Under Fifty

Company: Trianon Hotel Co., Bonita Springs

Executive: Darren Robertshaw, vice president of hospitality

Industry: Hospitality

Number of Employees: 38

Health insurance challenge: When Darren Robertshaw met with representatives from his insurance company recently, he carefully counted the number of employees to be sure he fell under the 50-employee threshold. That's because the government forces employers with 50 or more full-time-equivalent employees to buy health insurance or pay penalties. “I have a health plan and I pick up 60%,” Robertshaw says. “I've always done that.”

Robertshaw, who is serving as president of the Collier County Lodging and Tourism Alliance this year, a Naples trade group, says some hoteliers have discussed hiring more foreign citizens as a way to keep health insurance costs down. It's not clear whether this is a valid strategy, however. “Are they not going to hire American employees?” he wonders. “A lot of businesses are sharpening their pencils and looking at the number of employees.”

So far, he says his company's health care insurance premiums haven't spiked. “Our renewal is right now and my premiums did not go up on my employees,” Robertshaw says.

Robertshaw is more concerned now about another, more immediate government mandate: installing lifts for disabled people at every hotel pool. The lifts cost $4,000, but because of the mandate there's a shortage. “Now there's no lifts,” he says. “That's the one in our face right now.”