Hotel Chains Update Image With Major Renovations
<H1>Hotel Chains Update Image With Major Renovations</H1>by Linda Humphrey
Prosperous years in the hotel industry have lead to a flock of new competition, prompting the American classics to pour millions into updating their images by renovating properties. Newer chains, in turn, are striving to keep their favor among business travelers by launching upgrade programs.
Howard Johnson International, La Quinta Inns, Holiday Inn Worldwide, Promus Hotel Corp. and Hilton Hotels Corp. have all embarked on chainwide refurbishment projects.
"We realize that we have great properties and great locations, but they were built 20 or 30 years ago," said Hilton president Dieter Huckestein. "We were determined to bring them back to their original glory."
La Quinta senior vice president of marketing Steve Hickey said the chain's efforts were aimed in particular at frequent travelers. "We have customers who stay with us 150 nights a year," he said. "We're trying to provide ways for them to be more comfortable and relaxed."
Steamrolling over its former Spanish fortress look last year, the 240-inn La Quinta chain is tackling all 30,000 of its guest rooms this year.
"We're not talking about just putting in new carpet and painting the walls," Hickey said. Slated for an April finish, the gutted and rewired rooms will have new lighting, bathrooms, carpeting, furniture, dataport phones, oversized desks and entertainment systems, complete with 25-inch televisions. King rooms will feature recliner chairs.
The chain, which has a 60 percent business mix, began its new-image strategy by buying back all of its properties between 1992 and 1994. "If you tried to do a massive renovation the way we have done in a franchise system, it would take eons," Hickey said.
As the reimaging program's grand finale, the chain unveiled a new prototype this summer, which features standard rooms, suites and extended stay rooms under one roof. Four La Quinta Inn & Suites have premiered so far, another 12 are set to open by year-end and 36 more are slated for the end of next year. "We believe that the same traveler requires different types of rooms for different occasions," Hickey said.
The new brand will venture beyond the roadside to airports-Tucson, Salt Lake City and Dallas-Fort Worth sites are under way-and urban centers.
"We're now entering a growth phase," Hickey said. "We'll have close to 40 Inn & Suites open by the end of next year-that's as big as some entire chains."
In the case of Howard Johnson, it's also no coincidence that the renovations are occurring during a growth phase, as the chain is stepping up its franchise deals. "The perception of being 'with it' is related to growth," said president and chief operating officer Stephen Phillips.
Conjuring up the 1950s malt-shop and Cadillac era, the orange-roofed Howard Johnsons once seemed an unlikely haunt for the '90s business traveler. Yet the chain, which this year has set out to revitalize its image, now pulls in almost as many road warriors as vacationers.
"If you take the Florida equation out of the numbers, which is 20 percent of the system, we're 50 percent business," said Phillips.
The once-roadside chain also has branched out into airport and downtown sites over the past 25 years, and currently is split evenly between motor lodges-now called Howard Johnson Inns-and urban high-rises. Both types draw a business crowd, Philips said.
Splitting into Hotels and Inns tiers this year, the chain has tagged its highest-end properties Plaza Hotels and its breakfast-only hotels Express Inns.
As new rivals set up flags, Howard Johnson might have "folded up the tent and gone away," Phillips said. But parent company HFS has committed $5 million a year for the next three years toward renovations, Phillips said.
The chain first targeted the 150 oldest properties most in need of spiffing up. Fifty already have embarked on the modernization project, tackling lobbies, breakfast areas, hallways and guest rooms, and banning such passé decor as wall paneling, brick wall finishes, bamboo and vinyl furniture, and "mason jar" wall-light fixtures.
Most properties are pouring $3,000 to $5,000 per room into the overhaul, and those upgrading to the more deluxe Plaza niche are spending $10,000 per room. By the year 2000, every Howard Johnson will have a more contemporary exterior and 25-inch televisions in each room.
Also overhauling franchises is Holiday Inn. The company is pouring about $1.5 million into each of its 652 franchises. The chain launched its modernization program last year and will continue to mandate a full renovation whenever a hotel changes ownership or comes up for license renewal.
"When these hotels are finished, they will look like new hotels," said Craig Hunt, executive vice president of worldwide franchising for Holiday Inn.
A contemporary look is the key to luring customers, Hunt said. "One owner's banquet business has gone up 30 percent since he renovated his exterior to look brand new, just because people like the way it looks on the outside," he said.
Business travelers, many of whom grew up on Holiday Inn swimming pools and ice cream, account for half the chain's business. "People spent time in Holiday Inns as a kid with their parents, and when they get out into the business world they come back to us," Hunt said.
An even older brand, Hilton, is topping off its $1.5 billion, eight-year master plan with the unveiling of Los Angles Airport, Portland and San Diego restorations this year. So far, Hilton has transformed 15 high-profile hotels, from New York's Waldorf-Astoria to Waikiki's Hilton Hawaiian Village.
For instance, the 455-room Portland Hilton has stocked guest rooms with new desks, two telephones with voicemail and increased sound insulation. The 23-story hotel has added a new second level-carving out a two-story atrium covering a full city block-a 2,704-square-foot meeting room, a health club and an enhanced business center featuring the latest in workstations. The $23 million overhaul also widened the hotel's ballroom from 2,800 to 6,525 feet.
In addition, many of Hilton's "heavy, French-cuisine type" restaurants have traded their menus and decor for "more fun, leisurely" eateries, Huckestein said.
Although decades younger than most of its rivals, Promus has launched makeover programs above and beyond its continuous rounds of renovations, sprucing up Hampton Inn lobbies and redesigning Embassy Suites guest rooms.
Kenny Pyron, director of purchasing and refurbishment services, said the upgrades were designed to meet guests' needs. "We have to make sure that we're still pointed to the center of the target," he said.
Jumping from the economy to midpriced segment in most markets, the 11-year-old Hampton chain needed a better first impression, so its 38 company-managed properties has set out to design more ornate lobbies by next year, Pyron said.
The Embassy Suites brand also has set out to devise more-flexible living room arrangements. The typical hotel-suite parlor features a sofa, lounge chair and some type of work surface, usually a round dining-type table, "but just try to work on a round desk," Pyron said. "We're implementing more-flexible designs that will meet business travelers' needs without sacrificing anything on the leisure side." The brand also is exploring the possibility of more-mobile furniture, Pyron said.