Palm Spring CEO abruptly resigns. The president and CEO of the Palm Springs Desert Resort Communities CVA, Jeff Beckelman, has aruptly resigned. He could be gone from the post by or before the offical April 30 resignation date that he announced. The actual departure date could depend on a severance package that was to have been worked out with the CVA’s attorney. Beckelman, 63, who joined the authority in 2005, was earning an annual salary of $257,496.
Niagara CVB Spearhead Efforts to Help The Homeless with Slightly Used Hotel Amenities: In Niagara Falls, the Niagara Tourism and Convention Corporation (NTCC) has launched a new recycling initiative among area hotels to help benefit a communityh outreach group, Community Missions. Several Niagara county hotels have begun accepting unused and gently used toiletries, including soap, shampoo, bath gel and lotion from guests. These items are then being donated to Community Missions for use at the soup kitchen and distributed to clients of the soup kitchen, public housing and temporary housing for the homeless. “Rather than having guests discard often fairly full bottles of shampoo and soap, this new program allows for these items to be recycled and used by those who need them most,” said Elizabeth Davis, director of sales, NTCC. Currently participating in the program are Crowne Plaza Niagara Falls, Holiday Inn Lockport, Holiday Inn Niagara Falls, Hotel Giacamo, Quality Hotel and Suites, Seneca Niagara Casino & Hotel as well as the Conference Center Niagara Falls.
Hotels Rates Creeping Back up: After examining room rates compared to their low point† in 2009 and 2010, hospitality industry research firm STR found that rate increases for most chain scales in 2010 have been strong and show no sign of easing. Total U.S. rates are now 5 percent higher than they were at the bottom, which was only three months ago. According to, Jan Freitag, STR’s vice president, global development. “The big question is: What happened to demand? And the answer is: Nothing. Actually, the answer is not really ‘nothing,’ but that on a 28-day average basis through 16 March, our demand numbers show sustained increases when compared to last year. Rates increases had no adverse effect.”
† In its table below, STR uses the term, “trough” (“A long, narrow depression, as between waves or ridges”).
Rate Increases Are Here
| Scale | ADR Trough | Date | March 16, 2010 | % Change |
| Luxury | $210 | Dec. 7, 2009 | $244 | +16% |
| Upper Upscale | $127 | Jan. 8, 2010 | $141 | +16% |
| Upscale | $97 | Jan. 9, 2010 | $105 | +9% |
| Mid with | $75 | Jan. 9, 2010 | $79 | +5% |
| Mid without | $77 | Jan. 9, 2010 | $83 | +7% |
| Economy | $56 | Dec. 26, 2009 | $48 | +4% |
| Total U.S. | $92 | Dec. 20, 2009 | $96 | +5% |
Source: STR, per HotelNewsNow.com
Average American Household Spent $37,782 in 2009, Including $2,700 on Travel and Leisure: A new social money comparison site, Bundle.com, has released its first-ever annual consumer spending report, How America Spends, featuring rankings of the Top 25 and Bottom 5 spending cities in the U.S. The report also includes a 50-state ranking of household budget behavior and a data analysis of trends by marital status/kids, income level, and age. Austin, Texas residents are the No. 1 spenders in the U.S., averaging $67,076 in overall household expenses over 2009 (excluding mortgage and rent, which are not included in Bundle’s breakdown). Austin’s annual spending is 77 percent higher than the national average of $37,782, according to Bundle’s new data.
The lowest-spending city in the U.S. is Detroit, where residents, hit hard by the recession, spent $16,446 on items including food and drink, shopping, gas, travel and entertainment.
For all 50 states, Connecticut residents lead the nation in spending, while West Virginians rank last, spending 35 percent less than the national average in 2009. Residents of New Canaan, Conn., last year averaged $25,486 on dining out, more than the average West Virginia resident spent, total ($24,517). Some highlights from the Bundle report include the following:
Average American Household Spent $37,782 in 2009
Top 25 Highest-Spending Cities (excludes mortgage/rent, rankings measured household averages of top 100 cities by population, according to U.S. Census data)
1. Austin ($67,076)
2. Scottsdale, Ariz. ($64,687)
3. San Jose ($59,022)
4. Arlington, Va. ($52,085)
5. Plano, Texas ($56,738)
6. Raleigh, N.C. ($53,398)
7. Nashville ($52,964)
8. Tucson ($51,857)
9. Irvine, Calif. ($51,286)
10. Durham, N.C. ($51,114)
11. Washington, D.C. ($49,431)
12. Dallas ($47,920)
13. Seattle ($47,336)
14. Reno ($47,273)
15. Corpus Christi, Texas ($46,311)
16. San Antonio ($46,122)
17. Honolulu ($46,087)
18. Oklahoma City ($45,449)
19. San Francisco ($45,291)
20. Madison, Wis. ($45,275)
21. Henderson, Nev. ($45,220)
22. Wichita, Kan. ($44,810)
23. St. Paul, Minn. ($44,579)
24. Chandler, Ariz. ($44,470)
25. Lubbock, Texas ($44,122)
***
42. Los Angeles ($39,422)
53. New York City ($37,435)
50 State Breakdown of Residents’ Household Spending (including District of Columbia and US average)
1. Connecticut ($57,331)
2. District of Columbia ($49,430)
3. Hawaii ($46,518)
4. California ($42,962)
5. Texas ($42,623)
6. Arizona ($41,752)
7. Illinois ($41,627)
8. New York ($40,783)
9. Maryland ($40,538)
10. Washington ($40,480)
11. Virginia ($40,282)
12. Oklahoma ($40,103)
13. New Hampshire ($40,081)
14. Massachusetts ($39,792)
15. Minnesota ($39,682)
16. Missouri ($39,462)
17. Kansas ($39,418)
18. Nevada ($39,262)
19. Colorado ($38,916)
20. Rhode Island ($38,867)
21. New Jersey ($38,634)
22. New Mexico ($38,509)
23. Delaware ($38,020)
24. Wisconsin ($37,815)
25. U.S. Average ($37,782)
26. Michigan ($37,330)
27. Florida ($36,455)
28. Vermont ($36,435)
29. Utah ($35,558)
30. Iowa ($35,445)
31. Indiana ($35,327)
32. Arkansas ($34,995)
33. North Carolina ($34,869)
34. Nebraska ($34,639)
35. Alaska ($34,474)
36. Tennessee ($34,334)
37. Louisiana ($34,251)
38. Ohio ($33,921)
39. South Dakota ($33,557)
40. Oregon ($33,377)
41. Maine ($32,839)
42. Pennsylvania ($32,452)
43. Wyoming ($32,272)
44. North Dakota ($31,179)
45. South Carolina ($31,080)
46. Georgia ($29,752)
47. Alabama ($29,337)
48. Kentucky ($28,870)
49. Idaho ($28,537)
50. Mississippi ($27,740)
51. Montana ($27,032)
52. West Virginia ($24,517)
WHO’S ON FIRST
Harry Sladich has resigned his post as president and CEO of the Spokane Regional CVB in order to take a senior marketing position with Spokane-based Red Lion Hotels Corp. Sladich, who’s 48, led the CVB for five years. He’ll start his job as Red Lion’s executive vice president of sales and marketing on May 3. Sladich began his career in the travel and tourism industry more than 30 years ago, when he joined Spokane’s Sheraton (now Doubletree) Hotel. In 1986, he left to work for Spokane-based Sterling Hospitality Management. He then became operations manager at the Hotel Lusso before joining the CVB. ++ Rob DeCleene has been named the executive director of the South Bend/Mishawaka CVB. Most recently, DeCleene served as the director of tourism for the Bloomington/Monroe County (Ind.) CVB, where he held various positions since joining the bureau in 2001. Previously, he worked for Lodgian, Inc. ++ Visit Milwaukee has appointed Paul Upchurch, a former vice president of the Milwaukee-based Marcus Corp., as its new president and CEO. A 30-year veteran of the travel and tourism industry, Upchurch most recently held the position of chief operating officer for Chicago-based TCA Holdings, operator of private sports resorts and clubs in the U.S. and Canada. From 2001 to 2005, Upchurch served as vice president of hotel operations with Marcus Hotels & Resorts, a division the Marcus Corp. Upchurch succeeds Doug Nielson, who concluded his full-time role as Visit Milwaukee’s president and CEO on Aug. 7, 2009, but remained as a consultant to the organization until the end of last year. ++ Suya Davenport, the former executive director of the Lee County Visitors and Convention Bureau, located in Fort Myers, Fla., has been named director of sales for Naples Bay Resort. Most recently, Davenport was corporate director of global strategic partnerships for LXR Luxury Resorts, based in Naples, Florida.
Filed under: Destinations
Didn’t Jeff Beckelman abruptly resign from his last CEO gig at the Reno Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority (RSCVA)?
Jeff’s resignation from the RSCVA was in order to take the more desirable job in the Palm Springs area.
Josh, what was up between beckelman and woody peek who got fired in December ’09?
Yes I am a travel agent and I mostly deal with hotel. I feel that the rates are creeping back up again as well