Lodging Hospitality

Whether or not you’re an auto racing fan, you may have heard about this week’s NASCAR cheating scandal in the run-up to the sport’s biggest event, the Daytona 500 on Sunday. A number of race teams have been penalized to varying degrees for violating a range of rules related to how the cars are prepared for the race.

Unfortunately for Best Western, one of the worst offenders was the Michael Waltrip team, which was caught with an illegal additive in the car’s gasoline supply. Heads rolled, fines were levied and the car was ruled ineligible for the big race. (Waltrip was able to qualify in a back-up car so all was not lost.)

Nonetheless, it all adds up to bad publicity for Best Western, which is one of the sponsors of Waltrip’s team and which uses the driver for a variety of promotional and goodwill duties. In fact, just two weeks ago, Waltrip and his car shot a commercial for Best Western in Sedona, AZ. According to press reports, Waltrip has claimed ignorance about the incident and apologized profusely. And so far, Best Western is sticking by its man.

The question, of course, is whether this event will give Best Western any sort of long-term black eye. I seriously doubt it. NASCAR fans are tremendously loyal and have short memories for bad stuff, and Waltrip is a very popular and personable representative of the sport. And those legions of travelers who neither understand or appreciate the nuances of stock-car racing will care less. All in all, it should be no worse than a fender bender for Best Western and its marketing plans.

It’s not Y2K, but the upcoming switch to daylight savings time has some of the same technology and customer care ramifications as that event (actually, non-event) at the start of the century. Two years ago, Congress passed legislation mandating that daylight savings time start three weeks earlier in the spring and end one week later in the fall. The schedule change starts on Mar. 11 with this year’s switch to what my parents used to call “fast time.”

As hotel operators, you need to make sure that any and all technology systems are coordinated to make the switch. But more importantly, you must take care on that night and the next morning to make sure all of your guests know about the change and that wake-up calls and any other time-sensitive events go off on schedule and without a hitch. It’s not fair to subject your front desk clerks to the wrath of an angry guest who misses a flight or meeting or luncheon appointment on Mar. 12.

Consultant Sally Kelly of BearingPoint offers three simple things you should do to prepare:

1. Educate your staff about the new date.

2. Inventory all hardware and software systems top determine what, if anything, needs to be fixed ahead of time.

3. Check to see if guestroom clock radios automatically adjust for DST. You may need to contact the manufacturer for more details.

The hotel school at Florida State University was a little-known beneficiary of the $1.8-billion sale late last year of ClubCorp to KSL Partners. According to a recent story in a Tallahassee paper, former ClubCorp chief Robert Dedman promised a donation of company stock to the school. Following the sale in late December, the school got a check for $6.3 million, which may be doubled thanks to a matching funds program from the state of Florida.

Here’s the bad news: the money actually goes into the FSU Foundation account and the hotel school will only be able to access the four-percent interest the money will yield. And that money flow won’t start until July 1. School officials say they’ll use the windfall to fund research projects, scholar chairs and additional scholarships.

Dedman and ClubCorp have had a close relationship over the years and, in fact, the hotel school is named the Dedman School of Hospitality. ClubCorp has hired a number of interns and graduates from FSU (particularly from the school’s Professional Golf Management program).

Accor has been on a mission lately to dispose of assets it considers non-strategic, i.e., outside of the hotel business. Last week, for instance, it announced the sale of GO Voyages, a French travel services company. Now comes a rumor that the firm is also shopping Red Roof Inns, despite the fact that the economy chain seems to fit its criteria as a core business.

It’s easy to imagine a group of likely suitors for the brand, which has a reputation for design and service quality that’s superior to its economy segment competitors. While Wyndham and Choice seem unlikely buyers (they both have flags in the same marketplace, although Red Roof would be a step up), the brand could appeal to Starwood, InterContinental, Marriott, Marriott, Hilton or even Hyatt.

Controversial condo-hotel developer Robert Falor is so miffed at celebutante Nicky Hilton he’s considering pulling out of the South Beach Nicky-O he’s developing.

Falor, who made his initial mark in the Chicago market two years ago, suggested to The Miami Herald that an Internet video (since pulled) in which Nicky’s big sister, Paris, is said to have made racist remarks is giving him cold feet. The video apparently shows Paris mocking Jews and African-Americans, while Nicky is behind the camera.

Construction already is under way on the Florida property, Nicky’s first hotel venture, and Falor already has plans for a Chicago Nicky-O. He has praised the younger Hilton’s style and celebrity cachet, but he disapproves of this recent shocker. “I’m very concerned about it (the video),” Falor told the newspaper. “I’m shocked actually that she would participate in something like that.”

Paris, the Hilton of higher profile, has filed a lawsuit in federal court in Los Angeles, claiming the video, broadcast briefly on YouTube, was “obtained from her storage unit in California,” according to the newspaper. Falor, meanwhile, is mulling what steps to take.

Pulling out of the project could tarnish Falor’s image despite the moral high ground he’s apparently trying to occupy—and cost money. Falor already has been the subject of various lawsuits; “breaking up” with a high-profile socialite like the junior Hilton would certainly prompt at least one more.