ST. PAUL, MN— Against a Harry Potteresque backdrop of wizards, witches and gothic trappings, the annual AmericInn International LLC conference appeared here like magic this morning in the grand ballroom of the RiverCentre, where some 450 attendees learned that technology will be the new touchstone for the steadily growing upscale, limited-service chain. Garbed as Harry Potter, Chairman/CEO Luke Fowler also ostensibly held the newly signed central reservations system provider InnLink as the “sorcerers stone” that will transform voice, Internet reservations booking and global distribution systems onto a single manageable platform. Indeed, current 800-number wrangler McLeod USA, then GDS provider Lexington Services will go poof and disappear when the AmericInn Lodging System in June begins transferring its reservations operations to InnLink’s facility in Hendersonville, TN. Speaking at the conference themed “Sharing the Magic of AmericInn,” Fowler told HOTEL BUSINESS®: “The two key messages are: embracing technology and the change to a central reservations system.” “AmericInn is embarking on a major, major change in operandi by going with a central reservations system because we’ve grown to the point where we can do that,” agreed Jon Kennedy, senior vp/marketing and franchise development. “We need to do that now because of the technology innovations, plus what’s going on in the industry. The big-picture perspective: AmericInn is going through a major transition this year in the world of marketing.” The new-construction chain has been steadily growing by approximately 20% annually, and with 182 properties open in 22 states to date, is eagerly anticipating its milestone 200th property that it has been striving toward for several years. Two additional properties will open this month, boosting the chain’s room count to 10,000, and there are 25 hotels under development. Now, with its goal in sight for this year, the company is looking to its 300th AmericInn, which it hopes to see within five years, with “a lot” of new growth in the West and Southwest, and additional growth on the East Coast and in the Southeast. The executives were able to point to fundamentals that showed improvement for the brand year-over-year 2002 compared with 2001. ADR was up almost $1 from $67.52 to $68.40 and RevPAR ticked up slightly from $37.81 to $38.03. Occupancy was stable at 56%. Fowler felt the switch to the CRS would prove a more effective way to sell reservations. “The calls won’t go directly to the front desk anymore. They’ll go to a professional reservations service and we think that will help a lot because it will mean we’ll get consistency in response to customer calls,” said the CEO. “The one thing our franchisees and managers have always loved about our existing system is that they can respond to customer requests when they call in. The biggest problem is when they’re busy, they sometimes don’t answer the phone. So when people are checking out and the phone rings, there are glitches there. That’ll be eliminated and streamlined so we’ll have a more efficient way to book rooms.” Kennedy explained yield management opportunities also would be much more effective with this type of system, “plus our exposure to new revenue sources, booking sources is quadrupling. It’s phenomenal. That all equates to the fact that we’re going to be able to maximize the return with reservations activity, whether it’s voice, GDS or Internet access.” Fowler reminded attendees that last year he predicted the combined activity of the GDS and Internet would double in 2002. “It almost did, but not quite. It went from $2.5 million to $4.5 million, which is a pretty significant jump. We think with this new system it will probably do the same kind of thing over the next year.” Similar to reaching its 200th property, AmericInn has been searching for a CRS solution for three years, going through an RFP process, sifting through candidates, narrowing to two candidates
