As we all take time to celebrate the 4th of July, let’s remember how great it is to be in the United States. We all face the challenges of the current global economy, and with gas prices in the $4 range travel may suffer, but hopefully that will be a temporary situation. Many areas are seeing increases in local tourism, so lets not forget our Delaware and Delaware Valley residents as they are perfect potential guests for our hotels!

Great event for “Visit Delaware” hosted by the governments of New Castle County, Newark, and Wilmington as well as the New Castle County Board of Realtors, and supported by DH&LA. This event hosted over 600 people from New Jersey who are being impacted by the Base Relation and Closure Act (BRAC) moving about 30,000 people to Aberdeen Proving Grounds over the next 3 years. A welcome trade show, including a booth for the Greater Wilmington Convention and Visitors Bureau and one for American Furniture Rental (both DH&LA Allied members!) was part of the event that also included bus tours of requested real estate in the area. By all account this was a very positive experience for all and hopefully many will consider relocation to Delaware. Special thanks to the hotels that offered special BRAC rates for the weekend to help encourage people to stay and tour the area!

Thanks to all for the assistance in the development and implementation of the “Delaware Green Lodging” program. This partnership of DH&LA and DNREC was announced to the public on Thursday, June 19, 2008 on the lawn near Legislative Hall in Dover. Special thanks to Crystal Nagyiski of DNREC and Cindy Small of Kent County Tourism for bringing the program to the DH&LA Board of Directors and moving it rapidly to implementation.

Secretary of DNREC, John Hughes and Rep. Debbie Hudson also made most gracious comments about the program.  Over 20 tourism industry staff took the time to come to the press conference, and we thank them for their support. Board Members, Brad Wenger, Dr. Fred DeMicco and Perry Patel also attended the event.

I urge all hotels to move rapidly to gain certification, and for all the information on the program and some of the excellent press coverage, please see the “Green Hotels” page of our www.delawarelodging.org site. Not only is this the right thing for the environment, it is great for business!

On Thursday, June 19, 2008 DHLA and State of Delaware DNREC will hold a press conference to announce the Delaware Green Lodging program. This voluntary and self-inspection program is ready for your hotel to qualify. Please see the Green Hotels page on www.delawarelodging.org for all the relevant documents, including the check-list that you need to submit to DNREC for certification

If you are in the Dover area, Thursday, June 19 at 10am, we will be in a tent just behind Legislative Hall on the Capital Mall

thanks to member hotels, we now have a great selection of photos from our member hotels, and that gives all of us a chance to enjoy the great lodging that the State of Delaware offers! Please enjoy, and send pics to me if you have some updates!

The New Castle County Executive gave this annual budget address this past week, and as expected, revenues from property tax and real estate transfer tax will not cover the operating budget and reserves will be used to make up the deficit. This cannot go on, and we fully expect that a request will be made to the State Legislature for an additional hotel lodging tax for New Castle County for 2% more than the current 8%. DHLA remains opposed to any increase in the hotel lodging tax since it will impact our competitive position and cost our employees jobs as hotel occupancies dip. Please keep alert for the introduction of this legislation and we may call upon all members to rally in Dover if we see the need. Again, please contact Linda Parkowski or Scott Kidner on specifics for the DHLA legislative agenda, as posted on this www.delawarelodging.org site.

Just a quick update, we are working with DNREC  to develop a program of Green Hotels Certification for Delaware Hotels.  Not only does this make sense from the competitive perspective, it is just plain good business and the right thing for the environment.  The Board of DH&LA has formed a small committee to work on this and if you would like to participate, please send me an email.

DH&LA was part of a presentation on Feb 5, 2008 where DelDot representatives along with Host Marriott Services presented the current plan for the pending renovation of the I-95 rest area near Newark. As a result of the presentation, numerous questions were raised and these will be addressed by the Governor’s Tourism Advisory Board. Once that is done, we will share a copy of the letter(s) sent.

In response to the decline in state wide hotel occupancy, your board has worked with the State Tourism Office and other tourism groups to develop a program to help. The special promotion is one step, and we would urge that you give serious consideration to participation. DH&LA strongly supports this program and we hope it helps us all manage through this difficult period. See the member update section for more information and the form to join the process. thanks

I just posted the occupancy charts for STAR report for 2006 plotted against 2007, and things are looking bad! Kent and Sussex are showing large declines and for the first time, New Castle is showing definite signs of softening.

Linda Parkowski, George Fiorile and I met on Thur with the Delaware Tourism Advisory board and representatives of DEDO to talk about this. You will be hearing some plans next week as they are firmed up, and we will ask for your support and participation! Please feel free to share any comments