A recent story in the Washington Business Journal reported Hilton Hotels execs were in D.C. earlier this week to hear what the locale could offer in the way of a new corporate home. The juicy part of the story was a source indicated that 325-350 jobs could be coming to the area, which is significantly less than the 500-plus working in Hilton’s Beverly Hills headquarters. Certainly some of that number would be part of Hilton Garden Inn’s relocation to Memphis, along with some back-office operations employees, but many, you’d assume, would either pass on the chance to relocate, or worse yet, not be offered the option.

D.C. is starting out behind as Montgomery County, MD officials have said they’ve been in discussions with Hilton for several weeks, according to the story. Hilton CEO Christoper Nassetta was asked about the move during a panel discussion at this week’s ALIS in San Diego, but he didn’t add much beyond the statements in the original release. The Hilton corporate employees I spoke to had yet to be offered the chance to relocate with the company.

Random thoughts from the meeting rooms and hallways of this week’s America Lodging Investment Summit in San Diego:
• Despite new forecasts of a 10-percent dip in RevPAR for the year, few speakers spoke of the hard-to-swallow numbers. Rather, the talk was when the industry turnaround will begin, not if or even how. This isn’t a crowd given to hand wringing or quiet sobbing. The prevailing sentiment is that as a group of smart, creative and experienced entrepreneurs, the hotel industry will find a way out of its current problems, that tomorrow will be better than today, that the cycle will turn and that prosperity will reign again. Is this all healthy optimism or one of the stages of grief? Time will tell.
• Hotel brand and operator companies alike are moving swiftly and decisively to mitigate the effects of the downturn. A number of operators, including Robert Habeeb of First Hospitality and Doug Dreher of The Hotel Group, told me they’re aggressively increasing their sales and marketing efforts and resources, including requiring general managers to take a more-prominent role in sales. On the brand level, Andy Cosslett, InterContinental Hotel Group’s Chairman Andy Cosslett said the company increased its worldwide sales staff by 30 percent “as a quick and effective way to shift business into our hotels.”
• Even executives immersed in the transactions market see opportunity in an environment that doesn’t appear to have much. Steven Mckenzie of Eastdil Secured told an audience that when it comes, the rebound in the transactions market will be “even more dramatic than the period following the recession of the early 1990s. Unlike then, we have no supply issues and there are billions of dollars waiting on the sidelines for the right opportunities.” Still Rob Koger of Molinaro Koger made what may be the best argument to acquire hotels: “If you think we’re heading into a depression, you should sell everything; if you think we’re in a recession, buy everything.”

On January 20, the Creative Coalition Inaugural Ball dinner was held at Cha, the new restaurant in The Donovan House of Thompson Hotels.

The hotel and restaurant were filled with A-listers including Actors Matthew Modine, Alan Cumming, Alfre Woodard, Wendie Malick, Gloria Reuben, Dana Delaney of television’s “Desperate Housewives,” actor Josh Lucas, Susan Sarandon, Spike Lee, Rachel Leigh Cook and Tim Robbins.

The Donovan House packed in some 300 celebs and elected officials for the dinner before they headed over to the $10,000/ticket Creative Coalition Inaugural Ball. Cha will open its door to the public in March 2009.

If only the new administration can do for the rest of the country what the inauguration has done for D.C.

Hospitality Solutions International says it has redefined the mobile POS model by adding iPod touch technology. The technology is “the perfect mobile companion for Profit Series point of sale software,” HSI boasts. The iPod touch, weighing a mere 4.05 oz. and enclosed in a stainless steel case, will operate the POS application up to six hours on a single charge.

The 3.5-inch display permits full POS screen viewing, and screens may be viewed in portrait or landscape orientations. Users open guest checks, select menu items, and orders go to the kitchen in the same way as standard POS terminals. The Apple iPod touch handheld uses the same interfaces and screens as a standard terminal. The company says the device saves money by “placing mobile POS within reach for a great number of our clients.”

A stunned audience at today’s opening session of Americas Lodging Investment Summit heard a hard-to-believe prediction from economist Todd Buchholz: the economy will begin to turnaround “in time for the back-to-school sales.” Hardly any forecast I’ve heard or read in the past few months have been anywhere as optimistic as what Buchholz presented.
Buchholz, who is a former White House economic advisor and a prolific writer, argues that the current recession won’t be either as severe or as long-lasting as the downturn of the early 1980s, when unemployment bottomed-out at nearly 11 percent. He gave three reasons: the current job market isn’t as dire as it was in 1982; real consumer earnings are actually increasing; and commodity prices are collapsing. And as a final chunk of manna for a starving audience Buchholz offered the thought that “dangerous, tumultuous times breed opportunities for prosperity and innovation.”
Following his presentation, one could feel a palpable lightening of mood among the 2,000-or-so attendees. Perhaps it’s true that the power of positive thinking is, well, a powerful thing. While I don’t necessarily share Buchholz’s optimistic timetable, I, too, feel better about things after listening to him.

Hilton’s cross-country move from Beverly Hills to the D.C. area will make the nation’s capital also the center of the hotel world. Once the move comes later this year, the area will house Marriott (in Bethesda, MD), Choice Hotels (Silver Spring, MD) and soon-to-be Hilton. The move isn’t a total shock: CEO Christopher Nassetta is an Arlington, VA native and used to head Host Hotels & Resorts in Bethesda; Hilton, like all hotel companies, is struggling because of the economy, the crumbling credit markets and diminished travel worldwide; and the fact the Blackstone Group is no doubt facing high debt service costs after buying Hilton at the peak of the market almost two years ago for $26 billion.
Hilton is reportedly looking at suburban locations in Virginia and Maryland, although you’d have to figure Virginia might be a preferred option since two competitors already reside in Maryland, not to mention Nassetta’s familiarity with his home state. More than 500 employees work at Hilton’s current headquarters and surely many will be offered the chance to relocate. Certainly many lower-level employees won’t consider that, meaning the company should shed some of its workforce. Whether Hilton fills those spots immediately remains to be seen, and if so, will it look to nearby industry neighbors? A better question might be whether this indicates Blackstone might be looking to shed some Hilton brands (Doubletree maybe?)?
Hilton Garden Inn will not be making the move to D.C., according to the Memphis Commercial Appeal, as the brand will instead join Embassy Suites, Hampton Inn, Hampton Inn & Suites and Homewood Suites in Memphis. That office is already home to Hilton brands such as Embassy Suites Hotels, Hampton Inn and Hampton Inn & Suites and Homewood Suites by Hilton. The story also indicates some more back-office operations will join the bulk of the shared services hub in Memphis.
I wonder why this move wasn’t announced next week at one of the industry’s biggest events: the Americas Lodging Investment Summit in San Diego, coincidentally hosted by one of Hilton’s newest and biggest properties, the Hilton San Diego Bayfront? Or after, as to avoid taking some of the limelight from Hilton’s big development announcement coming Monday?
More questions than answers, I know. Hopefully that changes next week at ALIS.

I hate being the bearer of bad news, but there was a ton of it this morning from all around the country.
• Steve Wynn’s Encore Resort opened just a month ago, and yesterday the design affiliate Wynn Design and Development laid off 53 workers according to this story.
• In Virginia the news was Interstate Hotels & Resorts will eliminate 45 corporate jobs and cut senior management’s pay by 10 percent.
• Walt Disney Co. has offered voluntary buyout packages—better than layoffs, at least—to about 600 execs at its domestic theme park and resort divisoins, according to an LA Times story.
• The Wall Street Journal has a story this morning about many hotel chains cutting guest amenities and reducing staff and the hours restaurants and spas are open.
• Yesterday the WSJ had a short story on commercial mortgage-backed securities loan delinquencies on the rise and how it would likely continue throughout the year.
The sad thing is I could go on. Times are tough for the hotel industry and companies are doing what they can to survive.

In preparing our publication’s Hospitality People in the News section, I came across an obituary for Roger Sonnabend, Executive Chairman of the Board of Sonesta Hotels. I never met Mr. Sonnabend, but the brief summary of his life makes me wish I had.

Sonnabend earned his undergraduate degree from MIT in 1946 and joined the family hotel business, established by his father, A.M. (”Sonny”) Sonnabend. At the age of 21, Sonnabend was the youngest hotel GM in the country, serving in that capacity at the Nautilus Hotel & Beach Club in Atlantic Beach, Long Island. He attended Harvard Business School and earned his MBA degree as part of the legendary Class of 1949—”the class the dollars fell on,” as Forbes Magazine described it—then served as manager of several Sonnabend-owned hotels.

In the early 1950s, along with his father, he created Sonnabend-Operated Hotels, which became Hotel Corporation of America, in 1956. Since his father’s death in 1964, Mr. Sonnabend directed the company, together with his brothers Paul and Stephen. He first followed his father’s footsteps by rapidly acquiring new properties. In the early 1970s, however, after renaming the company Sonesta International, he reduced the company’s size by half and refocused on hotel operations rather than simply acquiring new properties (The slogan “Quality versus Quantity” springs to mind.)

Roger Sonnabend steered Sonesta through the challenging economic times of the early 1970s and 1990s. While other hotel companies were acquired by larger companies, Roger maintained his family’s control over Sonesta, even increasing the family’s ownership. A profile in Playboy Magazine, in December 1969, noted that Roger has “become a vocal critic and an activist opponent of racial discrimination—a fact illustrated at H.C.A.’s 1968 stockholders’ meeting, when he committed the corporation to a new course: hiring and training the hard-core unemployed.” As a leader of businessmen opposed to the war, he landed on President Nixon’s “enemies list.” His government service included the Office of Economic Opportunity, the Job Corps, and th Presidential Task Force n Urban Unemployment Opportunities. He served in the Naval Reserves from 1943 to 1946.

If dollars did fall on the Class of 1949, perhaps it was because it was deserving, as was Roger Sonnabend.

In this economic environment, just about every hotel is dong anything and everything possible to attract business. There are the usual promotions and offerings like stay two nights, get one free; complimentary spa treatments, golf or dining…you name it, and it’s probably been tried. There are so many offers out there, from all around the country, it’s rare when one stands out.
But the Hard Rock Hotel Chicago is having a little fun at its location’s expense with a “Pay to Play” promotion. With every corporate meeting or social event booked there before April 30, the hotel is offering the choice of several incentives. “Blagojewhichever you’d like,” it reads, between a 10-percent F&B discount; complimentary beverage vouchers; free wireless internet in meeting room; complimentary a.m. or p.m. break or an iTunes gift card for the event planner.
I’m not going to take advantage of the offer, but it’s a great example of how creative marketing can attract attention. Hoteliers know blatant rate cutting isn’t the answer, but promotions and sales can be during a down economy. If every hotel has the same offer, maybe finding a unique angle can be the difference between 60 and 70 percent occupancy.

Unless you’ve been living in a cave, you know this is a historic day: the day Barack Obama becomes the first African-American president of the U.S. But what will his presidency mean for the hotel industry?
Some bloggers and other deep thinkers seem to believe his administration will usher in a new era in which Washington finally understands the issues facing the tourism industry and, more importantly, enacts legislation to help our cause, especially in areas like tourism promotion, visa waiver and immigration reform. I don’t think it’s going to happen and, in fact, if Obama makes good on one of his campaign promises–passage of the Employee Free Choice Act–the new administration may prove to be detrimental to your business.
But in reality, these are side issues. The most important accomplishment Obama and his team can make for hospitality-and for the entire country–is to straighten out the economy and more critically, the capital markets. Lodging is a real estate business that thrives on development and the capital that fuels it. In addition, many hotel owners are facing loans coming due this year or next, and a lot of them may be pushed into foreclosure unless a steady, reliable and reasonably priced flow of money returns to the marketplace.
I wish President Obama good luck and well wishes as he takes office. I hope he has the wisdom, patience and political skill to put the country back on solid footing.