Jay Honeck
Touchdown! Greaser!
...in a fly-in vacation destination?
A brief explanation of my reason for asking: We are celebrating the 5th anniversary of opening Amelia's Landing Hotel, and I am wrapping up the renovation of the very last room (the Airshow Room). Yes, my 3 year plan became a 5 year plan, but what else is new? (It took 7 years to finish the Alexis Park Inn, up in Iowa, so I guess I'm getting faster...)
This also marks our 13th year in the aviation themed hotel business. It's hard to believe, but an old newspaper guy and a medical technologist have been successful at separating enough avgas money from y'all to live a pretty grand life for the last 13 years!
Still, there is room for improvement, and I need your opinions. We have done a good job of building business, doubling it in 4 years, but fly in guests still represent ~5% of our business. This despite the island having a vibrant tourist industry and a nice airport.
It seems to me that we should be doing better than that with our flying brethren. Which is a long-winded path to the question: What do you want in a fly-in vacation destination? What gets you to pull the trigger on flying somewhere for R&R?
Be specific, please, as not only will I incorporate your suggestions into our business, I will forward them to our Chamber of Commerce.
And for those who have visited us and our island, what did you like? Dislike? What should we change or add?
Thanks!
P.S. For you newbies who are wondering, we actually created our first fly-in hotel's business plan by starting with a post like this, incorporating the suggestions from this very group of pilots. (Well, technically we were all in a predecessor to POA, back then.) So y'all are directly responsible for our success!
A brief explanation of my reason for asking: We are celebrating the 5th anniversary of opening Amelia's Landing Hotel, and I am wrapping up the renovation of the very last room (the Airshow Room). Yes, my 3 year plan became a 5 year plan, but what else is new? (It took 7 years to finish the Alexis Park Inn, up in Iowa, so I guess I'm getting faster...)
This also marks our 13th year in the aviation themed hotel business. It's hard to believe, but an old newspaper guy and a medical technologist have been successful at separating enough avgas money from y'all to live a pretty grand life for the last 13 years!
Still, there is room for improvement, and I need your opinions. We have done a good job of building business, doubling it in 4 years, but fly in guests still represent ~5% of our business. This despite the island having a vibrant tourist industry and a nice airport.
It seems to me that we should be doing better than that with our flying brethren. Which is a long-winded path to the question: What do you want in a fly-in vacation destination? What gets you to pull the trigger on flying somewhere for R&R?
Be specific, please, as not only will I incorporate your suggestions into our business, I will forward them to our Chamber of Commerce.
And for those who have visited us and our island, what did you like? Dislike? What should we change or add?
Thanks!
P.S. For you newbies who are wondering, we actually created our first fly-in hotel's business plan by starting with a post like this, incorporating the suggestions from this very group of pilots. (Well, technically we were all in a predecessor to POA, back then.) So y'all are directly responsible for our success!
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