If you've traveled in Britain you may have checked out forecasts for always-variable British weather. You know, the ones that call for "bright intervals of sunshine'' - forecasters' lingo for saying they don't quite know what to expect but figure some of it is bound to be be good.
I was reminded of this delightul expression by the travel-biz forecast at the recent San Francisco Convention and Visitor Bureau's Outlook conference, an annual event put on for and by industry-figures. The SFCVB and invited presenters crunch numbers globally, nationally, regionally and locally, to get a fix on what the year ahead will bring in travel and tourism.
Why should you care? Well, looking closely at the world of travel from one of the world's most popular urban destinations gives hints of prices to come in air travel, cruise ship packages, and hotels and resorts, as well as previews conditions travelers can expect to encounter when it comes to new rules and regulations, security matters, and other issues.
How popular is San Francisco? One pretty good indication: The California city has been voted most popular U.S. city in Conde Nast Traveler magazine's readers' survey 17 years in a row. Tourism is the city by the bay's largest source of revenue, and its travel business generates 70,000 jobs. Even in San Francisco, however, 2009 was a terrible year: the $7.8 billion USD spent by visitors fell 8.2 percent from 2008, not an especially strong year. The 15.4 million visitors dropped 6 percent from 2008. That's down 9 percent from the peak year 2000.
The hotel analysts, aviation-watchers, airport executives and travel-biz consultants who spoke at the 5-hour Outlook conference came to a rough consensus: 2010 will be better than 2009, but the recovery will continue to be gradual, even sluggish, especially for hotels. Airlines and airports will be more crowded than last year and thus their revenue should rise. But the global economic travails that began with the Wall Street meltdown in September 2008 have resulted in what American Express executive James Keen called "a new cost-conscious culture.'' For perhaps the next 25 years, pennny-pinching will be "the new normal,'' Keen said.
Of course, what is bad for travel providers can be good for travelers, chiefly in the form of lower prices. Mid-range U.S. hotels will drop their room rates from 1 to 3 percent this year, according to Keen. High-end hotels will slash their rates even more - 2 to 4 percent - to lure guests.
Good news for road warriors, right? Yes, kind of. We all like to save money. Then, too, hotels need to make money in order to stay in business. The owners of the hard-hit Four Seasons Hotel in San Francisco nearly defaulted recently, thanks to the grim business climate, and that's a good hotel. There is always a trade-off between buyer and seller, supply and demand; tip too far for too long in either direction, and the resulting imbalance spells trouble.
Spurred in part by relatively low fares, air travel has begun to recover, with surging passenger demand felt most strongly right now in the Asia-Pacific region and the Middle East, according to the Geneva-based airline trade organization the International Air Transport Association. In line with that, air fares are expected to keep rising this year. For example, Keen expects international, long-haul fares to rise 1 to 6 percent, while international economy-class fares should nudge up 1 to 3 percent.
Of course, travel, for leisure or business, won't strongly recover until world economic conditions get a whole lot more robust. New crises, like the debt and deficit squeeze in Greece, don't help.
But one economist at the Outlook conference was bullish. Tapan Munroe, former chief economist for the big California utility Pacific Gas & Electric Co., said he expects real growth in U.S. gross domestic product to rise 2.8 percent in 2010 - meaning the world's largest national economy could help lead a recovery from the Great Recession. He puts part of this down to U.S. innovation and entrepreneurship: "Silicon Valley is still the dominant innovation economy in the world,'' Munroe asserted.
So, what we have here is a good news, bad news situation. In short: bright intervals.
Showing posts with label Silicon Valley. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Silicon Valley. Show all posts
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
New and Good: Rosewood Sand Hill Hotel
MENLO PARK, CALIFORNIA - The world can always use a good new hotel, especially in Silicon Valley, a subset of the San Francisco Bay Area known for leading-edge high technology if not for great hotels. Oh, there are a few fine ones around, among them the Four Seasons Hotel, on Interstate 101 in East Palo Alto, and the Fairmont Hotel, in downtown San Jose. But cool hotels are not so thick on the ground as microchips.
The Rosewood Sand Hill, which opened in April 2009, aims to change that, and the property is doing its part. My wife and I spent a night there recently, and came away impressed. Guest rooms in the 123-room property are spacious and inviting, the newly planted grounds are graced by attractive olive trees planted underneath with fragrant lavender, the place has a cool bar, an exquisite spa called Sense, and a fine-dining restaurant, Madera, that is first-rate, with an innovative menu and extensive, high-end wine list.
The Rosewood is run by the Dallas luxury operator Rosewood Hotels and Resorts, which also operates New York's Carlyle, the Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek and Jumby Bay resort on Antiqua, among others. The Rosewood Sand Hill is located very close to Interstate 280, the highway that winds along the ridgetops south of San Francisco and north of San Jose. Unlike a number of lesser hotels, the Rosewood Sand Hill thought to sound-proof the windows; you have to press an ear to the pane to hear the freeway's hum. Befitting its name, the Rosewood Sand Hill is located on Sand Hill Road, the near-legendary preferred address of Silicon Valley venture capital firms. The hotel is a mile west of brainiac-rich Stanford University, which owns the hotel. Even closer is the Stanford Shopping Center, fit for all your retail-therapy needs.
We stayed on the second, top floor of a detached townhouse not far from the drive-up main entrance to the hotel, which presides over 16 acres of prime property. Our Rosewood Suite had views of the interstate, which is, of course, prosaic to look at, and woodsy foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains, which are anything but. The bathroom was big enough to get lost in. We did a bit of walking around the hotel grounds, but our stroll was curtailed by rainy, blustery winter weather. Nevermind, we get the idea; the place is lovely.
As you might expect for a hotel in the heartland of high-tech, guest-room technology is state-of-the-art. I didn't use half of it, my Permian Age tech needs being easily met, but for those who need the latest, the Rosewood Sand Hill is a good choice. I'll let the hotel fact sheet sum it up:
"Technology features include Control14 automation, which uses a single remote to control lighting, room temperature, television, music and video systems. Guests can also use the remote to make service requests such as valet, housekeeping, room service, spa appointments and more. Other in-room technological amenities include the Philips SoundBar, a one-piece integrated audio and video system that delivers full multi-channel surround sound, providing a full home theater experience with excellent sound and picture quality.''
Georgina loved Sense, the Rosewood Spa, where she got a 90-minute Swedish massage. "It was great,'' she said afterward. "They really have their systems down. The spa is beautifully appointed. I loved the massage. The overall spa experience was very sensual. They never dropped the ball, like a lot of spas do.''
Breakfast in the signature restaurant, Madera - bathed in natural light in the morning - is nicely done. Dinner is even better. We supped in Madera after sipping cocktails in the bar just off the restaurant, which was really hopping the Saturday night we stayed. We were expertly guided in choices of wines by Madera's wine director, Paul Mekis. Madera's executive chef, Peter Rudolph, came by to say hello. Rudolph creates lovely food. Emphasizing seasonal, local ingredients, it could be described elegant comfort food. Our dinner, in keeping with the wintery weather outside, was hearty fare. (In summer, guests can nosh out by the pool, too.)
We started off with roasted chestnut soup, pickled quince and candied walnuts. This incredibly tasty appetizer was accompanied by glasses of Cirrus Syrah 2005, from Stellienbosch, South Africa. The nicely fruit-forward wine, produced by a partnership of golfer Ernie Els and Silveroak Winery, was a neat fit. A warm wild mushroom bread salad, baby carrots, deeply savory poached duck egg, chicory, and sherry shallot thyme vingaigrette was smartly paired with a 2003 Domaine Heresztyn Burgundy.
The mains were robust and flavorful. I had seared day boat scallops, roasted chanterelle mushrooms, rapini shoots, apple, turnip and puree huckleberry jus and sipped a glass of 2007 Regis Bouvier "Close du Roy,'' Marsannay blanc, from Burgundy. My wife feasted on Duroc porchetta, roasted autumn root vegtetables, polenta and spigarello and sampled a glass of 2005 Chateau de Fonsalette Reserve Cotes du Rhone. She loved the crackling from Duroc, a heritage pig originally bred in Yorkshire. Suffice it to say, the meal was sublime.
We were too stuffed for sticky, gooey desserts, however appealing they sounded in theory. We shared a selection of California artisan cheeses accompanied by small glasses of 1985 Graham's port. It was the perfect way to finish at this special-occasion restaurant. Time was - not so long ago, maybe 15 years - when hotel food seemed an oxymoron. No more. Now, a fine hotel like the Rosewood Sand Hill can have a fine restaurant, like Madera. It's a welcome evolution.
Opening in the midst of a deep recession is not good timing for a hotel (of course, projects of this nature are in the pipeline for years before they actually open). Already, the Rosewood Sand Hill has joined the small circle of elite hotels in Silicon Valley. Now, if the multimillionaire techies and road warriors will look up from their mobile devices...
The Rosewood Sand Hill Hotel is located at 2825 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025 USA, tel. 650.561.1500, e-mail: sandhill@rosewoodhotels.com. Web: http://www.rosewoodsandhill.com/.
The Rosewood Sand Hill, which opened in April 2009, aims to change that, and the property is doing its part. My wife and I spent a night there recently, and came away impressed. Guest rooms in the 123-room property are spacious and inviting, the newly planted grounds are graced by attractive olive trees planted underneath with fragrant lavender, the place has a cool bar, an exquisite spa called Sense, and a fine-dining restaurant, Madera, that is first-rate, with an innovative menu and extensive, high-end wine list.
The Rosewood is run by the Dallas luxury operator Rosewood Hotels and Resorts, which also operates New York's Carlyle, the Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek and Jumby Bay resort on Antiqua, among others. The Rosewood Sand Hill is located very close to Interstate 280, the highway that winds along the ridgetops south of San Francisco and north of San Jose. Unlike a number of lesser hotels, the Rosewood Sand Hill thought to sound-proof the windows; you have to press an ear to the pane to hear the freeway's hum. Befitting its name, the Rosewood Sand Hill is located on Sand Hill Road, the near-legendary preferred address of Silicon Valley venture capital firms. The hotel is a mile west of brainiac-rich Stanford University, which owns the hotel. Even closer is the Stanford Shopping Center, fit for all your retail-therapy needs.
We stayed on the second, top floor of a detached townhouse not far from the drive-up main entrance to the hotel, which presides over 16 acres of prime property. Our Rosewood Suite had views of the interstate, which is, of course, prosaic to look at, and woodsy foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains, which are anything but. The bathroom was big enough to get lost in. We did a bit of walking around the hotel grounds, but our stroll was curtailed by rainy, blustery winter weather. Nevermind, we get the idea; the place is lovely.
As you might expect for a hotel in the heartland of high-tech, guest-room technology is state-of-the-art. I didn't use half of it, my Permian Age tech needs being easily met, but for those who need the latest, the Rosewood Sand Hill is a good choice. I'll let the hotel fact sheet sum it up:
"Technology features include Control14 automation, which uses a single remote to control lighting, room temperature, television, music and video systems. Guests can also use the remote to make service requests such as valet, housekeeping, room service, spa appointments and more. Other in-room technological amenities include the Philips SoundBar, a one-piece integrated audio and video system that delivers full multi-channel surround sound, providing a full home theater experience with excellent sound and picture quality.''
Georgina loved Sense, the Rosewood Spa, where she got a 90-minute Swedish massage. "It was great,'' she said afterward. "They really have their systems down. The spa is beautifully appointed. I loved the massage. The overall spa experience was very sensual. They never dropped the ball, like a lot of spas do.''
Breakfast in the signature restaurant, Madera - bathed in natural light in the morning - is nicely done. Dinner is even better. We supped in Madera after sipping cocktails in the bar just off the restaurant, which was really hopping the Saturday night we stayed. We were expertly guided in choices of wines by Madera's wine director, Paul Mekis. Madera's executive chef, Peter Rudolph, came by to say hello. Rudolph creates lovely food. Emphasizing seasonal, local ingredients, it could be described elegant comfort food. Our dinner, in keeping with the wintery weather outside, was hearty fare. (In summer, guests can nosh out by the pool, too.)
We started off with roasted chestnut soup, pickled quince and candied walnuts. This incredibly tasty appetizer was accompanied by glasses of Cirrus Syrah 2005, from Stellienbosch, South Africa. The nicely fruit-forward wine, produced by a partnership of golfer Ernie Els and Silveroak Winery, was a neat fit. A warm wild mushroom bread salad, baby carrots, deeply savory poached duck egg, chicory, and sherry shallot thyme vingaigrette was smartly paired with a 2003 Domaine Heresztyn Burgundy.
The mains were robust and flavorful. I had seared day boat scallops, roasted chanterelle mushrooms, rapini shoots, apple, turnip and puree huckleberry jus and sipped a glass of 2007 Regis Bouvier "Close du Roy,'' Marsannay blanc, from Burgundy. My wife feasted on Duroc porchetta, roasted autumn root vegtetables, polenta and spigarello and sampled a glass of 2005 Chateau de Fonsalette Reserve Cotes du Rhone. She loved the crackling from Duroc, a heritage pig originally bred in Yorkshire. Suffice it to say, the meal was sublime.
We were too stuffed for sticky, gooey desserts, however appealing they sounded in theory. We shared a selection of California artisan cheeses accompanied by small glasses of 1985 Graham's port. It was the perfect way to finish at this special-occasion restaurant. Time was - not so long ago, maybe 15 years - when hotel food seemed an oxymoron. No more. Now, a fine hotel like the Rosewood Sand Hill can have a fine restaurant, like Madera. It's a welcome evolution.
Opening in the midst of a deep recession is not good timing for a hotel (of course, projects of this nature are in the pipeline for years before they actually open). Already, the Rosewood Sand Hill has joined the small circle of elite hotels in Silicon Valley. Now, if the multimillionaire techies and road warriors will look up from their mobile devices...
The Rosewood Sand Hill Hotel is located at 2825 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025 USA, tel. 650.561.1500, e-mail: sandhill@rosewoodhotels.com. Web: http://www.rosewoodsandhill.com/.
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