Hospitality.  Redefined.

The Tampa Tribune Copyright(c) 2004

Hotels On Tap After Drought
DEVELOPER MAKES RETURN WITH 2 HAMPTON INNS

Thursday, April 29, 2004
Edition: FIN, Section: MONEYSENSE, Page 1

By Randy Diamond
rdiamond@tampatrib.com

TAMPA — Hotel developer George Glover's plans to build a 14-story hotel on Harbour Island fell apart when banks pulled his financing after the Sept. 11 attacks, forcing Glover's Baystar Hotel Group to focus on small, limited-service hotels.

Today, banks are in a lending mood again and Glover's back, this time with plans to build two Hampton Inns in the Tampa Bay area.
On Wednesday, Glover's company announced that it will build a $6.5 million, four-story, 75-room Hampton Inn and Suites off Interstate 4 and Mango Road in eastern Hillsborough County.

The other hotel project will be a five-story, 75-room property that will cost $7.5 million, on East Bay Drive in downtown Largo.
Glover's plans fit a national pattern in the hotel industry.

Hotel construction overall has been limited because business and leisure travel slumped after Sept. 11 and economic downturn. Limited-services hotels, which aim for business travelers, have not been affected as much. One reason: they make money.

"They're the most profitable hotels," says Todd Walker, a San Antonio hotel consultant on the limited-service hotel concept.

Walker says such hotels typically charge moderate room rates by offering features business travelers want, such as high-speed Internet connections and fax service, yet only need a small staff because they have limited restaurant service.

Glover, whose Baystar Hotel Group is based in Tampa, says he has found that formula successful when combined with building in emerging growth areas, where competition from other chain hotels is thin.

His company opened a Hampton Inn at Waters Avenue and the Veterans Expressway in Tampa in January 2000, selling it at an undisclosed profit in March 2003. The company also opened a Holiday Inn Express off Anderson Road, near the Veterans Expressway in Tampa in July 2002.

He said feasibility studies for the two new hotels announced Wednesday showed they should be able to obtain an occupancy rate of 68 percent when opened in the first quarter of 2005. That convinced bankers that the hotels were a good investment. He said the hotels will charge $79 to $139 a night.

Limited-services hotels generally break even at 55 percent occupancy.

Glover says the hotel east of Tampa will be close to the Lazy Days RV Center, the world's largest repair and servicing facility for recreational vehicles, so Glover expects the hotel to attract guests who are having vehicles serviced and need somewhere to stay overnight.

Copyright © 2004, The Tampa Tribune, Republished with permission

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