The  American  Hotel  &  Motel  Association  (AH&MA)  Communications  Department, headed  up  by Vice President Maura Nelson,  recently published its 1997 Lodging Industry  Profile.   It may seem late to you, but when you realize the amount of data which had to be collected, you  understand!   Until  you  read this,  you may not have imagined how big our industry  is  and how much economic impact it has in the United States. (Information  contained  in  the AH&MA's pamphlet is based on data provided  by  D.  K. Shifflet & Associates,  Ltd., Smith Travel Research,  the Travel Industry Association of America, and the U.S. Department of commerce's Office of Tourism Industries/International Trade Administration.)

The  first  lines,  1997  At-a-Glance  Statistical Figures,  quickly let  you  know  there  are 49,000  hotels  in the U.S.  with a total of 3.8 million rooms.   Total sales are $85.6  billion  (Yes, $85,600,000,000!) up from $62.8 billion in 1990.  The average occupancy rate was 64.5%

 According to The 1997 Lodging Industry Profile, 1997 surpassed 1996 as the most profitable year in the lodging industry, grossing $17 billion in pretax profits - nearly 40% more than in 1996  and  double  the  amount  earned  in 1995,  according  to  Smith  Travel  Research.  That  is $346,938.78 average per property!   The lodging industry has grown steadily after suffering staggering losses nearly a decade ago when we lost $5.7 billion in 1990.

The  lodging industry paid $18.93 billion in wages to 1.16 million full and part-time  people.  We directly support over seven million jobs.

In  the  United  States,  the  tourism industry is currently the third  largest  retail  industry, behind  automotive and food stores.   Tourism is the first,  second or third largest employer in  32 states,  and also is second in employment nationwide behind health services.   The tourism industry  includes  over 15 interrelated businesses,  from lodging establishments,  airlines,  and  restaurants to cruise lines, car rental firms, travel agents and tour operators.

In  1997,  travel  spending in the United States averaged $1.38 billion a day - that's  $57.4 million  each hour,  $955,800 per minute,  or $15,900 per second! 

Tourism affects our economy by:
 

Promotional  spending  by  all  the states for tourism totaled over $479  million  for  fiscal 1997-1998,  a 6.5% increase over the previous fiscal year.  Enlightened Illinois continued to budget  the most money to tourism,  about $35.3 million.   Texas remained the leader of all the states in the amount budgeted for advertising, with $11.3 million.

What about the typical hotel?   87.5% of the hotels are either suburban or highway (about 40.5%  and 47% respectively).   5.5% are urban,  2.8% are airport and 4.2% are classifying them-selves  as  resort locations.   66.1% of the hotels are under 75 rooms.   22.6% are between 75  and 149  rooms.   Nearly  75% of the hotels (over 50% of the available rooms) have an average  room rate of under $60.

Of  the typical lodging customer;  24% are on vacation;  30% are business travelers;  26% are  attending  a  conference or group meeting;  and 20% are traveling for other  reasons  such  as personal, family, special event, etc.

The   typical  business  room  night  is  generated  by  a  male  (74%),   age  35-54  (55%), employed  in  a professional or managerial position (55%),  earning an average yearly  household income  of $66,329.   He travels alone (79%),  makes reservations (91%),  and pays $73 per room night.

The  typical  leisure  room  night is generated by two adults  (50%),  over  age  55  (31%),  earning an average yearly household income of $58,162.  They travel by auto (77%), make reservations (81%), and pay $60.60 per room night.

For  a  hotel stay,  38 percent of all business travelers spend one night,  24  percent  spend  two nights, and 38 percent spend three or more nights.  Of leisure travelers, 45 percent spend one night, 27 percent spend two nights and 28 percent spend three or more nights.

Why is all this something you need to know?  Those last few paragraphs give you an idea of the demographics of our industry's patron constituency we have, as a very significant industry, a  large  number of important constituencies.   It is critical that you and the leaders of the various  constituency groups know who and what we are.  We have a responsibility to all of them as they do to us.   These additional constituencies include the communities where our hotels are, our employees and their families,  our purveyors, investors, lenders and our tourism industry partners such  as  airlines,  rental  car companies,  travel agencies,  and restaurants.   We all have  to  work together.

Without  fully  knowing who and what our industry represents,  political  and  community leaders  cannot  make good decisions about what affects our industry and the way it  impacts  our various   constituencies.    For   example,   during  the  recent  Northwest  Airlines   pilots   strike, downtown  hotel business in Minneapolis fell off 10% and the airport area fell off 20% according to  my  sources.   I  understand the hotels in the airport area of Detroit had a  business  decline  of 30%!   After  considering  how  many hourly employees didn't have income or  area  government budgets lost sales tax revenues how long should the government have allowed the strike to go on.  Think  about  it,  as  many as 30% of the room attendants around the Detroit airport  were  out  of work  for half a month.   These are not employees with significant savings to be drawing on.  Just think of the tens of thousands of other working people impacted.

How would it affect the airlines and rental car companies if we,  in the hotel industry, had  a major failure in the way we manage hygiene and a few cases of some highly contagious disease created  so much negative publicity that tourists were afraid to travel to a place like  Orlando,  the nations number one tourism destination?  It would be no different than a hurricane threatening an area.

We  have  a  responsibility  to  manage our hotels  professionally  to  maximize  return  on investment  and  maximize  job  opportunities.   We also have a responsibility to  work  with  our related  constituencies  and government leaders to insure that our industry has an  environment  it  can thrive and grow in so we can continue to create economic well-being and job opportunities.