Riu Plaza Guadalajara opened last week in Guadalajara, the capital of the state of Jalisco, as the Spain-based company’s first city hotel in Mexico. The property is also the second hotel in the urban Riu Plaza brand, which was announced in 2009 and made its debut in September 2010 with the opening of the Riu Plaza Panama City.

STR Global reports hotel construction is growing across the globe, according to the company’s report for May. The Asia/Pacific hotel development pipeline continues to lead the pack, with 1,227 hotels totaling 302,858 rooms.

Brazil’s Ministry of Tourism (MTur) has partnered with its National Institute of Industrial Metrology and Quality (Inmetro) to launch a Brazilian System for the Qualification of Accommodation Options (SBClass) that will provide accommodation ratings for visitors, said MTur officials.

Miami’s newest hotel, Dream South Beach -- which enjoys its official grand opening this week -- is the latest addition to South Beach’s Collins Avenue, located in the Art Deco Historic District.

Spain-based Iberostar Hotels & Resorts acquired the Hilton Cancun Hotel, which will be renamed Iberostar Cancun. The cost of the initiative, including purchase and renovation, is over $100 million. Effective immediately, the five-star hotel complex located in Cancun is officially owned by Iberostar and marks the brand’s eighth property in Mexico.

NH Hotels will enhance guest satisfaction levels supported by technological innovation and web horizons via newly developed channels of customer communication created by the group’s Quality Department. New tools have been created to analyze and assess comments about the hotel chain online, including satisfaction surveys, calculating and analyzing online opinions, and in-depth studies made regularly by “mystery guests”.