Our hotel contract was up for renewal at the Doubletree at the end of July. Management started talking with the hotel’s management in June about the renewal. The Doubletree stated that they wanted to keep our business, but they were looking for a rate increase and wanted to limit our rooms during Super Bowl weekend. The hotel’s initial bid was not great, but it was only an opening position. Our management felt that this required an inspection trip to seek out potential alternatives. On two different occasions I had committee members do an inspection of three hotels in the FLL area including the Doubletree. After the first inspection, my committee member rejected the Howard Johnson in North Hollywood . He felt it was in a depressed area, not as convenient as the Doubletree, and lacked some of the amenities such as a workout room.

After this inspection the Doubletree lowered its asking price by $2.00 per room, but still included the Super Bowl restriction. Since my committee member was on his own during this inspection, our management decided they needed to see the Howard Johnson as well as another hotel, because they were still not happy with the Doubletree’s offer. To make sure that our concerns were addressed, and to see and hear what was being presented to US Airways management, I had another committee member travel along.

During our second inspection there was no endorsement for the Howard Johnson in North Hollywood. The second member of our committee felt that although it was not as nice as the Doubletree it might work with help and support from ALPA. It is a bit isolated and we would need to use the van to get to some areas. Again, our management went back to the Doubletree and, again, the hotel lowered the rate in an effort to keep our account. The timeline was now up to the end of August/beginning of September; the contract had now expired with the Doubletree and we were still attempting to negotiate a deal. At this time it became evident to me that our management was stuck on the Howard Johnson because of its lower rate. I then placed a call to the general manager of the Doubletree to see if we could work out some of the problems between the hotel and our management. I believed that the hotel was clearly our best option and it had treated the Company and crews well over the last four years. We were able to lift the restrictions over the Super Bowl weekend and the Doubletree eliminated any rate increase. Again, this was not good enough for our management because the Howard Johnson was still lower.

In a final attempt to keep the contract, the Doubletree lowered the rate $2.00 from what we were currently paying. We were now up to October 1 and I had a meeting with the Crew Accommodations staff to again try to bring this matter to a close and remain at the Doubletree. In all my years as committee chairman I have never seen our management be so aggressively against a hotel that has been so good to work with and that the crews liked. The difference between the Doubletree and the Howard Johnson’s was $31,000.00 for the first year and our management was not sure they could justify that amount when they felt the Howard Johnson was an acceptable hotel. We, on the other hand, felt the difference was quite small for the increase in quality and location we were gaining by staying at the Doubletree. Plus we were keeping a hotel that has proved to work well.

Also brought to light during all the discussions was that the Doubletree was going to renovate all the rooms and get rid of the wall paper which has a tendency to mildew in the south Florida climate. So we would be staying in a hotel that everyone who travels liked, with new rooms, and a decrease in price over what we paid last year. Of course, this was not good enough because the Howard Johnson rate was still lower. After the final time our management went back to the Doubletree and told them the offer wasn’t good enough, the hotel’s management reviewed the offer and decided to terminate discussions with US Airways management and to give us notice that our last day was October 27.

So why are we losing a hotel that was a crew favorite when our management could show a cost reduction over last year? My feeling is that it is because the upper management of Crew Accommodations doesn’t travel for a living and doesn’t have to live in the facilities they choose. They just know they are able to save $31,000.00 a year by using a Howard Johnson in North Hollywood. What they feel is acceptable is not what a traveling person would find acceptable day-in and day-out. I was told at the meeting on October 1 that they could empathize with us but since they haven’t lived it, they really don’t know the feeling of one marginal hotel after another. They look at our contract language and see downtown or metro area and close to shopping and entertainment.

An inspection was completed in Jacksonville, FL, on both the long and short hotels. Russ Sanders, new to the committee for the DCA base, accompanied me on this inspection. What has been decided is the long overnight will remain at the Radisson and the short overnight will move to the Clarion Hotel at the airport. The change in the short is contingent on the Clarion getting the restaurant opened and keeping it open. At the time of inspection they were putting the finishing touches on the restaurant and it was to be opened by December 1. The Clarion has better room quality than the Holiday Inn and is closer to the airport, but not under any flight paths.

I also completed an inspection of SDF in trying to find a better location for the crews on long overnights, especially on the weekends. There have been a few complaints about the homeless folks on the weekends when the town is empty. In looking around the suburbs and other downtown hotels, there was not anyone interested in taking on an account as large as ours. It may be possible to split off some of the longer overnights to a different location in town. In talking with other airlines in the other hotels, they also have experienced some problems with the homeless folks as well. The Holiday Inn has agreed to shuttle our crews to some local malls, especially on the weekends, when the town is shut down. To move the crews to the suburbs would cause them to always have to rely on shuttle service to get anywhere, so I didn’t see that as the best option without giving the Holiday Inn a chance to work on the weekend problem. Please let me know what you experience at the Holiday Inn, especially on the weekends.

We have also done a partial inspection of PHX in hopes of replacing the Ramada Hotel in town for our long overnights. We have received many complaints about the homeless folks in this city. There has been a bit of a building boom in hotels out in the Scottsdale area and around the airport. So with a changing market we are seeing some interest from hotels we haven’t had in a few years. Hopefully by next month’s article there will be a decision to report on, although, remember the timeline of FLL in the beginning of the article.

We are also trying to make a quick move in MEM for the middle of November. The new schedule came out and after November 10, we have two long overnights in MEM and the airport location is not even close to being acceptable for a long overnight location. At least this is happening during the slow season in MEM and hopefully we will find someone to take the business as long as it’s there.

We also have the option of dropping the Hilton in San Pedro for our long LAX overnights. The Radisson in Culver City has some excess capacity and they would like more rooms from us. The complaints I receive about the Hilton concern its distance from the airport; but it is a nice hotel. We have also received notice of a rate increase at the BDL long hotel and our management wants to shop the contract. But with the time we spent on FLL we haven’t had time to get there yet.

Last month I also talked about the startup problems at the new Tampa long hotel. After the initial problems with the vans, it seems to have smoothed out. I haven’t received anymore complaints. If this is not the case please let us know.

A positive change is we have been able to get the van times from the long PHL overnight backed off to one hour 15 minutes for departures before 7:15 a.m. I feel the van company is still being too conservative on the time estimates, so please help me out by filling out some OF-310 forms with your departure times from the hotels and arrival times at the airport. Please include the time of day and day of the week, as I need more information to show that van departure times are still too early for all but late afternoon weekday departures.

On the list to be looked at are DEN long and short (still), LAS, and CLE long. We still must make a final decision on MIA short, travel to CHS to look for a long hotel, and review RDU long, and ORD short. I’m sure I’m forgetting a few but I’m sure someone will remind me.