Ed, I think using Hilton to help with booking will be a good thing. While it is an outside business, they have good know how to bring to the table. Is the state still going to run it I wonder?
Up until recently, lodging programs in the state parks had to be run by the state government. They could NOT be leased out to a third party. The state park system runs other lodges around the state. People who work in them or on them are full-time or part-time state employees. However, because of the desire to rebuild at GSP, the law was changed to allow an outside party to operate a hotel on state property. So no, the state won't run it - and that's a good thing.
It's probably worth the cost of the licensee fee to have a professional group like Hilton run it for the very reason you refer to, tiggerdad. They. Know. How. And a new GSP lodge will bring in more money to the state park system and help keep the system going and afloat. The old line of thought was the state should be the ones to operate a hotel/lodge to guarantee beach stays at rates affordable to the common Alabama citizen. The old line of thought also included the fear that an outside operator would jack up rates to maximize profits and make a stay at the beach too costly to the common Alabama citizen. But now with the cuts in funding, they will choose most options that will produce extra revenue (probably through some profit sharing arrangement between Hilton and the state park system).
I kinda wonder if the state parks will outsource the other lodges at some point in the future. Curious as to what it would look like, the new lodge. We stayed at the old one when my boys were little. One requirement is the new building/parking lot must fit in the footprint of the old building/parking lot or else they have to get new Federal permits to build on the beach and that would take years.
But since I got my Aliner, hey, doesn't matter to me. Although due to the funding issues they did raise the campsite fees pretty significantly. Buried in this link
http://wkrg.com/2015/09/30/5-alabama-state-parks-closing/ is the fact that costs went up 8% for "select base lodging rates" but then in-state residents get a 5% discount. I wonder if I'll get a discount at the GSP campground.
Bama Ed
