Iphone Hotels

Forget filling in room service forms or hanging do not disturbs signs on the door - hotels in the US are communicating with guests using iPods and iPhones, a practice that could soon spread to Australia.

Guests at the Malibu Beach Inn and the Sky Hotel, both in California, can order food, drinks, wake-up calls, spa treatments, concierge services and transportation, all from a special application on their iPhone or iPod Touch.

If they don't have either of the devices at check-in, guests are provided with a 16GB iPod Touch that has the "Hotel Evolution" application already loaded.

The application also allows guests - after logging in with their room number and security code - to look up information on shopping, nightlife and local restaurants, as well as check their messages.

There is an option to request DO NOT DISTURB, room cleaning, or additional linens, towels and toiletries.

Hotel Evolution's developer, Runtriz, said the system was also being installed in several hotels in Las Vegas, Orange County, Miami and New Jersey, but further details have yet to be announced.

"We would love to expand outside of the states to luxury properties in Australia but as of yet are not in discussion with any properties there," a spokeswoman said.

Hotels reportedly pay Runtriz $US10 per room for using the service but it is unclear whether this cost is passed on to guests.

This week Apple announced it was the third biggest mobile phone manufacturer in the world in terms of revenue, with the iPhone outselling BlackBerry handsets in the most recent quarter.

Its iPhone revenues of $US4.6 billion for the quarter place it behind Nokia ($US12.7 billion) and Samsung ($US5.9 billion) but ahead of Sony Ericsson ($US4.2 billion), LG ($US3.4 billion), Motorola ($US3.2 billion) and BlackBerry-maker RIM ($US2.1 billion).

In Apple's earnings call chief executive Steve Jobs hailed the result as a "milestone" for the company.

"RIM is a company that makes good products, and it's surprising after only 15 months in the market we could outsell them in any quarters," he said.

"If this isn't stunning, I don't know what is."

Starwood Hotels And Resorts

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. has cut jobs at its corporate headquarters in White Plains and trimmed costs across the company in response to a weakening economy and a slowing hotel business.

The company, which yesterday reported a 12 percent drop in third-quarter profits, did not respond to numerous phone calls inquiring about the number of jobs in White Plains that were eliminated. In a news release, the company said that it had made "significant reductions across several corporate departments" during the third quarter.

Last year, Starwood employed nearly 1,100 workers at the headquarters and a nearby office building on Westchester Avenue.

"While we can't control the economic environment, we can right-size our organization to offset the effects of slowing travel demand," Chief Executive Officer Frits van Paasschen said in a written statement. "Earlier this year we began a process to streamline our organization and reduce costs while continuing to invest in Starwood's future growth."

The company said it took a $22 million charge during the third quarter to cover restructuring costs primarily related to the job reductions in White Plains and the shutdowns of a vacation ownership call center and two sales centers. The company did not disclose where the three call centers were located.

Starwood added that it anticipates completing a review of "other functional areas" and implementing reductions in those areas by the end of the first quarter.

Starwood, whose brands include Sheraton, Westin and St. Regis, lists 155,000 employees at 936 properties in more than 100 countries.

Economically sensitive stocks such as hotels, retailers and restaurants have been hit particularly hard by the stock market's brutal selloff this year. A major worry is that consumers responding to higher gasoline prices, a weak housing market, job losses and record levels of debt may pull back on leisure activities, including vacations and hotel stays.

In addition, corporations also are expected to tighten their travel budgets with the economy weakening severely in recent weeks in response to the escalating financial crisis and credit crunch.

Starwood's net income totaled $113 million, or 62 cents a share, in the third quarter, compared to $129 million, or 61 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenues fell less than 1 percent to $1.535 billion.

Starwood outlined a dismal forecast for the fourth quarter. It said revenue per available room - a common performance measure in the hotel industry - could fall by 9 percent to 11 percent at company-owned hotels in North America and 4 percent to 6 percent at its hotels worldwide.

Operating income in Starwood's vacation ownership and residential business will be down $50 million to $60 million during the quarter, according to the company.

"The near-term outlook for the firm is poor," Morningstar analyst Jeremy Glaser wrote in a research report. "Although we think this extreme trend will moderate somewhat, the next year will be extremely challenging for Starwood as consumer and business travel spending drops."

Starwood's stock has fallen 66 percent during the past year as investors cut their exposure to economically sensitive stocks. The shares rose 49 cents yesterday to $19.69 in trading on the New York Stock Exchange. But they remain far below a 52-week high of more than $60.

Starwood got more bad news late yesterday when Standard & Poor's said it may downgrade the company's ratings because of worries about the industry's outlook.

Despite the economic uncertainties, Starwood is pushing ahead with new hotel projects.

Concord hotel project

Officials of Cappelli Enterprises Thursday reaffirmed their commitment to use local businesses for the construction of the Concord Resort and Conference Center, while also reassuring the public that the project will be all union, and utilize as many Sullivan County workers as possible.

Representatives from Cappelli Enterprises and Empire Resorts, partnering with the Westchester County developer on the Concord project, addressed these issues with a large crowd of Sullivan County Chamber of Commerce members at Monticello Gaming & Raceway.

Joseph Apicella, executive vice president of Fuller Development Company, a division of Cappelli Enterprises, detailed a pre-apprenticeship program that will target Sullivan County residents for construction jobs.

The new program will provide potential apprentices with trade assessments to place workers in a trade of their choice, paid on-the-job training, and, once they complete the class, a state certificate.

“Working with the agencies here in Sullivan County is going to be an integral part of we do because it’s so important for those permanent jobs, and the training that is involved to be able to fill those jobs locally,” he said. “Our management teams and providers and branding companies are not going to want to have a workforce that comes from three hours away. They are going to need a workforce locally.” The company is going to “be relying on you to help us train that workforce, recruit the workforce, and then put them on the job because goodness knows we could use jobs in this economy.”

Apicella also said that Concord Associates, the official partnership of Empire/Cappelli, will use union labor, as well as local businesses for supplies and equipment.

Though architecture of the $1 billion-plus project was slightly rearranged in the past few weeks, for what Apicella called “an efficiency move,” the Cappelli executive said the project will not be delayed, and is still scheduled for completion in summer 2010.

Aqueduct Casino Complex

After seven years of political wrangling and delay, a deal to build a casino at the Aqueduct racetrack is now in place.

Under a contract announced by the Paterson administration on Thursday, a Buffalo company will construct a complex featuring a 184,000-square-foot gambling floor and 4,500 video gambling terminals, multiple restaurants including one with a 600-seat buffet, at least 300 hotel rooms and a 60,000-square-foot conference center.

The Buffalo company, Delaware North, said it planned to start construction in early 2009 and finish the casino, its adjoining restaurants and the parking structure in about a year. The project will be completed in phases within five years, it said.

In its promotional material, Delaware North has boasted that the complex will be “all right in the heart of Queens,” a subway ride away on the A train. The track is in South Ozone Park just northwest of Kennedy Airport.

For the casino itself, gamblers should think more arcade than Atlantic City. There will be no blackjack tables with dealers, or roulette wheels. Instead the casino will have video-screen terminals that will accept money for virtual hands of poker and other games.

Delaware North operates a similar hybrid racetrack-casino — known as a racino — in Saratoga Springs. The company beat out two other bidders — the commercial real estate firm S L Green Realty, in partnership with Hard Rock Entertainment, and Capital Play, which had joined with Mohegan Sun.

State officials said Delaware North prevailed because it was offering more money in advance: $370 million for its license to operate the casino and entertainment complex.

“They offered the most money up front,” said John D. Sabini, chairman of the New York State Racing and Wagering Board. “And I think that’s important to the state because of the financial situation we’re in.”

In addition to the up-front payment, the state expects to reap more than $10.3 billion in revenue from the gambling terminals over the next 30 years.

Though the State Legislature has already trimmed more than $420 million in state spending this year, Gov. David A. Paterson said this month that the faltering economy had opened a new $1.2 billion hole in the budget.

After the Aqueduct negotiations hit a snag two weeks ago when Senate Republicans said they wanted more time to review the plan, Mr. Paterson and fellow Democrats accused Republicans of dragging their heels and delaying the start of a project that would create about 1,000 construction jobs at a time when employers in New York are shedding workers.

“This deal will provide a critical revenue stream — especially given the financial crisis that is battering our state and nation,” Mr. Paterson said in a statement,

The push to build a casino at Aqueduct began in 2001, when in the weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks the Legislature began passing laws that would allow for a major expansion of the state’s gambling industry.

In approving the deal, the state once again finds itself turning to gambling to strengthen its weakened cash flow. But with New Yorkers expected to spend less as the financial crisis expands, Delaware North’s president was asked on Thursday whether a casino could remain a steady source of state revenue during an economic downturn.

“Clearly the gaming business is not a recession-proof business,” the president, William J. Bissett, told reporters in a room overlooking the neatly groomed racetrack at Aqueduct.

“There is a large population that will have an easy means to get to this location to entertain themselves,” he said. “We take comfort that, even in a recession period, the fact that Aqueduct sits where it does in a huge metropolitan community buoys our confidence that we will be successful here.”

The project is expected to create about 2,000 jobs in Queens. About half those jobs would be permanent jobs at the casino complex once it is fully operating, and the rest would be construction jobs.

“The ultimate goal, of course, is not only to create revenue for the state but to create jobs,” said State Senator Serphin R. Maltese, a Republican from Queens. “So as far as economic development, I think you can put it in big letters: J-O-B-S.”

Mr. Maltese, who is locked in a competitive re-election battle that may decide which party controls the Senate next year, objected to the Delaware North proposal two weeks ago after Mr. Paterson and the Democratic-led Assembly signed off on it.

At the time, Mr. Maltese and other Senate Republicans said they were not convinced the plan included enough economic benefit for the Queens community. So the developers agreed to put more of their plans in writing, including the proposal for building the hotel and convention center and a community advisory board to inform Delaware North on their satisfaction with the development. In addition, the company agreed to open an office in the community that will make it more convenient for people to apply for a job.

High Point Market

You could sense the hustle of thousands of furniture buyers and sellers on the streets this week during the fall High Point Market.

You could also sense the worry attached to the prospects for the residential furniture industry in the face of what could become a deep national recession, on top of an already years-long slump in sales.

T.J. Stout, president of Archdale-based Carson’s, has been to dozens of markets in High Point on behalf of the company his grandfather, Carson Stout, started in 1944 — and he got worn out at every one of them.

“You go fast and furious for the first few days, then it gets slow. You start off thinking it will be a record market, then it becomes the worst one ever,” Stout says. “I don’t miss it one bit.”

He doesn’t miss it because as of this year, he doesn’t go. Carson’s has abandoned the residential furniture market entirely in favor of making furniture for hotels and resorts. The transition began about five years ago, and was complete this year.

The result for his firm: After watching sales slide from near $18 million a year in the booming 1980s down to around $6 million in the post-Sept. 11, 2001, slump and his work force fall by half, Carson’s should top $20 million in sales this year with a total head count across three corporate divisions (including a metal fabricator and a factoring operation) of 167 people in three Triad factories, and a client roster including Marriott, Ritz-Carlton and others.

His big concern right now is finding enough skilled, experienced employees to match his order backlog. He’s tried newspaper advertisements, the human resources departments of companies in the midst of layoffs and online classifieds site craigslist, with limited success at finding qualified workers.

“I guess people are just worried about the industry and going into something different,” Stout said. He’s hiring in every department, “and we may try just hanging a sign out front.”

You can’t blame the workers who made North Carolina the furniture industry’s home base for looking for new opportunities in a different field. Thousands upon thousands of jobs have been lost during the past decade, mostly among residential manufacturers who found more economical production overseas.