The most recent two or three years have brought changes to most companies in the hotel industry. While many may feel as if these changes have made their lives and their businesses more difficult, I feel this stimulation of competition has been good for the industry.

Many major companies have taken significant ownership positions when previously they were either only franchisers or management companies. Examples of this include Choice Hotels International's parent company, Manor Care, hiring Don Landry, CHA, to expand their small ownership and operating company into a major division of Manor Care.

Management companies such as Richfield Hospitality Services (Denver), Sage Hospitality Resources, Inc. (Denver) and many others have become major players in the ownership arena while many other smaller management companies. American Hospitality Management Company included, have developed and executed acquisition strategies, also.

Tony Isaac, President of Summerfield Suites Hotels (Wichita) has announced they will start franchising their concept this year. Hyatt Hotels Corporation (Chicago), through an affiliate, has begun to franchise as a way of expanding its market penetration. This was a major follow-on to completely re-engineering its management structure and communications lines within its hotel operations as a way of increasing operating results for its management contract clients.

Steven D. Joms' American General Hospitality (Dallas) has successfully competed for a sizable contract with the Hungarian government to buy many of its national hotels and help it dispose of others. This is a clear demonstration of the cash flow and access to capital the larger companies have. Richfield's access to capital is based on its client base and its Hong Kong ownership. Sage's capitol comes from its client contacts and its networking with major investment houses in New York.

Cory Jackson, Sr., CHA, founder of Jackson Hospitality Services, Inc, (Birmingham) is expanding his management company not only by gaining new contracts and by gathering investors to buy hotels, but also by forming a new hotel brand. He and his team have over six hotels open or under construction in the southeast under the name Key West Inns.

Another exciting change is Victor Management Company (Newport News) forming an ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan) so that the management company employees can participate in the success of the company. While ESOPs have been around a very long time in other industries, they are just now arriving in our industry.

Mainstreaming 

The last several years have, seen the mainstreaming of Asian-American hoteliers. Mainstreaming has come in several forms: the public's, competitors' and suppliers' acceptance of this group as they have become better known; the growth of significant ownership and management companies; and the thoughtful work of the Asian-American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA) to counter biases. The well-known hoteliers in this group are too numerable to list, but one comes to mind as a true leader and patriarch, Ravi Patel of SREE, Incorporated (Charlotte) with over 15 hotels. Someone from AAHOA will emerge as Chairman of the American Hotel & Motel Association by the end of the century. That is only five years away, not 20!

The developer of the most hotels in the past five years only owned a few Super 8 Motels ten years ago and had a small insurance agency in Valley City, ND. Now Gary Tharaldson owns and operates over 130 hotels with brand names such as Super 8, Days Inn, Comfort Inns and Suites, Sleep Inns, Fairfield Inns, Hampton Inn, Courtyard, Residence Inn, and Econo Lodge. Tharaldson Enterprises has been developing over twenty hotels a year during this period and dominating markets.

New Ideas on the Horizon 

New ideas and concepts will spill into the industry over the next several years at a breathtaking pace, Marriott has recently announced it will open 30 upscale full-service Gourmet Bean coffee outlets right in its hotels by this year's end. Food courts, just like in the shopping centers, are being tested by Manor Care Hotel Division for its sister company Choice Hotels International. Limited service hotels have "Vroom Service" in the form of Pizza Hut pizzas being delivered to Choice Hotel international's guests in their rooms. The McDonald's across from our Dickinson, ND hotel delivers right to our rooms in five minutes or less.

Marketing bas gotten more sophisticated as hotel companies have tied into movie themes with their TV ad campaigns and travelers will soon be booking room reservations on their home computers after shopping for alternatives on Reed Travel Group's electronic version of Hotel &Travel lndex.

While not one of these events on its own, with the exception of Landry's all cash hotel buying binge and Tharaldson's construction frenzy, has had significant impact on our industry, they clearly demonstrate, again, that the only constant in our business is change.