Sleep under the Golden Arches

Swiss McDonald's to open two hotels

CHICAGO, Illinois (Reuters) -- The rooms are affordable, the cuisine is American casual, and be sure to tip the clown named Ronald McDonald carrying the bags to your room.

The Swiss arm of McDonald's Corp., known for its french fries and Big Macs, recently unveiled plans to open two four-star Golden Arch Hotels by next spring, a first for the world's largest restaurant chain.

McDonald's Suisse Holding SA, which has 116 restaurants and is headed up by Chairman and Chief Executive Urs Hammer, will open the hotels in an effort to build the hamburger brand and attract new customers.

Amenities at the hotels, aimed at business travelers during the week and families on weekends, will include adjustable beds, high-speed Internet access, a child-care center and soundproof walls. And naturally, the hotels will have McDonald's restaurants.

In the tradition of McDonald's restaurants that aim to offer diners an affordable meal, Golden Arch hotel rooms are moderately priced with rates ranging from about $86 to $106, or 154 to 189 Swiss francs,

One of the hotels will be located near the Zurich airport, while the other will be near the village of Estavayer-le-Lac, close to the French border.

McDonald's said it will watch the progress of the hotels, but right now there are no plans for a widespread launch of McDonald's-branded hotels, a U.S.-based company spokesman said on Friday.

"Each of the 100 countries where we operate is free to unleash innovation and new ideas to develop the brand," Walt Riker, a company spokesman, said. "This is an individual, innovative approach by one company in our system. We'll see what happens. The first thing is to get them (the hotels) open and have people coming in this spring."

Hammer, like the company's restaurant operators in the United States, can make menu additions or try novel ways to build their business and draw customers. For example Hammer has put McDonald's food on Swiss trains and airplanes. In the United States, some McDonald's serve fresh-baked cookies, have in-store ice cream parlors, Internet access or crystal chandeliers and oak paneling.

In recent years, slowing sales have forced Oak Brook, Illinois-based McDonald's to search for ways to grow its business without cannibalizing sales at its 23,000 hamburger restaurants located in 110 countries.

McDonald's efforts to grow non-hamburger sales in Europe include the operation of 40 United Kingdom-based Aroma Cafes which sell cold sandwiches and coffee.

In the United States, McDonald's operates Chipotle Mexican Grill, Boston Market and Donatos Pizza restaurants. These other brands, however, represent a only very small part of the burger chain's sales. In 1999, non-hamburger restaurants had sales of $91 million. That compares with McDonald's total sales of $38.5 billion.

McDonald's is also expected to test three diner-style restaurants in its Western U.S. division next year.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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