Upscale New York City Hotels Ride Renovation Wave

During the past two years in New York City, while midprice and boutique hotels rapidly were spreading and upgrading, very few upscale hotels were under development. However, according to hospitality consulting firm HVS International's 2006 Manhattan Hotel Market overview, more than 60 percent of existing upscale hotels have undergone major renovations or at least have been partially refurbished.

New York remains the costliest city in the country, with upscale hotel room rates that can range from $200 to $400 per night. Hoteliers, acknowledging that the high costs of the city's room rates are forcing the travelers into other markets, are striving to upgrade accommodations, so that they will at least match the exceptionally high prices.

Sixty percent of hotelier respondents to the 2006 Manhattan Hotel Market survey—conducted by HVS International in cooperation with New York University's Preston Robert Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism, and Sports Management—indicated that their hotels had undergone a renovation since 2001.

About 56 percent of respondents' facilities will be renovated within the next 18 months, while 44 percent of the survey respondents confirmed that their renovations already were complete.

The New York Marriott Marquis, located in the heart of Times Square, has been undergoing a major renovation for the last five years. Kathleen Duffy, director of public relations for Marriott's New York hotels, said that despite the large scope of the renovation and the multimillion-dollar expenses related to it, the room rates and the negotiating climate were not affected. "A renovation was necessary," she said. "We did not do it to raise the room rates, but to remain competitive in the market."

As a result, a complete transformation has taken place on the eighth floor of the hotel, where the signature atrium lobby is located. Now, it has a brand-new contemporary design by New York City architectural and design team Arnold Syrop and Associates. The Atrium Lounge features 20-foot-high illuminated waterfall towers and a bar in the shape of a chambered nautilus, with an 18-foot-high tower of illuminated art glass.

All guest rooms at the 1,944-room Marriott Marquis have been renovated with a boutique-style look, including new oversized headboards, bedding, carpeting, wall covering, window treatments, upholstery, lighting and artwork. Almost all of the 100,000 square feet of banquet space has been refurbished with new carpeting.

This June, the Marriott Marquis completed a five-year, $11 million project to bring an advanced elevator system to the hotel. The Miconic 10 Elevator Group Control from Schindler made it possible to reduce waiting time from five minutes to 20 seconds. Guests clustered inside the elevator no longer to wait for minutes while stopping at seemingly every floor. Instead, they type in their destination before entering the cabin, and a computer algorithm determines the most efficient way to get them to their floors.

In June, the Marriott Marquis opened a new Fitness Center in the 23rd floor sky lobby. In fact, it is the only New York City hotel fitness facility of this scale that is complimentary to guests and does not sell outside memberships, officials said.

Duffy said that nearly all 11 New York-area Marriott properties have been undergoing a partial renovation.

For example, the New York Marriott Financial Center hotel, located in Lower Manhattan near Wall St., recently completed a renovation and expansion of its banquet and meeting space, which added 2,500 square feet.

In addition, all of Marriott hotel rooms throughout the city either already have received new bedding packages or are preparing for an upgrade.

Duffy said that although the flow of corporate travelers to city Marriott hotels has not drastically increased during the recent past, it remained strong and steady.

The Hilton New York, located at West 53rd St. and 6th Ave., has recently completed a $148 million redesign. New enhancements include a porte cochere, an expanded lobby, two new restaurants, two new lounges and a new full-service fitness club and spa.

Hilton offers its guests more than 150,000 square feet of meeting and banquet space, with over 40 meeting and function rooms including NYC's largest ballroom and the only onsite exhibit hall. Two floors of conference space were added to the facility. In addition, the extensive meeting facilities have been completely refurbished. Today, the hotel is able to accommodate banquets, conventions and special events, ranging from 10 to 3,300 guests.

The Waldorf-Astoria hotel also has been undergoing a partial renovation. In November 2005, the Peacock Alley restaurant reopened in the main lobby of the hotel after a $5.5 million renovation. The new venue includes a restaurant, a bar and two private dining rooms.

Also, the hotel is accelerating its infrastructure improvements, which already includes free Wi-Fi in the hotel's public spaces and port connectivity in all the rooms. Opened 75 years ago, Waldorf-Astoria once was the biggest hotel in the world.

Today, The Waldorf-Astoria offers 1,245 rooms, including 197 suites, not to mention The Waldorf Towers' 180 rooms and 101 suites. The hotel has 60,000 square feet of meeting and banquet space. Fifty flexible and individually decorated rooms take up five floors of the hotel.

Another celebrated luxury Manhattan hotel, The Plaza, is closed for a complete reconstruction. Since a Manhattan-based development company, Elad Properties, purchased the hotel for $675 million in August 2004, The Plaza's fate was changed forever.

When the reconstruction is completed in late 2007, the 805-room hotel will turn into a condominium residence of 282 "luxury homes," 130 regular hotel rooms and 152 condo hotel rooms. The latter are supposed to be occupied by their private owners four months per year. For the remaining eight months, those rooms will be available to hotel visitors.

According to Elad Properties, its decision to tear the building into pieces came from a decade-long period of relative neglect that the hotel had suffered.

"Despite its legendary past," said an Elad Properties press release, "the truth is that the Plaza Hotel is an aging 98-year-old property that has been in steady decline for many years."

Elad said it would spend $675 million to refurbish the Plaza. The hotel's famed interior spaces—the Oak Bar, the Oak Room, the Palm Court and the hotel's venerable ballroom—will remain structurally unchanged. However, in the current plan, the ballroom and the Palm Court will become 160,000 square feet of retail space.