Well,

Just for examples of things that are out there.. Fredericksburg
Texas has a hotel on field. http://www.hangarhotel.com/ . The town is a
bed and breakfast haven, and the main drag is like a giant flea
market/antique show. No colleges. Admiral Nimitz Museum is there.

Galveston, Texas has a field that is capable of handing airliners,
has an ILS, has a waterpark being built on-site, has the Lone Star
Flight Museum, has Moody Gardens Hotel and Convention Center adjacent to
the field (but its not aviation themed). The city focuses on the "family
factor" with regards to spring break and has an alcohol ban on the
majority of beaches. There is a Mardi Gras celebration there that is a
distant second to what used to occur in New O. There are several
colleges in the vicinity, but none are in NCAA athletics.
Vulnerabilities include coastal location with the hurricane risk. Also,
50% of the surrounding area is water.
http://www.airnav.com/airport/KGLS

New Braunsfels, Texas is a VERY popular tourist area in Texas, with
no hotel on field. There are a few nearby. The field is a few miles from
town, but not in the boonies by any stretch. The draw of this town is a
historical spot called "Gruene" that is shops, antiques and some
wonderful riverfront dining. The REAL draw, however, is the summer
"toobing" industry. The Guadeluper rive meanders through 20 miles of
canyons and hills downstream of Canyon Lake. People come by the
thousands to ride the river. San Antonio is 30 miles south (large town).
San Marcos is 20 or so miles to the north, and is home to Texas State
University (formerly Southwest Texas State University). I go to New
Braunsfels annually to semi annually. The Southwest Regional Flyin was
held at New Braunsfels a few years ago, and now is being held at Hondo,
40-50 miles to the south. I would forsee good bookings on that weekend
by pilots (stay at the hotel, fly to the flyin - hotels are scarce in
Hondo). I would gather that you would have good bookings most summers of
the year by general public due to the toobing (innertubing/rafting). A
few miles off the interstate as well.

Just some things that I could come up with.
Dave



Jay Honeck wrote:
So we've got three years of creating/running an aviation-theme-suite hotel
under our belt now, things are going well, and it's time to start thinking
about adding another location.

Trouble is, I'm afraid that our current location may be almost unique.
Here's what we need in order to duplicate our success:

1. A small-to-medium hotel on, or adjacent to, an airport.
2. The airport must be very close to the city that it serves. No
"out-in-the-boonies" airports, please.
3. The city must have another attraction that creates hotel business.

In our case, it's the University of Iowa that creates the alternative
business. (There simply aren't enough of us pilots to solely support a
hotel, sad to say.) In other locales, it might be a tourist attraction.

Any suggestions? We would prefer a warm-weather climate, to off-set our
Midwest location, and to prolong the flying season -- but we're open to
suggestions. (Ideally, it would be fun to have a southern hotel to run in
winter, and the Iowa location to run in summer! :-)

(Better yet, an Australian location to run from November - April, and our
Iowa location to run form May - October!)