Sounds like the hotel where your friends would stay has been turned into a "Patel". Those folk could turn the Four Seasons into a moldy, piss-stained wreck in a few days, depending on how many cousins they hire to moisten the carpets.
That's what the dot on their heads is for. When an Indian couple gets married, you scratch off the dot on the brides head and you get either a gas station, a hotel, or a smoke shop.
I saw the future around 40 years ago. Almost all of the motels along the U.S. 130 corridor in Central New Jersey were Indian-owned. I can't imagine it's any different with the convenience stores. It's something out of an episode of "The Simpsons," only way beyond.
"No more laundry service, and if you want a cup of regular coffee, not even espresso but just a simple cup, you have to give the front desk woman $6 and she’ll get you one from the break room. Then you have to drink it in front of her so she gets the cup back." That sounds positively North Korean.
Hi Sonny! Except in the North Korean version, there’s no coffee—just a lukewarm gray liquid you have to pretend to enjoy while the front desk woman observes for signs of disloyalty. But hey, Dear Leader drinks it every morning, so it must be good for morale.
What's with your damnable luck trying to find temporary housing? So far, Cabin in the Woods, then some kind of Mexican food worker protest at 6 am and 7 stories below. An Air BnB that you could not get into, then one that had been foreclosed!?
Now, I vacant hotel (probably is vacant, and being run by illegal squatter hotel clerks, playing out some weird hotel worker fantasy of Norman Bates! "Aye aye aye, if I onleez had mine own motel! I'd get riiiich!") with a trap door deathtrap for a "balcony".
Seriously bro, you need to fire your fucking travel agent (yeah, I know it's you, and "yes", I'm telling you to fire yourself, at least when it comes to booking flop houses. you're like 0 for 5. Random picks off the internet could yield better odds!)
Besides, you're supposed to be writing us a book, not doing a tour of ghost hotels, squatter BnB's, and various Santa Monica hellscape crack dens (I don't know, is "crack' even still a thing? I get all my druggie intel from the TV and movies, so I may be a little behind. Try asking some dope dealer for some high quality Angel Dust, and the dealer just looks at you like your stoned or something)
Nice job with recovering your long lost nothings at the Casa da la Cole! It's nice to see you having some adventures, and throwing the rule book out the proverbial window; Very Spicy!
However, as I alluded to before, if your going to do the Henry Miller thing, then you need more "French Cunts" in your life! (Henry Miller's words, not mine, so stuff a sock in it, all of you frog bitches, with your armpit hair, and beautiful lips, and accent to die for.... no wonder that life killed Henry)
Cheers man! Have fun!
We're all pulling for you!
p.s. if you are going to truly be "Homeless Dave", you need a catchy street name, like the rest of the homeless indigents. like "Holocaust Hairy"! Or "The BH Party Animal", or maybe "Arty Auschwitz".
I'll take votes on what my hobo name should be. Whatever readers decide, I'll go with!
And yes, I need to start writing that book! The trouble is every few days having to uproot and set up my writing station in a whole new place. VERY distracting. That's why I badly need permanent digs. But I'm only willing to do a 6-month lease, as most places are demanding one year. I just got out of a lifetime commitment with my house, I don't wanna jump into a year commitment to a rental.
Hi Mike! With writing like that, we really ought to be seeing a book from you, pal. Your comments are always share-worthy — half the reason I check the threads is to see what kind of literary chaos you’ve dropped this time. You’re like a cross between Hunter S. Thompson and a deranged Yelp reviewer, and I mean that in the most flattering way possible.
Thanks, that’s very flattering. I don’t think I have the discipline for a whole book. Even when I do longer articles, I start out inspired, then write until I’m bored with it and rush the ending.
Agreed. I'm thinking on Monday of reporting it. Someone genuinely could get hurt...and I have no sympathy for Patels who won't even give you a cup of coffee.
The only time I drove through BH I was still in high-school, and who should pull up next to me at a red than a youngish David Carradine, then probably at the peak of his fame. He was driving a white European rag top thing, but what I remember was the look on his face : Never, ever, have I seen a human being so clearly pleased with themselves , He was in a state of bliss. So the lesson is, better Beverly Hills than Bangkok.
Damn, where does one start with this? Hell of a story. I think it's awesome that you broke into your old house. Nightmares about things left behind? Not unusual. You need to get the hell out of the Stephen King Hostel for Wayward Jews before you end up in some old picture that hangs in a non-existent bar and we never hear from you again. And that balcony? I wouldn't even breathe near that thing. Can't be legal? Can't be legal? Of course it can. Somewhere in Thailand maybe. Or the Hotel Darfur. That's not even a code violation, I don't know what they call that. Condemned maybe? You can't get away with something like that here. And I reside in the S. Jersey swamps where wood rot just is. Tempted to try prayer just for this one occasion. Please, please, please next place be better. And nice Casey Anthony jab. That one made me laugh out loud.
Fortunately, the next place WAS better! I'm still there now. A bit more expensive than the wood rot place, but worth it. VERY comfortable and "healing" from my last few experiences.
Oh I ain't moving to another hotel. The Beverly Hills Marriott is the best-run place I've ever stayed in, and that includes my time in Paris, Munich, Berlin, and Tokyo. I love it here. Hell, I may just stay here the whole summer. Because NOTHING is opening up in terms of long-term rentals. And no way I'm committing to something I might be unhappy with. I sign a lease, I'm stuck. Here, I could leave anytime. Yeah I'm paying extra, but I get the freedom of no lease, plus free food & drink every day 5pm to 7. Free clean sheets, towels, coffee, a full restaurant, and free water, sodas, juice, etc. 24/7. Is that worth the extra money? Maybe.
I mean it's 1:30am right now, and I could go to the "M Club" in the lobby and scoop up as much bottled water, juice, coffee, tea, fruit, etc. that I want. No charge.
Great story Dave ( as usual ) I would do the exact same thing if I was in your shoes!! You must’ve had such an amazing sense of relief when you got there and was like “oh my God they didn’t touch a thing!!” I have tons of stuff that my even my mother (who’s still here yay ) says why do you keep that of dad‘s?? and I’m like Mom it’s important to me. I have tons of things of value and no value from my childhood and my father that passed, but I have lots of junk too.. lol -For one it is an ice scraper for your car, but it’s from like the 70s! lol and I remember my dad using it my whole childhood growing up in the 80s and 90s. It was like this camel hair and leather fancy thing you put your hand in it to keep warm; and it had an ice scraper on top—and you scrape the ice off your car! and I use it every winter— tons of stuff like that weird stuff so I get it!!Memories and nostalgia are very powerful. Hey, in speaking of Santa Monica again I used to stay at the Huntley every year. Is that still there? It was a beautiful place. It was expensive but not crazy. Like not 1000 bucks a night like they probably have a suite that’s that price but I would pay like 350 a night circa 2009. It was beautiful. They were known for their penthouse lounge and restaurant You might never have heard of it but anyway, thanks Dave for another great story….make a video dammit!!! :)
Hi Dave! Visiting your Substack to read your latest has become a social event for me — the comments are a show in themselves. The talent on display is just great. Despite all the rough patches, you seem to attract some wildly creative and interesting folks. Oh, and one more thing: milk the Marriott for every freebie you can. Abbie Hoffman is watching... somewhere.
I stayed in a hotel run by Indians a couple of years ago, and it was the worst run hotel I've ever seen. The garbage cans outside were overflowing, clearly not being emptied regularly. The vending machines were dark and empty. The screens on the windows were torn. And despite there being a sign in the laundry room that "the staff at the front desk will be happy to supply you with detergent", they had none. Another aspect of American life ruined by third-world immigration.
I can envision your 2am night time stroll through Beverly Hills. I enjoy surreal views of the night and especially going back to a childhood home and breaking and entering into it , ahhh the spike in cortisol the butterflies in the stomach as you slip into the place where anything or anyone could be, the thrill! Dave the thrill seeker! I’m glad you find comfort in that area!
In the meantime don’t die, I need you alive for at least a few more years, until we receive an Oscar for best documentary film.
That hotel is CREEPY!
I’ll definitely be in CALIFORNIA sooner than later.
This is hilarious. I really envy you breaking into your own, albeit former, home. I wish I could do that someday! Dare to dream.
By the way, I looked up the Sirtaj hotel on booking.com and the top review -- I swear, look for it yourself -- says the following: “It was good location, staff were excellent, but the smell was horrible.” LOL.
Good piece as always. I'm not much of a traveler so I probably have a very low standard of what a hotel should be, not having stayed in one for over twenty years. If a hotel has a roof and no bedbugs, I'm okay. I wouldn't spend a night in Santa Monica if they paid me. My old hometown has changed too much, and not for the better. Everything bad about SM got that much worse; everything good pulled up roots and split like a banana long ago. One common migration pattern I noticed of childhood friends who left the west side is that if they were deeply liberally indoctrinated, they moved north. Maybe San Fran or Berkley if they attended college there (many of my friends attended Berkley or Standford). If they were more grounded, they left for economic reasons, opting for Nevada, Arizona, or Oregon before it went batshit crazy.
However, we made a deal when we moved from my last fully paid for 1500 square feet and mortgage free house. I agreed to buy the bigger place, but I was only responsible for the outside equal to the old house, and the proportional cleaning of only 750 square feet of the new place.
My reasoning was that I was happy with 1500 square feet, and I'll clean half of it. However, no way was I moving to a bigger house and cleaning the extra space I didn't even want. She agreed, and I pay a maid service to come in once a week, and she cleans whatever else she wants. Following Dave's lead, I hire beans for external groundskeeping.
If only I could eat whatever I wanted, life would be perfect.
Predatory rats leave the premises when Dave sells. A previously upscale hotel becomes something out of the Shining prior to Dave checking in. Coincidence?
Honestly, I've been joking to my friends that this trip is cursed. But...the place I'm in now is Heaven. I don't mean that literally ("the rats murdered Dave!"). I finally found a great hotel. Sadly, it's about $100 a night more than I wanna spend, but the respite from the last three weeks - filthy Santa Monica, the Shining hotel, and the hotel with poop stains on the bed comforter (I haven't told that story yet) - is worth it. This is the first place I can relax.
As I learned the hard way twenty years ago during my first four or five years as a Corporate Road Warrior, if you stray from Marriott, Hilton, or Hyatt, you are taking a big risk and you're likely to lose. I'm not talking about well-established hotels with good reputations, of course - I mean no-name places that look great on the internet. They're not.
I researched this years ago and learned numerous other Road Warriors have similar experiences. Here's how it happens. An investment group or an Indian family buys up a few properties that are either non-franchises or associated with low-end franchises like Motel6 or Red Roof Inn.
Their business plan requires cutting operating costs to the bone and maybe opening under a different name, or not, and keeping the place operating (barely) until it's sold in a couple of years at a handsome profit. It's the hotelier's version of house flipping.
The flip plan won't be as profitable if you actually try to run a nice hotel and keep it full! That takes advertising and good service and attention to detail and hiring an excellent general manager. All of that is hard - and it takes a LONG TIME, years and years, to develop your reputation and clientele. Who the hell wants all that trouble and effort? If you keep the operating cost VERY low, that's your selling pitch right there. A buyer who dreams of building his brand will pay a good price under the assumption that with such low operating costs he can spruce up the place cheaply, jack up the price, and fill it up through Expedia and Hotels-dot-com.
You are more correct than you know, my good friend. I'm now at the Marriott Beverly Hills, and it's heaven. Amazing front desk service, incredible restaurant & bar, 24-hour sundry store, free coffee in the room or lobby 24/7, scenic view overlooking L.A. from 10 stories up, and for guys who paid a little more (like me), all-you-can-eat and drink (wine) in the "special" club room from 5pm 'til 7 (and free sundries 24/7). They even have a designated smoking garden for cigar afficionados like me.
I could live here. I really could. This is the first place I've found no fault with.
Hilton took over the 4-star boutique hotel a few blocks away, and they've run it into the ground (they installed as manager a black guy whose only prior job was repping a "juice company" online. Obvious diversity hire). But the Marriott brand remains strong in BH!
Sounds like the hotel where your friends would stay has been turned into a "Patel". Those folk could turn the Four Seasons into a moldy, piss-stained wreck in a few days, depending on how many cousins they hire to moisten the carpets.
Yep - it's all Indian-run. Or I should say, Indian run-down.
That's what the dot on their heads is for. When an Indian couple gets married, you scratch off the dot on the brides head and you get either a gas station, a hotel, or a smoke shop.
LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I saw the future around 40 years ago. Almost all of the motels along the U.S. 130 corridor in Central New Jersey were Indian-owned. I can't imagine it's any different with the convenience stores. It's something out of an episode of "The Simpsons," only way beyond.
A recent article I read somewhere said that 40 percent of American motels are owned by Patels thanks to SBA loans meant for POC
Ann Coulter likes to say all the best affirmative action goodies have gone to Asians...
There’s a famous article from The NY Times in about 1994 where they discuss the ‘Patel cartel’
Just when I was getting all excited about a hotel in Beverly Hills I could stay in for literally 25% of what I pay to stay downtown...
"No more laundry service, and if you want a cup of regular coffee, not even espresso but just a simple cup, you have to give the front desk woman $6 and she’ll get you one from the break room. Then you have to drink it in front of her so she gets the cup back." That sounds positively North Korean.
Hi Sonny! Except in the North Korean version, there’s no coffee—just a lukewarm gray liquid you have to pretend to enjoy while the front desk woman observes for signs of disloyalty. But hey, Dear Leader drinks it every morning, so it must be good for morale.
My favorite thing I've seen in a North Korea doc. is a casino with slots that don't pay out.
Damn Dave!
What's with your damnable luck trying to find temporary housing? So far, Cabin in the Woods, then some kind of Mexican food worker protest at 6 am and 7 stories below. An Air BnB that you could not get into, then one that had been foreclosed!?
Now, I vacant hotel (probably is vacant, and being run by illegal squatter hotel clerks, playing out some weird hotel worker fantasy of Norman Bates! "Aye aye aye, if I onleez had mine own motel! I'd get riiiich!") with a trap door deathtrap for a "balcony".
Seriously bro, you need to fire your fucking travel agent (yeah, I know it's you, and "yes", I'm telling you to fire yourself, at least when it comes to booking flop houses. you're like 0 for 5. Random picks off the internet could yield better odds!)
Besides, you're supposed to be writing us a book, not doing a tour of ghost hotels, squatter BnB's, and various Santa Monica hellscape crack dens (I don't know, is "crack' even still a thing? I get all my druggie intel from the TV and movies, so I may be a little behind. Try asking some dope dealer for some high quality Angel Dust, and the dealer just looks at you like your stoned or something)
Nice job with recovering your long lost nothings at the Casa da la Cole! It's nice to see you having some adventures, and throwing the rule book out the proverbial window; Very Spicy!
However, as I alluded to before, if your going to do the Henry Miller thing, then you need more "French Cunts" in your life! (Henry Miller's words, not mine, so stuff a sock in it, all of you frog bitches, with your armpit hair, and beautiful lips, and accent to die for.... no wonder that life killed Henry)
Cheers man! Have fun!
We're all pulling for you!
p.s. if you are going to truly be "Homeless Dave", you need a catchy street name, like the rest of the homeless indigents. like "Holocaust Hairy"! Or "The BH Party Animal", or maybe "Arty Auschwitz".
I'll take votes on what my hobo name should be. Whatever readers decide, I'll go with!
And yes, I need to start writing that book! The trouble is every few days having to uproot and set up my writing station in a whole new place. VERY distracting. That's why I badly need permanent digs. But I'm only willing to do a 6-month lease, as most places are demanding one year. I just got out of a lifetime commitment with my house, I don't wanna jump into a year commitment to a rental.
"And yes, I need to start writing that book! "
The first three chapters of the Davyssey have been intense! Can't wait to finish the book.
Thank you, Ricardo!
Hobo Names:
* Dirty Dave
*Cole Slaw
Lol.
And the higher life of the spirit? 😎
Hi Mike! With writing like that, we really ought to be seeing a book from you, pal. Your comments are always share-worthy — half the reason I check the threads is to see what kind of literary chaos you’ve dropped this time. You’re like a cross between Hunter S. Thompson and a deranged Yelp reviewer, and I mean that in the most flattering way possible.
Thanks, that’s very flattering. I don’t think I have the discipline for a whole book. Even when I do longer articles, I start out inspired, then write until I’m bored with it and rush the ending.
Short quips is probably my best output.
The city inspector should have a look at that 'balcony' and the separation from the support.
Agreed. I'm thinking on Monday of reporting it. Someone genuinely could get hurt...and I have no sympathy for Patels who won't even give you a cup of coffee.
Kind of an LA Dave mini version of the GOAT LA “Falling Down” movie .
I love it !
Sad, but true!
If ever a movie deserved a sequel...
IMO pretty much said everything that could be said about the American dream falling down fir us honest Ha White Anglo guys in LA
I really liked how the movie didn t pull any punches - the ok’d selfish rich Republican golfers got the same treatment as the Latino gang bangers
Who among us hasn't wanted to fire a M72 Law's Rocket at a bunch of lazy ass construction workers blocking traffic and not doing jack shit?
Hopefully, gallons of blood doesn't start gushing out of the elevator doors.
In that damn place, it wouldn't have surprised me. Except the elevator was so bumpy and broken, even demon blood would be afraid to ride it.
The only time I drove through BH I was still in high-school, and who should pull up next to me at a red than a youngish David Carradine, then probably at the peak of his fame. He was driving a white European rag top thing, but what I remember was the look on his face : Never, ever, have I seen a human being so clearly pleased with themselves , He was in a state of bliss. So the lesson is, better Beverly Hills than Bangkok.
BAMB! Punchline of the week, no contest. “Better Beverly Hills than Bangkok” — that line belongs on a T-shirt... or a coroner’s report. LOL!
LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Damn, where does one start with this? Hell of a story. I think it's awesome that you broke into your old house. Nightmares about things left behind? Not unusual. You need to get the hell out of the Stephen King Hostel for Wayward Jews before you end up in some old picture that hangs in a non-existent bar and we never hear from you again. And that balcony? I wouldn't even breathe near that thing. Can't be legal? Can't be legal? Of course it can. Somewhere in Thailand maybe. Or the Hotel Darfur. That's not even a code violation, I don't know what they call that. Condemned maybe? You can't get away with something like that here. And I reside in the S. Jersey swamps where wood rot just is. Tempted to try prayer just for this one occasion. Please, please, please next place be better. And nice Casey Anthony jab. That one made me laugh out loud.
Fortunately, the next place WAS better! I'm still there now. A bit more expensive than the wood rot place, but worth it. VERY comfortable and "healing" from my last few experiences.
Dave, why not just stay there until you get a permanent place? Although your peregrinations ARE great column-fodder!
Oh I ain't moving to another hotel. The Beverly Hills Marriott is the best-run place I've ever stayed in, and that includes my time in Paris, Munich, Berlin, and Tokyo. I love it here. Hell, I may just stay here the whole summer. Because NOTHING is opening up in terms of long-term rentals. And no way I'm committing to something I might be unhappy with. I sign a lease, I'm stuck. Here, I could leave anytime. Yeah I'm paying extra, but I get the freedom of no lease, plus free food & drink every day 5pm to 7. Free clean sheets, towels, coffee, a full restaurant, and free water, sodas, juice, etc. 24/7. Is that worth the extra money? Maybe.
I mean it's 1:30am right now, and I could go to the "M Club" in the lobby and scoop up as much bottled water, juice, coffee, tea, fruit, etc. that I want. No charge.
The Casey Anthony bit made me snort. LOL
If I was Anthony and wanted to kill my kid I would've went out and adopted a pit bull.
They appear to be good at that.
Great story Dave ( as usual ) I would do the exact same thing if I was in your shoes!! You must’ve had such an amazing sense of relief when you got there and was like “oh my God they didn’t touch a thing!!” I have tons of stuff that my even my mother (who’s still here yay ) says why do you keep that of dad‘s?? and I’m like Mom it’s important to me. I have tons of things of value and no value from my childhood and my father that passed, but I have lots of junk too.. lol -For one it is an ice scraper for your car, but it’s from like the 70s! lol and I remember my dad using it my whole childhood growing up in the 80s and 90s. It was like this camel hair and leather fancy thing you put your hand in it to keep warm; and it had an ice scraper on top—and you scrape the ice off your car! and I use it every winter— tons of stuff like that weird stuff so I get it!!Memories and nostalgia are very powerful. Hey, in speaking of Santa Monica again I used to stay at the Huntley every year. Is that still there? It was a beautiful place. It was expensive but not crazy. Like not 1000 bucks a night like they probably have a suite that’s that price but I would pay like 350 a night circa 2009. It was beautiful. They were known for their penthouse lounge and restaurant You might never have heard of it but anyway, thanks Dave for another great story….make a video dammit!!! :)
HEARD of the Huntley? One of my closest friends used to bartend at the top-floor bar. I would spend many nights there as she'd slip me free drinks.
Currently, rooms there go for $350-$450, depending on day of the week & type of room.
In a just world, Taki would be paying you enough to stay at the Maybourne - it looks very nice.
AGREED!!!!!
Hi Dave! Visiting your Substack to read your latest has become a social event for me — the comments are a show in themselves. The talent on display is just great. Despite all the rough patches, you seem to attract some wildly creative and interesting folks. Oh, and one more thing: milk the Marriott for every freebie you can. Abbie Hoffman is watching... somewhere.
That's what I love about Substack - my lively and engaged readers! Best comment section ever! So much more fun for me than X.
I stayed in a hotel run by Indians a couple of years ago, and it was the worst run hotel I've ever seen. The garbage cans outside were overflowing, clearly not being emptied regularly. The vending machines were dark and empty. The screens on the windows were torn. And despite there being a sign in the laundry room that "the staff at the front desk will be happy to supply you with detergent", they had none. Another aspect of American life ruined by third-world immigration.
I can envision your 2am night time stroll through Beverly Hills. I enjoy surreal views of the night and especially going back to a childhood home and breaking and entering into it , ahhh the spike in cortisol the butterflies in the stomach as you slip into the place where anything or anyone could be, the thrill! Dave the thrill seeker! I’m glad you find comfort in that area!
In the meantime don’t die, I need you alive for at least a few more years, until we receive an Oscar for best documentary film.
That hotel is CREEPY!
I’ll definitely be in CALIFORNIA sooner than later.
I look forward to seeing you again, my good friend! Who knows WHERE I'll be living? But I'm sure there'll be a bar nearby!
This is hilarious. I really envy you breaking into your own, albeit former, home. I wish I could do that someday! Dare to dream.
By the way, I looked up the Sirtaj hotel on booking.com and the top review -- I swear, look for it yourself -- says the following: “It was good location, staff were excellent, but the smell was horrible.” LOL.
I wish it had ONLY been the smell! But yeah...the smell was indeed bad. Chemical-bad, like bug spray. Nauseating.
Good piece as always. I'm not much of a traveler so I probably have a very low standard of what a hotel should be, not having stayed in one for over twenty years. If a hotel has a roof and no bedbugs, I'm okay. I wouldn't spend a night in Santa Monica if they paid me. My old hometown has changed too much, and not for the better. Everything bad about SM got that much worse; everything good pulled up roots and split like a banana long ago. One common migration pattern I noticed of childhood friends who left the west side is that if they were deeply liberally indoctrinated, they moved north. Maybe San Fran or Berkley if they attended college there (many of my friends attended Berkley or Standford). If they were more grounded, they left for economic reasons, opting for Nevada, Arizona, or Oregon before it went batshit crazy.
I could stay in a $99 per night Motel 6.
My wife demands much nicer digs.
However, we made a deal when we moved from my last fully paid for 1500 square feet and mortgage free house. I agreed to buy the bigger place, but I was only responsible for the outside equal to the old house, and the proportional cleaning of only 750 square feet of the new place.
My reasoning was that I was happy with 1500 square feet, and I'll clean half of it. However, no way was I moving to a bigger house and cleaning the extra space I didn't even want. She agreed, and I pay a maid service to come in once a week, and she cleans whatever else she wants. Following Dave's lead, I hire beans for external groundskeeping.
If only I could eat whatever I wanted, life would be perfect.
Predatory rats leave the premises when Dave sells. A previously upscale hotel becomes something out of the Shining prior to Dave checking in. Coincidence?
Honestly, I've been joking to my friends that this trip is cursed. But...the place I'm in now is Heaven. I don't mean that literally ("the rats murdered Dave!"). I finally found a great hotel. Sadly, it's about $100 a night more than I wanna spend, but the respite from the last three weeks - filthy Santa Monica, the Shining hotel, and the hotel with poop stains on the bed comforter (I haven't told that story yet) - is worth it. This is the first place I can relax.
As I learned the hard way twenty years ago during my first four or five years as a Corporate Road Warrior, if you stray from Marriott, Hilton, or Hyatt, you are taking a big risk and you're likely to lose. I'm not talking about well-established hotels with good reputations, of course - I mean no-name places that look great on the internet. They're not.
I researched this years ago and learned numerous other Road Warriors have similar experiences. Here's how it happens. An investment group or an Indian family buys up a few properties that are either non-franchises or associated with low-end franchises like Motel6 or Red Roof Inn.
Their business plan requires cutting operating costs to the bone and maybe opening under a different name, or not, and keeping the place operating (barely) until it's sold in a couple of years at a handsome profit. It's the hotelier's version of house flipping.
The flip plan won't be as profitable if you actually try to run a nice hotel and keep it full! That takes advertising and good service and attention to detail and hiring an excellent general manager. All of that is hard - and it takes a LONG TIME, years and years, to develop your reputation and clientele. Who the hell wants all that trouble and effort? If you keep the operating cost VERY low, that's your selling pitch right there. A buyer who dreams of building his brand will pay a good price under the assumption that with such low operating costs he can spruce up the place cheaply, jack up the price, and fill it up through Expedia and Hotels-dot-com.
You are more correct than you know, my good friend. I'm now at the Marriott Beverly Hills, and it's heaven. Amazing front desk service, incredible restaurant & bar, 24-hour sundry store, free coffee in the room or lobby 24/7, scenic view overlooking L.A. from 10 stories up, and for guys who paid a little more (like me), all-you-can-eat and drink (wine) in the "special" club room from 5pm 'til 7 (and free sundries 24/7). They even have a designated smoking garden for cigar afficionados like me.
I could live here. I really could. This is the first place I've found no fault with.
Hilton took over the 4-star boutique hotel a few blocks away, and they've run it into the ground (they installed as manager a black guy whose only prior job was repping a "juice company" online. Obvious diversity hire). But the Marriott brand remains strong in BH!
Does the fact that it is only a ten minute walk from the 'Museum of Tolerance" add to the allure?
LOL!!!!
"It was never about the food!"
Like creatures from 'The Mist'.
LOL!!!!!