PHOENIX- Homewood Suites by Hilton s comprehensive franchise incentive package, better known as the Millennium Package, has apparently proven so successful that the company has decided to extend its terms and applicability into 2001.
As pointed out by the brand s Senior VP – brand management, James Holthouser, at the Lodging Conference 2000 here, the franchisee-friendly precepts of the package have, in his opinion, been a major reason why the company has seen more approvals in the first quarter of 2000 than it did in all of 1999. He added that he expects the company to register at least 35 approvals by year-end, and is setting its sights on another 45 in 2001.
Among the newly extended package s finer points are: a potential for application fee reduction; reduced royalties, to the tune of 2% in the first year, 3% in the second year, and the full 4% in the third year of operation; one year of paid salary for the hotel s director of sales if hired six months prior to opening the extended-stay property; and pre-opening marketing budget for public relations and local radio support (totaling $15,000).
Additionally, Holthouser pointed out that the new property s director of sales would be provided with a pre-qualified list of guest leads some six months from the date of the property s opening. All told, he maintained the main idea behind the inception of the Millennium Package is that it would allow new hotels to hit the ground running. (9/14/00) Michael Billig