25 Interesting, Helpful...and Sometimes Gross Facts About the U.S. Hotel Industry.

Are you traveling to visit family this holiday season and will be staying in a hotel? Or are you and your loved ones heading somewhere warm and fun for a great winter vacation? Maybe you just travel out of town on business often? No matter what the circumstances, the average person stays in a hotel at least a handful of times every year. So we thought we’d put together some interesting, helpful…and even gross…tips about the U.S. hotel industry.

U.S. hotel industry by numbers-

1.   In 2015 the hotel industry generated a staggering $176.7 billion in revenue. Comparing this to the industry’s worst year in the last 15 years, where the industry made “only” $115 billion.

2.   The occupancy rate is at an all-time high at roughly 65%. Good news for the hotel industry compared the lowest point in the last 15 years that came in 2006 (52.6%).

3.   The average daily rate throughout the U.S. is now a record $121.37. The cheapest average in the last 15 years was in 2002 ($82.53).

4.   New York City, NY is the most expensive city to get a hotel room, with an average cost of $271 per night. Whereas Anaheim, CA is the cheapest, with the average being $144.

5.   New York City, NY also has the most hotels out of any city. The number currently being at 667, which is minuscule compared to the Beijing (4169).

Fascinating Trivia-

6.   Unsurprisingly, Las Vegas boasts the largest hotel in the U.S. The MGM Grand is the third largest hotel in the world, with 5,690 rooms. What’s more, 23 of the largest 35 hotels in the world are located within the same two-mile radius in Las Vegas.

7.   In 1910, the American Hotel Protective Association, or AHLA, was founded. At that time, they discovered that the U.S. hotel industry was made up of 10,000 hotels, 1 million rooms, and roughly 300,000 employees. At year-end in 2012, there were 52,529 hotels, 4.9 million rooms, and the hotel industry employed 1.8 million people. In 2012, hotels employed six times as many people as they did in 1910, but there are only 42,529 more hotels. In 1910, on average, each hotel only employed three people. Now, the average is about 34 people per hotel.

8.   The first official hotel in the U.S. was the Union Pacific Public Hotel. It was built in 1793 in Washington, D.C. In 1929, Western Hotels, which we now know as Westin, started their brand with 17 hotels in the Pacific Northwest. They established the first hotel management company in the country.

9.   Standing at 1,389 feet tall, the Trump International Hotel & Tower Chicago is the tallest hotel in the U.S. at 92 stories high. It’s also the fourth tallest building in the U.S.

10.   $2.1 billion of the $176.7 billion that is generated from hotels come as fees and surcharges. According to the U.S. Travel Association, “Each U.S. household would pay $1,060 more in taxes without the tax revenue generated by travel and tourism.”

Hotel Hacks-

11.   Once you've got a specific hotel or chain in mind, bypass calling the 800-number to make a reservation. Instead, do some research about their published rates, and then call the hotel front desk directly to ask what specials they have.

12.   If you haven't made a reservation, you might be able to score a lower rate if you time it just right. A little after 5 or 6pm, you have a shot at getting a cheaper room, or at least a better room for a standard price, if the hotel still has vacancies.

13.   If you have a mediocre experience at a hotel, call or email the General Manager and explain your stay to them. This will almost guarantee you to be at least upgraded each time you stay. To be on the safe side, build up a good relationship with the GM by calling them before your planned stays in the future, to let them know you are arriving. This will also usually get you an upgrade.

14.   If you’re staying somewhere for more than one week, contact the hotel directly to negotiate a lower rate. You can often negotiate up to 75% on nightly rates since it’s much less work for the hotel to keep one customer than to turn over the room constantly.

15.   If you have security concerns because your motel door directly opens outdoors where anyone can access, or the hotel is just marginal and you’re worried about break-ins, hang your ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign on the door and crank up the TV when you step out to give the impression that you’re still inside.

Gross Stuff-

16.   In 2007, Fox News reported that a hidden camera investigation of several hotels in Atlanta revealed that glasses often go unwashed, or are treated with potentially harmful substances.

17.   Bed bugs are on the rise. These pervasive insects are causing major problems in hotels. Just because a hotel is expensive, it doesn't mean it's bed bug free. Bed bugs are difficult to spot, and they spread quickly.

18.   E. Coli has been found on 81% on surfaces in hotels- like the telephone, bedside lamp, and the dirtiest of all things in the hotel room… the TV remote control.

19.   There have been eight dead bodies found under beds in hotels in the U.S. over the last 30 years.

20.   We’ve all seen the cult horror classic ‘Psycho’, right? Well, peepholes are as commonplace as they’ve ever been, and there are plenty of modern-day Norman Bates’ out there. Check for tampered peepholes on your door, as they can be reversed to look in, instead of out.

Coolest Hotels-

21.  TreeHouse Point- Located only 30 minutes outside of Seattle, this awesome hotel offers many different options for your vacation. Each option allows visitors a tranquil private home to enjoy the ambience of being in the treetops.

22.   The Saguaro- This 1950’s Technicolor time capsule in the middle of the desert city of Palm Springs, California, is a great place to spend your vacation. Its simplicity and charm offer a certain joie de vivre experience.

23.   Ultima Thule- This luxury lodge in Wrangell–St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska, is 100 miles from the nearest road, and is only accessible by private plane. Here you can sit in the middle of the largest swath of protected land on the planet. After a hard day of fun outdoor activities, your hosts cook up a meal of epic proportions that you can chow down on, before retiring to your quarters.

24.   Beckham Creek Cave Lodge- This is a hotel in a cave, in Arkansas. Need I say more?

25.   Jules’ Undersea Lodge- Situated 30 feet below the surface of the water at Key Largo Undersea Park in Florida, this cool place is America’s one and only undersea hotel. You can spend the night sleeping with Florida’s marine life.

Water Worlds: 8 places around the globe where the “streets” are water

1. Venice (Italy)
The best-known example of a city that has waterways for streets is charming and romantic Venice, Italy. Venice’s Grand Canal, or Canałasso as its known to the locals, is perhaps the most famous ‘water world’ on the globe, with millions of tourists visiting. Couples can often be seen floating along in a Gondola while taking in the beauty of the architecture that dates back as far as the 13th century. Until the 19th century, the Rialto Bridge was the only bridge that crossed the canal, due to the fact that most of the city's traffic goes along the canal rather than across it. Today there are four bridges in total, the Ponte degli Scalzi, the Ponte dell’Accademia, the most recent and controversial Ponte dell Constituzione, and of course the Rialto. But visit it soon if it’s on your Bucket List, because Venice is slowly sinking city every year as the city’s infrastructure ages and water levels around the world rise.

2. Giethoorn (Netherlands)
Located in the Dutch province of Overijssel, Giethoorn is known as ‘The Venice of the North’. Fugitives from the Mediterranean founded it around the year 1230 AD and it was a separate municipality until 1973, when it became part of Brederwiede. It became particularly famous to the locals after 1958, when Dutch filmmaker Bert Haanstra made his big screen comedy ‘Fanfare’ there. In the old part of the village, there were no roads (though a cycling path was eventually added), and all transport was done via canals. While the Grand Canal in Venice only has four bridges, Giethoorn boasts over 180 of them. This village only has 2,620 inhabitants but gets between 150,000 and 200,000 Chinese tourists each year!

3. Taling Chan Floating Market (Thailand)
This is just one of the many floating markets in Thailand and Southeast Asia, and yet Taling Chang is a hidden gem. The entrance of the market is not all that impressive with a tatty green plastic roof but within the entrance is the a floating market that’s one of the most remarkable in the world, with so many varieties of food, cooked dishes, sweets, and fruits and vegetables that they could film 100 episodes for Food Channel shows there (and they often do!)

4. Santa Cruz del Islote (Colombia)
Santa Cruz del Islote is located off the coast of Colombia and can be accessed by ferry from the port of Tolu – a waterway commute. You can barely see a patch of earth on this island from above since it’s so completely covered with houses. In fact, the island measures just 0.0046 square miles yet has an astonishing population of 1,200, making it the most densely populated island on earth. Santa Cruz del Islote is so densely populated that he residents have to use neighboring islands for their cemetery and recreation grounds, while many of the locals work on the mainland and even students cross the water to attend school on the neighboring mainland.

5. Ko Panyi (Thailand)
This beautiful little fishing village is set against the dramatic backdrop of the stunning Phang Nga province in Thailand. For people who love the water and tropical weather, Ko Panyi would seem like a paradise. The village was built on stilts by Indonesian fishermen in the 18th century, and is home to around 1,685 people from 360 families that descended from two seafaring Muslim families from Java. There’s even a fully functional Mosque there, where the predominantly Muslim villagers to worship. The coolest thing about this village is its floating soccer pitch, which was built by local children using old scraps of driftwood and fishing rafts – the subject of a popular short documentary about a decade ago.

6. Mexicáltitan (Mexico)
Mexicáltitan or La Venecia Mexicana (The Mexican Venice), is a tiny man-made island off the coast of the municipality of Santiago Ixcuintla in the state of Nayarit, and only accessible by boat from nearby La Batanza. Legend has it that it was the home city and birthplace of the Aztlan and Aztecs, and where they set out on their pilgrimage in 1091 that led them to the founding of Tencochtitlan. Now promoted as a tourist attraction, Mexicáltitan is 1,300 feet in diameter and home to only 818 people. During the dry season it looks like any other island, but in the rainy season the streets flood completely, forcing locals to get around only on canoes and small floating vessels.

7. Zhujiajiao (China)
This ancient town with rivers for streets is located on the outskirts of Shanghai, and was established some 1,700 years ago. 36 stone bridges and numerous rivers line Zhujiajiao, and many ancient buildings still dot the riverbanks today. Aside from most residents residing on – not by – the river, the town is also famous for its cuisine, particularly green soybeans, lotus roots, pig trotter and other foods. Zhujiajiao still has ancient dwellings built during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and today, old historical buildings such as rice shops, banks, spice stores and even a Qing dynasty post office can still be found among it’s liquid streets.

8. Ganvie (Benin)
Located on Lake Nokoué in the African nation of Benin, you can find the largest lake village on the continent. Established by the Tofinu people around the 16th century, Ganvie is a “neighborhood” of 3,000 buildings on stilts rising above the lake, housing a population of 20,000. Residents of Ganvie, which is often referred to as ‘The Venice of Africa’ subsist mostly on fishing with a little tourism, and use pirogues (canoes) to get around. The village of Ganvie was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List on October 31, 1996 in the ‘Cultural’ category, awaiting approval as one of the world's most important heritage sites.

Come Aboard the 10 Nicest Houseboats in the World.

The real estate world has been taken by storm, with luxurious, contemporary, and outrageously designed floating homes. These homes are true works of incredible art and stunning construction from the minds of brilliant architects.

With a huge percentage of the earth’s surface being taken up by sea, lakes and rivers there’s no wonder that as far back as the early 1900s the idea of living on a floating house on the water set sail. These days, houseboats have risen to a new standard, both for recreation and as permanent residences. Houseboat – or floating real estate - designers are pushing the limits true works of art and stunning feats of construction from the minds of brilliant architects.

Nowadays, there really are no boundaries when it comes to choosing your overall design, color schemes or furniture style as the traditional looking houseboat is slowly drifting away and more lavish floating homes are on an all time high.

In the U.S., houseboats are frequently seen bobbing around in American cities like Washington, Portland and Seattle. In fact, the most popular (and therefore populated) house boating waters in the U.S. are Lake Powell in southern Utah and Lake Cumberland in Kentucky. But you’ll see plenty of these addresses-on-the-water on the Delta in Northern California, Sacramento’s rivers, and Lake Tahoe.

After seeing these top ten incredible floating homes from around the world you may decide to say farewell to solid ground and work on your sea legs too…

Houseboats in Europe:

Location:        River Amstel – South Amsterdam
Designer:       Ronald Hooft

Shipped as an empty shell, this houseboat was completed by the owners, ensuring they put their personal stamp on the interior. Featuring a split-level floor plan for better use of interior, these owners are making the most of their home, living with all their comforts, including a sauna in the master bedroom, in a very minimal space. Floor to ceiling windows in the living and dining area ensure picture perfect views wherever they might venture, plus a ton of light flooding in.

Location:        River Amstel – South Amsterdam
Designer:       +31 Archtects

Another interesting houseboat found on the River Amstel, a popular location in Amsterdam. The Watervilla de Omval is 2,100 square-feet of incredible modern art. The open floor plan, with windows spanning the entire front of the structure allowing panoramic views of the river, means the interior needs to be kept looking exquisite for prying eyes at all times. This should be an easy feat with the clean, modern white finishes and appliances.

Location:        Lusatian Lake District – Brandenburg, Germany
Designer:       Steeltec 37

Created with a curved roof to give the impression of a sail on a sailboat, this vacation home can be found on a chain of artificially created lakes in Brandenburg, Germany. Designed to ensure it can withstand the harshest of elements, the floating home has an aluminum exterior. Sliding, slatted screens on the exterior also help to soften the sharp reflections coming off the lake.

Location:        Eilbek Canal - Hamburg, Germany
Designer:       Rost Niderehe Architecture

Constructed in 2011, this immobile floating house won the architectural firm construction awards and recognition for its gorgeous style and sleek exterior finish. Complete with an open back deck, contemporary interior to suit, private bedrooms and bathrooms this modern, glorified barge looks beautiful sitting peacefully on the canal.

Location:        The Netherlands
Designer:       Waterstudio.NL

Named Watervilla de Hoef, this Netherlands beauty floats on a foam and concrete base. Created in 2006, a notch was then cut out of the canal bank in an existing suburban neighborhood and this simple yet attractive looking floating home was slid in.

With floor to ceiling windows to enjoy the view when temperatures are a little low, the exterior back deck is the perfect spot to enjoy your morning coffee when the sun shines.

Houseboats in the United States:

Location:        Lake Union – Seattle, Washington
Designer:       Vandeventer + Carlander Architects

There's an extensive history of floating homes in Seattle, but this houseboat is the prize of a distinguished owner sailing on Lake Union. Panoramic views of the entire city can be seen from the outdoor common areas on the top floor.

Location:        Sausalito, California
Designer:       Chris Roberts

Built in the late 60s, this horned wooden tower with wide-eye windows was appropriately named The Owl, created by sculpture Chris Roberts who also built two other houses in this area.

In 2012, there were 245 floating homes in the five docks at Sausalito’s Waldo Point Harbor. The majority of the houseboats are simple, understated however the custom-built dream homes were valued upwards of $1.3 million.

Location:        Portland, Oregon

Going back to their roots (or anchors,) this boathouse was inspired by historical waterfront warehouses. Industrial detailing and exposed utilities ensure the design stays true to the look and the feel of these old buildings. Two large outdoor areas and a large deck on the riverside offer plenty of room to spread out and enjoy nights on the water.

Location:  Lake Union – Seattle, Washington

Lake Union is home of the world-famous Sleepless in Seattle (1993) houseboat that is docked off Westlake Avenue on 123 Lake Union. It's a popular tourist attraction, even if only recognised from the exterior. This four-bedroom home is one of the largest on Lake Union, with a combined 2,270-square-foot.

Boasting a large wraparound deck, with room to tie a boat and breathtaking views from beautiful bay windows of surrounding Seattle this boat was sold for a sleepless nights sleep of $2.5 million in September of 2014, just over 20 years after the film was released.

Location:        Willamette River – Portland, Oregon
Designer:       Robert Harvey Oshatz

For those who know their architecture, it will be pretty clear to you that Oshatz was the mastermind behind this stunning, curvaceous form. Huge feature glass windows allow the owners to enjoy exquisite sunsets from their living and dining room, while enjoying a cozy interior created by the warm timber beams.

80 Fun and crazy facts about Las Vegas, (part 2)

Las Vegas is one of the most dazzling cities in the world, a mecca of gambling and entertainment that attracts millions of tourists every year. In this blog, we'll continue our look at fun, crazy, and fascinating facts about Las Vegas. To read the first 35, click on part 1 of this blog. 

46. If one person wanted to stay one night in every hotel in Las Vegas it would take them 288 years.

47. A 2013 study revealed that 15% of people come to Las Vegas with intentions to gamble, but 71% actually gamble during their stay.

48. The Bellagio Hotel has more rooms (3,933) than residents in Bellagio, Italy, for which it’s named.

49. Most of the water features like fountains, waterfalls, and man-made lakes in Vegas use grey water, which is recycled from sinks, tubs, and showers.

50. Plenty of people try to cheat and rob the casinos in Las Vegas, but 34% of those incidents are perpetrated by staff and employees of those establishments, not outsiders.

51. Every day, more than 60,000 pounds of cocktail shrimp are consumed in Las Vegas, which is more than the rest of the U.S. combined.

52. The Stratosphere Hotel in Las Vegas stands 1,100 feet tall, the highest building west of the Mississippi and the 5^th highest in the U.S.

53. A marriage license costs only $60 in Nevada and there is no requirement for a blood test or any waiting period.

54. What happens in Clark County…? Few people realize that the legendary Vegas Strip actually mostly sits in neighboring Clark County, not within the Las Vegas city limits.

55. The Nevada Test Site lies about 65 miles north of Las Vegas, home to more than 100 above-ground nuclear tests our government performed between 1952-1962. 

56. The bomb blasts were made public and spawned Atomic Tourism, where people would watch the show from the rooftops, decorate their bars and restaurants with atomic themes, and dedicate parties to witnessing the atomic blasts.

57. During the era of the nuclear scare, a wealth businessman built a 16,500 square foot mansion underground beneath Las Vegas, with a swimming pool, putting green, and other luxury amenities, along with plenty of stored food and water to keep him alive for decades in case of a nuclear war.

58. The rise of modern-day Las Vegas from a dusty desert town in the 1940s is largely thanks to Mafia gangsters Meyer Lansky and Benjamin Hymen Siegelbaum, known as Bugsy Siegel, who brought together mob families, movie and music stars, and business people to get the Flamingo hotel and casino built.

59. Bugsy Siegel reportedly got inspiration for the name “Flamingo” from the long legs of his showgirl girlfriend.

60. The list of power players who held a tight grip on Vegas business and development reads like a list of kings in any monarchy. Steve Wynn started out as an apprecintice to the incumbant Frank Rosentha, but eventually “dethroned” him.

61. Wynn now serves as chairman of Mirage Resorts, and the MGM Grand, which is the most successful hotel in the world.

62. But not all Vegas legends were auspicious gambling tycoons, gangsters and wheelers and dealers.  A virtual unknown named E. Parry Thomas is given credit for helping Vegas develop into what it is today because he was the only banker in town at the time who would loan money to build casinos.

63. Almost everything is a gamble in Vegas but there’s one sure thing – that a whole lot of people will be hungover every morning. To help them recover, there’s actually a service that comes to their hotel and hooks up an IV with fluids and vitamins!

64. All the fun isn’t in the casinos and clubs in Las Vegas; a heavy equipment playground lets people drive around bulldozers and other heavy machinery just for kicks.

65. Legend has it that there’s an entire secret city buried under Las Vegas and guess what? The legend is true! Nearly 1,000 people inhabit a massive tunnel system that runs under the casinos, most of them living and sleeping under there full time, even with pets and whole families. The city knows about it, of course, and has outreach programs that try to bring them above ground and integrated into shelters or society.

66.Outside the Paris hotel in Vegas stands a monumental replica of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. It was originally slated to be a full size rendition, but because it was near an airport and might interfere with the flight path of planes, it was shrunk to a ½ size scale during construntion.

67.Pop icon Michael Jackson had plans to build a robot likeness in Las Vegas in 2007 as a tourist attraction. The robot was reportedly to be 50-feet high and able to moon walk through the desert.

68. In 2007, Michael Jackson had plans to build a 50-foot tall moon walking robot, a replica of himself to roam the desert sands of Las Vegas.

69. A lot of people don’t know that the majority of casinos in Las Vegas will cash in chips from their competitors.

70. Las Vegas may be known for great eatieries and fine dining, but no one accused them of being health conscious. For instance, at the the Heart Attack Grill in that city, any patron weighing over 350 pounds eats for free and a popular item on the menu is called the “Quadruple Bypass Burger,” which is more than 8,000 calories!

71. Thanks to their close relationship from encouraging tourism, Las Vegas holds the unofficial designation of being Hawaii’s 9th island.

72. Vegas is so brightly lit at night that you can actually see the lights from outer space.

73. The Great Recession hit Las Vegas particularly hard, as most people opted to stay home and financially conservative as the economy faltered. But now, Las Vegas tourism is back and just as big as ever.

74. In fact, construction was under way on the Harmon Hotel, the largest private funded construction project in U.S. history. Once completed, it would have 400 hotel rooms, 207 condo suites, casinos, and a full shopping mall. But that will never happen because the project’s developers and contractors were accused of falsifying 62 reports and compromising the safety of the structure to pocket money. So the ill-fated hotel was demolished in 2012 before it ever opened its doors.

75. Casinos employ all sorts of subtle tactics to keep customers inside their establishments gambling away. In fact, the casinos in Vegas have no clocks, keeping people disconnected from reality so they’ll keep spending money instead of leaving.

76. There are also no windows in casinos so people can’t tell the passing of time by day or night.

77. Casinos design their interior floor plans like mazes so people can’t exit easily.

78. And the best tactic of all, casinos give free alcohol to patrons who are gambling, which encourages them to stay and “helps” them make bad decisions and fosters sloppy play. The House always wins!

79. They’ll bet on just about anything in Vegas, though sometimes it crosses the line. In 1980, a hospital there suspended workers who were betting on when patients would die. One nurse was even accused of killing patients to help win bets.

80. Other than casinos and nightlife on the Strip, the Hoover Dam is the largest tourist attraction in or around Las Vegas. The Dam was competed in 1935 after The Hoover Dam was completed in 1935 after 21,000 men worked on it for 5 years, and regulates water to make the region habitable.