The week of February 12 2007, was not a good week for Jetblue Airlines. A severe winter ice storm in the Northeast United States caused flight cancellations, lost baggage and other major inconveniences throughout its system. Some passengers at JFK Airport in New York City were stranded on their aircrafts for more than 10 hours as the airport became gridlocked. The evening news around the world blasted JetBlue fot its incompetenceand insensitivity. It was a public relations nightmare for a company that had always been perceived as the 'fun way to fly'.

Stephen Rushmore is President and Founder of HVS International, a global hospitality consulting organization with offices in New York (Mineola), San Francisco, Miami, Boulder, Dallas, Vancouver, Toronto, São Paulo, Buenos Aires, London, New Delhi, Singapore, Madrid, and Sydney. He directs the worldwide operation of this firm and is responsible for future office expansion and new product development. Mr. Rushmore has provided consultation services for more than 12,000 hotels throughout the world during his 35-year career and specializes in complex issues involving hotel feasibility, valuations, and financing. He was one of the creators of the Microtel concept and was instrumental in its IPO.

HVS International has provided consulting services for thousands of clients in all 50 states and more than 60 foreign countries. Its professional staff of more than 150 industry specialists offers a wide range of services, including market feasibility studies, valuations, strategic analysis, development planning, and litigation support. Through its divisions, HVS supplies unique hotel consulting expertise in the areas of executive search, parking, golf, food and beverage operations, gaming, technology, hotel operations and management, asset management, interior design, investment counseling and brokerage. HVS International is the industry’s primary source of hotel sales information. Its databases contain information on more than 10,000 hotel transactions and thousands of financial statements. HVS is also the most comprehensive source of hotel compensation data.

As a leading authority and prolific author on the topic of hotel feasibility studies and appraisals, Mr. Rushmore has written all five textbooks and two seminars for the Appraisal Institute covering this subject. He has also authored three reference books on hotel investing and has published more than 300 articles. He writes a monthly column for Hotels magazine and is widely quoted by major business and professional publications. Mr. Rushmore lectures extensively on hotel trends and has taught hundreds of classes and seminars to more than 20,000 industry professionals. He is on the faculty of the Cornell Hotel School’s professional development program.

Mr. Rushmore has a BS degree from the Cornell Hotel School and an MBA from the University of Buffalo. He holds an MAI designation from the Appraisal Institute, and a CHA (certified hotel administrator) from the American Hotel and Lodging Association. Mr. Rushmore is a member of numerous hotel industry committees, including IREFAC, the NYU Hotel Investment Conference, the Dean's Advisory Committee for both the Cornell Hotel School and Ecole Hoteliere Lausanne. In 1999, he was recognized by the New York chapter of the Cornell Hotel Society as “Hotelie of the Year.”

In his free time, Mr. Rushmore enjoys skiing, biking, fishing, and sailing. He holds a commercial pilot’s license with instrument and multi-engine ratings, collects hotel key tags, and is one of the foremost authorities on regional dining ().

HVS International is a hospitality services firm providing industry skill and knowledge worldwide. The organization and its specialists possess a wide range of expertise and offer market feasibility studies, valuations, strategic analyses, development planning, and litigation support. Additionally, HVS International supplies unique knowledge in the areas of executive search, investment banking, environmental sustainability, timeshare consulting, food and beverage operations, interior design, gaming, technology strategies, organizational assessments, operational management, strategy development, convention facilities consulting, marketing communications, property tax appeals and investment consulting. Since 1980, HVS International has provided hospitality services to more than 10,000 hotels throughout the world. Principals and associates of the firm have authored textbooks and thousands of articles regarding all aspects of the hospitality industry. Click here for more...

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