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HoJo on 34th Street S has a new game plan

By PAUL SWIDER
Published December 20, 2006

The owner of the former Howard Johnson on 34th Street S wants to revive the property into a newer and better Howard Johnson.

After buying the property last year for $4.5-million, Rick Teitelbaum, a Philadelphia dentist, sought to clean up the old hotel's image by converting it to a GuestHouse International.

A few months later, Teitelbaum fired his management company and is trying to re-enter the Howard Johnson family. But he has his work cut out for him.

"Once you leave their system, you have to come back up to get back in," said Larry Limbaugh, the new general manager of what is soon to become a Knight's Inn at 4601 34th St. S.

Teitelbaum was unhappy with the performance of GuestHouse as a brand, Limbaugh said, but Wyndham Worldwide, which operates the Howard Johnson's and Knight's brands, wouldn't let him return to Howard Johnson's without more property improvements.

In the interim, the 128-room hotel will make improvements to meet the Knight's Inn standards and work toward rejoining Howard Johnson in a year.

Teitelbaum had originally hired Newport Hospitality Group to manage the 1961 property but was unhappy with them as well, said Limbaugh, who works directly for Sterling Hotels and Resorts of Fort Lauderdale.

Before Teitelbaum fired Newport, then-general manager Dean Maratea had already quit, saying he was displeased with both "the owner and management group."

Maratea said in addition to rats in the hotel, there was mold on the walls, mattresses were old and needed to be replaced, and there were problems with accurately processing credit cards. He said he wasn't given the resources to fix the problems in the few months he worked there. Limbaugh said none of those problems exist now.

"The problem wasn't Dr. Teitelbaum. It was Newport International," Limbaugh said.

Newport's executive vice president, Fred Tanzer, said his company made numerous significant improvements to the property during its tenure. He said Maratea knew of the improvements and never complained about an inability to fix health or safety issues. He said Maratea wanted to upgrade the hotel to a higher standard but that all managers want that.

Teitelbaum said Newport didn't do what it promised and that the hotel's condition and performance flagged under that company. He said Maratea was thrown in "without a life raft" and had a hard time when Newport wouldn't support him.

Limbaugh said he couldn't understand why Maratea would complain about Teitelbaum because the owner has been in constant contact about the hotel and has provided him with all the resources he needs to improve it.

He said the hotel has passed all inspections and is regaining longtime customers who left when the Howard Johnson fell into disrepair.

The restaurant at the hotel is also about to reopen.

What was Duke's has been gutted and completely remodeled, Limbaugh said, and should reopen soon as Tropical Knights Sports Bar and Grill.

Limbaugh said the change to Knight's Inn won't affect the rates, which start at $59 a night.

Paul Swider can be reached at 892-2271 or pswider@sptimes.com or by participating in itsyourtimes.com.

[Last modified December 20, 2006, 01:40:20]