By Stanley Turkel, MHS, ISHC
March 2007
1. Energy
usage and potential savings - This year, Americans will consume close
to four trillion kilowatt hours of electricity. In addition, we will
burn through a hundred and forty-three billion gallons of gasoline, which
at current retail prices will cost us some three hundred and sixty billion
dollars, and twenty-six billion gallons of jet fuel, worth fifty billion
dollars. To heat our homes and businesses this winter, we will purchase
sixty two billion dollars worth of natural gas and heating oil, and just
to grill our weenies we will buy some seven hundred and seventy one million
dollars worth of charcoal briquettes. In 2007, total energy expenditures
in the U.S. will come to more than a quadrillion dollars, or roughly a
tenth of the country�s gross domestic product. Is there a way that
hotel developers can build less wasteful hotels?
One hotel developer who has learned how to build new hotels that meet
LEED standards is Vail Resorts, Inc. who announced one of the most ambitious
�green� development projects in the North American resort industry to date,
to be called �Ever Vail.� The $1 billion project will transform the
9.5 acre site, currently known as West LionsHead, into a truly �green�
multi-use resort village consisting of residences, a hotel, offices, retail
shops and restaurants, mountain operations facilities, a public parking
garage, a new gondola and related skier portal and a public park.
The name, �Ever Vail,� was thoughtfully chosen to reflect the project�s
guiding principle of sustainability � that is, pairing Vail Mountain�s
enduring preeminent position in the resort industry with an ongoing commitment
to minimize the Company�s foot print on the land. If approved, Ever
Vail will be the largest LEED-certified project for resort use in North
America and is one of the first proposed projects for consideration in
LEED�s new �Neighborhood Development� certification program.
The �LEED for Neighborhood Development� rating system, established on
Feb. 1, 2007, integrates the principles of smart growth, urbanism and green
building into the first national standard for neighborhood design.
LEED certification provides independent, third-party verification that
a development�s location and design meet accepted high standards for environmentally
responsible, sustainable development. LEED for Neighborhood Development
is a collaboration among the U.S. Green Building Council, the Congress
for the New Urbanism and the Natural Resources Defense Council. Currently
there are no projects registered in the LEED Neighborhood Development program.
Ever Vail would be one of the first projects under this newly formed certification.
Vail Resorts plans to develop 100 percent of the project�s buildings to
meet LEED criteria.
As Pogo wrote, �we stand here confronted by insurmountable opportunities.�
2. Great
Art in Hotels - four hotels and a university club where masterpieces
are on exhibit:
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Sonesta Hotels & Resorts- works by Jasper Johns, Claes Oldenburg,
Robert Rauschenberg and Andy Warhol transform Sonesta Hotels into art galleries.
These works of art are part of the chain�s 7000-piece contemporary collection.
In the Royal Sonesta Hotel in Cambridge, Ma., a stainless steel sculpture
by Sir Anthony Caro is on exhibit.
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The Phoenician Hotel & Resort, Scottsdale, Arizona has a museum-quality
collection of European, American and Asian Fine art and antiques including
18th-century French tapestries, Louis XVI commodes, Chippendale mirrors
and 16th-century landscapes.
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Mauna Kea Resort, Hawaii- Thanks to Laurance S. Rockefeller, this
hotel features some of the finest Asian-Pacific folk art including a giant
seventh-century pink-granite Buddha, Maori war masks, hand-made Hawaiian
quilts, Thai bronze guardian dogs and a scary-looking Garuda (half man-
half bird) that once protected a Siamese temple.
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21c Hotel Museum, Louisville, Kentucky- this new 91-room boutique
hotel was designed to house $10 million worth of avant-garde works by living
artists including Tony Oursler�s disembodied frog-like talking heads and
four-foot red polyethylene penguins. Sections from the museum�s collection
appear from the basement-level gallery to the walls in Proof on Main, the
hotel�s sophisticated restaurant, run by Drew Nieporent�s Myriad Restaurant
Group.
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Harvard Club of New York City- since its dedication in 1894, the
Club has actively collected art to decorate its walls. There are
painted and sculpted portraits, game heads and antlers, tapestries and
Harvardiana (photographs, prints, banners, plates, documents and theatrical
posters) dating back to the 1850�s.
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Jumeirah Essex Hotel, New York City- unveiled contemporary works by noted
Korean photographer Atta Kim and the American painter Mark Innerst as part
of their new �artists-in-residence� program. The Hotel�s curator
Katherine Gass commissioned these two internationally-known artists to
create major works for the newly redesigned lobby. General Manager
Scott Dawson said, �The hotel�s vintage advertising dating from 1934 displayed
in the exhibition says it best, �Always in touch with the Park; never out
of touch with the City.�� The program also includes a collaboration
with the Museum of the City of New York and Magnum Photos in the form of
an exhibition of historic images of Central Park curated by Gass from their
archives that dates from the mid-1800s to the present.
3. Lower-
Priced Room Boom - Did you take notice of the epidemic of new wave
brands which are called �lifestyle� hotels�?
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NYLO Hotels- created by Michael Mueller, former SVP at Starwood, with loft-like
rooms with high ceilings and state-of-the-art electronic features.
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Aloft by Starwood- with �stylish design, accessible technology, hip urban
attitude� and exposed beams, nine-foot ceilings, oversized showers, communal
lobby areas.
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25hours Hotel Company- style-driven with trendy, affordable accommodations
in Germany. Each hotel will have the core 25hours name with a concept
name related to the destination.
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CitiStay Hotels- a new concept aimed at Generations X and Y is developing
�CitiScreens�, a computerized system to perform the function of a concierge,
accessed through the guestrooms� flat-screen televisions.
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The Pod- BD Hotels which owns the upscale Chambers and Mercer Hotels is
opening the The Pod Hotel, a sub-economy property designed to appeal to
younger travelers. It will feature bunk beds, complimentary WiFi
service, an iHome to plug in your MP3 player and a pair of small flat screen
TVs. But you may not have a private bathroom. Nearly half of
the Pod�s 347 rooms utilize shared bathrooms.
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Hyatt Place- guests can check in and get room keys at a lobby kiosk
or grab snacks from a takeout area by punching in orders and swiping keycards
to pay.
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Cambria Suites- a new all-suites brand from Choice Hotels offers
a CD and DVD player, free WiFi Internet, MP3 plug-ins and two flat-panel
television sets.
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YOTEL- a London-based concept that falls somewhere between Japan�s stark
capsule hotels and an Ian Schrager- esque design. In just 108 square
feet, each guestroom offers funky, high-end accommodations complete with
rotating sofa beds that pull out from the wall, wooden walls with recessed
storage and a pull-down leather desk, sophisticated lighting, flat-screen
televisions and Wi Fi Internet access.
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Dakota- another UK �cheap chic� concept with guestrooms which feature an
interior décor mix of wood, leather and brick, oversized beds, walk-in
showers, workstations with broadband Internet access, flat-screen televisions
and built-in shelves to replace armoires.
4. The
Minimum Wage Issue - The prestigious International Society of Hospitality
Consultants (ISHC) recently voted the top issues and challenges for 2007.
While the first issue was �Labor & Skills Shortage�, there was no mention
of the minimum wage (which has been unchanged for ten years) as a factor.
Nationally, the number of workers earning the minimum wage has shriveled
in the United States. In 2005, fewer than 2 million people earned
no more than the federal minimum wage, down from 4.4 million as recently
as 1998. These workers were concentrated overwhelmingly in local
service industries which are relatively insulated from competition with
imports and in occupations which are difficult to mechanize. 1.2
million of them are in the leisure and hospitality industry: hotel maids,
restaurant cooks and others making up almost 64 percent of all minimum-wage
workers in the country.
Unlike a manufacturer, a motor inn in the United States can not relocate
to China when its labor costs rise nor can it outsource bed-making or salad
tossing. Until a machine is developed to clean a guestroom and to
sauté the vegetables, it will be hard for employers to replace workers
even if Congress agrees to increase their pay to $7.25 an hour from $5.15
over a couple of years.
Just take notice of the Los Angeles City Council which recently approved
a living wage ordinance for workers at hotels near the Los Angeles International
Airport. It guarantees wages and benefits of at least $10.64 per
hour to workers at 18 hotels- along Century Boulevard.
It may be time for hotel industry leaders to share some of their recent
spectacular profits with the hotel employees who help to make it all possible.
5. Quote
of the Month-
�Don�t ask yourselves what the world needs. Ask yourself
what makes you come alive, and then go do that. Because what the
world needs is people who have come alive.�
Harold Thurman Whitman
Stanley Turkel, MHS, ISHC operates his hotel consulting office as
a sole practitioner specializing in franchising issues, asset management
and litigation support services. Turkel�s clients are hotel owners
and franchisees, investors and lending institutions. Turkel serves on the
Board of Advisors at the NYU Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism and
Sports Management. He is a member of the prestigious International
Society of Hospitality Consultants. His provocative articles on various
hotel subjects have been published in the Cornell Quarterly, Lodging Hospitality,
Hotel Interactive, Hotel Online, AAHOA Lodging Business, Bottomline, New
York Times, etc. If you need help with a hotel operations or franchising
problem such as encroachment/impact, termination/liquidated damages or
litigation support, don�t hesitate to call 917-628-8549 or email [email protected].
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