Hotels Add On To Properties To Make Rooms For Buyers
<B>Hotels Add On To Properties To Make Rooms For Buyers</B>
By Bruce Serlen
Travel buyers under increasing pressure to arrange additional hotel coverage in key U.S. and international cities can get some relief from renovation projects that were recently completed or are under construction by Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, Hilton International and Hyatt Hotels Corp.
The obvious response to this year's record high occupancies might be that it is time for the industry to provide new builds. Extensions or additions to existing hotels can be even more welcome to travel buyers, however. Not only are the properties involved known quantities, but the locations in question tend to be desirable and buyers already have the important negotiating relationships in place.
By general consensus, San Jose, Calif., is one of the tightest hotel markets in the country today for travel buyers looking for available rooms; others include New York, Boston and Los Angeles. Consequently, the news that the Fairmont in downtown San Jose has begun construction of a new tower that will add 264 rooms and suites was greeted as a positive development. The expansion is scheduled for completion in the fourth quarter of 2001.
"Silicon Valley continues to attract increasing numbers of business travelers, so with an expanded inventory of 805 rooms, we'll be in a much better position to accommodate the demand," said Jeff Doane, director of sales and marketing.
An extension also allows a hotel the opportunity to provide a different type of accommodation than the existing building may allow. Such was the case with the 47-room, concierge club addition that the 379-room Langham Hilton opened in London this summer.
"Our standard room was already first class, but there's an unmet demand here, particularly from U.S. companies, for the higher level of service and amenities that a concierge-type product can provide," said Jean-Pierre Mainardi, general manager.
"When the historic building adjoining the existing hotel became available, it was the perfect opportunity to provide these additional accommodations in an entity that is distinct from the regular hotel, but still part of it." A separate concierge club lounge was included in the project as well.
Likewise, an expansion can provide an established hotel with the chance to rethink the property's public spaces and make them more convenient and accessible for travelers. The new addition to the Hyatt Regency Dallas, known as the Skyline Wing, which also opened this summer, is an example. The wing added 183 new rooms to an inventory that now stands at 1,122 rooms. In terms of gateway cities, Dallas at present isn't in the same league as such cities as Boston, San Jose or Chicago in the United States or London in Europe, but demand for rooms from business travelers, especially midweek, still is considerable.
With the expansion already scheduled, the Hyatt took the opportunity to make other changes to the existing structure that management thought would be beneficial to business travelers. "We added a redesigned front drive and new hotel entrance and expanded the lobby area with a new front desk for easier checkin and traffic flow," said Steve Vissotzky, general manager.
For the hotels, building an extension gives them the opportunity to "reopen" an established property.
"The concierge club gave us the chance to go to our best clients--travel managers included--and remind them that we are still here," Mainardi said. "With many new hotels coming into a thriving market like London, it's easy for existing hotels to lose visibility."
For travel buyers who already include the hotel in their program, the expansion means additional inventory in a city where they might have been finding it hard to get sufficient coverage. "We're better able to say 'yes' to requests for rooms on Tuesday and Wednesday nights now, which is wonderful," Mainardi said. "When you have a relationship in place with a corporate client and the buyer needs additional rooms, you want to be able to do everything you possibly can to satisfy the request."
For travelers, there's also the advantage of knowing the location of the expanded hotel, because it's already been in the program, and its proximity to clients or company facilities nearby. There's the added comfort level as well of already being familiar with the property's restaurants and other facilities.
As for getting an expansion quickly up to speed, it can be less of an issue than with an entirely new property. "You already have an infrastructure in place," Mainardi said. "In our case, we were able to move experienced staff to the new concierge floors precisely because they were already trained in our service expectations.