Luxury Game Entrants To Improve Buyers' Hands

<B> Luxury Game Entrants To Improve Buyers' Hands</B>

By Maria P. Vallejo

A wind of change is blowing through the luxury hotel market as a new group of players enters the market, bringing increased competition and improving the negotiating environment for first-tier corporate buyers.

Strong demand, favorable exchange rates and readily available development loans are allowing new competitors to hurdle the barriers of entry that until recently kept them at bay.

"Especially in the bigger cities, new luxury hotels are popping up all over the world," said travel buyer Lisette Torres, road show desk consultant for the New York-based investment firm Morgan Stanley, which places between 15 and 20 percent of its frequent corporate travelers in luxury hotels. "Their rates are close to what we're paying in the other established hotels, but they might be upgrading us to a higher category. Given that all these luxury properties are trying to break into the corporate market, they're making their amenities and services phenomenal.