Originally Posted by
JBord
This is fascinating to me, and I'm sure you're correct. Sometimes this type of data might be right and sometimes it won't.
I happen to live in a Chicago zip code that has low-income housing, very high-priced single family homes (very typical to see over $2M), and also attracts a lot of people in their 20's. Yet, as I've mentioned earlier, I've stayed in nearly every Marriott brand over the last 15 years. The bulk of my stays are CY, FS Marriott, Rens, RI, Sheraton, and Westin because those usually fall into a reasonable range for my employer. But also RC, JW, St. Regis, etc. If Marriott does this, I wonder how they categorize me?
Marriott and Salesforce are doing their best to develop a system that categorizes you and your activities to tailor the experience.
https://www.salesforce.com/company/n...018/04/180426/
But Google ... gives me ads in different languages, and Facebook (which I generally avoid) is obviously confused about my ethnicity ...
Originally Posted by
MSPeconomist
I wonder how W bar and nightclub revenue is counted in these numbers. That's obviously a big difference compared to Courtyard. However, in some Ws, the bar/club seems to be operated by an independent tenant, while others are part of the hotel's operations. [It would be difficult to envision a pool bar as just a tenant sharing the swimming pool area.]
Similarly, in the Houston example (a market I don't know well), perhaps the JW has more/larger restaurants or perhaps its location makes guests more likely to eat in the hotel's own F&B outlets. Or maybe the JW just has some sorporate contracts involving high spending guests with liberal expense accounts policies. (Does anyone remember Enron?)
It's only RevPAR, which just considers room revenue, so not the bar/restaurant. So, its interesting that the JW in Houston has a higher RevPAR relative to the St.R or Four Seasons in the same town. I'm hesitant to speculate on the income/net worth of their typical guests ... lol ... but I don't see many people packing coolers or sharing rooms in any of those three. The numbers are current in the study -- can't remember if its 4Q18 or 1Q19.
I agree with BHR that there is additional spend although its hard to say as people don't always eat and drink at the hotel in which they stay.
And CY,s (and competitors) despite the absence of significant F&B revenue are generally more profitable than the full service properties. Room service and restaurants are often money losers which are why limited service properties are getting more investment.
Originally Posted by
MSPeconomist
I agree with you on Minneapolis and Hong Kong, but I wasn't impressed at all by Scottsdale, including the location.
The Minneapolis W is nice. I took your recommendation and stayed there on a couple of recent trips. It is nice space, had a great upgrade, the bar was nice, and the adjacent steakhouse for breakfast was also excellent. I recommend it and will stay there again.
But ... many of the guests staying there were obviously entry level salespeople for an energy drink company that was having a sales meeting there (the t-shirts, signs, and stocked refrigerators by the elevators were giveaways)
I have mixed feelings on Scottsdale -- I've been regularly lied to at the front desk, they have downgraded my booked room twice from the room I booked, told me they have some information on guest status but don't look at it, and they don't keep any space at the pool for guests. I've only complained to a GM twice in the past 300 nights and the previous one at Scottsdale didn't respond to my voicemail or email. But, the location is usually perfect for where I need to be and they have a new GM who seems more engaged. Since they have a new GM, he has upgraded the plat breakfast and I've had my only suite upgrades there so I'm going back since he seems to be trying to turn things around.