Hotel & Motel Management - September 15, 2008 - (Page 43)

www.HotelMotel.com/digital_edition HotelMotel.com | H&MM September 15, 2008 Special Report ANNUAL HOTEL COMPANY REPORT with our product. We’ve seen some of the larger markets struggle more so than the tertiary and secondary markets—and I think that’s in large part because of less competition in those markets.” So how does a company like Extended Stay Hotels differentiate itself in a crowded ﬁeld? DeLapp has a simple answer. “We own and operate everything,” DeLapp said. “We can make decisions quick and fast that apply to all of our assets across the board, unlike a franchise, which depends on each individual owner/operator that runs that part of the franchise.” pheney@questex.com 43 Extended Stay Continued from page 36 full-service gets impacted from convention business.” DeLapp said the company is scheduled to start a $26-million to $27-million renovation process in September. “With occupancies down, there is less impact on business, so we’re taking a fairly aggressive, extensive renovation approach,” he said. The company is renovating 250 of its Extended Stay America assets. DeLapp said this is speciﬁcally timed during an economically slow period of lower occupancy. This allows the company to focus on the renovation process and not the expense of displacing occupancy in the hotels. DeLapp said there are regional disparities in the current economic outlook, with the upper Midwest being softer, along with places like Las Vegas and southern Florida, which have had more condominiums coming onto the market. Conversely, he said Texas and Oklahoma are two places where business is booming, thanks in part to the oil and gas industries. Extended Stay Hotels’ extensive portfolio helps the compaEXTENDED STAY HOTELS Extended Stay Hotels is taking advantage of current low occupancy rates by renovating 250 of its properties without the worry of guest displacement. ny keep watch on market conditions across the U.S. “We’re coast to coast with almost 700 assets. And for us, we get a good snapshot view of the entire coun- try and we can see things as they materialize,” DeLapp said. “Because we own and operate everything, it allows us to stay closer in touch with what’s going on White Lodging Continued from page 38 ing has several multi-use projects under development. The three-hotels-in-one strategy is ideal for the company, Sibley said, because it can leverage the hotels’ proximity to each other for efﬁcient management. “When [multi-use projects] are with the same brand, it allows us to put one, more experienced GM in there to manage all the properties and more experienced salespeople. ” he said. “Plus we’re maximizing the ground we have to work on instead of splitting up a couple of hotels across a parking lot.” In downtown Austin, Texas, White Lodging is developing a multi-use Marriott project that includes a SpringHill Suites, a Fairﬁeld Inn and a TownePlace Suites, comprising about 800 rooms. This year the company already has opened two similar projects—a 330-key combination in Louisville, Ky., with a Fairﬁeld Inn and a Springhill Suites, and a 523-key project in downtown Chicago with a Springhill Suites and a Residence Inn. The project Sibley seems most excited about is one close to being solidiﬁed in Chicago that will include three brands from different companies— an aloft, a Hyatt Place and a Fairﬁeld Inn. “This one took a lot of working through with the different brands,” Sibley said. “It hasn’t bro- ken ground or gotten all of the approvals, but we’re close. ” “We have just under $2 billion in projects in development and we plan on opening 50 hotels over the next four years,” Sibley said. To successfully balance the company’s growth potential with tight economic times, Sibley said growing and keeping experienced leaders is more important than ever. “We’re trying to take a hard look at what we can control in that process,” he said. “We’re spending more time identifying the people who should be getting stretch assignments. We also are working to provide more training electronically that’s on-demand. Our younger managers want to train on their own time. We have to be able to deliver that.” Looking ahead to 2009, Sibley said it’s time to buckle down. “We all know there’s not going to be much revenue growth,” he said. “There’s going to be a huge focus on maintaining proﬁt markings. We’re going to get creative on how we control cost. It’s never what you call the fun part of the industry, but we take this as a challenge. This is a chance for us to show value to our owners. “Next year we’re probably only going to open 10 [hotels], but the following year we have 20-25 scheduled to open,” he said. “We’re building during the downtime, and we’re bullish long term. We just know that in 2009, we’re going to have to buckle down and manage close.” sricca@questex.com Royal Sonesta Hotel New Orleans provides guests with a unique and authentic environment that brings the character of the city inside the hotel. Sonesta tradition Continued from page 40 looking for an authentic or unique experience.” Another vital piece of creating the uniqueness of the brand is Sonesta’s 7,000-piece collection of original works of art that can be found in all of its guestrooms and public areas. “We believe in the aesthetics as well,” Sonnabend said. During the planning for each new property, the interior designer will work closely with Sonesta’s art curator—who happens to be Sonnabend’s stepmother, Joan Sonnabend—in order to create a marriage between the art and design. And there may be plenty more unions to create in the future. Sonnabend said that Sonesta has projects under development in Orlando, Costa Rica and San Carlos, Mexico. Also in the works are three hotel projects in Columbia, in addition to a number of other possible ventures in South America, with considered destinations including Chile, Ecuador and Panama. “We think it has a great opportunity. There are many parts of South America that do not have a great variety of hotels. And I think, again, it’s becoming an area where travel is increasing signiﬁcantly,” Sonnabend said. Plans here in the U.S., however, aren’t slowing down either. Sonesta is considering a number of potential hotel and resort projects in a variety of cities. “We feel it’s a really good opportunity for Sonesta now, partially because a lot of major cities are oversaturated with some of the major brands. There is an opportunity for a brand like us in both major markets and secondary markets,” she said. jkovacs@questex.com White Lodging broke ground in July on this dual-branded property in Chandler, Ariz., that is set to open in late 2009. WHITE LODGING SONESTA http://HotelMotel.com http://www.HotelMotel.com/digital_edition

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Hotel & Motel Management - September 15, 2008 Contents Microtel, Hawthorn Settle in at Wyndham Is it Black or Red for Green Hotels? New City on the Strip When in Doubt, Purchase some Seashells Legal FAQ Consultant's Corner Sales Clinic On Finance Travel Trends Franchise Law Guest Column Events Cornell Insights HotelWorld Update Trends & Stats Top Hotel Companies Survey Awards Lending Requires Knowledge, Preparation Casegoods Minibars Historian to Keynote Leadership Forum at IH/M&RS Fitness Equipment The Lodging Conference Preview Accent Lighting Awards Vacuums Supplier News Transactions People Ad/Editorial Index Marketplace Classifieds Checking Out

Hotel & Motel Management - September 15, 2008

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