Innkeepers network for business

There are 16 hotels in Houma and 1,767 hotel and motel rooms in Terrebonne Parish. Innkeepers throughout the area contend that because of an influx of hotels following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and the 2010 moratorium on offshore oil drilling, the market is currently saturated. As a result, their business supply has heavily outweighed demand.

Many of those hospitality business owners and managers are now joining forces in an effort to change that trend along with securing services that would benefit their industry as a whole.

“For whatever reason, in Houma there has not been a hotel [association] on a regular basis,” Courtyard by Marriott General Manager Richard Hendrix said. “It is a pretty normal thing in a market no matter where you are to have a group get together to advance issues pertinent to the industry.”

Hendrix, representing the newest hotel in Terrebonne Parish, which opened in November 2010, credits Quality Hotel owner Rene Claudet, proprietor of one of the oldest area hotels, dating back to 1976, as coordinating the effort to bring these businesses together.

“The aftermath of the BP oil spill is something every hotel in Houma is dealing with,” Claudet said. “Houma is not traditionally a leisure travel place, even though on the weekends we do very well here. The oil industry has dictated business for hotels in Houma.”

Claudet said that ideas are circulating to promote Houma as a stay over destination alternative from New Orleans and a location central for daytrips throughout southeast Louisiana. Some government and development leaders have already begun promoting Terrebonne Parish as the saltwater fishing capital of the world and additional tourism talk has been in the mix regarding economic development.

“The thing that we felt is that if we speak together as a group we would have a lot more people listening,” Claudet said. “We represent a lot of employees when you put all the hotels together. That would give us more strength.”

In addition to promoting their locations as places for business meetings and social gatherings, innkeepers contend they have the facilities necessary to host bus tours and large groups as well as individuals and families.

“It is a case that we know we have a good corporate base of business here,” Hendrix said. “But if you ask any of us, there are [seasonal] periods of time where you don’t have the business you would like to have. Some of this is related to more leisure travel.”

Hendrix said that events like sports tournaments help promote business during off periods or holidays, like Christmas or Mardi Gras, and help generate significant activity throughout the year.

An additional element being discussed by hotel owners and managers is seen in terms of running their businesses in a cooperative manner that would involve controlling their costs together, costs that typically get passed on to consumers.

“In a hotel, you have air conditioning issues, you have plumbing issues, you have any kind of issues in terms of carpentry and repairs,” Hendrix said. “We were talking as a group trying to get together and have a forum to recommend businesses we would use for services. It is like representing an association that has 1,000 rooms rather than 144. For those 1,000 rooms, we would recommend your business to be the preferred provider of [specific] services for our hotels. For that, we would want a guarantee that we could get [things like] 24-hour service and a [group] rate. Now the vendor would have the possibility of having business with a bunch of hotels and will be the person we are going to call.”

The 144-guest room Courtyard by Marriott has yet to qualify for its first year of anticipated awards, but by the end of the year Hendrix anticipates having the documentation that supports the impact his hotel has had on the region. Currently it is among the top 5 percent of Courtyards in terms of guest service nationally.

With 200 rooms, although they are only operating with 155 due to the economy, Claudet noted that his Quality Inn under his leadership has achieved the Host Operations Success Training certification from Choice International and the APEX award for top level management, maintenance, service and operations. The APEX awards will be handed out to three of his hotel’s employees, Mary Wayne, Hessie Cox and Shane Horner, during a Choice International conference in Colorado on Sept. 22.

Claudet and Hendrix agreed that customer service and skilled personnel keeps more successful hotels running with repeat business.

“The biggest thing we have here is a tremendous staff,” Claudet said. “We can train people to do any job, but having a feel for the guests and giving that, ‘Good Morning’ is what sets us apart.”

Claudet and Hendrix said that they foresee favorable conditions for their industry. Working together, they agree, would only make them stronger and create positive competition to benefit the local economy.