HINT allows users to check whether a possible hotel development idea is perhaps economically viable at a totally early stage.

    The easy-to-use tool allows users to work out the capability value, cost and return on investment by entering several variables, akin to location, hotel typology and revenue assumptions.

    The tool works by combining AECOM’s operational knowledge with cost data from Davis Langdon, an AECOM company.

    This will provide clients with an early check on their idea while not having to pay for giant studies too early inside the process.

    “What makes this tool unique is the manner that it brings together intelligence from two disciplines (cost consultancy and economic feasibility) that traditionally was commissioned separately,” commented Kevin Underwood, AECOM’s global head of leisure + culture.

    “We are excited to share HINT with our clients and hotel operator contacts who’ve expressed a keen interest in using a device akin to this that offers an early indication of a hotel project’s economic viability.”

    AECOM could be demonstrating the tool at stand 28 on the IHIF in Berlin, which runs from the March 4th-6th 2013.

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