Disney’s resort project strikes fear into mom-and-pop hotels

Staff Writer

KISSIMMEE — Many mom-and-pop hoteliers in the Four Corners and Kissimmee areas are wary of the massive \”value-priced\” resort project announced March 3 by Walt Disney World.

\”It\’s one of the most controversial projects they have done to date,\” says Steve Baker, theme park consultant and former Disney executive.

\”It\’s going to be very hurtful to the mom-and-pops,\” he says, of the small, family-owned and mainly unaffiliated motels that line U.S. Highway 192 from Kissimmee to U.S. Highway 27.

Some even predict at least a few lodging operators could be driven out of business by the project, which Disney says will include 4,000 to 5,000 competitively priced hotel and time share units near the west side of Disney property.

Shops, eateries in the mix

Disney says site work will begin later this year, with completion of the long-rumored Western Beltway project being finished in phases during the next eight to 10 years. The as-yet-unnamed project will go on 450 acres at the intersection of Western Way and State Road 429.

Disney plans to sell its property there to an as-yet-unnamed developer or group of developers and de-annex it from the Reedy Creek Improvement District into unincorporated Orange County.

Disney President Meg Crofton says the Western beltway resort will appeal to the value and mid-priced market, mixing non-Disney branded time share and low- to mid-rise hotel units with 300,000 to 500,000 square feet of retail space — shops, restaurants, entertainment venues and clubs — to service visitors staying in the complex, as well as Disney employees and area residents.

Not all bad

Not all hoteliers in the mom-and-pop category fear the new resort\’s impact.

Take Ron Matay, owner of the Golden Link motel at 4914 W. U.S. Highway 192 in Kissimmee. He welcomes anything that draws more people to the area.

After all, the customers who frequent his tidy, 84-room property on the edge of Lake Cecile come back year after year for the low rates — $35 to $65 a night — as well as personalized service.

Matay says his ongoing capital investments in everything ranging from new sheets to new air conditioners, as well as a fleet of jet skis on the lake, set the Golden Link apart from other nearby chain motels.

But mom-and-pop properties that don\’t invest in capital improvements eventually could be forced out of business by the planned new resort, says Matay.