Construction starts on $49.5M Hyatt Place hotel in Bayamón

Construction of the $49.5 million Hyatt Place Bayamón & Tropical Casino, which marks the return of the hotel chain to the island after a seven-year absence, was announced March 19, 2012 by developers PRISA Group and McConnell Valdés Consulting Inc. during a news conference at the Science Park in Bayamón.

From left: Bayamón Mayor Ramón Luis Rivera, Gov. Fortuño, and Federico Stubbe look over the future hotel’s blueprints. (Credit: La Fortaleza)

Flanked by municipal and central government officials, developers said the hotel is slated to open during the first quarter of 2014. The seven-story, 156-room hotel will feature a 2,000 square-foot conference room, a 4,700 square-foot restaurant, gym and pool, among other amenities. Furthermore, the project will have a 17,300 square-foot casino to be run by HI Development Corp. The future hotel will also feature a multi-story parking garage with a capacity for 250 vehicles.

“Hyatt has a close relationship with Puerto Rico, which is why its return to this market, after a seven-year absence, is very significant,” said Federico Stubbe, president of PRISA Group. “This is a vote of confidence the chain is giving local developers, the island’s tourism industry and our people.”

PRISA Group, McConnell Valdés Consulting and HI Development Corp. formed the Bayamón Hotel Company LLC to build the project.

During the news conference, Gov. Luis Fortuño said the new hotel will meet an “increasing demand for alternative accommodations in the area.”

“This hotel will expand Bayamón’s hotel offerings, providing alternatives to the thousands tourists doing business in the city, seeking medical care in the excellent facilities we have here and visiting family or just wanting to do some tourism,” he said.

The Hyatt hotel in Bayamón is slated to open in 2014.

The two-year construction phase of the hotel to be located on Route 167 adjacent to the Science Park and Plaza del Sol shopping center, will generate 485 direct, indirect and induced jobs. Once operational, the hotel will generate close to 700 direct, indirect and induced jobs, hotel developers said.

Newly appointed Tourism Company Executive Director Luis Rivera Marín noted that projects such as the Hyatt Place Bayamón & Tropical Casino will help serve niche markets “including retail, cultural, recreational and medical, given the proximity to renowned hospital institutions in the area.”

Financing for the project is split between a $29 million loan from Banco Popular de Puerto Rico guaranteed by the Government Development Bank’s Tourism Development Fund. Another $7.2 million is being put up by the Bayamón municipal government raised by a municipal lease bond. The developer and investors put up another $13.3 million in capital.

Stubbe said the future hotel focuses on the “urban tourism” concept, a fast-growing category.

“The project seeks to serve guests as well as visitors to the area’s medical facilities, sports enthusiasts participating in events at the nearby venues, as well as those doing business in the area,” said Stubbe. “As local entrepreneurs, we’re committed to developing tourism in Puerto Rico and the opportunity this project provides us as a potential motor for regional economic development.”

Source: Written by Michelle Kantrow  //  March 26, 2012

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Howard Johnson Plaza Tampa Receives Property of Year Award

Tampa, FL — 5/21/12  *PRESS RELEASE*

During the Howard Johnson General Session at the Wyndham Hotel Group Global Conference, several properties were recognized for their achievements as recipients of the 2011 Heroes of Hospitality and 2012 Brand Conference Awards.

For the first year, the Howard Johnson Plaza Tampa received the “Property of the Year” Award for 2011. Achieving excellence in the hospitality business is not easy. To perform at an award-winning level, Howard Johnson hoteliers must demonstrate extraordinary professionalism and work together as a team to deliver consistently high quality guest experiences.

Accepting the award on behalf of the Howard Johnson Plaza Tampa was hotel management team, H.I. Development, President Andre Callen (left) and General Manager Larry E. Collier, Jr., (center).

“Life presents us with numerous opportunities to make a difference in the eyes of our customers,” said Senior Vice President Rui Barros. “The best of the best always leap at the chance to create Happiness for guests at their hotel. They take pride in everything they do, from their attitude and professional appearance to the inviting aroma and cleanliness of their rooms.”

“These properties and their teams are shining examples of what can be accomplished when ‘excellence’ becomes a standard operating procedure,” said Vice President Phil Harvey (right). “These awards are a reflection of their dedication towards making each guest experience the best that it can be.”

The Howard Johnson Plaza Tampa is conveniently located in the heart of downtown along the banks of the Arts District RiverWalk entrance and Hillsborough River. The 13-level hotel is operated and managed by H.I. Development, a hotel management team founded by Robinson Callen in 1959.

Neighborhood Mixer & Art Party Held for Residents

Your voice will shape Tampa’s future.

The Howard Johnson Plaza Tampa opened their outdoor pool deck doors on Tuesday, May 8, for Uptown Tampa’s residents, business owners and Downtown Tampa Partnership members and involved staff. With complimentary food and/or drinks provided by Pizza Fusion, WaterWorks Bar & Grill, Kahawa Coffee and the Howard Johnson Plaza Tampa, guests enjoyed a networking opportunity to discuss the social matters and development of the Uptown area.

The Uptown area is a subdistrict located at the western end of Downtown Tampa. Notable attractions include The Tampa Theatre, Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park, the Straz Center for the Performing Arts and the Tampa Museum of Art. The district is bordered by Hillsborough River to the west, Kennedy Boulevard to the south, Palm Avenue to the north and Morgan Street to the east.

The theme at the May 8^th event was “Local Artists of Tampa.” Featured artists included Nicole Abbett (Multi-Medium Artistic Photographer), Todd McDonald (Black & White Architectural Photographer), Ray Paul (Fine Artist), Charles Schwartz (Fine Artist) and Dominique Martinez (Owner and Artist of Rustic Steel Creations).

Randy Goers, of InVision Tampa, spoke about Downtown Tampa’s cause and future, sharing details of the ongoing InVision Tampa campaign. Donna Chen, Downtown Tampa Partnership’s newly-elected Director of Marketing and Communications, was also present discussing ideas about the Republican National Convention in August 2012 with locals of Tampa.

This is the first of many neighborhood mixers to be hosted in venues of the Uptown Tampa area. More details are listed at the Uptown Tampa Council’s website. The Uptown District Tampa Neighborhood Association’s goal is to find and solve issues and develop opportunities to benefit all of Uptown Tampa members — harnessing the passion and skill sets to approach and achieve real results.

SIDEBAR:
What is InVisiona Tampa? Using federal grant dollars, InVision Tampa will create a master plan for the City Center of Tampa, Fla., spanning from downtown to Ybor City on the east, Armenia Avenue on the west, and north along historic Nebraska Avenue to Hillsborough Avenue. Working closely with Mayor Buckhorn, experts and scholars with worldwide experience and insight will walk, talk, photograph, map and — most importantly — listen to you about the nuances of your neighborhood as well as the things that matter to you and your families now and in our future. And when we are finished, together, we will have written a community master plan that will catalyze prosperity and a high quality of life for all of Tampa and Hillsborough County.

A Key To Simple Customer Service

By Larry E. Collier, Jr., H.I. Development Director of Operations

It has been some time ago that I learned this simple, yet effective, method for improving the overall service at any business. It has been so long ago that I am not sure to whom the credit should be given for this most amazing revelation. I wish I could take credit for both its simplicity and its truth; however, I can only take credit for being smart enough to incorporate it into my daily business practices. Those of you who know me know I always say, “If you are going to cheat or steal ideas at least be smart enough to cheat off the smart kids”. I would like to give “kudos” to the brilliant people that came up with the simple anagram I.L.E.A.D.

I- IDENTIFY the upset customer. Keep your eyes open for opportunities to impact a customer experience. Look as you move through you business at people’s postures, facial expressions and body language. Not all complaints are voiced freely. If they were, we could deal with them easily and have all our customers leaving with a smile. Reaching out to a customer before they reach out to you can drastically change the resolution process and will usually enable a win for both the customer and the business.

L- LISTEN to the customer. Once you have identified a less than pleased customer take the time to actually listen to their problem, no matter how many times you may have heard the same problem. Do not talk over the customer, fidget, make faces, or any other body language that may be construed as defensive or uncaring. Pay particular attention to your hands and arms these are the culprits that usually get us into body language trouble. So many of us stand with our arms crossed that we don’t realize that we are doing it. I recommend clasping you hands behind you back to avoid sending an erroneous message. If you need to take notes so that you may ask questions when it is your turn to talk.

E- EMPATHIZE with the customer. Remember that out of all the companies that this person could have chosen from, to do business, with they chose yours. We have all known what it is like to have your expectations not be met. Make sure the customer knows that you recognize their disappointment and understand what they are feeling. A little empathy can go along way towards diffusing a particularly loud or upset customer.

A- APOLOGIZE for what the customer has experienced. Remember the validity of the customer complaint is never the issue, the customer experience is. Successful business people realize that what really happened is never the truth but what the customer perceives to have happened it our truth. We are here to resolve a problem and satisfy a customer, not prove who was right or wrong. Simply apologize, one of my favorite lines is “ I am so sorry that you experienced this.”

D- DECIDE a course of action. Choose a course of action that you feel will best satisfy the customers problem. If you are unsure simply ask. Many times I have avoided unnecessary compensation by simply asking “ how may I make this up to you?” Believe me, an upset customer is pretty good at telling you what it will take to make them happy. I recommend that like NIKE, you “just do it”. Your goal should be not to negotiate a settlement but to win a raving fan for your company. This is where you have the opportunity to make the magic that can set you apart from your competition and earn you a reputation as someone that cares. Go the extra mile by letting the customer know you will take steps to ensure that no other customers have a similar experience.

As we move about business remember I LEAD, sometimes “looking for trouble” can be a great business advantage.

www.hidevelopment.com

When SEO Gets Too Convoluted

When SEO Gets Too Convoluted.

Being Emotionally Engaged

Tips to “Create a Need” in Sales

by Andre Callen and the Marketing Team of  H.I. Development

There are 3 common ways people process information given to them. This is known as the Trifect Neuro-Affective Principle, and it’s a fancy way to say that people often make judgments based on an emotion. As a salesperson or marketer, it is your job to understand this principle and use one or all three to reach your target audience and make a sale.

How does a consumer relate to you and your products? Resonance, in marketing, means to relate to consumers and their needs or situations. When you find a way to connect on a personal level with people, they are able to find similarities between themselves and you, the seller of a product or service. Once they begin to view you as more than an intangible vapor in the Internet World, they can identify themselves with you. This is where you begin to explore the extent to which you can understand and create a solution for their problems, pains or needs. The more engaging your content is, the easier it will be to install a belief for a need for your company.

How strongly is a consumer committed to their beliefs? Consumers are often committed to their existing beliefs. If they think a product will not work or a problem is unable to be solved, they may just learn to live with it. They may believe there is nothing wrong with their coffee maker’s a dirty filter that has to be changed every day. You have to show them that a coffee maker can be designed without the need of a filter, and not only that, they need to have one! This is part of your job as a marketer- to be a game changer. Redefine what your consumers have already defined. Show them there is something better and why they must have the product you sell.

How unwilling is a consumer to listen to you? You can explain through page after page of provable quantifiable evidence that your product is the best of the best. Going back to our coffee filter example, you could give your consumer all the reasons you feel your machine could improve his morning routine, his clean up time or his quality of life! Ok maybe that is a stretch, but some people meet all change with resistance. Your consumer may be unwilling to change his opinion about his coffee filters that he has used for 20 years. He may be comfortable with his routine and see no need to give up a habit or a product that he has had for so long. It is and always will be your job to change his mind if you want the sale.

H.I. Development knows that superior performers are people who are emotionally engaged with their job because their talents, values and skills are aligned to meaningful work. A client may need to sit on this new overwhelmingly amazing product of yours and think about it for awhile. But if you presented your facts and your products well, he will be back!

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Attitude for Every Mood…

{ How to Deal with Negative Effects in the Workplace }

— by Adrianne Robert & Larry E. Collier, Jr., of H.I. Development

Everyone has felt dragged down by someone else’s attitude at work. Has anyone ever felt dragged down by your attitude at work?  How do you react when you hear news people share with you about budget cuts, lay offs and/or employee gossip? If you have a job, you’ve heard negative attitude at some point. Here are some positive pointers to help you deal with setbacks in the common workplace and turn “whiners” into winners”. (source: “Little Red Book of Selling” by Jeffrey Gitomer)

“Be the change you want to see”
How much better can we do our job? Are you focused on achieving the goal or just taking the steps towards that goal? As long as we do our best within the situation we are in, the work will usually take care of itself, if it doesn’t seek help. You will find everyone willing to help someone who always tries their hardest. Simple things such as a weekly “to-do” list will set you apart from the crowd. Make a “to-do” list for the week and then double check it to insure that the items on your list support your departmental goals, while maximizing your time on shift. Don’t worry if you are the only one with a list, working smarter will make you stand out and set higher standards for those around you. Believe me, success is just as contagious as failure. Maybe then your co-workers will find a better outlook for the attitude in the office. Someone once said to me, “If you don’t like change, you are going to like irrelevance even less. So if you want to see changes at work, be that change that you would like to see.”

“Things nor people aren’t as bad as you think they are”
Staying positive is at the core of any good attitude. Studies show that celebrating your coworkers, setting attainable (remember SMART) goals and consistently showing gratitude are all common traits amongst successful businesspeople. Thinking pessimistically only fosters a negative attitude that makes seeing the positives difficult and, in turn, decreases your ability to succeed. Thinking positively lets you see the good things around you and allows you to build off of them, creating an attitude beneficial to advancement.

“Be assertive without being aggressive”
Assertiveness is probably the top trait of those successful in business, however it is often coupled with aggressiveness. The most important thing when attempting to be assertive without being aggressive is communication. When asserting yourself in the office, allow other people as much time to describe their needs as you’ve allowed yourself. When they are expressing their needs, try not to devalue their perspectives; doing so will allow you to stay open to meeting them halfway.

“Be compassionate when dealing with conflict”
No matter where you work, you’ll eventually find yourself in conflict with a coworker. When resolving the matter, make sure you approach the other person with an adequate amount of compassion. We all deal with stress; sometimes it even gets the better of us. Keeping your mind open when resolving conflict will improve your skills at doing so. Being able to effectively deal with interpersonal conflict is a personality trait that is sure to help you advance in any career. Remember we all have a common logic that we share but each of us has our private logic as well. You never know what another person’s private logic may be telling them.

“Have some pride”
The most rewarding career anyone can do is something they take full pride in. H.I. Development is in the hospitality field and we have the responsibility to show our best side to families and travelers staying at our hotels, no matter what our attitudes for the day may be. When you exceed someone’s expectations and go the extra mile to provide the ultimate experience for the traveler, you are leaving an everlasting impression from their visit at your hotel or restaurant. Now THAT is a great feeling!

Whether you are a corporation or an individual, dealing with attitude challenges, you are making the first leap from negative choices to choices that will certainly have a positive impact on yourself, co-workers and family members. “Leading by example” — you need not be the leader to lead by example, however; leading by example may make you the leader and will show your customers that you care and help reinforce your company’s product, increasing sales in the long run. This will cause a chain-reaction and benefit not only the longevity of your company’s future, but more importantly your own attitude for future personal goals.

Contributed by www.hidevelopment.com