Travel Industry

Last month, I sat through a training session with Walt Disney where the rep assured travel agents that the Mouse’s empire is NOT a discounter, doesn’t want to gain a reputation as a discounter, and therefore and the special price cuts we’ve seen this year would not continue in the future.

Disney magic

Approximately a week later, I received notice of slashed hotel prices at Walt Disney World this October. 

They followed this with news the cruise line would offer an Alaska itinerary in 2010, which is in line with the upscale image.

Now today, Disney has announced it will scale back the Adventures by Disney guided tour program next year, saying good-bye to Spain, Austria and the Czech Republic altogether. Apparently, selling $6,500 per person safaris eluded even the magical world of Disney these days. Here in 2009, the division offered 429trips to 17 countries. Next year, that will be reduced to 272 trips, or a 40 percent drop.

The scary part? According to the Orlando Sentinel, Disney says ventures such as Adventures By Disney is a great feeder business for the all-mighty parks dollars because it introduces the brands to consumers in new markets. Adventures’ tours require little capital investment — Disney contracts out for services during its tours, rather than building its own infrastructure — so it generates relatively high returns.

If that the case, then just what is the financial sense behind buying 2 4,000-passenger ships and hotel resorts in Washington D.C. and Hawaii? Not to mention investments in upgrading Castaway Cay and its Port Canaveral terminal.

Adventures says it will add more trips if the demand materializes. If the theme parks are any barometer, they might need to rethink that  price cut philosophy across the board to fill the capacity they have.

Photographer: Julie Sturgeon

Orlando’s hospitality industry is gearing up for some shock and awe. D-day is Oct 1, 2009, when Hilton unleashes the awesome power of it’s Bonnet Creek Resort development.

Hilton Bonnet Creek Resort

Bonnet Creek is the most sought after and ideally located property in Orlando, surrounded on three sides by the Walt Disney World Resort, with Epcot and Downtown Disney as neighbours, 20 minutes from Orlando International Airport.

And in the midst of this 482 acre paradise with it’s own wildlife and wetland preserve, Hilton has built two magnificent properties – Waldorf Astoria Orlando and Hilton Bonnet Creek.

That’s 1497 guest rooms and suites, 150,000 square feet of meeting space, three ballrooms totalling 71,400 sq ft, a spectacular convention center, a Rees Jones-designed Waldorf Astoria Golf Club with a stunning 18-hole golf course, a 24,000 sq ft Waldorf Astoria Spa by Guerlain, and a private island retreat.

The Waldorf Astoria Orlando – the first Waldorf Astoria outside of New York City – offers 497 deluxe rooms and suites, signature Waldorf Astoria food and beverage establishments, a formal swimming pool with private cabanas, recreation pool, and a 4000 sq ft fitness center. And use of the resort facilities mentioned above.

Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek Pool & Waldorf Astoria Orlando Bedroom

The Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek is twice as big, with 1000 rooms and suites (36 Hospitality Suites and 2 Presidential Suites), six distinct dining options, and a two-acre lagoon-style pool. Its outdoor venues include Bonnet Creek Island, a private retreat ideal for cocktails or storybook weddings.

In addition to this, Hilton’s first wave hits Orlando one month early in September, in the form of the 1,400 room Hilton Orlando next to the Orange County/Orlando Convention Center.

The hotel is the first one to be connected directly to the convention center, and offers 200,000 sq ft of meeting space and services on two floors including a 50,000 square foot Orlando Ballroom, a 30,000 square foot Orange Ballroom and 21 meeting rooms, 9 boardrooms, registration areas and a complete and accessible business center.

That makes for a total of three hotels with 2897 rooms, all the resort and meetings facilities, plus the enviable locations.

It would be hard to find such a massive launch, even in Vegas. And unlike Vegas, both the Bonnet Creek resort and Hilton Orlando have an aura of success and seem to be teflon-coated against the economic downturn. While other new hotels and resorts struggle to stay afloat, Hilton is heading for a takeover of Orlando’s hospitality industry.

Hilton has had a torrid time these past few months, what with the criticism over the mismanaged shift of their corporate headquarters from Beverly Hills to Fairfax, VA, and the legal and PR fallout over the Denizen fiasco. But with the opening of Bonnet Creek, all that pain goes away, and Hilton will be back on it’s game.

Disney World is about to get some serious competition as Florida’s premier theme park, as Florida may soon be home to the second Legoland theme park in the US.

Legoland Model Builder

Merlin Entertainment Group Inc., the company that designs Legoland, is said to be doing research on building an entire new theme park in central Florida.

The latest round of chatter was triggered by Screamscape, which reported that one of it’s readers was asked to participate in a survey where the questions “were all about building Legoland Florida, which would be based on the basic design and layout of the Legoland California park, and feature about 50 different rides and attractions.”

The location mentioned for the park was in Winter Haven near Cypress Gardens, about an hour’s drive south of Disney. Some mainstream news organizations followed up on the chatter, and a local NBC affiliate WESH TV got confirmation from a Legoland Spokesperson that Merlin Entertainment was indeed looking into a theme park in central Florida.

And now a few other locations are also being bandied about now, including near Old Town in Kissimee and another spot on the grounds of a failed amusement park, Splendid China, which is located just a few minutes off Disney.

Legoland California

Legoland has three parks in Europe and only one theme park in the US, in Carlsbad, California, just off San Diego, where it charges $63 for an adult ticket and $53 for children.

They’re trying to change the focus of Legoland California from a theme park for day-trips into an attraction where visitors can stay overnight. And to this end, they recently got permission from Carlsbad’s planning commission to build a 250 room Lego-themed hotel within the grounds.

Stands to reason that if they go ahead with the plans for Legoland Florida, it will be the full package – with a Legoland theme park and a hotel and other resort facilities.

That pits them in direct competition with Disney World, and has the potential to trigger some big changes in Orlando’s theme park landscape, including possibly a major price war which would likely spread out to include the companies’ parks in California.

Marco Island Mariott Resort & Spa

He suffered severe and permanent brain damage, as a result of the fall. His lawsuit states that the bartender knowingly served alcohol to Fenton even though he was already intoxicated, and the same thing had happened the previous day.

According to Naples News, “Fenton is seeking damages for injuries, pain and suffering, mental anguish, disfigurement, hospital expenses, medical and nursing care treatment, loss of earnings and the ability to earn money, loss of the ability to enjoy life, and aggravation of a previously existing condition..”

Michael Fenton’s case is not an isolated incident. On December 20, 2007, two police officers in Lexington, KY broke up a large fight at a holiday party at the Crowne Plaza-Campbell House. Officer Randall Combs injured his shoulder and Officer Derrick Wallace dislocated his thumb. They filed a lawsuit in December,  2008 against Crowne Plaza and Shepherd Communications Inc., the company that threw the party, for for serving too much alcohol.

Are individual police officers allowed to file lawsuits if they get injured in the line of duty? I don’t know, but if it catches on, there’s a lot of people going to sign up to join the police force and get themselves injured.

And it’s not just about excess alcohol. Bedbug lawsuits are one of the easiest ways to win a judgment against a hotel. A number of New York motels, where bedbugs are far more widespread than in other cities, have simply closed down rather than risk a lawsuit. Hoteliers today are facing lawsuits for everything from sprinklers to carpets.

Svetlana & Yuriy Orishchenko, from Brooklyn, NY paid $20,000 to get married on August 9 2008 in an outdoor ceremony at the Hilton Garden Inn in Staten Island, NY. Swetlana was halfway down the aisle with her parents when the sprinklers went off (accidentally), and soaked the wedding guests. After 15 to 20 minutes, the wedding resumed and went off without further incident. The hotel management did whatever they could to lessen the damage, with clean towels, offers to take the dresses to the cleaners, and even offered the couple $5,000 as compensation. But the Orishchenkos filed a lawsuit early this year, and they want $300,000.

During the Golden Globe Awards recently held at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, CA, Monica Matulich, who runs a PR company, took a fall on the red carpet. In a lawsuit filed in L.A. County Superior Court, she’s suing the Beverly Hilton Hotel, AOL Time Warner, Time Inc., In Style Magazine, Tom Ford Design and American Turf and Carpet.

If you find this interesting, then you might want to read this and this.

Photo courtesy Marco Island Marriott Beach Resort.