AUTO INDUSTRY
It’s no secret that the auto industry is not going all that well. It’s going to come back –someday– but in the meantime, Flint bankruptcy has become a topic on everybody’s mind. It was on my mind and not a reality until I got caught short with some investment losses and also lost my job. My job was not in the auto industry, but was directly related to it. I was the general manager of a mid priced hotel, and things were going well with all types of visitors coming into town to meet with various auto and after market companies. The hotel was running at 99 percent occupancy, but that was three years ago. Business started to slow gradually, with occupancy running in the mid -nineties. At first we blamed the slippage on new competition and a weak ad campaign, but is soon became apparent that the auto industry had started on a steep slide. We began to try to promote other reasons to visit Flint, including even advertising Flint as the home of Michael Moore, the film maker. Nothing worked all that well. In fact, it became a negative to be promoting Michael Moore. Some guests at the hotel said they wouldn’t come back to our hotel ever if we kept advertising it in relation to Michael Moore.
Tags: flint bankruptcy