Richmond Marriott gets $14 million makeover

The newly opened Hilton Garden Inn has been getting the headlines as the latest jewel along Broad Street but its downtown neighbor, the Richmond Marriott, is quietly making its own contributions.

It is in the midst of a $14 million renovation that will give it a new look from top to bottom and inside and out, said Marriott General Manager Tom Underwood.

Underwood said there are various reasons why the hotel decided to invest the money at this time.

“It was overdue for renovations and it had become an underperforming hotel,” he said.

The hotel was acquired for $53 million in January 2008 by Apple REIT Cos., a Richmond-based firm that wanted to improve the property, especially at a time when there were numerous improvements occurring along that stretch of Broad Street.

One of the first steps the city’s largest hotel took was to redo all of the guest rooms and in the process even created 11 new ones boosting the total to 410, Underwood said.

All of the guest rooms have been made over with new carpet, wall covering, beds, desks and flat screen TVs.

The rooms are technologically enhanced, with a device that provides connections for a variety of electronic equipment. The desk in each room will slide open to line up with the television screen, which can be used as a computer monitor, with split-screen capability for TV and computer simultaneously.

The hotel’s fitness center has been enlarged and equipped with all new workout machines that have individual TV screens, as well as new flooring, wall vinyl and windows.

The biggest changes have yet to happen. They involve completely redoing the ground floor area, Underwood said.

For starters, the hotel will remove the traditional long front desk counter where guests sign in. It will have individual check-in stations, much like you see at airports, where the employee can step around and have closer interaction with guests. There also will be self-service check-in stations, Underwood said.

The lobby will have all new furniture with laptop hookups. There will be multiple flat-screen TVs throughout the lobby.

Another change is that waiters will serve food and beverages to guests seated anywhere in the lobby.

“This grew out of some research that found business travelers don’t always want to sit in a room by themselves,” Underwood said.

The coffee shop, which already serves Starbuck’s coffee will be redone as a fully licensed Starbuck’s shop, with the full line of products the company offers.

One of the most noticeable changes will be the restaurant. The existing BlueFire Steakhouse will be replaced with a sports bar that Underwood says will have “a high energy, media driven” look.

It will add outdoor seating at 6th and Broad to accommodate 60 diners, Underwood said. He’s hopeful this will bring in people who are going for shows at the Richmond CenterStage performing arts center across the street or The National music hall in the next block.

The Marriott also will have a new entrance with a water wall and the brick on the front of the hotel will be replaced with a cream-colored tile, matching the new color that will be carried throughout the hotel, Underwood said.

The work is scheduled to be finished in August and a grand reopening will occur sometime in September, close to the opening of the performing arts center, Underwood said.

“It’s an investment for the whole neighborhood,” said Jack Berry, president and CEO of the Richmond Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Berry pointed to the numerous property upgrades in recent years in the area: the Hilton Gardens earlier this year, a new federal courthouse opened last year, the performing arts center is set for a September opening, a $178 million Convention Center is just a few years old, and The National Theater has been redone.

He said the timing of the work is perfect timed to be in place when the economy turns around. Prices are already climbing in the area, Berry said.

“All in all the tide raises all the boats,” Berry said.

Hotel bookings in the pits for race weekend

Hotels across the metro region have dropped rates to lure NASCAR fans to Saturday night’s race at Richmond International Raceway.

But even at lower prices, hotel managers expect to have plenty of empty rooms.

“Quite honestly, I think the economy has really impacted people’s decision to come to the race this year,” said Fritz Schwartz, general manager of the Westin Richmond in the West End.

Schwartz said there has been very little response to Westin’s special offer; the hotel is offering rooms for $179 during NASCAR weekend, about 5 percent off the regular rate.

This is the first race weekend for the Westin, which opened in December. Schwartz said the hotel had originally planned to charge $299 a room this weekend, but like many other hotels decided to drop the high premium normally associated with Richmond’s semiannual race.

“It’s not so much about dropping the rate to get swarms of people, it’s just to keep up with what your competitors are doing,” Schwartz said.

Race weekend is usually a boon for the local hotel industry, consistently the most occupied days of the year in terms of hotel usage. Last minute fans often book rooms as far away as Fredericksburg or Williamsburg, but this year there is plenty of vacancy close to the track.

RIR, in conjunction with the Richmond Metropolitan Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, started a campaign last month urging hotel owners to lower rates for the upcoming race. The raceway has a list of about 70 area hotels on its website that agreed to participate.

Some hotels are offering race weekend rates 20 percent to 50 percent less than in 2008, and many have also eliminated minimum stay requirements, according to RIR’s website.

The Doubletree Hotel Richmond Downtown is usually booked for race weekend months in advance, but this year there are still rooms available, said General Manager John Cario. For last year’s May race, the hotel charged $250 a night; this year, the highest rate is $179.

The Doubletree is experiencing attrition from NASCAR teams as well.

“We have a few small teams with us, but a lot of the teams due to sponsorship deals didn’t get back this year,” Cario said.

Part of the reason bookings are down is because of an increase in the hotel supply, Cario said. The room supply in the downtown and airport segment was up more than 13 percent in the first three months of 2009 compared to the same period last year, according to Smith Travel Research.

The Clarion Richmond Airport Hotel reduced its rates and dropped the minimum two-night stay required in the past, said General Manager Mike Turner.

Even at $119 a night, Turner said bookings remain slow compared to previous races.

“Typically the hotel would be full this weekend or very close to it,” Turner said. “This particular weekend, we have plenty of rooms available.”

Neal Kalyan, general manager of Americas Best Value Inn on Williamsburg Road, tells a similar story.

“We dropped our rates, and we’re still not getting reservations,” Kalyan said.

The hotel is offering $90 rooms, about 30 percent off the race rate of previous years. Kalyan said for previous races the hotel is about 90 percent occupied but so far this week only 40 percent of rooms are booked.

“We’ve actually been getting cancellations,” Kalyan said, “People are already changing their minds and not coming.”

Richmond isn’t the only NASCAR destination facing a drop in attendance. Plenty of fans stayed home during last week’s race at Talladega, Ala. The race drew about 142,000, compared to the normal 165,000, according to the Birmingham News. Racetracks in Atlanta and in Fontana, Calif. reached only 60 percent to 65 percent of capacity during this year’s cup races. Daytona and Bristol both sold out later than usual.

BizSense  could not reach RIR officials to ask whether they were expecting to sell out. But if lackluster hotel reservations are an indication, this may be the second Sprint Cup race at the track to fall short of selling out in more than a decade. Last fall’s race was the first, partly due to rainy weather.

There is a slight chance of thunderstorms this weekend, but the darkest clouds hovering over RIR appear to be the ones that are economic in nature.

Willow Lawn hotel site ripe for revitalization

BizSense has been looking into the future plans for the site at 5215 W. Broad St. for a month, but so far the owner hasn’t been interested in coming forward and divulging his plans.

Hourigan Construction has been doing work at the hotel building, which was operated most recently Inns of Virginia hotel. It has been closed for more than a year.

Currently a chain link fence surrounds the entire property. Most of the doors have been removed from the guestrooms, and you can catch a glimpse of left behind desks and beds.

The hotel was used as a filming location for the 1999 film Forces of Nature starring Ben Affleck and Sandra Bullock.