Loading...
1619-5-8 Hard-Hit Dade hotel industry still finds some room to grow 300,000 signatures by Aug. 6 in order to put a casino legalization referendum on the November statewide ballot. KEYWORDS: SUPPORT GAMBLING FLORIDA TAG: 8401110791 26 of 30, 24 Terms mn HARD-HIT DADE HOTEL INDUSTRY 12/13/1982 THE MIAMI NEWS Copyright (c) 1982, The Miami News DATE: Monday, December 13, 1982 EDITION: THREE-STAR SECTION: MONEY PAGE: 14M LENGTH: 183 lines ILLUSTRATION: PAVILLON HOTEL LOBBY (SNYDER) ; CONSTRUCTION ON MARRIOTT HOTEL (REINKE) ; CHART OF HOTELS & ANNOUNCED PROJECTS IN GREATER MIAMI 1982 (CHART NOT AVAILABLE ELECTRONICALLY) SOURCE/CREDIT LINE: ROBERT ADAMS Miami News Reporter MEMO: SEE CORRECTION AT END OF STORY HARD-HIT DADE HOTEL INDUSTRY STILL FINDS SOME ROOM TO GROW It's the season again -- the time of year when vacant hotel rooms used to be almost as scarce as an icicle in Miami. Those days are a memory now. But local hoteliers, their sights lowered somewhat, are cautiously optimistic that a flock of snowbirds soon will descend on South Florida to end the doldrums that have gripped area hotels since the start of the last winter season. The recession has cut into tourism, and publicity about crime and refugees has kept some visitors away. Economic problems in Latin America have reduced the number of visitors from that area. There are signs, though, that those factors are receding -- or will in the near future. Despite the slump in tourist traffic, which led several Miami Beach hotels to close last summer for the first time, the local hotel industry is poised for a surge of new construction that many hope will put Dade County back on the resort and convention map, boost the area's economy and create hundreds of new jobs. Still, there's a chance the wave of hotel-building could -- at least temporarily -- flood the market with excess rooms. In the first nine months of this year, occupancy rates of Dade County hotels plunged more than 12 per cent below the same period in 1981. But the slide in occupancy, which fell to an average of 50 per cent in September, appears to have slowed. September's rate was only 7.5 per cent below that of September 1981. Most hotels in Miami Beach experienced good Thanksgiving traffic, and their managers hope that's a harbinger of things to come, said C.W. Cramer, executive director of the Miami Beach Visitor and Convention Authority. "We think Christmas will be better than last year, and February is looking quite good with heavy bookings, " he said. With the opening two months ago of the Hyatt Regency downtown, and the scheduled completion of the luxury-conscious Pavillon Hotel on Ball Point next month, Miami will have 1,240 new rooms to offer travelers and conventioneers.Plans call for completion of eight more major hotels in Dade County by the end of 1983, adding 2,480 rooms. Developers have proposed nine other hotel projects for completion in 1984 or 1985, bringing the total of new rooms to more than 8,700 in three years. Hoteliers have high hopes that the new hostelries won't create a glut of empty rooms but instead will restore Greater Miami's capacity to handle major national conventions and attract more visitors. "These will be quality properties, and they'll create a ripple effect to the good, " said Arthur Surin, general manager of the Fontainebleau Hilton in Miami Beach. "They'll help (Miami's) image and restore the faith of the investment community. " "The opening of the new hotels should generage business and create their own demand, " said John Crow, senior consultant in the Miami office of Pannell Kerr Forster, an accounting firm that monitors the hotel industry. "They'll permit us to have more conventions. We can't hold major conventions here now." Bob Williamson, general manager of the Holiday Inn-Brickell Point, has reservations about the recent flurry of downtown hotel projects, which also include a 605-room Marriott under construction at Plaza Venetia on North Bayshore Drive, and a 500-room Hilton International planned for a site adjacent to the Freedom Tower on Biscayne Boulevard. "You can have too many hotel rooms, " said Williamson, whose hotel has been struggling to establish itself since it opened late last year. "I'm glad the Marriott construction is going slow and the Hilton won't be ready until 1985. But we need new hotels to contribute to the growth of Miami as an international city. Miami can definitely become a meeting center, and I 'm hopeful that we'll be able to handle the bigger conventions." Williamson said he has slashed standard nightly rates from $90 to $54 in an attempt to boost occupancy -- which averaged 42 per cent in 1981 -- to 62 per cent in 1983. The industry's rule of thumb is that a hotel must maintain 65 per cent occupancy to break even. "We're still losing a ton of money, " Williamson said. "We're taking our lumps, but the hotel's not up for sale. "Developer Theodore Gould is confident that downtown Miami badly needs his Pavillon Hotel, the centerpiece of the Miami Center hotel- office-shopping complex going up on Biscayne Boulevard near SE 1st Street. The Pavillon, which Gould rtouts as "the most luxurious hotel in the entire country, " will cater to elite business travelers who he says are willing to pay $95 and up for a room even in lean times. "This will be a business-oriented hotel, but on a much higher level of quality than others downtown, " said Gould, a Washington-based developer building his first hotel. "Our guests will be primarily American and European business travelers. We're not going to be dependent on (Latin American) families coming up to Miami to buy a TV set." Sherwood (Woody) Weiser is another hotel developer who is bullish on Miami. Weiser and partner Donald Lefton are building a 200-room luxury accommodation in Coconut Grove called the Grand Bay Hotel. The hotel, scheduled for completion in mid- 1983, will feature a Regine's nightclub, affiliated with a chic chain that also operates clubs in New York, Paris, Buenos Aires, Montreal and several other cities. "I'm optimistic about the future of the Grove, " said Weiser. "This slump isn't going to last forever. We'll appeal mostly to business travelers who also want the pleasures of the Grove." Weiser and Lefton's Miami-based Continental Companies, which operates hotels throughout the country, also recently expanded the Sheraton River House near Miami International Airport to 410 rooms from 260. Last week, though, the firm sold a 70 per cent interest in the hotel to a California investment company. Continental will continue to manage it. Proprietors of several Miami Beach hotels said they aren't worried about the new downtown hotels because those will serve a different market than the tourist-oriented beach resorts. For the first time, tourism agencies on both sides of the bay have pooled resources to fund a major advertising campaign encouraging northerners to vacation in the Miami area. Last week, American Express and Eastern Airlines joined in with $500,000 between them, raising the pool of advertising funds to $1.2 million. . The ads, which began yesterday in newspapers in New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Chicago, promote a new central reservation service that will arrange hotel accommodations as well as airline flights, sightseeing and cruises.Meanwhile, the Doral Beach Hotel, the Fontainebleau Hilton and the Eden Roc Hotel have teamed up in an advertising campaign of their own aimed at an upscale market, said Joel Gray, Doral executive vice president. For the Fontainebleau, probably Dade's best-known resort hotel, 1982 was the "most successful year in the last four, " manager Surin said. "Revenues in 1982 were a vast improvement over 1981," he said. "We expect 1983 to be a marginal improvement over 1982. " Although Hilton reports its annual revenues, the chain doesn't reveal individual hotels' performance. Surin attributed the Fontainebleau's improved outlook to success in attracting "higher-spending groups" for meetings and conventions at the hotel. "This stems from an improved image of the property that's occurred because of the investment of the Muss organization, " the hotel's owner, Surin said. As a group, Florida hotels haven't kept pace with the national average for industry revenues in recent years. Total hotel revenues rose 9 per cent in 1981, according to a survey by Pannell Kerr Forster. Florida hotels reported a 6.5 per cent gain. "There's more tourist business in Florida, and that's more discretionary, " said Pannell Kerr's Crow. "Tourists are more conscious of rates (than business travelers) , and they're more likely to shorten their stay or stay in a lower-quality hotel. " Hotel revenue figures for 1982 are not available yet. Hoteliers interviewed by The Miami News see the proposed expansion of the Miami Beach Convention Center as essential to revitalization of hotels on both sides of the bay. "We can't accommodate many conventions because our existing facilities aren't big enough, " Cramer said. He said a study of the economic impact of expansion and the means to fund it will be completed in the next two weeks. Cramer said a 1, 600-room hotel proposed for a site adjacent to the center would alleviate a shortage of luxury rooms for conventioneers and help Greater Miami to attract bigger meetings.Amid the flurry of hotel construction and announcements of new projects, some hotels -- mainly older ones in Miami Beach -- have been closing their doors. Occupancy rates in Miami Beach, which tumbled to 40 to 45 per cent last summer, are the lowest in Dade County. Some hotels, such as the Versailles and the Sea Isles, closed last summer for the first time but are reopening for the winter season. Owners of the Castaways Beach Club and the Sheraton Beach Resort, both in Sunny Isles, plan to demolish part of their facilities and build condominium units. Others, such as the Blue Waters and the Lido Spa, have shut down completely because of dwindling business. The push for a 1982 referendum on casino gambling fizzled, but most Miami Beach hoteliers believe that gambling is essential to keep their area vital, said Chuck Kramer, chairman of the Miami Beach Visitor and Convention Authority. "Gambling would unquestionably attract additional business, " said Kramer, who also is managing director of the Shelborne Hotel. Gambling proponents have organized a political action committee to raise money for contributions to candidates, and they may make another effort to put the issue to a vote in 1984. Several hotels, including the Konover and the Eden Roc, are trying to bring more name entertainment acts back to Miami Beach, while the Fontainebleau has begun a musical revue called "Stompin' at LaRonde. " Meanwhile, the Visitor and Convention Authority has scheduled an outdoor concert series. C.W. Cramer, the authority's executive director, said those efforts could help hotels to attract more guests. The South Beach redevelopment plan, stalled for years, could add more hotel rooms and boost tourism if the city can find a developer to undertake the project. Cramer said the authority also is investigating the possibility of developing a theme park that could lure more vacationing families. With the tourism promotions that are under way, the expected easing of the recession and a further improvement of South Florida's image, hoteliers hope to be able to fill the new supply of rooms they'll soon have to offer. CORRECTION A story in the Money tabloid of Dec. 13 incorrectly stated that the Lido Spa Hotel, at 40 Island Ave. on Belle Isle, had closed permanently. The hotel closed for the summer but reopened for the winter season Oct. 24, said general manager Donald Robinson. KEYWORDS: MD MI MB TOURIST STATISTICS CG TAG: 8301070483 CONVENTION BUREAU BOARD ENDORSES CASINO PROPOSAL 10/26/1994 THE MIAMI HERALD Copyright (c) 1994, The Miami Herald DATE: Wednesday, October 26, 1994 EDITION: FINAL SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: 4B LENGTH: 87 lines ILLUSTRATION: photo: Patrick ROBERTS, Thomas KRAMER SOURCE/CREDIT LINE: TOM FIEDLER Herald Political Editor CONVENTION BUREAU BOARD ENDORSES CASINO PROPOSAL The governing board of the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau, which represents nearly 1,100 tourism-related businesses, Tuesday endorsed the proposed constitutional amendment to legalize casino gambling in Florida. The vote came after spokesmen on either side of the controversial issue debated before the board members, but with a surprising twist. Miami Beach Mayor Seymour Gelber, who has been a leading critic of the ballot measure called Proposition 8, told the group that he was not only sympathetic to their concerns about a decline in tourism, but was not adamantly opposed to casino gambling. "You have never heard me say I am against casino gambling. What I am against is this contract," Gelber said, waving a copy of the proposed amendment. He told the crowd, which included several hotel and resort managers, that if any of their lawyers recommended to them that they agree to the proposal's provisions, "you should sue them for malpractice. " Patrick Roberts, who masterminded the campaign to bring the so-called Proposition for Limited Casinos to the Nov. 8 ballot, appeared surprised by Gelber's position.