<B>Renovations Galore</B>
By Robert Selwitz
Despite the plateauing of New York City's hotel boom, a number of properties are finishing up major renovations, work that should make them much more appealing to business travelers.
For example, the Hotel Pennsylvania now is undergoing a $45 million renovation that shortly will result in 900 modernized rooms and the replacement of 22 of its 25 elevators. The new elevators feature television monitors listing hotel activities and/or CNN.
Steve Leonard, Hotel Pennsylvania director of sales and marketing, said the hotel that band leader Glenn Miller immortalized during World War II, "still boasts the best location in town. Macy's is a block away, Penn Station and Madison Square Garden are directly across the street, and Broadway theaters are less than a 10-minute walk away."
During July and August, the hotel will offer the Big Apple Break, meaning that rack rates likely will be $139 per single, and $169 to $179 for a double. However, while the Hotel Pennsylvania contains 1,700 rooms, only 900 are available for daily sale. The balance is contract rooms committed to wholesalers, airline staff, etc. Nevertheless, Leonard said, "the 900 renovated rooms available to the public are our best. They feature new furnishings, carpeting, mattresses, bedspreads and drapes." The hotel, one of the city's largest, also features 70,000 square feet of meeting and exhibit space.
Another hotel with a new backdrop is the Beacon, located in Manhattan's Upper West Side. During 1999, the Beacon's 236 rooms and suites underwent total makeovers at this once-apartment hotel. Today, each room has fully equipped kitchenettes, with microwaves, refrigerators and coffeemakers, as well as brand new marble bathrooms.
According to Geraldine Traino, Beacon director of sales and marketing, "our location and the spaciousness of our rooms are among our strongest appeals. This is a bustling residential area full of top quality neighborhood restaurants and shops pegged to local usage, not masses of tourists. Therefore, costs are lower and you simply get better value for your travel dollars."
Closer to Times Square, The Millennium Broadway has added four new conference rooms to its inventory. Each conference room can accommodate from 30 to 72 attendees classroom-style or 50 to 135 theater-style. The hotel features 752 guest rooms, including 125 nestled in its adjoining Millennium Premier, a 22-story brand new private tower.
Meeting space also has been enhanced at the Inter-Continental Central Park South, with the addition of The Navarro, a former restaurant that now offers space for up to 160 attendees for a reception, or 110 theater-style. Festooned with 17th and 18th century art, the new space targets very upscale clientele and functions. The hotel--which in one of its previous lives was a Ritz-Carlton--also offers six conference and meeting rooms totaling 2,800 square feet of area.
At the legendary Waldorf-Astoria, work is just about finished on a $15 million renovation to its 18th-floor function space. Highlights will include an executive meeting center featuring 13 contiguous rooms with city and river views. Also about to be unveiled is a new rendition of the Starlight Roof, where Art Deco appointments have been re-emphasized and re-accented.
In other hotel tidings, the former Regal U.N. Plaza has been renamed the Millennium Hotel, New York, U.N. Plaza. Beyond its new moniker, the property recently completed renovation of all 427 guest rooms into a more highly styled presentation. Onsite hotel amenities include a swimming pool, health club and what the property claims to be New York's only indoor hotel tennis court.
New business cards and stationery also have been printed for the former Rihga Royal Hotel New York, which now is Marriott International's first J.W. Marriott in Manhattan. The decision to rebrand the Rihga was made after Thayer Hotel Investors bought the hotel for $135 million. With the addition of the 500-room site, Marriott now has 10 properties and more than 6,500 rooms in the city.
Meanwhile, the 129-room Bryant Park Hotel is a new boutique property that just opened on West 40th Street. Amenities include two spa rooms, plus an aerobics center that has two steam rooms. Also, the 504-room W Times Square is expected to debut in mid-September. Located directly across Broadway at 47th Street, the ultra-hip W--in the heart of decidedly uncool, tourist-packed Times Square--should provide one of the city's more intriguing cultural clashes.
Of course, not all Gotham-bound business travelers bunk in Manhattan. Many choose to enjoy the generally greater space, lower prices and surprisingly easy access available at Exchange Place, Jersey City, N. J., directly cross the Hudson River.
The eight-story Candlewood Suites features 214 suites, 160 studios and 54 one-bedroom accommodations. The property is located a short walk from a Port Authority Trans Hudson rail station that transports travelers to downtown or midtown Manhattan within 10 minutes. Rooms feature fully equipped kitchens and large work areas. Other pluses include free parking, free video rentals from a multimedia library and an onsite, self-serve convenience store operated on the honor system where soft drinks cost just a quarter.