Haunted Hotels host permanent guests

By Peter Greenberg, Travel Detective  - MSNBC

From London to Texas to Canada, ghostly legends abound

There are good hotel rooms and bad ones, vacant ones and occupied ones. But at Halloween, it’s time to celebrate the very special rooms that are always occupied. I’m talking about the hotels, resorts, and special rooms inhabited by spirits, ghosts, apparitions and other friendly and some not-so-friendly guests.

THE HAUNTED HOTELS range from small inns to large vacation and convention resorts, to legendary hotel palaces.

If you’re headed to San Diego, you might ask for room 3502 at the Hotel Del Coronado. There’s an extremely good chance you’ll encounter the ghost of Kate Morgan.Kate was married to a gambler, and, the story goes, went to the Del on Thanksgiving 1892 to tell him she was pregnant. When she found him in the card room with another woman, she got a gun and killed herself with a shot to the right temple.

But ask around the Del, and you’ll be told that Kate Morgan still “lives” at the hotel. She reportedly haunts the premises in her black lace dress. In fact, room 3502 was once sealed off because too many guests reported unusual disturbances.

Guests have reported encounters of frightful sightings of Kate in her room and some rooms nearby, and investigators found 37 abnormalities in temperature, humidity, and magnetic and electrical emissions coming from her room.
       
FROM LONDON TO TEXAS

In London, the Langham Hilton, across the street from BBC radio, is a great historic hotel. It was bombed during World War II by the Germans, but was later repaired and rebuilt. Ever since then, guests sometimes awake to see a bright ball glowing at the end of their bed, forming the apparition of a man.

At the Hotel Macomber, in Cape May, N.J., the ghosts don’t just appear . . . they make noise. Dresser drawers open and close, lights turn on and off by themselves, clocks stop and restart, and guests have reported hearing the sound of heavy furniture moving on its own.

In San Antonio, the 140 year old Hotel Menger is nothing short of a ghost convention. If you ever call housekeeping and ask for extra towels, beware. A former hotel maid, Sally White, was killed at the hotel after her husband supposedly caught her with another man. Reports are that White can still be seen walking on the fourth floor carrying a stack of linens.

Since then, the hotel has been remodeled and the suite re-opened to guests. However, mysterious things have begun to happen - guests report hearing a piano being played in the suite, and some say that appliances seem to turn themselves on and off. Others report a mysterious woman conversing with guests in the elevator, and then disappearing halfway through the journey.

In Portland, Oregon, at the McMenamins Grand Lodge, it’s the building’s pre-hotel history that seems to have produced some permanent residents. The hotel once served as a Masonic home for the elderly, and some of the former residents haunt the place to this day.

The most famous is Alice Inkley, who hangs out in the octagonal sun room on the second floor. She always seems to wear lavender, and no one can explain why the scent of lavender is often noticeable in the room during the morning hours, or immediately after a sighting.
Particularly disturbing are sounds coming from the Children’s Cottage at the lodge. When the building was run by the Masons, this cottage was used as an orphanage. Guests still report hearing the sounds of children playing in the upstairs rooms.

There are hundreds of other haunted hotels, but my favorite is the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel in Alberta, Canada, and its legend of Sam the bellman. Sam was well-known at the hotel, and when he retired in 1967 he always claimed he’d be back. He died a few years after retiring, but apparently Sam has kept his promise.

More than a few guests each year report the exact same story. When they call down to the bell desk, an elderly gentleman dressed in a faded red bellhop uniform appears and takes their bags. Later, when they go downstairs, the luggage is there but the bellhop has disappeared.

When asked to describe the bellhop, the guests are consistent: an elderly, limping man dressed in a faded red uniform - a style the hotel has not used since . . . 1967.

Peter Greenberg is the NBC “Today” show Travel editor.

Tourism in crisis

Already hurt by Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, world's largest industry reeling in aftermath of bombings in Bali

(SFGate.com) - Just as the $476 billion global tourism industry was struggling to recover from Sept. 11, 2001, came Oct. 12.

On that date this year, nearly 200 unsuspecting foreign tourists partying in two jam-packed nightclubs were killed by two bombs on the usually paradisiacal Indonesian island of Bali.

The Bali bombing was heard throughout the enormous global tourism trade, which employs 100 million people and is the largest industry on Earth.

The attack has sent industry officials into overdrive. The World Tourism Organization, the Asia Pacific Travel Association, the World Travel and Tourism Council and other industry groups will hold a tourism recovery committee summit meeting in London on Nov. 12 and 13. Topping the agenda will be what to do about Bali and the lingering effects of Sept. 11.

"It is difficult to find a confidence crisis in the past several decades that can match what the world experienced in 2001," noted the World Tourism Organization, a United Nations agency, in a report last week on travel trade.

The bombing in Bali is not the first time terrorists have attacked tourists.

It is, however, the biggest attack since Sept. 11. As such, it has stirred fears that tourists will be targeted in future large-scale atrocities. It has also caused industry leaders to wonder whether the travel experience will come to resemble bunking in an armed camp, rather than lazily kicking back.

Indeed, the blast has prompted tour operators to cancel bookings, the State Department to issue advisories warning travelers of increasing risks, and industry and government officials to take security measures to protect overseas travelers.

Business battered

Oct. 12 has taken a toll on Fenina Mundisujih, owner of Natrabu Indo- American Travel, a South San Francisco company that organizes customized tours of Southeast Asia. He has had to cancel all his firm's bookings to Bali for the foreseeable future.

"After Sept. 11, our business nearly stopped for six months. Now this. Bali was our most popular destination," he said.

Mundisujih, a native of Indonesia, said in a normal year his company arranges tours for about 1,000 U.S. travelers. Although he didn't venture to guess what Oct. 12 will do to that number, he said he is booking tours to Thailand and Vietnam -- places believed to be safe for tourists.

The Bali bombing is believed to be the work of Muslim extremists outraged by people they regard as infidels and foreign hedonists, or disaffected members of the Indonesian military bent on destabilizing the Jakarta government.

Even before the Bali bombing, there was a marked drop in travel to Asia by Americans, many of whom are still traumatized by the Sept. 11 attacks and concerned about their budgets in the weak economy.

According to a new study by the Pacific Asia Travel Association, based in Bangkok, U.S. visitors to largely Muslim Malaysia plummeted 36.7 percent in the first six months of 2002 compared to the same period last year. The number of Americans visiting the Philippines dropped 17.2 percent at the same time. Both countries have been sites of recent terrorist activity, some of it aimed at foreign tourists.

"Our advice to travelers considering Southeast Asia is: Go, but exercise caution and intelligent awareness," said Ken Scott, the association's director of communications.

‘Take local advice’

"You may want to avoid crowded places," Scott said. "Take local advice. Avoid political gatherings. Read your government's travel advisory about the destination first. Keep up to date with recent developments."

The International Council of Tourism Partners, based in Hawaii, is urging tour operators and travel agents to register Bali-bound clients with Balinese police as part of its new Safe in Bali program.

In return for giving up some privacy, the council said, foreign visitors will enjoy increased police protection. The council did not spell out specifics, but such tracking is a far cry from Bali's traditional free-and- easy style.

Bali has deployed 5,600 additional police to safeguard tourists, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corp., which reported on Thursday that police "have been posted to patrols at every port, airport and entry point in Bali, all hotels, shopping centers and tourist attractions."

The terror-driven changes in world tourism may not stop there. The long- troubled Middle East, where tourist security is typically very tight, may provide a glimpse of tourism's future.

Under armed guard

In Egypt, the ancient temples at Luxor, where 58 foreign tourists were slaughtered by Islamic extremists in 1997, are now patrolled by heavily armed guards. Foreign visitors are not allowed to wander off-site alone.

In Jordan, where a terrorist plot to attack hotels and tourist sites popular with Westerners was thwarted in 1999, picturesque Roman ruins are watched over by designated tourist police.

Middle Eastern locales rich in biblical lore and stunning antiquities have been devastated by fear generated from terror attacks and the ongoing struggle between Israelis and Palestinians. In Jordan, where no tourists have been harmed, visitors to the lost desert city of Petra have plunged from a peak of 5,000 a day to as few as 100, a fall of 98 percent.

As the war against terrorism expands from the Middle East and Afghanistan to the Asia-Pacific region and perhaps beyond, even some tourism professionals are scrapping their travel plans.

Last week, the Pacific Asia Travel Association -- founded in San Francisco in 1951 to spur leisure travel around the Pacific Rim -- canceled a much- anticipated global conference in Indonesia about environmentally friendly ''sustainable tourism," after numerous delegates and speakers abruptly canceled their trips. (The group still plans to hold its annual convention in Bali next April.)

On the other side of the world from Bali, the World Travel Market, an industry trade show held annually in London -- and the tourism recovery summit of Nov. 12 and 13, which runs concurrently -- will be preoccupied this year with the industry's attempts to come to grips with terrorism.

Security issues and efforts to help Balinese tourism recover from the Oct. 12 attack will top the agenda, according to World Travel and Tourism Council President Jean-Claude Baumgarten.

"You don't have to make a holiday resort into an armed camp," Baumgarten told the BBC. But, "like the airline industry did, you can start to have much more strict procedures . . . It will create a state of mind which will help to prevent a recurrence."

Hotels nearly empty

In the near term, executives at major hotels, airlines, travel agencies, and restaurants and bars that cater to foreigners fear the Bali attacks could further shake up an already ailing industry.

In Bali, hotel occupancy, 70 percent before Oct. 12, is less than 10 percent now -- even lower than the paltry 30 percent in the rest of Indonesia, according to Indonesia's Ministry of Tourism.

In better times, Bali has lured 1.7 million of Indonesia's 5.2 million foreign tourists. Tourism directly and indirectly provides jobs for four out of five Balinese, from artisans in the pretty village of Ubud to fry cooks at the 24-hour McDonald's and bartenders at the Hard Rock Cafe in raucous Kuta, the beach resort where the bombing took place.

After the twin blows of Oct. 12 and Sept. 11, tourism as an engine of development is threatened, especially in countries seen as potential hot spots,  such as Malaysia and the Philippines.

The Philippines' $2-billion-a-year tourism industry accounts for 8 percent of the nation's gross domestic product and is the third-largest generator of revenue, behind agriculture and the money sent home by Filipinos living abroad.

In 2000, "We had reached the 2-million-visitor-a-year level -- then came Sept. 11," the Philippines' secretary of tourism, Richard J. Gordon, told The Chronicle in March.

"Every time a new development goes in, that's a job for a waiter, a computer guy, a chambermaid, a farmer that can sell more rice," Gordon said.

All that is on hold, at least for now, as tourism industry leaders regroup in London nine days from now, 100 million workers worry that terrorism will further undermine their livelihoods, and millions of travelers wonder whether traveling will ever be the same.

Prague: Hotels welcome prestige

Prague hoteliers, who will have to provide lodging for 2,500 to 3,000 delegates and about as many media representatives, are understandably gearing up for this November's NATO summit. According to Arnošt Kareš, the lodging coordinator at the Prague NATO Summit Office, hotels that will house the delegates must meet the following criteria: a high standard of services provided by five-star hotels (delegates will be housed in most of Prague's twelve hotels of this category); ability to adapt to the security system ensured by the interior ministry; and they must be as centrally located as possible. The hotels that house journalists must offer a broader price range for the services they provide, and they must also be accessible in terms of transport.

Prague hotel representatives - who were rather sparing in their comments, due to security concerns - generally agree that housing participants (for which the delegations pay approximately EUR 200-300 per room/night) will result mainly in increased prestige for them. "The benefits of such an event can be long-term, resulting in positive references about Prague from highly-placed delegates around the world," says Michal Chour, sales director for the Radisson SAS hotel. "The short-term impact will be financially significant, but on the other hand, hotel occupancy is generally poor shortly before and after events of this type, and this should balance out the advantages," he adds.

According to public relations manager Tereza Urbánková, the financial benefit to the Hilton hotel of housing NATO delegates will be on the order of tens of millions of crowns. But the summit will mainly demonstrate to the world that Prague and the entire country are back in business following the floods. Urbánková says that this will be the greatest benefit. "We do not feel that the city or national government is making any great effort to alter the negative perception of the Czech Republic, which resulted from news reports by the foreign media. The NATO summit could serve as a great promotional event," she opines.

The Prague Tribune

Cresta Hotel group plans to expand to Malawi

The firm also said it would begin operating in the west African nation of Ghana in the first half of 2003.

Cresta, a subsidiary of diversified TA Holdings Limited, presently runs 13 hotel resorts and lodges in Botswana, Zimbabwe and Namibia, where it began operating two years ago.

"The expansion will see three more hotels being opened during the first and second quarter of 2003 in Ghana, Malawi and Zambia," the company said in statement.

The group said the plans were part of a pan-African expansion that began with the opening of the Cresta Lodge Pandy Ondagwa in Namibia as a pilot project in April 2000.

By venturing into the three countries, the company intends to increase its revenue base and generate foreign currency that could be used to consolidate Cresta's Zimbabwe operations.

The company's local operations have been hurt by the downturn in tourist arrivals in Zimbabwe since February 2000, when violent land invasions by government supporters and the violence that preceded the June parliamentary elections savaged the country's image as a safe tourist destination.

Meanwhile, a number of Zimbabweans will be employed in the group's three new hotels and Cresta said it had resumed a management trainee programme to complement its skills base as the group gears itself for expansion in Africa.

The hotel group said it had spent $25 million in the past 24 months training staff in a skills development exercise to improve service delivery.

Britons avoid USA

Caterer.com     -     The number of British tourists holidaying in the USA fell by more than one-third this summer, according to figures released by the travel industry this week. Bookings to destinations worldwide dropped by 9%.

The Association of British Travel Agents said, following 11 September, most major tour operators cut capacity for this year by 10%, which had turned out to be an accurate prediction.

The terrorist attacks affected the USA more than other destinations. Only India saw a bigger slump, in excess of 40%, caused by the now-receded threat of war with Pakistan.

New York dropped from seventh to 14th place in the table of most popular city destinations. Paris, Barcelona and Amsterdam stayed at the top.

British holiday-makers were generally inclined to stay closer to home and book later. Spain remained the most popular package holiday destination, with more than four million bookings. But this was down by 7% on the previous summer.

Greece came second, and Corfu, with bookings slightly up in 2002, overtook Rhodes as the number-one destination.

After a lengthy drought caused by the Luxor tourist massacre in 1997, travel to Egypt dramatically improved, with a 20% rise.

Source: Caterer & Hotelkeeper magazine, 31 October - 6 November 2002 

Houston Market Update

Written By: Gretchen Hazel   HVS International

During the first seven months of 2002, Houston has noted declining levels in hotel occupancy and minimal growth in average rate, influenced primarily by the lack of weather-related demand which was present in 2001, the downturn in the energy trading sector, and continued supply increases. 

According to Smith Travel Research, occupancy for the seven months ending July 2002 dropped to 62.2% for the MSA, off from almost 67.6% a year earlier.  Houston’s occupancy levels during each month have noted lower levels than those in 2001. The greatest disparity occurred during July of 2002 with occupancy at 61.3%, roughly ten percentage points below the 2001 levels.  The June and July disparities are primarily attributed to the after effects of Tropical Storm Allison, which came with little advance notice to the city of Houston in early June 2001. The storm caused flooding in the area and widespread damage. 

As a result, the area’s hotel demand in the market increased considerably following the storm because of insurance adjusters visiting the market, displaced residents in the community, and other storm related factors.  By comparison, hotel occupancy for Houston was 63.9% for January through July of 2000, and 62.2% for the same period in 1999 (identical to the 2002 year to date figure). The fact that 2002 year-to-date occupancy is at the 1999 level certainly points to relative stability in the Houston market; by comparison, the Dallas MSA hotel occupancy through July 2002 was 56.8%, compared to 64.0% in 1999.

Also according to Smith Travel Research, average rate has increased minimally by 0.9% thus far in 2002, to $76.94 from $76.28 in 2001.  While at a somewhat slower pace, this continues a trend experienced in prior years.  In July 2001, year-to-date average rate had increased 1.4% over the 2000 level, and in July 2000, year-to-date average rate had increased 1.2% over the 1999 level.  Declines year-over-year in average rate were noted during January, February, March, and June, while the remaining months showed slight increases.  Again, we note that relative to the Dallas MSA, Houston is faring much better in maintaining rate integrity.  Through July 2002, the Dallas market has experienced a 3.7% rate decline.

According to a recent report prepared by Lodging Econometrics in September 2002, hotel openings recorded in the Houston area since September of 2001 have totaled 14 hotels and 1,163 guestrooms.  There are currently an additional 14 hotels accounting for 3,166 guestrooms under construction throughout the Houston market area.  The majority of these hotels are expected to enter the market within the next 12 months.  The largest hotel project currently underway in Houston is downtown’s 1,200-room Hilton Americas which has an anticipated opening date of November 2003. 

Houston’s office market has seen better days prior to the general downturn in the market’s energy trading industry, the downturn in the economy, and corporate downsizing, but the market appears to be holding its own relative to other major Texas markets.  According to the CB Richard Ellis 3^rd Quarter Market Index Brief for Houston, the overall Houston office market (encompassing 143,907,038 net rentable square feet) realized a 14.55% vacancy rate and average asking lease rate of $18.84 (by comparison, the D/FW market was positioned with a 22.2% vacancy and a $18.71 average asking lease rate for its net rentable supply of 170,672,011 square feet). 

The vacancy levels indicated a slight decrease from the 2^nd quarter level in 2002 of 14.61%. These levels are slightly higher than the levels noted during 2001, which were generally in the low 13 percent range.  During the 3^rd quarter of 2002, the vacancy levels throughout the greater area of Houston ranged from 9.57% in the Richmond/Greenway sub-market to 23.11% in the Southwest sub-market. The Central Business District features the largest amount of office space at more than 31.5 million square feet.  During the 3^rd quarter, this sub-market achieved a relatively healthy vacancy level of only 9.84% when compared to the other Houston area sub-markets, an average lease rate of $22.51, and a positive net absorption of 322,453 square feet.

Overall, the entire Houston office market achieved a positive absorption of nearly 600,000 square feet during the 3^rd quarter of 2002, which is the first positive absorption level since the 4^th quarter of 2001.  This is primarily attributed to the completion of two multi-tenant buildings within the CBD, including Five Houston Center located at 1401 McKinney. Also, according to a recent report in the Houston Chronicle, New York based Intell Management and Investment posted the highest bid at $102 million on October 9, 2002, for the 40-story Enron Center during a recent auction. The center is located in downtown Houston and encompasses roughly 1.2-million square feet of space and is pictured as follows.

Unemployment in 2002 for the Houston MSA recorded levels higher than the levels noted in 2001. 

Overall, unemployment levels have ranged between 5.0% and 6.5% during the months of January through August 2002. The highest unemployment level was noted in June of 2002 with an unemployment rate of 6.5%. During July and August, unemployment levels have dropped somewhat from June’s level to 6.2% in July and 5.9% in August (by comparison, the Dallas MSA unemployment level was 7.0% in August 2002).

The energy trading sector has historically played an integral part for the market, particularly downtown, however recent conditions have put a damper on the overall industry.  According to a recent Houston Business Journal article, “Being an energy trader was an exciting, high-pressure job with a big salary and plenty of attractive perks.”  Cutbacks in this sector have been noted at a number of Houston area companies including Reliant Energy, El Paso Corporation, Dynegy, CMS Energy, and Duke Energy.  Reports from the Houston Business Journal, dated October 16, 2002, indicate that Dynegy will drop its energy trading segment of the company’s operation completely and decentralize its corporate structure. The company’s decision has come at the cost of 780 jobs, including 600 of those jobs being cut at the company’s headquarters in downtown Houston.  Following this restructuring, Dynegy will have approximately 4,600 employees worldwide which includes 775 in Houston.

During the spring of 2002, Hewlett Packard (HP) officially closed its merger with Compaq; the merger prompted layoffs that are expected to top 15,000 by the end of 2002.  Compaq and HP will retain separate brand identities, with Compaq (a major Houston employer) focusing on business computer models.

Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport continues to note declines in passenger traffic in 2002. The year-to-date period ending August 31, 2002 recorded 23,251,155 enplaned and deplaned passengers, which was a decline of 6.3% when compared to the 2001 level (D/FW International total passenger traffic declined 10.7% during the same period). Continental Airlines, the primary airline carrier in Houston, reported its 3^rd quarter 2002 financial results on October 17, 2002. The results indicated a pre-tax operating profit of $46 million but a net loss of $37 million. 

The airline attributed the net loss to security costs, taxes, and government restrictions. In terms of passenger traffic, Continental Airlines noted a decline from 20,498,626 in 2001 to 19,319,465 in 2002, which represents a constriction of 5.8%. Overall, Continental Airlines and George Bush Intercontinental Airport is faring well in the airline industry when compared to other airlines and airports during these difficult economic times.  This is revealed when we compare this airline’s performance with the results of other major airlines.  On October 16, 2002, Dallas-based AMR Corporation (American, TWA) reported its third quarter results indicating a net loss of $475 million before special items.  Atlanta-based Delta Airlines announced on October 15, 2002 that the company incurred a net loss of $326 million for the third quarter.  On October 18, 2002, Chicago-based United Airlines announced that it incurred a $503 million third quarter loss.

The official ribbon-cutting ceremony occurred at the brand new Reliant Stadium on August 16, 2002.   

Reliant Stadium, constructed at a cost of $449 million, features a total of 1.9-million square feet of space, seating for 72,000 fans, 221 luxury boxes, and a retractable roof.  The stadium is the new home of the Houston Texans, which is a newly formed expansion football team in the National Football League.  On September 8, the Houston Texans played there first in-season game at Reliant Stadium and beat the Dallas Cowboys 19-10 before 69,604 fans. The 2002 season features eight home games for the Houston Texans.

Overall, Houston’s hotel market is facing more difficult times in 2002, unable to benefit from a strong energy trading industry and weather-related demand that occurred in 2001.  However, occupancy levels remain in line with 1999 and 2000 levels, and the city continues to experience much stronger occupancy levels when compared to Dallas/Fort Worth.   Moreover, average rate expansion is still occurring, which is significant in light of typical declines in the 5.0% to 10.0% range in other major markets.  By the end of 2002, the market is expected to stabilize, and be poised to benefit from expected, stronger economic times in the months ahead.  With the George R. Brown Convention Center and its new headquarters hotel coming on line by the end of 2003, a revitalized convention presence should also support the city’s hotel market over the longer term horizon.

Contact:
Gretchen Hazel
HVS International

Singapore September  arrivals  up slightly on Sept 2001

Arrivals to Singapore in September rose a slight 0.6 percent on September 2001, a month which saw the September 11 bombings.

A total 597,115 visitors included strong gains from China, up 37 percent on same month last year, at 47,212. The Singapore Tourism Board said aggressive group travel promotions contributed to the rise.

As expected, Japanese and USA travel rose from September 2001, up by 11.4 per cent and 6 percent respectively.

While attractive pricing boosted Indonesia by 4.7 percemt, other neighbouring markets showed a decline – Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong and Philippines all down on September 2001.

Year to date, Singapore is down 2.1 percent on last year, with standard average room rate down nearly six percent to S$124.10.

CTO and CIO – What's The Difference?

Written By:  Stephen Goebel & Michael J. Wurster  HVS International

As consultants to the gaming, and hospitality industry, we have spent the last years encouraging our clients to evaluate the quality of their information systems, and technologies in general, in relationship to other industries who represent the cutting edge in these fields. We are firm believers that modern business can achieve intimacy with their clients through technology.

Numerous questions have arisen in these conversations, but lately one of the most frequently asked is; do I need a CIO (Chief Information Officer), or a CTO (Chief Technology Officer), and what the heck is the difference? It is actually an excellent question, and in answer we have decided to offer an illustrative parable.

Let’s imagine that you are working late at the office on a last minute request from your CEO. You are ready to send a critical e-mail to wrap things up for the evening, and five seconds before you are about to press send, your local area network shuts down.  What do you do now?  The only people left at the office are the CIO and the CTO. If you call the CIO and explain the situation, he or she will in all probability tell you to call the help desk Monday thru Friday between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. If you call the CTO, there's a good chance he or she will go into the technology backbone, check the configuration on the network, and get you up and running again.

Now, this is something of an oversimplification - many CIO’s are quite capable technologists who can roll up their sleeves and fix an ailing network. In some companies (frequently in the gaming industry), the CIO/CTO is a combined position and the distinction is murky at best. But for the most part, CIO’s are developing into very different positions with separate focus and functional responsibilities. As executive recruiters focused on industry technology, we have been studying the evolution of these two increasingly distinct jobs and have noticed three distinguishing characteristics of the CTO position versus that of the CIO.

External vs. Internal Focus

Whereas the CIO is often focused on bottom-line internal IT efficiencies, the CTO acts in a more strategic role, leveraging technology to push top-line revenue, launching new products, investigating and recommending emerging technologies, and interacting closely with business partners. For the CTO, IT is not a cost center but a key part of the revenue – a producing machine if you will for the company. In much larger organizations, the CIO is increasingly likely to function in more of a COO/CFO sphere, watching expenses and seeking cost savings initiatives.

Passion for Technology

Most CTO’s have a passion for technology detail within the larger context of driving the strategic goals of their businesses. Many CTO’s joyfully run enterprise networks that rival the federal government in complexity and security. This passion is illustrated by the educational focus of CTO’s versus CIO’s. According to InfoWorld Magazine, 72 percent of CTO’s have an undergraduate degree in technology, whereas only 38 percent of CIO’s have a technology degree. More importantly, the true value of a CTO is demonstrated in the combination of business acumen with hands-on technology capabilities.  Having said that, roughly 36 percent of CTO’s have MBA’s.

Compensation

It appears that senior technology executives’  are doing quite well from a compensation point of view. According to compensation data compiled by HVS International’s Hospitality Compensation Exchange, CTO /CIO executives in the gaming and hospitality sectors, where one senior executive generally wears both of these hats, will surely be pleased to discover that at the maximum percentile, CIO/CTO total cash compensation is a very comfortable $213,369 (see chart below). However, at the median, or 50^th percentile annual total compensation for these positions is $67,510.00. Compared to the national averages released by InfoWorld’s Compensation Survey, it seems as though gaming technology executives are lagging well behind their counterparts in other industries. The national average CTO salary is $183,535, and the average CIO salary is $118,278 (includes base salary and bonus). Of course, compensation for these specialists varies based on company size, specialization, and a host of other factors, yet it seems clear that the hospitality industry will have to substantially up the ante to attract the best, and brightest technology executives to the field.

The Competitive Edge

As our industry continues to grow, the competition for players becomes more intense every year. The edge in doing business is, and will continue to be having knowledge of your guests’ wants and needs. Technology will provide the information, and help understand how to use it. So, whether your companies need is for a CTO, or a CIO, you may have to assess your compensation structure if you want to acquire the edge over the competition.

Contact:

Stephen Goebel
Vice President 
Michael J. Wurster
Vice President

HVS Executive Search

Australian Hotels Preparing for Impact of 2003  Rugby World Cup; Will It Be a Case of Unsold  Hotel Rooms Returned at the Last Minute

Sydney, October 31, 2002 - In general, major sporting events held recently across the world have had a positive impact on the hotel markets of the host cities.  This bodes well for the performance of Australia’s hotel markets during the Rugby World Cup (RWC) to be held in 2003. 

“However, not all the markets’ performances have lived up to expectations and Australia needs to learn from their experiences to ensure we realise the event’s full potential,” said Mr David Gibson, CEO & Managing Director, Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels. 

In Manchester, home of the Commonwealth Games in July, reported occupancy was 6.9% above the levels of July 2001.  However, it was the average daily rate (ADR) that experienced the largest boost, increasing by 10.0% over the same month of the previous year. This performance was inferior to expectations and there are suggestions that traditional business was displaced by fear of overcrowding or elevated room rates.  However, we should bear in mind that these figures do not include the total period of the Games, which continued into August. 

There was also a mixed response to the impact of the FIFA World Cup held in June in Japan and South Korea. 

“It appears that the hotels where teams and officials stayed experienced a performance boost but that this did not spread to all host cities,” said Mr Tomohiko Sawayanagi, Senior Vice President of Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels in Tokyo. 

Although Tokyo did not host any games, it benefited from being the home of FIFA and its position as the gateway to Japan, with ADR increasing by 23.2%.  Seoul, too experienced a 44.7% boost to ADR, but occupancy was disappointing, as was the performance of hotels in Osaka and Yokohama. 

“In addition to the fact that a large proportion of unsold hotel rooms were returned at the last minute and were consequently difficult to re-sell, four and five star hotels in these cities were affected by displaced demand and the perception of overcrowding during the tournament.  However, the economy sector reportedly enjoyed very high occupancies,” said Mr Sawayanagi.

These results are consistent with previous research from Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels which revealed that the likely impact of the RWC 2003 for Australian hotel markets would be a sharp escalation of room rates.  “However, we need to avoid the pitfalls of previous events by ensuring unsold tickets and hotel rooms are put back on the market with plenty of time for resale, and promoting ‘business as normal’ to encourage business visitors to continue to travel during the period,” said Mr Gibson. 

Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels, the world’s leading hotel investment services group, provides clients with value-added investment opportunities and advice.

Biggest decline in overseas visits to UK in 20 years, says survey

Caterer.com  -  The number of overseas visitors coming to the UK has fallen by the biggest margin in 20 years, according to statistics released by the Office for National Statistics today.

National Statistics’ Travel Trends survey reveals a 9% drop in incoming visitors to the UK in 2001 to 22.8 million visits.

The number of visits to the UK has been falling steadily since a peak in 1998, but according to National Statistics, last year’s drop was the largest it had seen since the start of the Travel Trends survey in 1981.

Before the recent downturn, the biggest dip in visits to the UK was recorded in 1991, during the Gulf War, when the number of visits fell by 5%.

The number of visits from American tourists last year showed the greatest drop, down by 13% on 2000 to 4.2 million visits.

Spending by overseas tourists during 2001 fell by 12%, also the largest decline in 20 years. It dropped from £12.8b in 2000, to £11.3b last year.

Source:   Caterer.com  

Prague seeks to attract the conference crowd

While expert forecast promising development for Prague's convention tourism, the Prague Congress Center (KCP), where the main part of the NATO summit will be held, is considered by many experts to be the black hole of state investments in Prague. Two years ago the city borrowed nearly CZK 3 billion for refurbishing the KCP in the leadup to the World Bank and IMF meeting, and last November the Prague city council threw in another CZK 500 million. In March the council approved an additional subsidy of CZK 80-100 million per year for the next six years, since the KCP is unable to pay off the refurbishment loan from its own funds. Director František Dušek points out that the NATO summit will probably not save the KCP either, as the organizers will pay only CZK 38 million in rent.

Karel Procházka, general director of Guarant, a firm that organizes conventions, says that the KCP is a part of the city's basic infrastructure, like mass transit, so it must be subsidized. He feels that funds thus spent will be returned many times over, because conventioneers are big spenders. Procházka says that the average convention participant spends USD 300-400 on participation fees alone. "The typical international convention attendee in Prague spends another USD 600-700 on a hotel room. Not to mention restaurants, transport, and gifts," Procházka insists. According to Mag Consulting, last year Prague rose to 24th in the world in terms of international convention attendees. In central Europe, Prague trailed Berlin, Budapest, and Vienna. Mag Consulting works with statistics provided by the Union of International Associations, which tracks convention tourism in 180 countries.

Howard Klein, business development director for Reed Exhibitions Europe, the largest exhibition organizer in the world, says "Prague is an attractive city, and services and infrastructure are now generally okay there." He believes that Prague is fairly strong in conferences, but lacks something to develop its potential for organizing exhibitions that are tied to conventions. "Many of the truly large exhibitions are held in Brno, which offers four times the exhibition space of Prague." According to Klein, Výstaviště Praha could be improved with additional investment, and the new exhibition center in Letňany is also promising.

Klein believes that the NATO summit will help attract business conventions in the future, but only to a limited degree. "Conferences go to places where the market has an interest in organizing them," he says. "The Czech Republic's importance will increase as it joins the EU."

The Prague Tribune