During the early 1990s when Karen TaylorHowell was working the desk of the Newport Harbor Hotel, each afternoon seemed to bring a steady stream of visitors desperately trying to find a room.
The hotel was almost always booked, so TaylorHowell and staff found themselves calling around to try to find them somewhere to stay. The shortage of rooms became so severe one year during the Newport Boat show that the nearest vacancies were in Brockton, Mass.
“I realized that if this was happening in my lobby, it was probably happening everywhere, especially once the visitor center closed each night at 5 o’clock,” TaylorHowell said. “So I opened my own business and it took off.”
Reprising the functions of the hotel desk in her own independent agency, TaylorHowell founded Taylor-Made Destinations, a reservation service built around her knowledge of the city and its establishments.
Initially, Taylor-Made also included concierge service, but the demand for rooms was so intense that TaylorHowell decided to focus just on lodgings.
“We got so busy, so fast, there wasn’t time to ask ‘would you like fries with that,’ ” TaylorHowell said. “So we stuck to what we did best: accommodations.”
From its founding in 1993 with one employee, Taylor-Made Destinations quickly grew to 13 as visitors to Newport appreciated a one-call solution to their hotel-booking needs.
Then the Internet took hold.
Like travel agents and so many other industries, the Web pulled the rug out from under Taylor-Made Destinations as tourists learned they could find a hotel and book it online without picking up the phone.
And then in 2001, the terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C., slowed vacation spending across the country and permanently altered the way Americans thought about travel.
“People stopped booking in advance, everything is more last minute” now, TaylorHowell said.
From 13, Taylor-Made has dropped all the way down to two employees.
With the Internet becoming popular for its convenience, Taylor-Made needed to offer something the computer couldn’t: local knowledge capable of cutting through all the noise online and finding the right place for the right visitor.
Now, entering its 19th year in Newport, Taylor-Made is an Expedia.com affiliate with about one-quarter of its bookings made online.
“The reason we are still thriving is because of the Internet and that people are so overwhelmed they don’t know where to start,” Taylor-Howell said. “They hit these directories and want to pick up the phone and talk to a human [who] knows this town like the back of her hand.”
This summer, Taylor-Made hopes to get a boost from the upcoming America’s Cup World Series sailboat races in Newport.
The company has been named the official reservation service of the competition, which runs June 23 to July 1.
“We are … hopeful that this is going to be an epic event and are very hopeful about the plans,” TaylorHowell said. “We have booked sponsors and people who have come to work, but not as many spectators. We just are hoping that it holds true that people are waiting to the last minute.”
Originally focused on individuals, Taylor-Made now has a strong business in group bookings, including military reunions, weddings, corporate outings and university events. Harvard Business School is one of the company’s regular clients.
While visitors still largely come to Newport to see and do the same things, TaylorHowell said one of the major differences today is a penchant for waiting till the last minute, making sure the weather looks good and vacationing on the fly more than they ever used to.
On top of the Internet, the Newport vacation-rental market has also been complicated by a local law put in place a decade ago that prohibits weekly house rentals in order to prevent “party houses.”
“That hurt us because families that could only stay a week or two [now] couldn’t stay,” TaylorHowell said. “The only options were time-shares and many people can’t afford those.”
But despite the challenges, TaylorHowell is optimistic her company has a solid niche, bolstered by the fact that Newport’s attractiveness as a destination remains strong.
“Newport has so much to offer year-round,” TaylorHowell said. “There are just so many reasons to come here.” •?COMPANY PROFILE
Taylor-Made Destinations
OWNER: Karen TaylorHowell
TYPE OF BUSINESS: Reservation service
LOCATION: 39 Touro St., Newport
EMPLOYEES: 2
YEAR ESTABLISHED: 1993
ANNUAL SALES: NA
