It was May 1993, and Hotel Business had been in business a year. The May 21-June 6 issue celebrated the first anniversary of the magazine…
…which was launched during what was one of the worst recessions to hit the hotel industry. Yet, here we all are 25 years later.
Hotel Business, in the words of its founders, was started “to address the very real issues of the industry”—challenges and pitfalls included. Not just the surface issues and the glam, but the daily grind of business in the life of the hotelier.
Some of the “real” issues that affected the industry during the publication’s first year in business (May 1992- May 1993) included the following:
• The effect of bed taxes on occupancy
• The fees and services of management companies as they sped toward consolidation
• The complications of ADA compliance
• The new generation of timeshare properties
• State-by-state legislative issues affecting the hospitality industry
• The growing significance of third-party reservation services and 800 portability
• The push for high-tech, high-touch GMs in complex economic times, rewriting job requirements to extend beyond mere operational skills
Furthermore, Hotel Business explained how the INTRICO partnership was falling apart at the seams (a partnership struggling to develop a reservations network for Marriott, Hilton and other travel companies); covered when HFS went public and when Holiday Inn sued the State of Iowa over a new franchising law; and investigated the potential disaster the industry faced with President Bill Clinton’s economic program.
Hotel Business also followed the pulse of national news and the impact that major events had on the hotel industry, such as:
• The Rebuild L.A. Plan, which was developed to repair the damage caused by the L.A. riots
• How playwright Elliott Tiber was on a one-man crusade to free self-proclaimed Hotel Queen Leona Helmsley from prison
• The gathering of Miami hoteliers to create a major marketing campaign to convince tourists that South Florida was ready for a return to tourism after the devastation of Hurricane Andrew
Here are some headlines from that first year, as they appeared in their original format:
