JFK Airport Hotel Scene Blooming, Mirrors Airport Growth

When the 110-room Doubletree Club Hotel opened at John F. Kennedy International Airport in January, it was the latest in a series of recent hotel debuts at the Jamaica, Queens, airport, a development that mirrors the $10.3 billion expansion and facelift presently underway at the airport itself.

The Doubletree, which is part of Hilton Hotels Corp., now joins the recently opened 216-room Hampton Inn, another Hilton brand, as well as a 166-room Courtyard by Marriott and a 72-room LaQuinta Inn among JFK's newest hotel inventory. All are midprice brands. In the case of the Doubletree Club and LaQuinta, the airport properties are the brands' entrée into the New York market, so it's their way of testing the water and starting to build trial usage and customer recognition among travel buyers as well as travelers.

The New York area's other major airports, LaGuardia and Newark International, also have experienced a surge of hotel development in recent months, Newark more so than LaGuardia, considering that there is more open land available for building.

Given the steep declines in air travel that followed Sept. 11, hotel executives acknowledged that this might not be the ideal time to open a property at JFK or any airport. Yet, considering the nature of hotel development in any location, it takes an average of 18 months to 24 months for projects to work their way through the approval and construction process to opening day. Consequently, the projects coming online now actually were initiated in early- to mid-2000, when the New York hotel market—airport properties included—was booming with strong occupancy rates and room revenues.

For travel buyers who bring a large number of room nights to New York, coverage at airport properties can be an important part of their hotel programs. Even though Manhattan occupancy rates have fallen significantly from their peak in 2000, availability still can be an issue on certain midweek nights. Airport hotels, consequently, can provide crucial backup. They also can be cost- and time-effective for travelers flying into New York en route to other destinations, since staying at the airport saves the time and expense of a trip into Manhattan.

Looking on the positive side, managers of JFK's four newest properties believe their new facilities will give them a competitive edge in the New York market. And when passenger traffic returns to normal, which it already is beginning to do, these hoteliers will be ready to capitalize on the renewed business.

Taking the long view, hoteliers see the major improvements in the airport's physical plant as a sign that JFK will remain a dominant transportation hub for the foreseeable future. A key milestone of the airport's redevelopment was the opening last spring of the $1.4 billion Terminal 4 after four years of construction.

In distinguishing themselves from both the existing airport properties and the other new arrivals, the new hotels stress their amenities for the business traveler, who remains a core customer. "As with all our hotels, our intention is to make business travelers more productive while they're on the road," said David Horton, senior vice president of brand management for Doubletree. He said productivity is important to business travelers who usually are under pressure either catching up with work before embarking on or returning from a trip.

The Doubletree Club includes the brand's signature business club room, which is a combined business center/ lounge/café. The business center includes private workstations and "is meant to offer all of the comfort and amenities of a home office," Horton said.

Similarly, the Courtyard, which opened last June, features a business library off the lobby that includes workstations with high-speed dataports. "We understand that our business travelers are going to want to work, so we've tried to make this aspect of their stay as convenient as possible," said Mike Hutter, Courtyard brand vice president.

Another of Courtyard's brand features—the "grab and go" food pantry also off the lobby—is incorporated into the JFK property as well. "The grab and go concept makes particular sense at airport properties today, when there are questions about just what food service will be available onboard the flight," Hutter said.

Considering their location off the terminal grounds, all four hotels provide complimentary shuttle bus service to the airports, which typically leave the hotel every half hour. Travelers arriving at the airport, meanwhile, call from the terminal and the shuttle is sent to pick them up. The Courtyard also offers shuttle service to midtown Manhattan.

Given that these newest hotels are midprice, the emphasis is on providing strong value for the dollar. The shuttle service, for example, is cost-effective as well as convenient. At the Hampton Inn, which opened in November, local telephone calls are free, and there is no surcharge for long-distance access when guests use their charge cards. Breakfast at the Hampton is complimentary, as it is at these other chains.

"Considering that many of our business travelers are on tight budgets, they appreciate the kind of savings these features represent," said Phil Cordell, Hampton Inn senior vice president for brand management.

Yet, at the same time they're stressing the price to value relationship, midprice chains have been adding amenities, particularly in the guest room, that once were associated only with the full-service sector. For example, guest rooms at LaQuinta, which opened in August, feature 25-inch televisions and dataport telephones with voicemail.

Pre-Sept. 11, when airport traffic was at record levels, airport hotels, especially those in gateway cities, had developed significant meetings business. Hotel managers expect this business will return once passenger traffic normalizes. Buyers and meeting planners like the flexibility of some attendees staying in the hotel, while others fly in in the morning, attend the meeting and then fly out at the end of the day.

With this meetings market in mind, three of JFK's four new hotels feature meeting space, ranging from 800 square feet at the Doubletree Club, to 3,000 square feet at the Hampton Inn. The Hampton space, in fact, is configured as two regular meeting rooms and one with a permanent boardroom set-up.

The Courtyard, meanwhile, has 900 square feet of space. Given that these are midprice brands, the meetings space tends to be relatively no-frills, compared to what's typically available at full-service hotels.

"Traditionally, airport hotels have been one of our stronger niches, especially on the group side," said Mike Beardsley, Marriott senior vice president of U.S. and Canada field sales. "Midweek in particular, stronger occupancy rates at airport properties always reflected the meetings business they were doing." Once air travel rebounds, this should be the case again, he said.

In addition to Terminal 4 and other new and renovated terminals, the master plan for JFK includes new rail access and improved roads and parking. In the aftermath of Sept. 11, the timetable might change, but long term all aspects of the plan are still going forward," said a spokesperson for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the airport.

The $1.8 billion earmarked for such infrastructure improvements as runways, taxiways and fueling facilities is committed and various aspects of this phase are completed. Meanwhile, American Airlines recently announced that it is going forward with plans to convert Terminal 8 and Terminal 9 into one 57-gate facility, which will be the largest at the airport. Completion, however, will not be until 2006.