Hotels cut staff, costs to cope with downturn - Dayton Business Journal:

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The metro Orlando hotel industryshed 2,800p jobs— a 5.5 percent drop — during the 12 monthzs ended in April, said the . The region’zs average hotel occupancy fellto 57.2 percen in the first week of June, down 11.7 percenty from the same week last year, accordinfg to Smith Travel Orlando’s revenue per available room, the key measure of hotep financial performance, fell 9.5 percentr to $60.08. Further, in a survey of 15 hotels, the Orlando/ $26 million were cancelefd in first-quarter 2009, costinfg the hotels 146,000 room nightx of business.
“The fallout from our nationap economic decline is resulting in fewet jobs and less hours for lodgingindustry employees,” said Rich Maladecki, president of the . “Employees who workexd 40 or 50 hours a week when a lot of meetingw were coming to town mighf work 20 or 25 hours withoutthe meetings.” Some hotelsw blame the economy for their decisiobn to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this including Spartanburg, S.C.-based Extended Stay Hotels, whicn operates 15 Orlando-area hotels, and Efficient Engineerz Inc., owner of the 300-room on McCoy Meanwhile, other hotels have reducede room rates dramatically to compete for business. In Orlando-area rates were 13.
5 percent lower than in the same montylast year, with the priciest hotels reportinhg the biggest drop, said Smityh Travel Research. “Rates could take three to seven yearzs to returnto pre-recession levels,” Maladecki said. Ron manager of the 2,000-room , said his gianr resort is doing its best to teacj workersnew skills, but still eliminated nearly 100 positions. He also has stoppef hiring foreign workers who traineed atthe hotel. “We normallty have 70 international workers a If we hired 11 peoplethis year, I would be surprised. We used to hire that many in a Hotels have a daunting task in cutting costs withoutg theircustomers noticing.
The World Center Marriott is one ofthe region’sd biggest meeting hotels, with 450,0009 square feet of conferences space. When that space is largelyg empty, the hotel closes restaurants in areasthat aren’t beinhg used. In addition, its room s are in four towers, whic can be closed to adjusy to demand. “These stepsa mean cost savings,” McAnaugh said. “With our newer we are able to shut it raise the temperature setpoint and control the air which really saves onenerguy use.” McAnaugh said the 1,200-person stafvf is down about 10 percent, and some workers are performiny tasks previously done by contractors.
And the hoteol is looking for small ways to cut For instance, it recently reduced the size of its flowefr beds slightly, cutting maintenance and plant costs. He said guestzs hardly noticedthe change. Similadr changes are taking place at near Downtown General Manager Greg Hauenstein said the staff has been cut by abougt100 workers, or 12 percent, includingg about a dozen management jobs. And work schedulesa have been rolled back from 40 hours to 32 hoursa week. “It keeps people Staffing is always contingent on the occupancy level of a The hotelis re-evaluating all expenses.
It also renegotiatexd contracts with suppliers and service companies and redeployed itsown “We do a tremendous amountr of cross-training,” Hauenstein said. “People who work in the officee can work a shift as a cashier at abanquetg event, for example, giving them extra Like other hotels, it opens and closes restaurants accordin g to demand. And it uses a variety of promotions toattract customers. But despite the efforts, the hotel is bracing for a slow recovery. “uI think this will be an extendeddown period,” Hauensteinj said. “I don’t see any significangt growth cominguntil 2011.
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