hotels articles

National Viral Hepatitis Prevention Conference

Hyatt Regency Hotel on Capitol Hill

Washington, DC, USA

http://www.nvhpc.com

December 10-14, 2005

American Public Health Association

133rd Annual Meeting and Exposition

Philadelphia, PA, USA

http://www.apha.org

December 11-15, 2005

ASTMH 54th Annual Meeting

Hilton Washington Hotel and Towers

Washington, DC, USA

Contact: 847-480-9592 or astmh@astmh.org

http://www.astmh.org

Dec. 16-18: Wireless Industry Finance 1998, The New York Helmsley Hotel, New York City, N.Y., Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association and IBC-USA, 508/481-6400 or http://www.ibcusa.com/conf/wireless.

Jan. 21-22: 6th Annual Mobile Communications Conference, Westin Galleria Hotel, Dallas, Texas, Frost & Sullivan Inc.,

http://www.frost.com/verity/conferences/conf2980/htm.

Jan. 27-29: Branding and Bundling, The Clift Hotel, San Francisco, Calif., IBC-USA, 508/481-6400 or http://www.ibcusa.com/conf/bundling.

Feb. 3-5: Year 2000 Contingency Planning, The Roosevelt Hotel, New York City, N.Y., IBC-USA, 508/481-6400 or http://www.ibcusa.com/conf/y2kcontingency.

Feb 8-10: Wireless ‘99, Ernest N. Morail Convention Center, New Orleans, La., Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, 202/785-2842 or http://www.wow-com.com.

Feb. 22: Crisis Management Forum: Strategic Communications For The Year 2000 Crisis, The Capitol Hilton, Washington, D.C., PR NEWS Seminars and APCO Associates Inc., 888/707-5814; or http://www.prnewsonline.com.

Feb 22-25: Inter Comm ‘99, Vancouver Trade and Convention Center, Vancouver, B.C. Canada, CAPA Ventures International, 781/762-6279.

FaulknerUSA wants out of the Skirvin Hotel redevelopment project, but a new investor plans to step in.

John Weeman, who heads Texas-based Partners in Development and assembled the members of Skirvin Partners, said an investor his company has done business with in the past has signed a letter of intent to take assignment of FaulknerUSA’s interest in the project.

The assignment must be approved by the partners and the city, which Weeman said would consider the investor switch at a November meeting.

FaulknerUSA, a contracting company, had agreed to a $1.5 million investment in the Skirvin’s redevelopment but was not the company hired to do the work. Weeman said the new investor had committed to invest more than had FaulknerUSA.

Weeman said the new money would come from a Dallas-based investment company that has backed Partners in Development hotel projects in the past. The company asked to remain unidentified until its participation is approved by the city, Weeman said.

They’re pretty sensitive about those things, said Weeman. It shouldn’t be a problem. It’s solid, on track and the deal’s in good shape. We’re taking money out of a different pocket, but frankly, this pocket’s a better fit for the project.

Oklahoma City elected officials voted to fund $18.4 million of a $46 million renovation, with Skirvin Partners buying the 93-year-old building for $430,000 and the city retaining ownership of the land. Marcus Hotels, which is a member of Skirvin Partners, agreed to manage the hotel.

We really have a win/win situation in that we’ve had the benefit of Faulkner’s experience in developing an innovative structure for the Skirvin redevelopment, said Weeman. And we will have a new partner with substantial equity resources that will be a great fit for the project.

City Manager James Couch and Urban Renewal Authority Executive Director JoeVan Bullard said last week that the projected Oct. 1 closing date on the property was delayed because the project’s financing was not yet in place and because the city wanted to pursue a low-interest federal loan to remove asbestos from the building. Bullard and Weeman said that an early January closing was now more realistic, but that the Skirvin would still open under the Hilton brand in the spring of 2006.

OKLAHOMA CITY (JR) — More than 2,000 students will convene in Oklahoma City for the 37th annual SkillsUSA-VICA Leadership and Skills Championships Thursday-Saturday at the Biltmore Hotel and the state fairgrounds.

SkillsUSA-VICA is the career and technology student organization associated with trade and industrial education. Its motto is “producing skilled, educated work force leaders, ” said Mark Clemons, SkillsUSA-VICA state director.

He said students will compete in more than 70 contests including categories such as cosmetology, advertising design, welding, photography, carpentry and auto service technology. “About 300 educators and business people will serve as judges for these competitive events,” he said.

Clemons said that many SkillsUSA-VICA members are training to go into career fields currently facing shortages. These include occupations such as construction, carpentry and auto service technology. Skilled workers are in high demand according to a study by the state CareerTech agency. The study shows that the construction industry is projected to add more than 11,000 jobs and account for about 24 percent of Oklahoma’s top industry employment growth from 1994-2005.

More than 2,000 students will convene in Oklahoma City for the 37th annual SkillsUSA-VICA Leadership and Skills Championships Thursday-Saturday at the Biltmore Hotel and the state fairgrounds.

SkillsUSA-VICA is the career and technology student organization associated with trade and industrial education. Its motto is “producing skilled, educated work force leaders, ” said Mark Clemons, SkillsUSA-VICA state director.

He said students will compete in more than 70 contests including categories such as cosmetology, advertising design, welding, photography, carpentry and auto service technology. “About 300 educators and business people will serve as judges for these competitive events,” he said.

Clemons said that many SkillsUSA-VICA members are training to go into career fields currently facing shortages. These include occupations such as construction, carpentry and auto service technology. Skilled workers are in high demand according to a study by the state CareerTech agency. The study shows that the construction industry is projected to add more than 11,000 jobs and account for about 24 percent of Oklahoma’s top industry employment growth from 1994-2005.

Several competition winners will receive scholarships to attend technical colleges and other post-secondary education institutions.

When it comes to cleanup after Katrina and Rita, the task is indeed big in terms of health ramifications and square footage, but there isn’t much easy about it at all. Regarding mold remediation, some spaces might’ve actually been better off staying underwater for longer, while other seemingly dry spaces could still harbor mold waiting for the first opportunity to return. Industry experts weigh in here on the tall task of ensuring that commercial occupants can breathe easy during and after rebuilding.

Hurricane Katrina was one of the most destructive storms to hit the Gulf Coast in decades. Most Americans, and indeed, many people around the world, spent the first part of September glued to their television sets, watching the never-ending scenes of devastation and destruction. These images showed stranded people on rooftops and houses and office buildings that were submerged under many feet of water.

Once the storm passed and the levees were patched, dewatering and cleanup began immediately. Areas of Louisiana, Mississippi, and southern Alabama were so devastated that it resulted in one of the largest disaster response mobilizations in the United States. Then, of course, came Hurricane Rita, which flooded parts of New Orleans all over again.

Dewatering a city the size of New Orleans was a Herculean task, but the bigger question will be: How many buildings can be restored? In the hot and sticky climate of the Southeastern United States, mold is always an issue anyway. Buildings that were submerged under water for two or more weeks will not only have mold issues, they will also potentially be contaminated from all the pollutants that were in the water. Even buildings that weren’t flooded will have problems, since many were without power for days or weeks, giving mold and mildew an ample opportunity to flourish in the non-air conditioned environment.

It has yet to be determined how long the cleanup will take, or how many buildings will be inhabitable again. In the short term, building owners, restoration crews, and government officials were removing wet items such as carpet and sheetrock as quickly as possible and using dehumidification equipment to dry out the buildings. Where water is concerned, time is of the essence, and those working frantically to restore the buildings along the Gulf Coast are hoping they haven’t missed their window of opportunity.

THINKING AHEAD

Many of the commercial buildings in New Orleans and surrounding areas sustained relatively minor damage compared to the residential areas. John Bevington, president of ChillCo, Inc. in Mandeville, LA, rode out Katrina in his home, noting with a tad of understatement that it did get “a little breezy.” His company, which services and rents chillers, is located 24 miles across Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans. Once the storm abated, Bevington leaped into action, moving his rental equipment around the city in order to start drying out the buildings.

“I’ve been working in the downtown area, and the damage isn’t that bad, relatively speaking. The high-rise office buildings and hotels really only got two feet of water or less in their lobbies. Some of them didn’t even get that. Many of the houses, though, have been sitting in eight feet of water for almost three weeks, and they’re destroyed. Proportionately speaking, the commercial buildings did pretty well,” said Bevington.

There are three reasons why commercial buildings might have fared better than residential structures during the hurricane and subsequent floods, according to Dr. Michael Pinto, CEO of Wonder Makers Environmental, Kalamazoo, MI, and a member of the Association of Specialists in Cleaning and Restoration. “First, they are usually built more substantially, so they lose windows and drywall, but they’re built out of concrete and steel, so they’re sturdier. Second, because they’re commercial buildings, people put more importance on them in terms of trying to get them back up and running.”

The third reason is that commercial buildings usually have more resources available to them, in terms of insurance and awareness. For example, many have contingency plans drawn up and contracts already in place, so they are ready for most emergencies that could come their way. Nick Sickmen, marketing manager for Carrier Rental Systems in Houston, agreed, noting that his company had rental equipment in place at many locations two to three days before the storm.

“The companies that have plans in place beforehand know that generators, air conditioners, and drying equipment go fast. There’s only so much of this equipment in the rental market,” said Sickmen. “In times like these, where the devastation is so massive and with Hurricane Rita coming in right after Katrina, the amount of rental equipment available is limited.”

PROPER PROCEDURE

Nonetheless, cleanup in the New Orleans area has been moving rapidly, and many are worried that it may be moving just a little too fast. Bevington noted that FEMA initially was so desperate for hotel rooms for its workers, that the organization was signing one-year leases with anybody who could give them a number of rooms immediately.

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The Porches Inn at MASS MoCA, in the Berkshire hills of Massachusetts, is one of 39 hotels profiled in Hip Hotels USA, the latest volume by travel writer and photographer Herbert Ympa. To mark the occasion, Porches is offering a two-night “Hip Hotel Package” through May 20. The package (priced at $239 Sunday through Thursday and $329 on weekends) includes accommodations in a queen-bedded room, continental breakfast each morning, a copy of Hip Hotels USA, and a souvenir edition of the factory worker lunchbox used to deliver room service breakfast.

Porches, which opened in 2001, is located in North Adams across from MASS MoCA, the country’s largest museum of contemporary art. It consists of seven Victorian-era buildings that originally housed the area’s mill workers. Porches’ guest rooms and public spaces employ a clever synthesis of retro and contemporary design. The inn’s 50 rooms and suites are fully wired, offering high-speed DSL internet access, dual phone lines, and complimentary DVDs. The property includes a year-round outdoor pool, hot tub, sauna, and fitness room.

Innkeepers USA Trust (NYSE: KPA), a hotel real estate investment trust (REIT) and a leading owner of upscale extended-stay hotel properties throughout the United States, today announced that it has acquired the 80-room Bulfinch Hotel in downtown Boston for $19.6 million, or $245,000 per key. The acquisition was funded by borrowing on the company’s unsecured line of credit.

The hotel was opened in late 2004 following a complete renovation and three-story addition to an existing triangular industrial building built in 1904. The building is modeled after the historic Flatiron building in New York. The hotel interior was designed by renowned architect and interior designer, Campion Platt, designer of New York’s MercBar and The Park Avalon.

“We continue to look for well-located, quality assets in high-barrier-to-entry markets with significant upside potential at attractive, competitive pricing,” said Jeffrey H. Fisher, chief executive officer and president. “This upscale, urban, boutique property certainly fits that criteria, and with a like-new product and our experienced operator, the hotel is well positioned to achieve greater market penetration than its peer group in and around the Downtown Boston market.”

Located at 107 Merrimac St. in the historic Bulfinch Triangle neighborhood of downtown Boston, the property is proximate to the city’s major attractions, businesses and shopping, including the Fleet Center, Quincy Market, Faneuil Hall, Government Center, the financial district and MassGeneral Hospital. “The Bulfinch Triangle area is one of the first of many significant redevelopments in the downtown core following the recent opening of the area’s Central Artery,” Fisher added. “Several other factors also are expected to have a positive impact on lodging demand in Boston, including a significant expansion of Logan International Airport and a new 1.6 million square foot Convention Center, which already is scheduled to host 24 citywide conventions in 2006, a significant increase over recent periods.”

Originally constructed in 1904 as a six-story triangular, industrial building, the Bulfinch Hotel underwent a full renovation and expansion in December 2004 when three stories were added. The renovation combined leading-edge design together with unique architectural features like oversized windows and different size guest rooms to create a contemporary style and a refined residential atmosphere. The property’s on-site restaurant, The Angus Steakhouse, is a leased operation.

“This well-located, one-of-a-kind asset with a unique and significant architectural design and identity, sits within a growing and re-gentrifying area that has not been widely marketed. We are confident that we can use that unique identity to help this 80-room hotel realize its full potential and successfully position it as an independent, non-branded property.”

Peter M. Willis, Innkeeper’s vice president of acquisitions and business development, noted that the company continues to have an aggressive appetite for hotel acquisitions, including upscale extended stay and premium limited service brands, the core of the company’s portfolio; selected full-service properties; and turn-around opportunities and hotels that are affiliated with, or have the potential to be converted to, the industry’s top brands.

Innkeepers Hospitality Management, Inc. will manage the property. Jeffrey H. Fisher, chief executive officer and president of Innkeepers USA Trust, owns Innkeepers Hospitality Management.

Innkeepers USA Trust owns 70 hotels with a total of 8,825 suites or rooms in 20 states and Washington, D.C., and focuses on acquiring and/or developing premium branded upscale extended-stay, select-service and full-service hotels and the rebranding and repositioning of other hotel properties. For more information about Innkeepers USA Trust, visit the company’s web site at www.innkeepersusa.com.

This press release, and other publicly available information on the Company, includes forward looking statements within the meaning of securities law. These statements include terms such as “should”, “may”, “believe” and “estimate”, or assumptions, estimates or forecasts about future hotel and Company performance and results, and the Company’s future need for capital. Such statements should not be relied on because they involve risks that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company’s expectations when such statements are made. Some of these risks are set forth in reports filed from time to time with the SEC and include, without limitation, (i) the operational risks of the hotel business (including decreasing hotel revenues and increasing hotel expenses) under the company’s taxable REIT subsidiary structure, (ii) risks that war, terrorism or similar activities, widespread health alerts, disruption in oil imports or higher oil prices or changes in domestic or international political environments negatively affect the travel industry and the company, (iii) risk of declines in the performance and prospects of businesses and industries (e.g., technology, automotive, aerospace, pharmaceuticals) that are important hotel demand generators in the company’s key markets (e.g. the Silicon Valley, CA, Washington, DC, etc.), (iv) risk that poor, declining and/or uncertain international, national, regional and/or local economic conditions will, among other things, negatively affect demand for the company’s hotel rooms and the availability and terms of financing, (v) risk that the company’s ability to maintain its properties in competitive condition becomes prohibitively expensive, (vi) risk that pricing in the hotel acquisition market becomes prohibitively expensive or non-financeable and that potential acquisitions or developments do not perform in accordance with expectations, (vii) risk that the Company may invest in hotels of a size or nature (e.g., upscale full service or resort) different than those it has focused on historically (e.g., upscale extended-stay, and mid-scale limited service); (viii) risks related to an increasing focus on development, including permitting risks, increasing the proportion of Company assets not producing revenue at a given time and risks that projects cost more, take longer to complete or do not perform as anticipated; (ix) changes in travel patterns or the prevailing means of commerce (i.e., e-commerce) may reduce demand for hotels in general or the Company’s hotels in particular, (x) the complex tax rules that the company must satisfy to qualify as a REIT and the potentially severe consequences of failing to satisfy such requirements, and (xi) governmental regulation that may increase the company’s cost of doing business or otherwise negatively effect its business or its attractiveness as an investment and create risk of liability for non-compliance (e.g., changes in laws affecting taxes or dividends, compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, workers compensation law changes, the Sarbanes-Oxley law, etc.).

Imagine the chief marketing officers of Ford, Daimler-Chrysler and GM getting together at a country retreat to discuss and share strategies on how to attract more buyers. Imagine them offering tips and tricks to their competitors, without a hint of hesitation or suspicion. Imagine they realize that because of an ultra-competitive consumer auto industry, they are rowing (or sinking) in the same boat.

Now imagine that the people in that room are not auto industry executives, but instead regional boutique winery and vineyard owners–farmers by trade who, because of a real fight-to-the-death struggle for consumer dollars, must band together to avoid being sunk one by one.

The latter example has taken place (officially) two years in a row in the resort town of Geneva, Ohio, where winery, vineyard and destination marketing managers from emerging wine-producing states in the Great Lakes region, as well as from North Carolina and Missouri, convened at License to Steal, the National Wine Marketing Conference.

The brainchild of a handful of state and winery association directors, the conference has blossomed from its early days of seven or eight decision-makers meeting in airport hotel rooms to a full-fledged, agenda- and seminar-driven convention that drew nearly 100 attendees this year.

“Our goal is that (attendees) leave … exhilarated, enthused and energized,” says Donniella Winchell, executive director of the Ohio Wine Producers Association and founding member of the License to Steal committee.

Add “Educated” To The Mix

The conference, with its multiple brainstorming sessions and brief, punchy presentations, serves not only as a catalyst for sharing best practices, but also as a sort of Marketing 101, outlining for the uninitiated the basic principles behind promoting a winery as a unique, year-round destination.

For years, smaller, regional wineries have focused on making wine and ends meet, rather than selling themselves as destinations, says Jenny Engle of the Pennsylvania Wine Association. “Nobody has a marketing plan.”

Winery owners either thought they had enough money for the plan and it disappeared, or they didn’t make time to hash one out, she says. The presentations at Licensed to Steal were designed to plant the seed for wineries looking to grow revenue streams.

Patty Held-Uthlaut of Stone Hill Winery in Hermann, Mo., attended the 2004 License to Steal Conference, where she learned that wine trails can be lucrative for all participants: They regularly bring in new visitors, and they help wineries through the so-called shoulder months–November through April–when tourism generally flags in the Midwest. If packaged correctly, they can build lasting brand awareness and customer loyalty.

Trouble is, wine trails are hard to manage, and the cost of starting a trail is not pocket change by small-winery standards. In addition, winery owners can be an intractable lot, and disagreements ranging from squabbles to all-out border wars are not uncommon.

The challenges notwithstanding, Held-Uthlaut and Stone Hill were convinced that the Hermann area was ripe for a wine trail. It’s home to seven wineries in Missouri’s most established wine-producing region, all within a 20-mile radius; dozens of bed and breakfasts, and within a reasonable proximity to a large metropolitan area (Hermann is approximately 90 minutes by car from St. Louis). In short, it’s a good long-weekend destination spot.

In January 2005, Held-Uthlaut and the other Hermann-area wineries formed a tax-exempt association, opened a bank account and agreed to charge a 2% “tourism surcharge” on all retail sales. Each winery would send the proceeds of that surcharge to the association as seed money. In four months’ time, the association had the capital it needed to begin marketing its trail. It hired a designer, printed brochures, devised an advertising campaign and began developing a Web site.

Hermann’s first trail event, in July 2005, drew 400 people at $15 per person. Held-Uthlaut expected the holiday trail event, slated for Nov. 19-20, to draw 800 at the same price-point. What’s more, the smallest winery on the trail, Bommarito Winery, has seen its sales increase by 50% since the trail began, according to Held-Uthlaut.

She also credits the trail for ending a dispute between two winery owners. Before the association formed, they could not stand to be in the same room. Now, they’re actually sitting across from each other during meetings and holding civilized conversations, she says.

The trail’s rapid success is nearly unqualified. Despite taking on the bulk of responsibility with no real sales increase to show for their efforts, Held-Uthlaut and Stone Hill have garnered media attention, and the Hermann area now has a new tourism director thanks, in part, to the wine trail.

Held-Uthlaut says unflappable leadership, willingness of bigger wineries to share information and an operating budget of between $45,000 and $65,000 per year will keep a trail organization strong and enable it to mature into a year-round destination.