Well Jay, I definitely get all that. You are definitely in a different
situation than an FBO.

It's always seems like it's a matter of perspective.

I hope we make it out your way sometime soon. We'd love to see your hotel.

Thanks for the post as usual!

MauleDriver

Jay Honeck wrote:
On the other hand, weekend 100$ burger shoppers often bring zero$ but
benefit from courtesy cars just the same. I fill 'em up too but most of
them have disappeared from around here. Gas is part of the exchange it
just goes the other way.

Am I missing something here?

We have designed our hotel to be a destination for private pilots. As
such, our suites have aviation themes, private jacuzzis, full kitchens,
a delivered breakfast, full kitchens, free internet, a massage
therapist, workout room, pool, etc...

All of these niceties result in a private pilot who brings his gal to
the inn for a weekend getaway, and will drop between $150 and $400 for
the weekend. In exchange, we are more than happy to provide them with
free pick-up/drop-off service, and free use of our full-sized Ford
Econoline conversion van. All we ask is that they put a little gas in
it.

Charter pilots, on the other hand, often ask for "day" rates (which we
won't offer), and arrive/depart at unpredictable times, making
pick-up/drop-off service difficult. Despite this, we bend ourselves
into a pretzel for them, because we love ALL pilots, and know the
plight these (usually) young guys are facing. They are quite literally
making NO money, their life-style sucks, and half the time they don't
even know what city they're in when they wake up in the morning.

They *always* ask for the cheapest possible rooms -- and are always
thrilled when they discover that they get to use our $35K van for free,
and that we deliver breakfast to their suite in the morning -- even
though they're staying in our cheapest suite. Every last one of them
leaves our place grateful and thankful -- but every last one of them
never, ever, EVER puts a drop of gas in the courtesy van.

Perhaps it's because of the phenomenon you've described, Bill -- they
are so used to being the guys who get a "free ride" at the FBO because
their company bought 700 gallons of Jet-A, that they simply can't get
their minds around an airport business like ours (which is rarer than
hen's teeth, for sure!) where they are NOT the big honchos at the
ranch?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"