Upscale Latinos are much more likely to view social sites as a way to tell people about products they like, and more likely to post ratings and reviews for others to read.
The category is showing promise: Retail is skewing
upscale and brand Heineken sales are up 5.1 percent through March, according to Schaumberg, Ill.-based Nielsen.
Jon Underhill of Jon Underhill Real Estate said there is a larger inventory of
upscale homes on the market currently than in years past.
And "it's too soon to write off the
upscale strategy," Ulysses Yannas, an analyst with Buckman Buckman & Reid, told HFN.
"All of the area on that east side is proposed for higher density,
upscale residential uses with some commercial accessory support," says Laing.
Van Buren, Chicago, 312-427-9290): Slightly
upscale at night, offering a beer garden and lounge.
The ability of
upscale multifamily units to deliver value in order to maintain that edge is the only thing protecting the industry from a 15 percent to 20 percent vacancy rate.
The majority of the rooms under contract are in the upper
upscale segment, with 53,794 rooms (36.4 per cent).
Three other segments each accounted for more than 10 percent of rooms Under Contract: the
Upscale segment (19.0 percent with 26,117 rooms); the Luxury segment (18.2 percent with 25,044 rooms); and the Unaffiliated segment (14.0 percent with 19,327 rooms), it said.
While all segments are important, the clearest path to category growth is with
upscale. Last year marked significant growth in the beer category (2% in volume and 5.3% in value) and the
upscale beer segment was the driver of that growth.
Greenwood Hospitality Group, a US-based company engaged in acquisition, repositioning, and management of
upscale, full-service and select-service hotels, has announced plans to transform a Ritz-Carlton hotel, in Michigan, US, into a new identity, The Henry.
More grand openings are already on the calendar for early next year, including CanDo Fitness, the northeast's most
upscale health club, scheduled to open in February 2007, and its adjunct, Koi Spa.