AVALON INN 'Comfortable elegance'

Renovations and special rate packages are helping the Avalon Inn and Resort compete with newer franchise motels.
By CYNTHIA VINARSKY
VINDICATOR BUSINESS WRITER
HOWLAND -- Let's say you're a business traveler visiting the Valley with a lodging decision to make.
The choices? Any one of several national chain hotels or an independent resort with Olympic-sized pool, tennis courts, fitness center, two golf courses, two restaurants and a lounge.
Tom Keegan, Avalon Inn and Resort owner, was determined to be on the winning side of that decision when he started offering a $69 weekday Executive Club rate April 1, then threw in a free breakfast and a free dinner.
It's the kind of deal not generally associated with the stately Avalon, a landmark in Howland since 1970, but it's working. The inn's business travel bookings are up, Keegan said, so he plans to keep offering the special rate package indefinitely.
"We wanted to grow our business traveler numbers, and this is giving us a little edge over the competition," he said. "We have, I think, the finest food in the area, and we're basically absorbing the cost of the food."
Business travel is the Avalon's bread and butter, Keegan said, making up 75 to 80 percent of its business on average year-round.
Popular spot
Other limited-service hotels generally see business travel as slow during the summer months. "Not here," Keegan said. "Travelers like to come year-round because they can go to their meetings and their training sessions, then afterward they can play tennis, swim, golf, have a nice meal."
The 144-room inn also does a healthy weekend business, especially during the summer months, with weddings, Bar Mitzvahs, family reunions and graduations. And then, there are the "regulars," most from within a 150-mile radius, who visit the Avalon often just to get away.
From the freshly-painted rocking chairs on the front porch to the working fireplaces in the entrance lobby, the Avalon is designed for a relaxed, extended stay, he said, not a whirlwind overnight stop.
"When people are traveling, they may choose a chain hotel because they want to sleep cheap," he said. "Our guests usually stay longer, two or three nights."
The golf courses surrounding the hotel have separate owners -- Avalon Lakes, which provides a scenic view from rooms and restaurants at the rear of the inn, is owned by Avalon Holdings Corp.; Avalon South across the street, is owned by the city of Warren.
Inn managers have partnered with both courses to offer golf packages, however, so its customers can play at one or both. The upscale Opus 21 restaurant and banquet hall on the grounds is also independently owned, but Avalon employees often refer customers there as well.
What sets it apart
All the amenities, including the inn's Country Gardens Restaurant, Tall Oaks Dining Room and Red Horse Bistro bar and lounge, are what set the Avalon apart from its limited-service competitors, Keegan said.
"We have our own niche. We are a resort, and there's nothing else like it in the immediate area," he said. "We call it comfortable elegance."
Now Keegan is overseeing a $750,000 renovation that so far has included installing three new Jacuzzi rooms and refurbishing the pool, locker rooms and fitness center. This summer, workers will upgrade the heating and cooling system.
Some improvements, such as the Jacuzzi rooms and addition of therapeutic massage services at the fitness center, are in response to customer requests.
Others, such as the pool and locker-room renovations, are the owner's way of making sure facilities at the 32-year-old resort can match up to its newer competitors in the region.
Work began in February and likely will take a year to 15 months to complete. Hotel renovations can be very time consuming, he said, because they must be done without inconveniencing the guests.
Sole owner
The Avalon has been profitable every year since he and a group of partners bought the business in the early 1980s, Keegan said.
By 1992, three of the shareholders had dropped out, leaving Keegan and a partner as the owners of the Avalon Inn and another facility, the Avalon Hotel in Erie, Pa.
In December, the partners decided to split up their holdings -- Keegan became sole owner of the Avalon Inn, and his partner kept their Erie, Pa. property. Keegan said he also owns a hotel in Florida.
He wouldn't divulge profit figures, but Keegan said the business had sales of $4.5 million last year, and its biggest year ever was 1998 when sales reached $5.5 million. The inn has 125 full- and part-time employees.
Keegan lives in Fairview, Pa., an 82-mile drive from Howland, so he spends three or four nights a week at the hotel. He chooses to sleep in a different room each night, a practice which has helped him to detect small problems that might otherwise have gone unnoticed.
"It's the best way I know to see things as our guests see them," he said.
vinarsky@vindy.com