On their way

Some ups, some downs, but the road forward looks bright

Judith Davidsen -- Interior Design, 10/1/2003 12:00:00 AM

In 2002, while the client class was holding its collective breath to see if politics and/or the economy would drop the other shoe, the top 50 Interior Design Giants in hospitality still managed to earned $173,462,584. Hospitality had been expected to suffer more than any other interiors sector, but these 50 firms held their aggregate losses to 11 percent, just over 1 percentage point more than the dip experienced by the top 100 Giants.

Income from hotel interiors, long the largest single component of hospitality Giant practice, rose 2.6 percent. The big gains, though, came from project types that account for smaller proportions of hospitality earnings: the country-club contribution went up 30.3 percent, casinos gained 42.3 percent, and the miscellaneous category—which includes hospitality retail and lodgings in athletic facilities—jumped 50 percent. Overseas jobs rose 42 percent, accounting for 19.6 percent of all hospitality Giant work. However, restaurant design's contribution fell 12.5 percent, and the portion attributable to resorts and spas fell 9.3 percent.

Although half of the top 10 hospitality Giants experienced losses, 31 other hospitality Giants reported positive movement. Nine had gains ranging from 10 to 61 percent. In half of the firms, average annual earnings per employee were more than $100,000, with $274,273 the highest.

Median annual salaries remained steady for principals, partners, designers, and CAD operators; project managers received raises of 4.2 percent. Figured hourly, however, all wages rose, from 3.3 percent for designers to 10.6 percent for project managers and an impressive 23.6 percent for the "other billable." Since fewer hours were worked for just about the same annual salaries, the hospitality Giants were clearly striving to hang onto as many employees as possible.

And it looks as though they're going to be needed. During the next reporting period, these Giants expect to post an increase of 8.2 percent in hospitality earnings. Given late summer's news that the economy in general had foiled all expectations by expanding rather than contracting, this figure may turn out to be a welcome underestimate. As of this writing, experts predict that consumer spending will grow at a greater rate than at any time since 1988.

Despite the fact that air travel fell during the war—along with business and leisure demand for hotel accommodations—restaurant revenues rose 1 percentage point or more per month all spring and early summer, and the National Restaurant Association says that 61 percent of restaurant operators plan to make capital expenditures for equipment, expansion, or remodeling between now and late winter. Standard & Poor's expects 2003 casino gaming revenues to be 5.1 percent above the previous year; that figure includes a rise of 9.9 percent for Native American casinos.

The corner that needs turning may be just a short way down the street.

Fastest-Growing Firms (by ranking)

Firms With Largest Fee Increase (in dollars)

50 hospitality giants

New to the Hospitality Listing in 2003
There are 13 different names this year

Hospitality Fees and Percent of Work by Category

Fee Scales

Top Firms Working Outside the U.S.