<B> Hoteliers Focus On Capital Renovations</B>
By Barbara Cook
With a citywide occupancy rate of 72.1 percent for 1998, Washington's hotel industry is hot for expansion and upgrades. Fueling the prosperity, according to Hotel Association president Emily Vetter, is a healthy nationwide economy, the recent groundbreaking for a new convention center that has hotels jockeying for prime locations and improved marketing efforts.
Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide is one of the major lodging companies that is eyeing the growth potential in D.C., and the Virginia suburbs, which are home to the area's two airports, Reagan Washington National and Dulles International.
Ted Darnall, Starwood's executive vice president of hotel operations-North America, explained that Washington, D.C., will be the first major metropolitan area in the country to represent all of Starwood's individual brands, including Sheraton, Westin, Four Points, St. Regis and W Hotels.
Starwood will convert the Carlton Hotel on 16th and K streets to a St. Regis this month, investing $1.5 million in the effort. The company has two Westin properties in the city--the Westin Fairfax at 2100 Massachusetts Ave. and the Westin Grand at 2350 M St. The hotel One Washington Circle will be converted to a W Hotel in the fall of this year and Starwood is planning to franchise a property that will be converted to a Four Points in late 1999. Finally, Starwood has the Sheraton Suites Alexandria in suburban Virginia near National Airport.
Darnall said Starwood is "very pleased" with the success of its properties in Washington. The company further considers that a key element of its representation in Washington will be the addition of the St. Regis brand, he said. That effort, which entails repositioning the Carlton Hotel, will add the upgraded amenities that the company's New York flagship St. Regis made famous to the well-known Carlton property, said Darnall. In addition to implementing such high level pampering as butler service, the hotel will include airport pickup and upgraded bedding in all guestrooms.
"We think the same clients will come to the St. Regis as the Carlton, which was the best kept secret," Darnall said. Noting that the Carlton was previously marketed as a luxury product under the ITT luxury collection, Darnall said Starwood will use the same employees when it transitions the Carlton to the St. Regis.
For its One Washington Circle property, which is slated for a $10 to $12 million refurbishment to take on the W name this fall, Starwood will reposition the property more into the corporate and pleasure transient markets. Currently the all-suite property attracts more tour and extended-stay guests.
Referring to its Sheraton Suites property in Alexandria, Darnall said Starwood plans to open a Four Points there as well, and is "aggressively" looking for more opportunities in Virginia. The company is especially interested in the Tysons Corner, Va., area, which is a high-density mix of upscale shops and corporations.
"We continue to be excited about the maturing of the market," Darnall said. Especially with the coming of the new convention center, slated to open in March 2003, Starwood will "do its best" to add a Sheraton in that area, he said.
Starwood's recently debuted Preferred Guest frequent stay program also will play a role in increasing the visibility and popularity of the company's Washington properties, Darnall predicted.
In other hotel news in the Washington, D.C., area: <ul>
<li>The 632-room Doubletree at National Airport recently completed the conversion of its amphitheater into flexible function space that now will accommodate 120 attendees in classroom seating or 250 theater-style. According to Len Myers, the hotel's marketing director, the property is planning to market more toward the corporate meeting segment of the industry. The hotel in 1997 completed a $5.5 million renovation to its public areas and guestrooms.
<li>The 405-room Tysons Corner, Va.-Doubletree in late fall 1998 completed a three-year, $7.8 million renovation that included guestrooms designed for the business traveler. All guestrooms are equipped with workstations, complete with data and modem ports. Brett Ellison, hotel director of marketing, said the property is promoting heavily to the meetings and corporate travel market.
<li>The Courtyard by Marriott on 16th Street and Massachusetts Avenue at Scott Circle, formerly the site of the National Rifle Association, opened in October following a $15 million conversion to create the 156-room hotel. The hotel features 10 suites, guestrooms with dataports and T1 lines, 1,450 square feet of meeting space, a restaurant, and a fitness center and indoor pool.
<li>The Marriott Wardman Park, the largest convention hotel in the nation's capital and the former Sheraton Washington, is undergoing a complete $100 million renovation that is expected to be completed in December. The 1,348-room property will have a facelift of all meeting and exhibit space, select guestrooms, and the main lobby and front desk in the Center Tower. Some meeting space already has been remodeled.
<li>The Omni Shoreham Hotel is undergoing a $70 million restoration of its guestrooms and public spaces. Completion date is set for this fall.
<li>The Four Seasons in Georgetown has added 60 luxury rooms and a spa.
<li>The Doyle Washington Hotel, located in popular Dupont Circle, has been rebuilt from the former Dupont Plaza. The new property features 314 rooms and three boardrooms.
<li>The Swissotel Washington-the Watergate will complete an $11 million renovation by late summer.
<li>The Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill by fall will have finished a $10 million renovation. So far, all guest-rooms and suites have been updated, and the ballroom and meeting space will be renovated next. </ul>
A number of new properties are scheduled to open later this year and in 2000, including: a Residence Inn by Marriott on Vermont Avenue, with a mix of 200 rooms and suites and 2,500 square feet of flexible meeting space; a Residence Inn by Marriott at Dupont Circle, with 107 guestrooms; a Courtyard by Marriott, featuring 184 guestrooms in the historic Riggs Building at 9th and F streets; a Hilton Garden Inn at 14th and H streets with 300 rooms; a Ritz-Carlton on M Street near Georgetown, with 300 guestrooms, and an as yet unnamed new hotel with 120 rooms will open in the landmark Patent Building downtown.