By Stanley Turkel, CMHS, ISHC
September 10, 2012
1. July Breaks U.S.
Hotel Occupancy Record
Smith Travel Research (STR) reported that the industry sold
more rooms in July 2012 than in any other single month since STR began
tracking
industry performance in 1987.
STR's
COO Brad Garner said, "Record levels of demand will
continue to stimulate ADR growth, particularly as group rooms sold
firms in the
historically heavy convention months of September, October and November.
Discount-conditioned consumers will continue
to experience a shift to a seller's market with magnitude likely
accelerating
in 2013."
STR also reported that the U.S. hotel industry achieved a
net income of approximately $33 billion or 21.4% of total revenues
during 2011-
a healthy increase over 2010 levels.
A recent PKF Hospitality Research survey forecasted that on
any given night in 2012 nearly 3 million of the nation's 4.8 million
hotel
rooms will be occupied.
This is 5.6%
greater than the levels of lodging demand accommodated in 2007, the
year prior
to the recession.
Given the dire predictions of economic dooms by certain
political analysts, the reports above forecast an improved future for
the U.S.
hotel industry.
Are you better off today than you were four years ago?
2. 65-and-Older
Population Soars
Since I last wrote about this subject in 2009, the U.S.
Census Bureau reported that there are now more Americans age 65 and
older than
at any time in U.S. history.
On April 1,
2010 there were 40.3 million people age 65 and older, up 5.3% from 35
million
in 2000 (and just 3.1 million in 1900).
The 65-and-older population jumped 15.1% between 2000 and
2010, compared with a 9.7% increase for the total U.S. population.
People age 65 and older now make up 13% of
the total population compared to 12.4% in 2000 and 4.1% in 1900.
In March, 2004, the late Professor Anthony Marshall wrote in
Hotel
& Motel Magazine an article entitled, "Gray
Matters: How
to Profit from an Aging Marketplace"
"The real joke this day and age
is on hoteliers who
don't make their properties safe and comfortable for seniors.
But many still don't....
Another barrier to having a hotel that's safe and
comfortable for seniors is the erroneous perceptions held by staff and
servers:
- People older than 55 can't hear so you better speak loud
- Everyone older than 60 has Alzheimer's, so don't waste any
time having a conversation with them
- Elderly guests like to be called condescending names such
as "sweetie", "dearie" or "mom and pop"
In order to reach this market, hotels must
understand the
needs and wants of the older traveler and provide services that appeal
to
them. A tour of scenic sports is of
little value when most senior travelers must remain in the tour bus
because the
hike to the falls is uphill all the way.
A couple celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary should
not be turned off in the hotel lounge because the disc jockey plays
only heavy
rock and roll music. But you must also beware of preconceptions.
Most seniors, for example, are more youthful
and progressive in their thinking than people imagine. They are
open to new ideas and are
information-hungry. More than ever,
seniors are using their computers, the Internet and online sites to
explore,
plan and book transportation, hotels and travel.
Older Travelers Needs and Preferences
Prejudice against the elderly, which is characterized by
rude behavior toward older persons, is fairly widespread.
Direct-contact hotel personnel must be
trained to work with the older traveler.
The
staff must be taught how to communicate with persons
with weak
eyesight or poor hearing or both.
Many prefer rooms with two beds and room locations on the
lower floors near an elevator and fire stairway. Safety and security
can be
strong selling points.
More than other
travelers, older guests enjoy areas where they can gather to talk and
socialize.
Such rooms should generally
be separate from the cocktail lounge.
Groups of mature travelers usually enjoy attending some kind
of welcoming reception.
You might meet
them as they arrive to explain meal times and the hotel facilities and
then
offer coffee, lemonade and home-baked goods.
Most
older persons also like to participate in organized
entertainment
after dinner, such as a trip to a local theater, sing-along, or a
shopping
excursion.
Some hoteliers provide guide
services for these activities and for day trips.
All
hotel guests would benefit from the
following improvements:
In Guest Rooms
- Better lighting at the writing
table, at bedside, in closet, at TV set, at room entry.
- Master electrical switch at
bedside to control all room lights.
- TV remote controls that are easy
to read, clear in direction, simple to operate and hygienically clean
- Blackout drapes and/or shades
that actually keep light out.
- An alarm clock that is easy to
program and read.
- Lamp switches at the base of the
lamp where they can be easily seen and reached.
- Real clothes hangers in the
closet along with irons and ironing boards.
- Descriptive printed materials
that are well written, clearly printed, and large enough to read easily.
- Provide large print directional
instructions to fire exit stairways on the back of guestroom doors.
In Bathrooms
- Apply good non-skid material to
both the bottom of bathtubs and the bathroom floor.
- Install well-placed and secure
hand-holds and grab bars in bathtub/shower/toilet areas.
- Make sure the shower controls
and the adjustable shower heads are easy to turn on and to adjust.
- Eliminate hot water surges and
provide scald-proof hot water.
- Install easy-to-use faucet
handles instead of knobs.
- Install night lights which won’t
disturb sleeping but will provide safe night trips to bathroom.
- Install a magnifying mirror on
an accordion bracket.
- Provide a UL-approved hair dryer
with a wall-hung bracket.
- Supply better-quality, more
absorbent towels in color.
- Make sure all shower curtains
are long enough to reach well below the bathtub top.
- Provide bathroom amenities
(shampoo, lotion, etc.) in containers which are easy to identify (with
large print) and which have raised surfaces on the cap for easy turning
when hands are wet.
In Corridors And Elevators
- Make certain that corridors are well-illuminated,
especially over guest room doors to expedite the use of electronic door
lock cards.
- Provide easy-to-read, well designed directional signs.
- Corridor exit signs should be installed close to the floor
so that they won’t be hidden by rising smoke.
- Elevators should have clear and well-lit floor buttons with
“Door Open” buttons easily located.
- Elevator door bumpers should
retract readily when touched.
In Case of a Power Loss
- Provide flashlights, flares and
glowsticks
- Have plenty of bottled water,
extra food and supplies
- Install back-up gas-powered
generators
- Tie water-pump operations to the
emergency system
- Check and improve the seals on
freezers and refrigerators
Finally, heed the wise words of Tony Marshall: "It
seems obvious to me that the best way to turn gray into pure gold these
days
would be to make all aspects of travel comfortable and safe for an
aging population.
All hotel planning and
design groups should
exploit this growing market and include senior input through all stages
of
development."
3. Hotel
History: Hotel New Netherland in New
York
The present Sherry-Netherland Hotel is a 38-story apartment
hotel located at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 59th Street in New York
which
opened in 1927.
It was designed by
Schultze & Weaver (who also designed the Waldorf-Astoria, Pierre,
Coral
Gables Biltmore and Breakers Hotel).
The
site had been previously been occupied since 1892 by the Hotel New
Netherland.
My hotel collection contains a
Harper's Weekly
magazine article dated March 7, 1891 which reports
on two new hotels being constructed at Fifth Avenue and 59th Street:
The
New Hotels On The
Plaza, New York
|
Advantage of position,
that is the architect's battle with
his art. Unlike an Alexander, he cannot
maneuvre for it. There is a fixed factor
and he is owner of the lot, and master of the situation.
"Put up my building here. These
are my limits, and I want my structure
lofty, imposing." He is indifferent as to the narrowness of the street,
and so, following his behest, up goes the towering edifice. Would you see the pinnacle of it, take it all
in, as it stands? Then your position would be such as to dislocate your
neck.
Advantage of position is an architect's bit of good luck,
and nowhere else in New York has it been better afforded than at that
locality
on Fifth Avenue and Fifty-ninth Street where spreads out the Central
Park
Plaza.
Where Fifty-ninth Street enters Fifth Avenue, to the right
and left of it, there have been for many a year two lots not exactly
without
structures on them, but the buildings were of a sorry kind. These were
beer-houses, serving to quench the thirst of those going and coming to
and from
Central Park. A number of years ago the
master thief of city corporations had devised some grand plan of a
caravansary
of mammoth proportions, which was to cover the whole block between
Fifty-eighth
and Fifty-ninth streets and a commencement had been made.
Adjacent to the superb entrance to Central
Park such structures were eyesores. Everybody
knew, however, that they were but
temporary blemishes on the
face of this fine plaza. Now they are no
more, for two superb hotels are in process of erection, as shown by the
illustrations.
The building to the left of Fifty-ninth Street, with its
frontage on Fifth Avenue, is the hotel to be known as the New
Netherland, to be
built by Mr. William Waldorf Astor. Today
steam-drills are pecking away at the rock, and
within ten days the
foundations will be put in place. The
building will have a frontage of 100 feet on Fifth Avenue, with a depth
of 125
feet on Fifty-ninth Street. The hotel is
to be of seventeen stories, and below the street level there will be
cellar and
sub cellar.
The mechanism of the
modern hotel is complex. It bears a
certain semblance to a
factory. Catering to the many
requirements of those who are to live in the 370 guest chambers of the
New
Netherland, it is a nice calculation to find out what is the exact
numerical
force of those whose business it is to care for the paying occupants. In this hotel, cellar, basement, first,
second and the seventeenth stories are what are designated as "the
working
stories" of the house. The nicety
of appreciation on the part of an architect who makes the interior
plans of the
hotel of today must be apparent. Many
diverse problems must be solved. It may
be house keeping on a grandiose scale, subjected to the same rules,
only it is
the expansion of them all which increases the difficulties.
Ventilation! Why, the
fussiest people, not the less sensible
as far as pure air is concerned, are those who, taking rooms in a
hotel,
notwithstanding the elegance of the table, pack up their baggage and
quit in
high dudgeon on the suspicion that a room or a hall has a fluffy or
musty
odor. To give privacy, with hundred of
people in a house, seems paradoxical. Everything
must be accessible. A
single dark room breeds vermin, and all hotels have the Croton bugs
they
deserve. In the economic and social
conditions, if an architect has carte
blanche to do as he will, as is supposable in the case of the New
Netherland, nothing less than perfection is aimed at.
The building follows the
Romanesque. The first four stories
are of Belleville brownstone. From the
fifth to the twelfth story the superstructure will be of buff brick. The next story, to the balcony, will be
stone-faced, and the four uppermost ones will follow the slant of the
roof. What the architect ̶
Mr. William H. Hume has
tried to do, the height of his edifice being so much in excess of the
base, is
to break the great upstretch of the building by accentuating the
horizontal
details; and where the skill comes in is to accomplish this without
shock. Mr. Hume has the advantage of
knowing fairly
well what will be the effectiveness of his building, because, with the
width of
the plaza before him, he is not at work in the dark. The Roman arches
are on
the Fifth Avenue facade. A word might be
said about Roman arches. Modern
necessity skimps the Roman arch of the grandiose. The
Roman built neither hotels nor newspaper
offices, and was, fortunately, indifferent to rentals.
We cramp all entrances because they do not
"pay" and portals of noble construction are only to be found in
structures intended for pompous or glorious services.
As to the interior
decoration, there will be a fine
staircase, with marbles and bronzes. The
ground for the New Netherland was broken at the close of last year, and
some
time in the fall of 1892 the hotel will be opened for guests.
On the other side of
Fifty-ninth Street, a hotel is being
built by Judge P. Henry Dugro and Mr. F. Wagner. The
first story now shows above the
sidewalk. The hotel stands on a 75-feet
frontage on Fifth Avenue, and has a depth of 150 feet on Fifty nine
Street. The architect, Mr. Ralph S.
Townsend, is constructing an edifice in the Italian Renaissance style. It is to be built of brick, with an entire
facing of Indiana limestone, which is a material of a light gray with a
faint
warmth of buff. On the Fifth Avenue
front there will be a handsome portico, with a width of 45 feet,
supported by
eight columns of polished granite. The
structure will be of twelve stories, with basement and sub-basement and
will
contain 325 rooms. This hotel was
commenced in the spring of 1890, and will be finished some time in 1892. The interior of the house will be of marble,
with mural decorations in white and gold. In
both houses the skeleton structure is of rolled
iron and steel. Perhaps $4,000,000 would
about cover the cost
of building these two hotels.
|
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