Hotel Consulting Firm

CLEARWATER, Jan. 27, 2012 — There are over 1,200 Holiday Inn hotels worldwide. It's a trusted brand, one that manages to balance reliable business amenities with reasonable rates. While this combination is certainly popular amongst its clientele, let's face it, the Holiday Inn brand is not very sexy, even if it is known as "America's Favorite Hotel." So, you might find it interesting that, as part of an overhaul of its hotels, a rather innovative new concept space, called “The Hub,” was introduced. This year, the Holiday Inn St. Petersburg/Clearwater International Airport introduced the 24-hour gathering space guests are calling “The Atrium.” This frequent area combines the communal spirit of an informal meeting space with perks such as a lobby sports bar and restaurant, “Aviator’s” — complete with big screens, pool table, darts and signature cocktails — free Wifi and Chef offerings until later in the evening. READ MORE

TAMPA, Jan. 1, 2012 — (written by Adrianne Robert of H.I. Development) The age of Social Media is upon us… whether you like it or not. Thanks to Smartphones taking a spike in 2010 and Apple introducing the iPad, most of the Baby Boomers have taken a backseat and let Generation Y steer the road to Facebook check-ins, FourSquare badges and YouTube thumbs up/down. Don’t know what I am talking about? This may seem all petty and overwhelming to an outsider, but for professional young adults this could be the advantage they are looking for in the current economy slump. According to an latimes.com article, employers are liking – and hiring – Social Media workers. The standard job description includes identifying a Social Media profile for the company’s Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, WordPress, Manta, FourSquare, Flickr and review sites such as Yelp, TripAdvisor and Urbanspoon to name a few. What this means for hoteliers and service industry companies, is that you need a strong “socializing” network presence. READ MORE

CLEARWATER, Dec. 6, 2011 — Brett Wilkins, of BreneCo Productions' YouTube Channel, filmed and edited an informative visual tour of the Holiday Inn St. Petersburg / Clearwater International Airport on Dec. 6, 2011. Creative Marketing Manager of H.I. Development's Adrianne Robert says, "We wanted to capture the essence of our hotel's new look after the renovations and independent website launch. Our customers also needed to see a perspective from the service point-of-view, and I believe Mr. Wilkins did a great job capturing these moments on film."
SEE VIDEO HERE

CLEARWATER, Sept. 29, 2011 — Competing in the travel market on Ulmerton Road in Clearwater, Florida, the Holiday Inn St. Petersburg/Clearwater International Airport has launched an independent website on Monday, September 26, 2011. With sharp images and bold colors, the Holiday Inn’s new site is coded in XHTML, CSS, Javascript and JQuery, which can be viewed on any iPhone, Android, iPad and Blackberry.

The focus of this website is to generate more internet-savvy clientele and dedicate Search Engine Optimization (SEO) hits over their hotel competitors in the Carillon area. Unlike the standard display of hotel brand websites, Holiday Inn hopes to enhance the customer’s experience and interactive time spent on each page, generating more booking nights and social awareness.

General Manager of Holiday Inn, Bob Sauerwine, commented, “We have everything a traveler would want; Great rates, completely remodeled floor plan and a friendly staff. This hotel just needed a website that could portray all of that.” READ MORE

ST. AUGUSTINE, Aug. 29, 2011 — With everyone's generous assistance, Holiday Isle Oceanfront Resort in St. Augustine raised over $5,000 for Give Kids the World and Surfers for Autism. The event began with a pool party, 25 silent auctions, frequent raffles and separate raffle for a basket stuffed with goodies worth $500. Give Kids The World is a non-profit organization that exists only to fulfill the wishes of all children with life-threatening illnesses and their families from around the world to experience a memorable, joyful, cost-free visit to the Central Florida attractions, and to enjoy the magic of Give Kids The World Village for as long as there is a need.

LAKELAND, July 30, 2011 — The SPCA in Lakeland reports its recent event "Rockin' for the Animals" was a tremendous success, with more than 120 people in attendance. Performers included Finesse and the Las Vegas Sound Brass, Stan Prinston, Bill Castner, Richie Merritt, Ken Brady's Casinos, Bobby Palmero, and Jelvis.

Overall, the event made more than $3,000 for the SPCA, an increase over last year's total. Organizers of the event say the success was thanks to the hard work of The Avenue Hotel, Lakeland's staff and promotions by Hall Communications, especially WONN's Jim Hendrix.

ST. AUGUSTINE, June 14, 2011 - The top eleven tourism employees in St. Johns County were honored at ceremonies conducted as part of a Tourism State of the Union Address presented at the Renaissance Resort at World Golf Village. The eleven finalists for the honor of Tourism Employee of the Year were selected from among the 11,000 people employed in the tourism industry in St. Johns County.

In the lodging category, Nellie Ott-White from the sales department at the Holiday Isle Oceanfront Resort in St. Augustine Beach was named as the 2011 Tourism Employee of the Year. Her career in the hospitality industry began many years ago at the Ponce de Leon Golf and Conference Resort. For the past 17 years, she has been a member of the sales department at Holiday Isle where she has excelled at making group planning so easy that they return year after year. Many meeting planners ask specifically for "Miss Nellie." Her co-workers insist Nellie's enthusiasm can be felt throughout the resort.

LAKELAND, Jan. 5, 2011 - After 42 years as a Holiday Inn franchise, H.I. Development (the owners of the Holiday Inn Lakeland-South) have decided to take a bold, new approach and become The Avenue Hotel Lakeland. The name change took effect on Dec. 27, 2010.

Even the restaurant is getting a new name and an updated menu. La Dolce Vita is now Ruby’s at the Avenue. Their slogan is “comfort on a plate” and just as that slogan suggests, the menu will be packed with southern, comfort food. Not to be confused with Southern Comfort food.

Director of Sales Carl Stutzman says there’s a new name, but it’s “still the same great stay.” The Avenue Hotel Lakeland is located at 3405 S. Florida Ave. It has 171 rooms, and other facilities include a conference room, as well as a banquet room that holds up to 75 people.

CLEARWATER, Aug. 23, 2010 - The Clearwater Regional Chamber of Commerce hosted an honorary ribbon cutting for the renovated and redesigned Holiday Inn St. Pete/Clearwater Int'l Airport hotel on August 23, 2010 along with introducing new managment members. Under the general management of Bob Sauerwine, the property's renovations took about 9 months to complete in 2009-2010 with an estimated $3.8M of completely revamped guest rooms, meeting space and full-service restaurant and bar. The hotel offers a wide array of services including Dollar Rent-A-Car onsite, weddings, corporate discounts on guest rooms and suites, full tennis and basketball courts, swimming pool and spa, 24-hour complimentary shuttle service and concierge lounge.

TAMPA, Feb. 19, 2010 - H.I. Development Corporation operates six hotels from its Tampa headquarters, including the Howard Johnson Plaza by Wyndham, the Miami International Airport Hotel, and several Holiday Inn properties. The company relies on the Business Intelligence (BI) tools in Aptech's Execuvue® solution to manage its hotels by the numbers every day.

"The new travel environment has shortened our forecasting window and this means we are watching each property's revenues and expenses very closely," said Victoria Schrock, director of accounting for H.I. Development Corporation. "We use Execuvue to generate reports on the performance numbers for each of our properties every morning. We track expenses per-occupied-room, per-available-room and review many other metrics so we can quickly see if a property is performing as planned. This enables us to take proactive steps to correct potential problems before they become trends. We also identify property teams who are doing a great job and tap them for best practices. Our managers have so much on their plates to ensure that our guests have a great experience. Utilizing a powerful, easy to use BI tool helps them run their hotels with accurate and relevant real-time data, while still providing personal, friendly service."

COLUMBIA, Md., June 23, 2003 - H.I. Development Corp., a privately-owned hotel management, development and consulting company, recently installed MICROS's OPERA PMS (property management system) and Web Booking Engine in its newest acquisition, the historic 144-room Carnegie Hotel in Johnson City, TN. H.I. Development plans to extend its relationship with MICROS Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: MCRS), the leader in technology solutions for the hospitality industry, in its other properties in the U.S. and the Caribbean. H.I. Development represents a dynamic and diverse collection of hotels and resorts. Having determined that centralization of systems was a key corporate strategy, the organization reviewed numerous options. David Callen, President of H.I. Development, selected OPERA PMS as the system that would best promote the business's larger strategy, while providing the robust functionality that would serve guests and staff alike. "OPERA PMS, along with its Web interface, will enable us to pursue a customer-centric marketing strategy," explains Bunny Carter, General Manager of Carnegie Hotel. "We want to target our marketing efforts better, and OPERA's concise reporting gives us easy access to guest information and history. We can analyze our guests' specific requests and travel patterns, and identify the correct geographical markets for us. OPERA's advanced technology allows H.I. Development to create and manage a targeted program that's really effective."

PITTSBURGH, Sept. 9, 2003 – H.I. Development Corp. selected web-enabled enterprise business intelligence and accounting solutions from Aptech Computer Systems, Inc. to centralize data and enable side-by-side comparison of vital statistics for its 13 properties, Aptech announced today. The Tampa, Florida-based company will install Aptech’s Execuvue® business intelligence application at corporate headquarters, and web-based Profitvue® and Webvue® back office systems for each of its properties. “Hospitality leaders are cautiously optimistic with the nation’s economy growing almost 1% faster than expected during the second quarter,” said Jay Troutman, president of Aptech Computer Systems. Troutman based his comments on market news and his company’s half-dozen brisk enterprise system commitments since HITEC last June. “Holding value through the effective reduction of expenses is still the acknowledged new measure of operating success in our industry. Capturing and analyzing operating costs to better manage expenditures can reduce the expenses on a company’s P&L and instantly increase profitability.” Installation at H.I. Development properties will begin the early part of the fourth quarter and completed before year-end.

TENNESSEE, Dec. 28, 2001 - The Carnegie Hotel in Johnson City, Tennessee, has been purchased by an investment group led by hotel developers David H. Callen of Tampa, Florida, and Charles H. Johnson, Jr. of Catawba, North Carolina. The purchase of the hotel was completed on Friday, December 28, 2001. The hotel had previously been foreclosed on by First Tennessee Bank on December 18. Carnegie Hotel Investors, L.P., a Tennessee Limited Partnership formed by Mr. Callen and Mr. Johnson, acquired the hotel from First Tennessee.

"We are extremely pleased to have been able to complete this purchase" said David Callen. "We had worked on this potential purchase for months, and thought that we had failed in our efforts at the time that the foreclosure occurred on December 18. However, First Tennessee called us back after the foreclosure and we were able to structure a purchase of the hotel under terms that everyone could live with. This has been an extremely difficult and complicated transaction. We were excited to be able to get this opportunity."

The $24,000,000.00 Carnegie Hotel is a 144-room hotel located on State of Franklin Road in Johnson City. The hotel was initially opened in March of 2000 but encountered financial problems shortly thereafter.

ATLANTA, March 30, 1999 - Buckhead America Corporation (Nasdaq: BUCK), the hospitality services company, said it signed a master development agreement with an affiliate of H.I. Development Corp., Tampa, Fla., a closely held hotel and resort development company, for the development of 22 Country Hearth Inn hotels in Florida during the next 10 years.

Under the agreement, Country Hearth Inns of Florida Ltd., the newly created H.I. affiliate, would begin construction of at least two hotels a year for the first five years and three hotels a year for the remaining five years. The company also has an option to develop a total of 66 Country Hearth Inns in 20 years.

TAMPA, May/June 1997 - Some things just come naturally to some people. For others, who they are and what they do are destined by circumstances and fate. David Callen is the result of all these forces of nature colliding in a single individual. Born into a family of real estate developers and hotel operations, he is the second oldest child of fourteen children. He graduated from the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration. Twenty years ago, he returned to his family's business after having gained experience in the hospitality field by working for other major hotel companies and earning an MBA from Rollins College. So good was his training, that in only five years he was elected President of H.I. Development Corporation that his father Robinson Callen founded and ran.