On Knoxville's Crappy Hotels
I am writing in response to last week's letter from the general managers of the existing downtown hotels. I am originally from Knoxville, and now I live in Atlanta (I tried to come back to Knoxville after business school, but there is a serious lack of high paying jobs, but that is fodder for another letter) and travel extensively throughout the Southeast, with frequent trips back to the land of my youth.
As I have traveled, I have learned one thing about the current hotels in downtown Knoxville: They are crappy. The Marriott (post-remodel) is the only nice one in the area, but its location
prevents business travelers from frequenting it, primarily because no one wants to pay to stay in a downtown hotel that is not in walking distance to the majority of downtown.
Knoxville has the poorest hotel situation of any city I travel to in the Southeast, including comparable size cities such as Chattanooga, Asheville, Columbia, Birmingham (close second in the crappy downtown hotel category), Louisville and Lexington. The addition of a new hotel to the marketplace will create a nice place for business travelers to stay and will improve the overall recruitment climate in the area, both for the convention center and for relocating businesses.
I think the most flawed reasoning employed by the general managers is that somehow by having a hotel come in and charge 25 percent more than they currently do they will be forced to lower their own rates to compete. That is just dumb. If anything, the addition of nicer hotel(s) will create a submarket, in which these hotels should effectively be able to operate. Crappy hotels in mid-market cities can actually charge more if there is better product in the marketplace. If you don't believe me, look at my $159/night bill from the Marriott Courtyard in Nashville, or the $135/night bill from the Residence Inn in Chattanooga, or any of the hundreds of bills of more than $100/night I have paid to stay in hotels that are on an equal plane of crappiness with the hotels in the Knoxville market.
The general managers also make the point that this move will eventually drive one of the hotels out of the market. Great! Wouldn't that solve the problem of having too many rooms? I would gladly trade the granddaddy of crappiness, the Holiday Inn Select (Putting "select" in that hotel's title is like spraying perfume on dog poop.) for a beautiful new Westin or Hilton.
It sounds to me as if these guys are just scared of a little competition, because they have been able to get by with their lame hotels for the past 20 years by buying some new towels and comforters and calling it a "remodel."
These guys should stop trying to fight competition and start brushing up their resumes, because I'd say that the new hotel will be looking for a GM.
D. Collins
Atlanta
Who's the Bully?
There are two sides to every story. Unfortunately, in reporting on an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education about the demotion of School of Architecture Dean Marleen K. Davis, Metro Pulse (Aug. 14) apparently did not independently check the facts to present a balanced presentation.
This is particularly disturbing since the story is a local one and former Dean Davis' handling of her duties is the subject of at least two age-discrimination lawsuits pending in local courts, where the facts as alleged by senior faculty members are clearly set forth in the public record.
The reporter for the Chronicle of Higher Education blamed the demotion on several senior faculty members whom he dubbed "bullying rogues." Among those named was Professor Peter Lizon, who is the plaintiff in one of the age-discrimination cases and who was not contacted by Metro Pulse. The facts of the pending age-discrimination cases are detailed, and it will be for juries to sort out fault.
It is sad that Metro Pulse chose to pick sides without knowing the facts and to tack a defamatory label selected by an out-of-state reporter on several local faculty members whose long service to the university and this community should entitle them to at least an equal-handed presentation of the issues.
Judy Pinkston McCarthy
Attorney for Peter Lizon
Knoxville
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