Any other hotels near or on airports?

On Tue, 11 Oct 2005 13:15:37 GMT, "Jay Honeck"
wrote in
ZVO2f.236594$084.28179@attbi_s22::

Many housekeeping staff commute daily from nearby Ventura. You're not
suggesting that those myriad Montecito and Hope Ranch mansions are un
staffed, are you?

I think in a hotel, the situation would be better than for newspapers,
that's for sure.

There's little question that there are an adequate number of domestic
workers to staff a hotel; after all, the Pilot House Motel is already
currently staffed.

The city has plans to expand the airport terminal, so they must
predict an increase in traffic. Santa Barbara draws allot of tourists
year round, and it's a favorite getaway for Los Angelinos. The
Channel Islands National Park is just off shore. The Danish tourist
town of Solvang is just inland, and the area has become a major wine
producing region that draws wine tasting oenophiles far and wide.
There's a new casino in nearby Santa Ynez. Even the western Monarch
butterfly population over winter along the Santa Barbara coast. A
million winged flyers can't be wrong. :-)

But seriously, the Pilot House Motel really needs someone to renovate
and bring it up to its potential. Every motel/hotel in town is
totally booked during the summer, and the cheapest room you can find
anytime (with the exception of the sleazy Motel-6 at $80/night) is
over $100/night. There's lots of factual information about Santa
Barbara he http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_B...%2C_California

Don't let your children find out you're considering Santa Barbara;
they'll make the decision for you.

Larry Dighera wrote:
On Mon, 10 Oct 2005 13:30:25 GMT, "Jay Honeck"
wrote in
R1u2f.416802$x96.151712@attbi_s72::


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.


The Santa Barbara Airport is located adjacent to University of
California at Santa Barbara. There is a low-budget motel located on
the field: http://www.pilothousemotel.com/
http://www.us-rooms.com/usmem/15401.htm

It's been 25 years since I visited Santa Barbara. Two thing impressed
me the the "plane pools" taking off at 7AM to get lawyers and doctors
to their LA offices and the tarballs on the beach. UCSB placed gallon
cans of solvent and paper towels at each building entrance for cleaning
it off feet and shoes.

Ugh. My wife and I toured that fantasasuite hotel a few years ago. The
place smells of chlorine and just seems to reek of "worn out", "faded"
or whatever word would fit. They used to have a KC-97 out front. They
landed that sucker on the airport, and locked the brakes to stay on the
runway!

There is one in west bend, WI that is newer. Same theme rooms, but
cleaner and nicer.

John

Jay Honeck wrote:

"Chico Hot Springs"... north of Yellowstone National Park.
It "used to be" that you would buzz the hotel, and two folks in
pickup trucks would come out and block the road (road was marked
like a runway :-), and you would land and then taxi up to
your room. 4-star resturant, hot springs, descent hotel,
and cabin/room outbuildings.

I never did hear the story about why they closed the airport.

Best regards,

Jer/ "Flight instruction and mountain flying are my vocation!" Eberhard

--
Jer/ (Slash) Eberhard, Mountain Flying Aviation, LTD, Ft Collins, CO
CELL 970 231-6325 EMAIL jer'at'frii.com WEB http://users.frii.com/jer/
C-206 N9513G, CFII Airplane&Glider, FAA-DEN Aviation Safety Counselor
CAP-CO Mission&Aircraft CheckPilot, BM218 HAM N0FZD, 234 Young Eagles!

Jay,

Come to Oregon (or-a-gun...not GONE! I'd love it! grin

Seriously though, if Oregon is not too far out, you might want to
consider this area. Salem (KSLE) has a nice towered field that has 2
runways and the city is trying very hard to get commercial service in
here. There is nothing on field for lodging, but there is some nearby,
but our republican, business-friendly mayor and city council would be
happy to help, I am sure. Nearby businesses (within walking distance,
or on field):

Hertz Car Sales,
Budget rent-a-van
PDX-SLE Shuttle bus,
The Flight Deck restaurant

Within 1 mile of the airport, you have a Costco, Lowe's Home Depot,
Wal-Mart, K-Mart, US Post Office, Several new car dealerships, Freeway
access, Dairy Queen, Jack in the Box, several gas stations, and a local,
hole in the wall type of burger joint.

SLE is about 2 miles from the State Capitol Bldg, Willamette University
(prestigioussp? law school), Corban University (Christian college),
Brand-new Salem Convention Center (opened March 2005), Downtown shopping
area, Historic Mission Mill, & more.

By air, SLE is about 30-45 mins from most locations on the Oregon Coast
and only about 2-3 hours from the farthest point in the state (by air)
in SE Oregon. Decent skiing in the mountains about 2 hrs by car, 1 hr
south (by car) from Portland, Oregon. Lots of historical stuff in the
area. Local theater company that does pretty good. Univ of Oregon and
Oregon State Univ both within about 1-1/5 hrs by car and under an hour
by plane.

Want more info? Email me! Put chris@ in front of my domain name
(listed in the closing)

Chris G.
http://www.k7sle.com


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!)

Don't let your children find out you're considering Santa Barbara;
they'll make the decision for you.

Presuming you are in the area, I've got a question that's been bugging
me.

My friend (who couldn't find enough help in Santa Barbara) told us that
he was able to recruit some help by "trolling the beach" -- walking
down the beach, and recruiting homeless people!

He said that there were literally dozens of people actually *living* on
the beach, because (a) the weather is beautiful, and (b) for political
reasons Santa Barbara is unwilling to do anything about transients.

True?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Are they close enough to the city to be able to attract non-flying guests?

Pretty much. My boss and his wife spent their anniversary there after
driving to Fredricksburg. When I've mentioned it in non-aviation circles,
I'm surprised at the number of folks who have heard of it. Of course,
Fredricksburg is a pretty big getaway destination for the DFW crowd.

Carl

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:%sN2f.424134$_o.269682@attbi_s71...
Good luck and congrats on your success. I enjoyed my stay, by the way.

Thanks, Doug. You still have the singular honor of being the only
float-plane to have visited us here in Iowa!

Wow! It must have rained A LOT there, lately!
--
Jim in NC

College kids want nothing to do with working at 3 AM.


It interferes with their bed time.

In article ws.net,
"Chris G." nospam@noemail wrote:

Jay,

Come to Oregon (or-a-gun...not GONE! I'd love it! grin

Seriously though, if Oregon is not too far out, you might want to
consider this area. Salem (KSLE) has a nice towered field that has 2
runways and the city is trying very hard to get commercial service in
here. There is nothing on field for lodging, but there is some nearby,
but our republican, business-friendly mayor and city council would be
happy to help, I am sure. Nearby businesses (within walking distance,
or on field):

Oooh! Salem is 30 minutes (?) south of Portland.
If you go there, you will not return to Iowa.
Mountains to the east of you, ocean to the west of you.
Okay, the occassional forest fire messes things up.
The climate is good, the activities are outstanding and the politics are
a little wonkie.