If Kleisner Ever
Establishment: The Nines/Sage Hospitality
Location: Portland
So if Fred ever justly finds himself unemployed, I now kow the PERFECT career for him! He can be a bank VP, because they’re the only people who lie (does anyone REALLY believe the big three banks are magically turning a profit, just as the scrutiny heat is turned up?) as freely and easily as he does.
I just stumbled across an article in the Portland Business Journal, which WAS about both business and leisure travel being down this year, even the head of Travel Portland (or as we all used to know it, POVA) taking a pessimisticstance for 2009. But not Fred—he made apoint of talking about how busy it is for The Nines.
Uh, yeah, Fred because after you floundered pathetically at 30% occupancy, you decided the way to "sell luxury" was to price it at a quarter of what you originally thought you’d get (the equivalent rate of a limited service chain on Airport Way). And even as you siphon guests from other properties with your 99 Days at $99 promotion, the few who can still afford to travel are going back to their faves after the discount expires.
Not to mention, even full, it’s really hard to turn a profit in a management heavy, 5 star hotel even when it’s fully booked and everyone pays rack (the Grand Waillea in Hawaii’s a good example of this). Let alone when you’re charging rates that barely cover the in-room amenities.
Despite the polite tone of the article (it IS a publication that wants to remain popular with the biz community, after all), even the PBJ seemed a bit skeptical: they noted he refused to name rates or room volume of his success—and I’m quite sure those of you enslaved working for The Nines and Urban Farmer have never found Mr. Kleisner to be ANYTHING but truthful.
Comments
While I know nothing about Urban Farmer’s chef, here’s a story that proves Freddie blatantly LIED. http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2009/03/difficult_times_for_the_nines.html
And this would be putting a rosy spin on things, too. I wonder how many of our tax dollars are paying for Sage’s other ventures here in town? I also wonder when we’ll be hearing about thier bankruptcy filing?
So what is the best guess of what will happen at the Nines? Will business gradually pick up, will Fred be fired and replaced, will another hotel group come in and buy the property out of a potential bankruptcy? Will the two new restaurants actually open? Are hotel staff being laid off or are more being hired to get ready for the tourist season (that may or may not happen this year)? Would love to know …
To answer a few of your questions: Departure had its soft opening yesterday, and the new exec chef for Urban Farmer is a very positive guy and seems to really know what he’s doing. He’s been there a week and I already notice some solid subtle changes.
Well, I can’t say what WILL happen, but I can tell you what SHOULD happen: Kleisner should be fired or at least both he and Geist (some corporate VP at Sage) barred from talking to the press.
Considering that the same reporter (Ryan Frank) posted an article back in October in which Kleisner and Geist smugly talked about how THEY wouldn’t be affected by the recession,
lowering rates were what losers who “didn’t know how to manage hotels” did, etc–it makes them look like big idiots when they had to offer thier intro $99 rate just two months later. Then the blatant lies in PBJ, now this.
But back to the hotel: Kleisner should be replaced and their super management heavy business model shaved. Forget the separate hotel and restaurant, make it one company, with one manager per restaurant and some supervisors. And why does a hotel that currently only has catering for its food revenue need both a DOC, a banquet manager AND an F&B director? Oh—and a competing sales and marketing manager for the restaurants.
Ditto an operations manager for essentially a rooms only property. 351 rooms isn’t THAT big—and isn’t that what the GM or AGM does? Plus it’s not like they run the place flawlessly, so really what exactly is everyone doing there?
I notice Sage is using this same management heavy model for their new Courtyard by Marriott. Newsflash–none their guests will even CARE, they’ll look at rates, freebies and rewards points, everything else is secondary.
I have serious doubts about the tourist season this year—but even if we do see it, guests will be rate sensitive. And the $99 rate loses money for an upscale property. They need to change their flag to a less upscale brand (truth be told, they’re closer to 3 stars than 4, anyway), use lower priced in room shampoos and amenities, spring for coffee makers, cut their labor and get over themselves.
Though I’ll give Kleinser one compliment: his Tripadvisor replies are no longer snotty and condescending non-apologies, he’s actually quite humble and sincere, now (which given what a pompous ass he is, probably KILLS him).
Hey Nines,
Thanks for the fuck you postcard indicating I don’t have enough experience to work at your precious restaurant. Your postcard is rude. I have over ten years experience serving, bartending, and doing just about everything in the restaurant except managing (by choice)at both ma and pa casual to fine dining. Assholes. I hope all your teeth fall out except one and that one has a cavity.
Simply a waste of space. The Nines/Sage Hospitality. They’re not doing well…not the time to promote another trendy boutique hotel and associated amenities. They’re are near filling for bankruptcy, and now expect the City of Portland to act in some sort of sugar daddy. Not good business people.
Now Freddie needs to follow Toolford.
Flo, I’ve applied to many companies (in some cases I was madly overqualified) and not made it to even the first interview, as well. While it’s insulting and patronizing (and I do notice Sage has a tendency to take this to a new level, all while hiring sub-par morons for senior positions) it isn’t, believe it or not, personal.
In many cases, it’s one idiot in HR (and I’ve spoken with their corporate recruiters in Denver, they don’t even know their chief competitors in the industry) who doesn’t like your name or something. Keep trying though, I’ve also gotten hired by companies I had to apply to 4 or 5 times before I even got to talk to someone. Someday the same person who didn’t like your name might well be gone!
Aumporn, dead on! The Nines is begging for the PDC to defer their payments so they won’t default on loans to Chase. How is a largish parent company like Sage not able to lend the hotel money to make its payments? Oh—right, because SAge is madly and absurdly overextended, too.
For the record, they’ve already received innumerable considerations from PDX taxpayers, like loans with interest rates ranging from a high of 5% to a low of 0% interest. Time for Paul Allen to buy the Nines as his latest vanity project and rig visiting teams’ guest rooms.
Why is Sage even involved with the new Courtyard by Marriott? Sage doesn’t seem to be very good at managing new hotels in Portland. Will the Courtyard be a repeat of the management disasters at the Nines, or has there been a learning curve there?
grainne, based on the ads for (once again) a very management heavy property, I suspect they’ve learned absolutley NOTHING and the taxpayers of Portland will soon be financing THIS fiasco, as well. I don’t know anything specific about their hires, but I’ll bet they’ll prove as woefully crappy as the upper management at The Nines.
In the case of this property, I fail to understand the rationale for it, even when the economy was booming (when I did get the justification for The Nines, just Sage completely botched it). There are already plenty of mid-scale properties downtown and near downtown.
Plus if Sage sits at 70% occupancy at $99 for their luxury property, what will they need to charge to see middling occupancy at the Courtyard? $29???
Glib, sociopathic, crooked liar. That is all I have to say about Freddie Kruger. What comes around goes around. I say, Daddio relocates him to another hotel because he does not know how to run a dog kennel. Cheers…….
a bit off-topic but related… anyone have some news/dirt on the incoming executive chef at urban?