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By Stanley Turkel, MHS, ISHC
October 28, 2005 1. Do you sometimes feel as though you are living through some familiar reruns? Or as Yogi Berra said �It�s déjà vu all over again�? When the large franchise companies trumpet the headline �Reorganization Aims to Improve Licensee Services�, it usually means to cull those properties that �are not meeting quality standards�. My impertinent questions are seeking pertinent answers:
3. When do rebates become kickbacks? How about the preferred vendor list imposed on franchisees by hotel franchise companies? Do franchise companies collect rebates from these suppliers, wholesalers and vendors? 4. Can you believe that Hilton is about to acquire Hilton International in a $6.3 billion deal from the Bristish company Hilton Group Plc? In what some have called the �worst hotel deal of the century�, Conrad Hilton sold the Hilton International Company to Trans World Airlines in 1967. Mr. Hilton had previously struck very favorable management contracts with foreign governments to build and manage wonderful hotels in San Juan (Caribe Hilton 1947), Madrid (Castellana Hilton 1953), Mexico City (Continental Hilton 1956), Istanbul (Istanbul Hilton 1957), Bermuda (Castle Harbor, Bermudiana, St. George) and many more. Believe it or not, the Hilton executive who led the worldwide expansion is Curt Strand who lives in Colorado where he skis and hikes. 5. Hasn�t the time come for all hotels to provide free high speed
Internet access in their guest rooms? I just returned from the International
Society of Hospitality Consultants conference in San Diego where we stayed
at the Wyndham Emerald Plaza Hotel. The cost for in-room HSIA was
an exorbitant $12.95 per day. Columnist Joe Sharkey (On the Road,
NY Times) in a 10/11/05 column headed �Resentment Flares Over Fees For
Internet Access At Hotels� writes,
6. In the United States in the summer of 1900:
Stanley Turkel, MHS, ISHC, is a New York-based hotel consultant specializing in hotel franchising issues, asset management and litigation support services. He is a member of the International Society of Hospitality Consultants and can be reached at [email protected] and 917-628-8549. |
Contact:
Stanley Turkel, MHS, ISHC
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Also See: | Nobody Asked Me, But�. / Stanley Turkel / September 2005 |
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