John Q. Hammons Builds During Downturn

SPRINGFIELD, MO— During this economic downturn, John Q. Hammons, founder, chairman/CEO of John Q. Hammons Hotels, has been keeping his head down, planning for the future. “When we have a recession I don’t hide, I go back to work, because the ball will bounce back,” he told HOTEL BUSINESS®. Indeed, the chair of the company that owns 56 hotels— strategically built near such demand generators as state capitals, universities, airports, corporate headquarters and sports arenas— has been focusing on what’s being built around the country in order to plan where his next upscale properties will go. Who does the investigating as to where the next major hockey arena, convention center or corporate headquarters will be located? Hammons says he does the leg work— albeit by phone— since he already know the condition most of the hotels across the country are in. “I can you more about properties in the United States than the people who own them,” he said. Using the phone for scouting purposes doesn’t mean, however, Hammons is a stay-at-home: he has been known to fly over cities in a helicopter to see where he should build a hotel (he is a fan of building them where they are visible along the U.S. highway system) and over resorts under construction so he can keep an eye on the competition. His strategy is apparent in the five hotels that currently in the works: a 265-room Embassy Suites Hotel in Saint Charles, MO; a 252-room Embassy Suites in Hot Springs, AR; a 250-unit Embassy Suites in Rogers, AR; a 300-room Renaissance in Tulsa, OK and a 225-room Courtyard by Marriott in Oklahoma City. The St. Charles Embassy Suites will be built on I-70, 10 minutes from Lambert-St. Louis International airport, and adjacent to the planned Saint Charles Convention Center. Construction is expected to begin next spring, with an opening planned for fall 2003. When it opens, the Embassy Suites will be the newest hotel in the area, by far, said Hammons, a fact that will likely pull in market share all by itself. “In St. Charles, a lot of the hotels are 25 to 40 years old,” said Hammons, who sticks by the adage that hotels in this country are “not overbuilt, they’re under-demolished.” Moreover, Hammons also believes that hotels of yesterday don’t necessarily offer today’s travelers what they need. “Things change, people change, and habits change,” he said. “What was was playing in Peoria 30 years ago in not the same today. Old is still old,” he said. Indeed, Hammons said the average age of his current portfolio is eight years. The Hot Springs, AR Embassy Suites will also be the “new kid” in town when it opens August 2003. “It’s been many years since a new hotel was built in Hot Springs,” said Hammons, who said the hotel will be connected to the 360,000 square-feet Hot Springs Convention Center via an overhead walkway. The Embassy Suites Northwest Arkansas (in Rogers), meanwhile, will sit near JB Hunt’s headquarters, in an area where the population has quadrupled to 400,000 over recent years. What’s the magic about the Embassy Suites brand, which is owned by Hilton Hotels Corp.? Hammons said the fact that the brand requires free buffet breakfast creates both a strong business and leisure market. The product with its suites also offers true separate bedrooms, not just space with dividers, he said, meaning four customers can be sold to one unit. He also likes the Hilton Hhonors frequent-stay program. Moreover, Hammons said he always adds his own touch by always building Embassy Suites hotels with 50,000 square feet of meeting space in them to draw in additional business. The fourth property under construction for Hammons is a 225-room Courtyard by Marriott in Oklahoma City that will sit next to that city’s convention center. Hammons already owns a 336-room Renaissance hotel on the other side of the center, which he opened two years ago. The two Hammons properties are part of a reconstruction of Oklahoma City’s downtown area, borne of a $375 million