There is a supermarket in my town (also a college town) that pays
about twice as much per hour. They don't have problems finding good
employees, and it is a pleasure to shop there - even though they are
not cheap.
We would love to pay our employees $16 per hour. Heck, I'd like to
pay myself that much!
We are in a strange spot regarding our prices (and, thus, our ability
to pay more). Many who stay with us request "the cheapest thing
you've got" but -- after hearing so much about us now -- they expect
the world from us.
These high expectations can lead to real problems. I always feel
guilty giving someone "the cheapest thing we've got" knowing that it
won't live up to their expectations (or what they've heard) of us, but
the flip-side is that I can't afford to give them the coolest
honeymoon suite for $69, either.
It's a real Catch-22. We find ourselves ever more busy -- we're now
running 80+% occupancy -- but we're scared to death to raise our
rates, due to our competitive position. In fact, we haven't raised
rates since we bought the hotel in 2002 -- that's five years of
holding the line on rates -- but in the meantime we've added service
after service.
This has severely limited our ability to pay our employees more, since
we're being ever more tightly squeezed by energy costs (up 35% in five
years!) and tax increases. Eventually the pressure will become
impossible to bear, and we will be forced to raise rates -- but surely
at the expense of occupancy.
Finding the "happy medium" is always the trick, and has forced many
good businesses under.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"