Sep. 23--SMALL-HOTEL CLUB HOPES SOBE'S FINEST WILL JOIN: A club for small hotels born out of Fort Lauderdale's 1980s image overhaul wants Miami-Dade's inns to join its fray. Will SoBe's chi-chi boutiques bite? 

By kicking Spring Breakers out, the Superior Small Lodging Association got its start in 1989 when Broward's keg-infested beaches were struggling to become the place where frat boys weren't. 

"We understood the fallout of losing Spring Break would impact small hotels that relied on Spring Break traffic," says Virginia Sheridan of M. Silver Associates, the PR agency that helped launch the program with Broward's Tourist Development Council. "We wanted to create something to help small properties that didn't have the big marketing resources that chain hotels had." 

Member hotels have 50 or fewer rooms and must pass annual inspection tests, which were first developed by Nova Southeastern University. 

Unlike AAA or Mobil, SSL does not use a rating system (although that may soon change) and focuses exclusively on small inns' security, cleanliness and "curb appeal," or cuteness. Also offered: seminars and tips before and after each inspection. 

Since its Broward launch, SSL has spread to Daytona Beach; Volusia, Pinellas and Lee counties; the Florida Keys and small hotels in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Wisconsin. Over 500 hotels are members, and the SSL is trying, for a second time, to enlist small Miami hotels prior to its annual conference, slated for Oct. 27-29 in Daytona Beach. 

Benefits, says SSL head Catherine Arthur, include ads (recently posted in USA Today), a listing on the SSL's revamped website, which lets viewers search by city, amenities and views, and the annual pass-or-you're-out inspection. 

In each community, the SSL works closely with local visitors bureaus, which generally pay a one-time $1,000 development fee plus $15 a year for member hotels. Member hotels pay $4 per year per room with bureau support, $8 per room without. 

Arthur said the SSL tried repeatedly to enlist support from the Miami visitors bureau in the mid 1990s, but their efforts went for naught. 

"We jumped up and down a lot and tried different approaches to get their attention, " she said. "Miami does have large hotels, and sometimes the smaller ones get crowded out." 

David Whitaker, senior vice president for Miami's visitors bureau, says he was not aware of the SSL's efforts to enlist Miami's CVB (a claim that elicits a chuckle from Arthur) which, he says, predate his CVB tenure. 

"Today we're looking at any affiliation that can drive guests into our rooms," says Whitaker. Miami's CVB has been developing a marketing strategy with boutique hotels since the Beach threatened to pull out earlier this year. "If it can help our hotels sell, we're very interested." 

According to Arthur's stats, SSL members in Lee County had room occupancies 3 percent better than the county's nonmember hotels during the first half of the year, and netted $5 more per night per room. 

Broward SSL members rave about the association, especially its annual inspection plan, which includes a zero to 100 rating. Inns have to score a minimum of 80 to keep their membership. 

"It gives you a standard to shoot for with your property," says Bruce Novak, manager of the High-Noon-Resort in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea. "They set us in the right direction, and let us in on tricks of the trade." 

One of the tricks? Laying out dark towels with a note telling guests the dark ones are complimentary and should be used for removing lipstick and cosmetics, so that the white towels won't become soiled. 

"It's a wonderful association to be with, especially for a small hotel," says Terry Paterson, general manager of Fort Lauderdale's Pineapple Point Guest House. Every year, SSL inspectors peek under Pineapple Point's rugs and beds and analyze their linens. "Normally big franchises have their own standards where people come in and do these checks. The [SSL] does it in the same manner that a franchise would." 

Not everyone revels in membership, and some members grouse that the association is too low profile and does little to usher in more guests. In the Florida Keys, a growing number of small inns say they're not happy with the SSL, and in recent months many have opted out. 

"Two properties can have vastly different amenities, one can be vastly more clean than the other, yet both can have the same sign," says Mary Beth McCulloch, who runs the Frances Street Inn and heads the Key West Innkeepers Association. "Even though they rate you on a point scale, either you're a member or you're not." 

Arthur says the question of whether to rate some hotels higher than others is a "hot-button issue" for the SSL board, one they plan to discuss at their October retreat. "Some are more distinctive inns than others, and we need to decide how best to identify those properties," she says. 

Arthur insists, however, that the inspections are rigorous and that more than one hotel has failed to pass. 

Along with Miami, the association is campaigning to extend membership to New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Vermont. 

Miami's small hotels, still struggling through the tourist drought and the region's slashed room rates, said they would welcome any association that gives them a lift. 

"We have to drop prices, fight for reservations. We can't afford the type of publicity that the Loews and the Delano can afford to do," says William Belack of the Beach's 24-room Hotel Saint Augustine. "I think membership in any organization that would help give us emphasis would be great." 

Cara Buckley covers the tourism and entertainment industries. Her column appears every other Monday. Send information and tips to: [email protected] 

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