WHAT IS IT?

What weighs about the same as a fully loaded Boeing 747, requires 2 acres to park it, costs $10M, takes 10 months to construct and requires roughly 27,000 different things to be placed inside of it before it can take off?

You guessed it, a 100 room new construction Hotel Equities select service hotel.

When we built our first hotel, I was amazed to learn about all of the FF&E [furniture, fixtures and equipment] as well as other operating supplies and material that needed to be purchased and then placed into a new hotel before opening [I admit that I guessed at the number 27,000 but I bet I’m close]. I had managed numerous hotels, but my mind had been on operations of the existing asset and not on the attention to detail that is necessary to develop, construct and then open one.

Our first hotel was the Alpharetta, GA Fairfield Inn and Suites which opened on May 17, 1995. I remember that date well because May 17th is my oldest daughter Rachael’s birthday.

I recall my conversation with the General Contractor about how long it was going to take to build and how many rain days he had built into his assumptions. He said that it would take approximately 10 months to construct and that he had allowed for 29 “rain days” in his projections. We broke ground on July 1, 1994 and it proceeded to rain in Alpharetta for the next 29 days straight.

I thought at first that we had been jinxed, but have since come to learn that we had indeed been blessed. The FFI&S-Alpharetta has been one of Hotel Equities’ most successful hotels in corporate history. In fact, a number of our current Coaches and General Managers received their start with our company or have spent some time working at this great property. With an approximate employee to room count of I to 4 and a far lower than industry standard of management and associate turnover, this property has seen its share of talented hotel people.

Dolly Parton once said, “If you want to see a rainbow, you have to put up with some rain”.

I’m thankful for the rain.