A4
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, MARCH 11, 2019
OPINION
editor@dailyastorian.com
KARI BORGEN
Publisher
JIM VAN NOSTRAND
Editor
JEREMY FELDMAN
Circulation Manager
Founded in 1873
JOHN D. BRUIJN
Production Manager
CARL EARL
Systems Manager
SOUTHERN EXPOSURE
The Hallmark Inn in Cannon Beach is considered ‘closest to the Rock.’
Resorts owner shares vision for North Coast
H
allmark Inns & Resorts is an
independent, family and employ-
ee-owned hospitality company
with properties in Cannon Beach and
Newport.
Most recently, Hallmark acquired the
Whaler in Newport from founders John
and JoAnne Clark.
In Cannon Beach, the Hallmark Inn
is “the closest to Haystack Rock” and
a mecca for visitors since 1948. Guest
room renovations, launched last fall, will
continue through May.
Overseeing this will be Ric Rabourn,
recently promoted president and chief
executive offi cer of Hallmark Inns &
Resorts. We spoke with Rabourn about
his newest venture in
Newport, and what’s
coming up in Cannon
Beach.
Q: What is your
background?
Rabourn: I’ve lived in
R.J.
Oregon 19 years. Before
MARX
that, all over western
Washington. I grew up
in the hotel business. My
dad was in the hotel business. We kind of
moved around.
I moved to Lake Oswego after 18
years as vice president of operations and
general manager of the Newport resort,
when I was promoted to the president/
CEO position.
Q: Tell me about your properties.
Rabourn: We currently have three
hotels. And we’re getting ready to
develop a hotel site in Bend.
Q: Will there be changes in Cannon
Beach?
Rabourn: We’re in the middle of a $3
million renovation right now at the Can-
non Beach property, which is a pretty
much a fl oor-to-ceiling upgrade of the
guest rooms.
Q: What kind of improvements are
you making?
Rabourn: We are doing all new car-
peting, fl ooring, furniture, all new wall-
paper, painting. The bathrooms are all
being updated with new LED-lit mirrors
as well as quartz vanity tops. Woodcas-
tle (based in Albany) is doing all the fur-
niture for us. They bring all the raw logs
from within 80 miles of Corvallis.
Q: Who is your demographic?
Rabourn: I would say upper-scale,
primarily. The Cannon Beach market
pricing is fairly upper-scale. Most of the
guests are going to come from the Port-
land area and up into Washington. We
have a lot of guests from Seattle.
Q: How does the Newport audience
differ?
Rabourn: The Newport audience
mainly pulls from Portland south, down
the I-5 corridor and east as far as Boise.
Q: Do you have international
visitors?
Newly renovated guest room at the Hallmark Inn in Cannon Beach.
Rabourn: We do. In Newport, we get
many places have. We do seasonally free
a lot of group tours that come in. They
bike rentals as well.
tend to have a lot of international trav-
We do monthly specials at all the prop-
elers with the group tours. In Cannon
erties. Sometimes they’re added value
Beach, it’s more individual travelers. We
special — in Newport, it might be a bed
still get — especially in the summertime
and breakfast, in Cannon Beach, a spa
— quite a few travelers around the world. treatment or discounted rate offer.
Q: How do you approach the threat
Q: Will you be involved in local
of a tsunami?
land-use and planning matters?
Rabourn: Our Newport prop-
Rabourn: As far as the local
erty is high enough up that it’s not
chamber of commerce related
considered to be in the tsunami
things, typically the general man-
zone. We still have all the tsunami
agers of the property are the ones
preparedness information, as well
attending those meetings. They’ll
as evacuation routes, posted in all
let me know if there is anything
the guest rooms.
bigger picture that’s coming down
Ric Rabourn the pike I should be aware of. I
Likewise in Cannon Beach as
well, we have all the information
would certainly be attuned to that
there as well.
and get involved if applicable.
Q: Do guests feel more comfortable
Q: Do you get involved with state
knowing the risk?
lodging decisions?
Rabourn: They don’t really say a lot
Rabourn: We’re members of the state
about it. The Japanese tsunami (of 2013)
lodging association and I will be attend-
didn’t end up hitting in Newport or Can-
ing some of those sessions.
non Beach, but guests appreciated having
Our role is to try to continue to pro-
the information. We actually had several
vide a great lodging experience for visi-
guests, who decided, despite being told
tors that are coming into town, as well as
it wasn’t coming, to hightail it to Corval-
being a good member of the community.
lis at night.
Mike Locke (Hallmark general manager)
Q: What are some of the special fea- has been there since August. He’s living
tures of your Cannon Beach location?
in the area now and getting out and trying
Rabourn: The Cannon Beach loca-
to meet as many people as possible.
tion does have a full-service spa on-site.
Q: You are employee-owned?
That’s very popular. It’s an amenity not
Rabourn: A key feature of Hallmark
is we’re one of the few hospitality com-
panies that has an employee stock own-
ership program. We’re presently 70 per-
cent owned by family and 30 percent
employees.
Q: Who is covered?
Rabourn: (Employees) top to bottom.
The hourly cutoff is 30 hours, or anyone
who works 1,000 hours per year or more
is eligible for the employee stock option
program, that’s something provided at
company costs. The employee doesn’t
pay anything.
Q: That’s one way to get good
employees on the coast.
Rabourn: It is. We offer a great ben-
efi ts package including medical, dental,
vision, as well as the 401K plans, dis-
counts at our various properties.
Q: What percentage of your guests
have pets?
Rabourn: In Cannon Beach, about 40
percent of our rooms are pet-friendly, and
they tend to run pretty full. I’m not a sci-
entifi c person, but I think 40 percent is
pretty accurate.
We do $20 per pet per night. That
includes a pet basket that we put in the
rooms. It has a sheet they can put out for
the pet, as well as a water bowl, toys and
treats.
R.J. Marx is editor of the Seaside Sig-
nal and Cannon Beach Gazette, and cov-
ers South County for The Daily Astorian.