Word: freitag
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Americans wanted to vacation. It became so mainstream that even the Southern Baptists had a convention in the city. "Visitors were coming to hotels at rates of 90% - a signal to expand," Schwer explains. "And interest rates dropped, so there was readily available cash to do just that." Jan Freitag, a hotel analyst at Smith Travel Research, agrees: "There was the sense that if you build it, they will come - that there was this pent-up demand...
...Freitag, despite Steve Wynn's recent announcement that he will lower room rates, thinks the picture may not be all gloomy. "If you look at the hotel occupancy rate of 83.5%, well, people in other cities would be ecstatic," says Freitag. "But it's just in Las Vegas, the benchmark is 90%." And while there are reports of some struggling hotels offering free rooms to visitors who gamble as little as $100 at the tables, Scott D. Berman of PricewaterhouseCoopers says the better properties are doing relatively well, at least on weekends. "It's a segmented market," says Berman. "What...
...business in which everyone is basically offering the same thing--a bed for the night for a price--who might win the new hotel consumer? Jan Freitag, an analyst at Smith Travel Research, says what customers still care about most is location. In that sense, Marriott and Hilton have the advantage. But don't count anyone out. "Starwood, with its W hotels, has shown there's a desire for a hotel that's edgy and hip," says Freitag. "Hilton and Marriott have shown that you can have a family of brands without diluting the name...
...Freitag thinks there's a pent-up demand for these hotels. When Starwood introduced the Westin Heavenly Bed, he says, "everyone thought it was, if not crazy, then highly unorthodox. Now name any brand, unless you're low-end economy; they all have deluxe beds." Starwood countered with the Heavenly Bath, and the industry followed. This time, says Freitag, "other brands aren't about to let Starwood get out in front...
...research and forgotten why people like hotels. "They can be inclusive and have casual design," says the analyst, who asked not to be named, "and still offer a reward in travel--like traditional pampering. That's probably going to have to be added to a few of these concepts." Freitag says it will be interesting to see how well Aloft and others can penetrate a segment that Hilton and Marriott currently own. "Will they win a piece? Yes. But how big?" says Freitag. "That's the $12 billion--dollar question. The traveler is going to have to decide...