For what it's worth, I read an interesting editorial recently. It
pointed out that business climates like this cause established companies
to pull back...which leaves opportunities for "risk takers". It further
explained that both Oracle and Microsoft had formed during similar times.

Not to mention that outsourcing opportunities often increase when larger
businesses pull back.

All of these things make perfect sense -- but don't translate well into the
hotel biz.

Right now we're seeing the perfect storm in our biz. First, personal flying
is down to the point of being almost immeasurable. In fact, if our fly-in
business went away tomorrow, I'm not sure how we'd even measure the loss --
sad to say. This is the single most disheartening part of the downturn,
since we never set out to be innkeepers in the traditional sense. Rather,
we created this place to be the ultimate pilot hang-out, and finished it --
apparently just in time to see the demise of personal flying in America. Of
course, we can't blame that entirely on this particular downturn, as GA has
been declining precipitously since at least 2005, and has dropped 50% or
more in the last 12 months.

Combine this with businesses cutting back or eliminating their travel
budgets since September, and we've lost two important parts of our business.
All we're left with is the weekend "getaway with your honey in a hot tub"
business, which -- while significant -- is insufficient to support a hotel
in the long run.

As with all downturns, it's a temporary thing -- everything is cyclical --
but it still sucks, especially since we were having a record year until
October hit like a big, wet blanket, making the change appear all the more
stark.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
Ercoupe N94856
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"