Back

Jim Huff moves shop to Utica, NY

Jim Huff who for many years has worked out of Worldwide's Plantation, Florida office has taken the bull by the horns and moved to up state New York.  Jim who has lived in Florida almost all his life feels the time is right for him to make the move, he and his wife Betts have purchased  nice home and are taking their time renovating it to their taste.

Jim will still remain a Sales Associate with Worldwide and apart from his local phone number, not much will change.

You can reach Jim via email: jhuff@cruiseco.com, or via phone on +1 315 601 0314

The Pride of Ownership

As most of you know Worldwide has focused on cruises for the Corporate market for the past 18 or so years.  We certainly do not pretend to be experts on hotels but we certainly know our ship. 

In the June issue of Successful Meetings there is an article that really caught my eye regarding hotel owner ship or should I say the lack thereof.  Here are some very interesting numbers:

Starwood Hotels 868 hotels of which 785 are owned by interests other than Starwood

Hilton Hotels 2,805 hotels of which 2,748 are owned by interests other than Hilton

Marriott International 2,868 hotels of which 2,855 are owned by interests other than Marriott. 

More simply put:

Starwood owns 83 Hotels, Hilton (which was recently sold to Blackstone) owns 57 hotels and Marriott owns only 13 Hotels.  Of all of those hotels “owned by other interests” it would really be interesting to know how many of them have worn numerous hotel badges during the live of the property. 

Basically the jest of the article is to point out the shift of hotel ownership from traditional hotel companies to real estate investors where the sale of the property due to appreciation is a critical part of their business.  These investors “may hold the properties for as long as 5 years but they may also turn them around in as few as 18 months”.  No wonder “there’s a lot less emphasis on long term business” in the hotel sector. 

Now compare these numbers to the cruise industry where practically every ship is owned by the cruise line that markets and sells them.  Owning your own hardware also means it must maintain them which why Carnival Corp is the process of spending around a half of billion dollars on revitalizing ships on just two of their brands, Carnival and Holland America.  Royal Caribbean has spent over a hundred million on revitalizing just three of their ships as another example.  As an industry the cruise industry spends hundreds of millions of dollars annual maintaining and improving their hardware. 

Another important aspect of the cruise industry is they also must maintain and retain their personnel as they know that they are going to be owning their asset for many years to come.  Having been on more cruises than I can honestly remember it’s not surprising to me to meet time and again many of the same personnel on the same ship or with the same cruise line.  This also applies to office staff and management as well.  There is a reason that people like Bob Dickinson has been with Carnival for 35 years and many of their key staff have been around for over 20 years and Carnival is not the exception.  Everything in the cruise industry is about the long term. 

Is it no wonder why hotel rates keep going up?   The big profit for the investor is not the hotel revenue but instead flipping the property.  Does this have a factor in determining how a hotel is maintained and improved, I would think yes.  The biggest factor is of course how it affects hotel rates after the property is sold.  No value added but just a higher room rate. 

Possibly the biggest factor, at least in my mind as a sales person and a business owner, is the affect it has on personnel.  If you are working an environment where it is known that long term ownership and branding means up “to as long as 5 years or as short as eighteen months” what sort of loyalty, consistency and just the general pride in your job and your property can you expect from your employees at any level. 

It is no wonder why cruises are giving hotel fits when it comes to pricing and value for money!  It is no wonder why many people are leaving the hotel industry, at all levels, for the cruise industry.  It is also no wonder why the cruise industry has the highest repeat factor in the leisure sector of the travel industry.  

Just my opinion Steve Bloss.   

SITE's Tournament for Tomorrow - Worldwide's Team

Many people gave generously of their time as did a number of well known Orlando based companies. (A list of these donors is to long to list here but can be found on SITE's web site).

Worldwide's team consisting of Bill Lind of Incentive Travel Consultants, Dr. David Mulligan of International Services Incentives and Bob Lowden of Golf on Tour joined with James Castle - president of Worldwide to take third place in the tournament.

Full details and images here - Worldwide's team

Worldwide's team in Toronto for the Incentive Works Show

Worldwide has been a participant at the trade show since its inception and feels that it gives us a window into Canada's Corporate Travel market.   Whilst the industry in Canada has undergone considerable consolidation with many of the smaller Incentive/Meeting House being absorbed into the now big names in the Canadian Corporate Industry never the less there is always good attendance at the show.

Diana Bloss & Leon Banossian from Worldwide will be on the Worldwide booth and looking forward to meeting with many colleague, associates and old friends from within the industry.