I tell you it’s alot of fun to write about the hotel industry and its going on’s. There is always so much happening – and likewise, there is always a twist in every turn in the industry. Thats what keeps it so fascinating.

Well thanks for keeping with me thus far – there will be more to come.

-Andrew

I hope that everyone has enjoyed my outlook into real estate and hotel development, and I hope that you are able to grasp my passion and love for the field throughout the year.

2008 was a difficult year in the real estate and hotel industry, myself even falling victim to it by the number of job opportunities I had dwindling down to none.

I hope that 2009 will be better than 2008 – and I hope that everyones dreams and wishes come true, including my own wish to get hired at Starwood Capital.

Best wishes for a great 2009!

-Andrew

andrew@alconic-inc.com

I hope everyone voted today. I know I did – went at 6:30AM in fact! Beat my parents who gave me a wake up call at 7 to remind me to vote. I think they were surprised that I had already gone and came back!

In any case, I’m not going to say who I voted for or pick sides on this blog – that’s not what I want this post to be about, plus, I had a huge argument with my parents over the past few days on why they planned to vote for who they did. Then I received emails from them up until 11PM last night trying to get me to switch! I don’t want other people to spend their time arguing with me on politics – thats not what this blog is about.

I just hope that who ever does win really has the country’s best interests in hand and isn’t corrupt or lives to the expectation that every other politician ends up doing (helping primarily themselves).

America is a great country – with an election this close, and two sides that are as adamant as they are, you have to pause and think about how there is no civil unrest, and that tomorrow – no matter who wins, the military wont be patrolling our streets to curb riots. There are not too many countries in this world who can say the same.

My hope for the president that gets elected to quickly (and safely) end our involvement in Iraq – freeing up billions of dollars in federal spending that can be better spent here; allowing troops who have been overseas  for two, three or four tours to come home. To build up America’s standing in the world again – we’ve taken quite a beating over the past few years due to our current President. And lastly, my hope is that our President is a very hands on President – that he picks individuals who are qualified for their positions and for him to be a guiding force for our country and the world – not a bunch of yes men and women who will do what the highest donor wants.

andrew@alconic-inc.com

After running this blog for a little over a year – and then a slow period over the last few months, I’ve decided to go full force and post to the blog like I used too. I’m still just as passionate about the hotel and hotel development industry, and still attempting to prove myself to Starwood Capital, and even though the economy isn’t great right now – it’s opening up so many avenues for investing in distressed real estate and hotels over the next few years.

So due to my continuing goal, i decided to do a little housekeeping and sprucing up – If you’ved noticed, my blog now has it’s own .com! Please update your bookmarks to http://www.passionsofazealot.com so that you can get to my blog faster – but the old blog and all of the links or bookmarks pointing to a page with the old address will continue to work.

In addition to the new domain name, I’ve made some changes to the layout of the blog – including a Featured area, where the 4 most important articles (in my opinion) will be posted. I’ve also reconfigured the categories of the posts into a few main categories, that can be selected from the top of the page and then underneath them additional categories - don’t worry though, all of the old categories are still there.

One thing that I’m continuing to do is not display ads on this site, it’s never been my intention to make money off of this blog, and I’m sure everyone agrees that most ads (especially Google’s AdWords) look tacky and ugly. My intention for this blog was for it to be an informative blog and for the public to catch my excitement and energy for hotels and hotel development and its my hope that everyone is able to feel that excitement, just like I do.

I hope you enjoy the new look – and please feel free to leave your comments here, or via email at andrew@alconic-inc.com

Thanks for joining me!

andrew@alconic-inc.com

Follow me! http://twitter.com/poaz

I’m planning on using Twitter to talk about hotel development/hotel industry things that I hear or see but don’t deserve a full post or article. I hope that you can follow along!

What is Twitter?

Well, if you are not sure, it’s a little difficult to describe..

Pretty much, its a way to send quick updates about anything to people who “follow” you. How do you follow someone? Subscribe (aka “follow”) someone by visiting their twitter page – and clicking on the “Follow” link..

Yea – its a bit difficult to understand – but it is all the rage now.

andrew@alconic-inc.com

If you are not familiar with The Real Deal, it’s one of the best publications I’ve seen if you have any type of interest in New York City real estate (commercial and residential). If you are just interested in it and are just on the sidelines – it’s very informative. If you are a wheeler and dealer in NYC Real Estate – it should be an integral part of your reading list every month. Unfortunately it’s very difficult to find it inside NYC (I’ve only found it on two newsstands within Union Square Park, and that’s after searching over 20-30 newsstands on the street, in the subway stations, and even a few Borders and Barnes and Nobles. If you are outside of NYC – forget it, either buy a subscription or view the magazine online.

They have one other issue – for South Florida, and I’m sure in the future they will expand to other locals as well.

Here is a link to the article: Big Hotels Go Boutique, Better Hedge Against Crunch?

andrew@alconic-inc.com

I wanted to put down my thoughts on this – even though it really has nothing to do with Real Estate or Hotels, it has to do with branding, so my underlying point of this post can easily be translated over to the hotel industry.

What differentiates Company A from Company B? Branding.  It’s what will set you apart from the rest and hopefully make the customer search out for your product. This is especially prevalent when the customer KNOWS your product is inferior vs the competition, yet still buys your product because of the brand. Sad, but true, and just goes to show the power of branding over our subconscious.

New WalMart logo to be reveled this week

This week Walmart is due to announce that they are going to be changing their logo for the first time since they opened their doors in 1962. That says a lot for the Walmart brand, mainly that it is so powerful that it hasn’t really needed to update its look as time has gone on, similar to Coke, Ford & GE. There are really very very few companies who have been leaders (or close to being the leader) in their industry for decades and do not update their logo – a logo is something that sticks in the consumers mind, so unless its a very minor variation, its a big deal for a company to change the logo – they are throwing out all the subconscious awareness that has been built up time after time.

But sometimes – the best thing a company can do is to change their logo.

Previous Walmart Logo & Slogans

Walmart’s slogan throughout the 80s & 90s

Walmart’s new slogan starting in 2007

I think that’s the position that Walmart is in.

Walmart is a unique company in that it’s both loved and hated by a lot of people, yet the reason its loved and hated is usually a contradiction – some people only do their shopping at Walmart, due to its low prices and high selection, some people refuse to shop at Walmart because they feel Walmart doesn’t treat their employees fairly, and that WalMart does more harm to the economy than helps it – via running mom and pop shops out of town, to forcing major manufacturers to lower prices, forcing them to lower wages or look for alternative means for produce the goods. And some people dislike Walmart, yet shop there anyway because there is no other choice where the live! (Anyone remember back in the late 80′s early 90′s when Walmart was all about “Made In America”? You cannot find one single solitary sign in Walmart anymore about Made In America… That should tell you something)

What I think is the ultimate contradiction of Walmart are the stores located in the rural areas of America. Since Walmart offers products so inexpensively, they have forced a lot of the mom and pop, smaller chain stores and out of business. But what happens to the residents worked at those mom and pop stores? Now their only option is to work at Walmart – the place that caused them to lose their job. Only there are two problems.. #1 Walmart doesn’t need that many employees, and #2 Walmart pays less than their former job, and offers less benefits.

So tell me – who wins? Walmart does more harm than good in that case – and it’s something that’s been repeated throughout America.

Walmart is currently on the cusp of still being thought of as a cheap place to shop, cheap meaning the quality is poor, and the service is poorer so in order for them to take the next step in their growth – they need to get rid of that stigma, to reach new, higher wealth customers.

The first way to do that is to make the brand more inviting, by making an individuals first interaction make everyone feel warm and comfy inside. There is no scientific method as to how this is achieved, its simply a a lot of feedback, alterations and a lot of back and forth. Which font is used, what color is used, will there be a graphic, will it offend people, will it remind people of either another brand, or symbol? There’s a lot too it.

I know my question about the new logo is what exactly is that on the right? Supposedly it’s a sunburst, but why? Why add a symbol that really doesn’t have anything to do with what your company is or does? While looking for more information about the new logo I came across a website called “AlmostDesign” who created a new logo for Walmart (I believe it was an unofficial project – something he did on his own time). Personally I think this logo is better than the official Walmart redesign! (Except for the colors) The circle around the W is a great design element – and just that a design element, not a symbol of a sunburst which really has nothing to do with the Walmart brand.

Walmart Logo by AlmostDesign

Even though I’m not too sure what to think of the sunburst symbol, I’m still excited to see this new branding to be rolled out to Walmart stores throughout the country. The one thing that always drives me crazy about Walmart is how cheap their signage is and how it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. For example the Walmart by my house, was built only a few years ago, yet the sign on the street is at the top of a pole, with two spotlights hanging off the side of the pole providing illumination at night, the signs on the building are just letters with once again – spot lights illuminating it. No backlit signage like pretty much every single solitary other business in the world has. I understand that Walmart tries to do things as least expensive as possible to save on costs, but don’t be cheap on the first thing that people see as they enter the property! It will leave a bad impression on their mind before they even set foot in the building, and even though a lot of it is subconscious it still makes an impact on the customer.

Will this new branding change the course of Walmart’s future? No, there is more to it than that, and I think its very difficult to put a dollar number on how much additional business has been gained because of new branding – but it has the power to change the subconscious – which is the most important part of branding.

andrew@alconic-inc.com

As I think we’ve all discovered if you read my blog often – I started this blog as a means to get hired at Starwood Capital (or Starwood Hotels), but primarily – Starwood Capital. Last week was the NYU Hotel Investment Conference and Barry Sternlicht was part of a round-table discussion, and was interviewed in a number of financial & hotel industry press.

I came across one interview that an Editor at Smith Travel Research wrote about which perfectly explained:

1. Why I think Starwood Capital is a force not to be discounted
2. Why I want to work with Barry Sternlicht & Starwood Capital
3. How my passions can be set free (so to speak)

For those wondering where Starwood Hotels comes in – it is based on alot of the same premises that Starwood Capital is based on – has the same bones I believe..

But back to Starwood Capital -

Here’s what excited me the most about Starwood, and in one sentence summed up everything, Barry Sternlicht was asked “Who is waiting for your new hotel brands” (Meaning what type of people are waiting for Baccarat, 1 Hotel, Crillon to open). His response?

“Nobody is. There is no need for new hotels. But there is a need for new experiences.”

Barry hit that right on target – new experiences is something that will always keep people coming back, it will keep your brand(s) fresh, and always keep the hotels busy. New experiences can be anything – from something that your senses pick up as you walk into the hotel or your hotel room, from the interactions that you receive from the staff – each and every time you set foot in the hotel, or a new way of doing business.

New experiences excite me, they make me want to wake up in the morning – because what experience will I have today? I want to be a part of creating those experiences, and for a company that believes it and actually walks the talk that’s admirable.

And thats what makes me want to work at Starwood Capital.

andrew@alconic-inc.com

As of now I have a bunch of articles on the burner – and I’m hoping that I’ll be able to get one out every day or two starting tomorrow..

Here are some of the topics that I’m working on right now (in no order):

• 1 Hotel Scottsdale
• Baccarat Wailea
• Starwood’s Element/Aloft Updates
• Aloft Charleston/National Harbor
• Sheraton Revitalization
• Why Starwood Hotels Will Always Succeed
• Why Spas, Bars and other Services are becoming so important to hotels
• Philadelphia Hotel Development Information
• Stephen Starr

So my apologies for those who have been missing my postings – I’ve been missing it too! One of the most important aspects to having a successful blog is frequent writings. Not necessarily every day, not necessarily on a set schedule – but often enough so that you always quench the appetite.

Stay tuned!

-Andrew

andrew@alconic-inc.com

One of the most important things for any brand in the world is good public relations. According to Wikipedia Public Relations is:

…the management of internal and external communication of an organization to create and maintain a positive image. Public relations involves popularizing successes, downplaying failures, announcing changes, and many other activities.

Any comapny big or small should realize the importance of public relations, and thus, those who make up the public relations department should always be well versed on what they are talking about and most importantly be plesant to deal with – even if its a touchy subject, at the least they should be polite.

While writing this blog I’ve come into contact with a number of public relations representatives from a number of different companies – development firms, hotel companies, and just other comapnies I have mentioned throughout the blog. Some have complimented my work, and thanked me for writing positively about who they represent, others have written to offer clarification on an issue, and some have pointed out some blatent mistakes on my part. As has always been my policy, if anyone – a pr representative or a normal reader of my blog writes to me about a factual error, I have absoultely no issue with correcting the error, making note that its been corrected at the top of the post and the moving on. The last thing I want is to be discredited because of incorrect information, and then be stubborn enough to not acknowledge my mistake.

A few weeks back I was contacted by a member of the PR team of one of the major hotel firms (its one of the following: IHG, Marriott, Hilton, Wyndham, Hyatt, I wont say which one because I really really dislike being negative in this blog) and I was instantly taken back by what they said.

The email subject started out with the word “Wrong” – instant negative word, and a horrible way to start off an email, because the reader will instantly be on the defensive. Then the subject of the email proceeded to tell me about a fact I stated in one of my blog posts was incorrect, and pointed me to a website where I would see my mistake. The problem? My blog post wasnt wrong, and the website they pointed me to for the correct information said the exact same thing I said in the blog post!

I was livid that a member of this worldwide hotel firm would correct me on something when if they actually read my post, they would realize it was correct. Not only that, but the tonality they used was absolutely rude. I dont know if its due to the fact that I’m a lowly blog poster who they feel they dont need to respect, vs the New York Times, or if the company made a mistake hiring this person.

I was going to write a nasty email back, but then i said, nope, let me kill them with kindness.

So responded back with:

“Hey [redacted]! Thanks so much for the email! Can you tell me how I am wrong, since the link you emailed me says the same as my blog post!”

Within two minutes I recieved a response:

“I thought you construed [redacted] wrong. Mistake”

Wow. Talk about short, and rude. I’m probably making a big deal about nothing – but I hope that at least someone out who reads this takes this into consideration the next time they send an email out. Never begin an email subject line in a negative tone, make sure that you are correct before you accuse someone of something, and last, but defintely not least. A PR team is supposed to put out fires and/or prevent them – not create them, and leave a bad taste in someones mouth like this one did..

andrew@alconic-inc.com