Without knowing for sure, I’ll blame the lawyers. That’s the only possible way I can excuse a Marriott franchisee for testing a boneheaded defense in a civil suit brought by a guest who was raped in front of her children in a parking garage at the Stamford, CT Marriott. Last week, the hotel asserted the attack was the guest’s fault because she “failed to exercise due care for her own safety…and proper use of her senses and facilities.”
Following a barrage of bad publicity and scathing comments from a slew of bloggers, Marriott International apparently got the franchisee to back off and issued a public apology.
I’m not sure where the law falls in this case, but it was a huge PR blunder for the franchisee to adopt this tactic. As I said, it must have been the lawyers.

News and numbers indicate we may be nearing the end of this deep downturn, or at least finally scraping bottom, but consensus from Smith Travel Research and others is recovery will take some time. The worst thing you can do is sit back and wait for things to get better.
Now is the time to be even more proactive in your marketing and sales efforts. In response to the last LH eReport on rate cutting, we received some spirited feedback. Instead of focusing on hotel booking companies, said one director of sales, concentrate on group bookings. “Maximize your city’s potential,” he said, “to attract groups so you can INCREASE rates, not decrease them.”
Group business is hurting more than most: PricewaterhouseCoopers says group travel accounts for 70 percent of the 11-percent decline in occupancy across the board. But that doesn’t mean you can give up on this segment, it means you may have to work harder and in different places to find the right groups.
The GM of the Arizona Biltmore, a resort that could be the poster child for the AIG effect, recently told me his property is surviving by recruiting local groups and associations instead of the usual clientele, financial companies. The payoff may not be as rich or as soon with associations booking years in advance, but it’s better than sitting back and hoping AIG comes calling.

By now we’ve all seen the news of Hyatt going public and speculation that family politics (and payouts) are the reason.
But today we get this: Blackstone may be considering similar options with Hilton. Originally reported by the UK’s Independent, the story indicates the private equity firm is considering breaking up the hotel group through, potentially, public listings, debt-for-equity swaps or sales of portfolios to rival companies.
Certainly the story makes sense when you recall the June news that Blackstone wrote down its investment in Hilton by nearly 50 percent. The $26-billion purchase in 2007 came right before the bubble burst.
Could a cash-infused Hyatt be interested in purchasing pieces of Hilton? Would Blackstone consider moving something like a Hampton, or even an Embassy Suites? Both could fit nicely into Hyatt’s offerings.
We’ll have to wait and see, but it could be an interesting end to an already wild year of lodging.

I’m about six hours into the inaugural Hotel Data Conference put on by Smith Travel Research in Nashville. As you might imagine, it’s been a blur of numbers, charts and graphs. Like Mark Lomanno said in his opening remarks, “I wish I had good news.” Actually, beyond the expected news of continued declines in occupancy and ADR, I’ve felt some positive vibes coming from speakers like Lomanno and the attendees. We may finally be at bottom and there are some signs of life. Whether it’s just bumps from seasonal activity or signs of a rebound, we may not know for a while. But the news and numbers could be worse, which I guess is a positive sign.
Check back later this week for more updates on the conference.