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Are You Better Off Now Than Four Years Ago; The Beat Goes On;
Hotel History: Shattuck Plaza; Quote of the Month
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Are You Better Off Now Than Four Years Ago; The Beat Goes On;
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By Stanley Turkel, CMHS, ISHC
October 9, 2012 1. Are You Better Off Now
Than Four Years Ago?
Based on average
hotel prices throughout June, July and August, the majority of major
U.S.
destinations saw healthy rate increases in summer 2012 compared to
summer 2011,
with an average upturn of 17%. Anaheim
snagged the highest price increase, with a 43% rise in the average
nightly
hotel rate of $109 in 2011 to $155.25 in 2012. The
second-highest upsurge came from North Myrtle Beach,
with a 36% rise
in the average hotel rate of $143.01 in 2011 to $194.86 in 2012....
"Overall, the upturn data coming out of the U.S. was quite impressive," says HotelsCombined VP of Business Development Yury Glikin. "It's evident that the tourism sector there is experiencing significant growth and development compared to other international destinations."
"For 2011,
the total U.S. hotel industry saw net
income of $33 billion," said Ali Hoyt, business project manager at STR
Analytics, during a breakout panel titled "Unlocking the profitability
puzzle" during last week's Hotel Data Conference. STR and STR
Analytics are parent and sister
companies of HotelNewsNow.com, respectively.
Profitability for the Industry in general during the past 10 years has moved consistently among the chain-scale segments. After a steady return during the years following 9/11, the industry began declining in profitability during 2006, reaching a trough in 2009. The luxury segment ̶ typically the first in and out of recessions ̶ fell the furthest, decreasing 51% during the downturn, said Caitlyn Milton, business intelligence manager at STR Analytics. However, as the industry began climbing toward recovery during 2010, the luxury segment led with a 33% increase in profitability. The economy segment, meanwhile, saw the strongest translation of revenues into house profit, or profit before deductions for fixed charges and management fees. The chain scale recorded 42.3% profitability during 2011, following by the midscale segment at 27.1%. Luxury was the least profitable at 15.7%. However, the segment posted a 41.5% increase in profitability compared to the prior year ̶ which Hoyt said is because of the segment's total dollar volume. That is, a small increase in luxury profitability equates to a much larger actual dollar value. 2. The Beat Goes On Here are recent
announcements of
more new hotel brands which are relatively unknown to the traveling
public:
3. Hotel History: Shattuck Plaza, Berkeley, California Built in 1910 by the family of Francis Kittredge Shattuck, the Shattuck Plaza was considered the grande dame of early 20th century hotels in the area. Francis Shattuck, who was born in New York City, was attracted to the California gold rush. Over time, Shattuck acquired 160 acres of prime real estate which encompasses the University of California campus and much of the Berkeley business district. Shattuck served as the mayor of Oakland, was elected to the California State Assembly, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors and the Berkeley Board of Trustees in 1884. His political stature enabled him to establish Berkeley's first library and to bring a rail line to the City from Oakland. The hotel was enlarged in 1914 with a 120-room Annex to accommodate the Panama Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. From 1918 to 1942, the hotel was named the Whitecotton Hotel by its owner William Whitecotton. In 1942, owner Wallace Miller restored the original name, undertook a multi-year extensive modernization project and moved the entrance from Shattuck Avenue to Allston Way. After several changes in ownership, BPR Properties acquired the Shattuck Plaza and closed it for a year-long renovation and restoration. The New York Times Hotel Review reported on February 23, 2010: The Shattuck Plaza
knows its neighborhood. A couple of
blocks from the University of California, Berkeley, it greets guests
with an
oversize peace symbol in black-on-white marble floor tile, and farther
inside,
the decorating borders on the psychedelic.
But this is psychedelia through a filter of 21st-century
cool, played for fun: gleaming multicolored glass pillars, bright-red
Murano
glass chandeliers, checkerboard floors, multicolored rugs and
alternating
wallpaper patterns that ought to clash but feel lighthearted and urbane
instead. Turn a corner in a corridor,
and you confront a new color palette.
Walk a few steps in the elegant lobby, and mirrors and marble put you
in
a new space. A reincarnation of the
faded 1910 Hotel Shattuck, the Shattuck Plaza opened last fall after a
daring
renovation that has caught Berkeley's venturesome spirit. If a
hotel can be outspoken, this one is.
The hotel is
listed on the National
Register of Historic Places. 4. Quote of the Month In this
presidential election year,
here's a marvelously appropriate quotation: In the old days each
political party had its own hotel, and it was considered little less
than
treason for a man to patronize any public place outside his own
hotel. The politician who violated this unwritten
law was compelled to go to all sorts of explanations. Gradually a
change has been going on. The Fifth Avenue Hotel and the Hoffman
House
are nominally the headquarters of the Republicans and Democrats, but in
name
only. There is now no distinctively
Republican or Democratic hotel left. The
result has been to improve all hotels.
Each now stands on its own merits.
The day has gone by when a man will put up with poor service, bad food
and a cold room for the sake of political sentiment. The
inference is that the stomach is built on
a non-partisan basis.
The
New York World
January
1890 Reviews of My New Book: "Built to Last: 100+ Year-Old Hotels in New York"
It's easy to order the book. Just visit www.centuryoldhotelsinnewyork.com
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| Contact: Stanley Turkel, MHS, ISHC 917-628-8549 [email protected] www.stanleyturkel.com
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